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The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Share

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(The Teachings of Don Juan #1) READERS ALSO ENJOYED

by Carlos Castaneda
3.93 · Ra!ng details · 38,977 ra!ngs · 1,177 reviews

The story of a remarkable spiritual journey, the first awesome

steps on the road to becoming "a man of knowledge," the road
that continues with A Separate Reality and Journey to Ixtlan.
Includes the teachings and a structural analysis. ...more

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Paperback, 288 pages Philosophy 307 users

Published 1983 by Touchstone/Simon & Schuster (first published 1968)
Spirituality 301 users
Original Title The Teachings of Don Juan
Nonfic!on 229 users
ISBN 0671227424 (ISBN13: 9780671227425)
Edi#on Language English Anthropology 107 users
Series The Teachings of Don Juan #1
Other Edi#ons (141) Religion 94 users

Psychology 66 users

Classics 37 users
All Edi!ons | Add a New Edi!on | Combine
...Less Detail Edit Details Biography 37 users

Spirituality > New Age 35 users

FRIEND REVIEWS (1)
Occult > Mys!cism 32 users
Salo marked it as to-read Jan 08, 2018 See top shelves…
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ABOUT CARLOS CASTANEDA

Recommend This Book… Carlos Castaneda

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Fernando Ladislao rated it · review of another edi!on Aug 18, 2017
Carlos Castaneda was an La!n-American author.
Like · comment Star!ng with The Teachings of Don Juan in
1968, Castaneda wrote a series of books that
describe his training in shamanism, par!cularly
with a group whose lineage descended from the
Toltecs.
READER Q&A The books, narrated in the first person, relate his
experiences under the tutelage of a man that
Ask the Goodreads community a ques#on about The Teachings of Don Juan Castaneda claimed was a Yaqui "Man of
Knowledge" named don Juan M ...more

Ask anything about the book

OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES

Popular Answered Ques#ons The Teachings of Don Juan (1 - 10 of 12 books)

Why, in all of Carlos Castandeda's books, is there NO PHOTOGRAPH OF DON JUAN? Is

there any corroborating evidence for the existence of Don Juan outside of Carlos
Castenada's books? Did anybody else even speak to Don Juan, or just see Don Juan?

1 Like · Like · 2 Years Ago · See All 5 Answers

Ryan Because, frankly, he doesn't exist. This book, like Go Ask Alice, The Long Walk, Never Cry BOOKS BY CARLOS CASTANEDA
Wolf, and A Million Li"le Pieces, is fic!on masquerading …more

See 2 ques#ons about The Teachings of Don Juan…

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369 likes · 59 comments

Miguel Mayher rated it Jun 05, 2009

You may find this book has a lot of chaff on how they prepare peyote and TRIVIA ABOUT THE TEACHINGS OF ...

other drugs, mundane descriptions in diary... yet when you less expect it,
12 trivia ques!ons
they hit you with a boulder of wisdom that leaves you freezed. More quizzes & trivia...

There is ONE core idea in the book that makes the price tag disappear. You QUOTES FROM THE TEACHINGS OF ...
cannot pay for it. It goes like this:
“For me there is only the traveling on
paths that have heart, on any path that
"Anything is one of a million paths. Therefore you must always keep in
may have heart, and the only worthwhile
mind that a path is only a path; if you feel you should not follow it, you
challenge is to traverse its full length--
must not stay with it under any ...more
and there I travel looking, looking
280 likes · Like · 19 comments · see review breathlessly.” — 191 likes

Ahmad Sharabiani rated it
Shelves: fic!on, philosophy, classics, literature, 20th-century, non-fic!on, psychology,
biography, mys!cism, united-states
The Teachings of Don Juan (The Teachings of Don Juan #1), Carlos
Castaneda
The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge was published by the
University of California Press in 1968 as a work of anthropology, though
many critics contend that it is a work of fiction.
It was written by Carlos Castaneda and submitted as his Master's thesis in
the school of Anthropology.
It purports to document the events that took place during an apprenticeship
with a self-proclaimed Yaqui Indian Sorcerer, don ...more
Mar 24, 2009 “Anything is one of a million paths.
Therefore you must always keep in mind
that a path is only a path; if you feel you
should not follow it, you must not stay
with it under any conditions. To have such
clarity you must lead a disciplined life.
Only then will you know that any path is
only a path and there is no affront, to
oneself or to others, in dropping it if that
is what your heart tells you to do. But your
decision to keep on the path or to leave it
must be free of fear or ambition. I warn
you. Look at every path closely and
deliberately. Try it as many times as you
think necessary.

132 likes · Like · 4 comments · see review This question is one that only a very old
man asks. Does this path have a heart? All
Rich Flammer rated it Nov 14, 2007 paths are the same: they lead nowhere.
Shelves: spiritual, religion, classics, mexico They are paths going through the bush, or
I found this book in my friend's house in Spring Lake, New Jersey about 20 into the bush. In my own life I could say I
years ago. Flipped through it, started reading, and couldn't put it down. have traversed long long paths, but I am
not anywhere. Does this path have a
Since then I've read all of Carlos Casteneda's books, but this is by far the
heart? If it does, the path is good; if it
best. Sadly, the power of this work is often diminished by readers who
doesn't, it is of no use. Both paths lead
mistakenly, and obtusely, attribute his experiences solely to tripping
nowhere; but one has a heart, the other
through the use of psychotropic plants in Mexico. "That's a book about
doesn't. One makes for a joyful journey; as
tripping," people have told me. But no, it really has nothing ...more
long as you follow it, you are one with it.
84 likes · Like · 7 comments · see review The other will make you curse your life.
One makes you strong; the other weakens
Fergus rated it Apr 10, 2020 you.
In the seventies, after my footloose brother had left behind the old
homestead for a freer and more independent life in seismic surveying, I was
often greeted from the open door of his room by his adolescent book Before you embark on any path ask the
collection. question: Does this path have a heart? If
the answer is no, you will know it, and
then you must choose another path. The
Near the top of his bookcase was Carlos Castaneda’s first book...
trouble is nobody asks the question; and
when a man finally realizes that he has
One day, in the habitually perplexed and low-level depressive frame of mind
taken a path without a heart, the path is
endemic to my life at that time (due, of course, to the barbarically primitive
ready to kill him. At that point very few
effects of first-generation mood stabilizers) I sought ...more
men can stop to deliberate, and leave the
69 likes · Like · see review path. A path without a heart is never
enjoyable. You have to work hard even to
kaelan rated it · review of another edi!on Nov 29, 2011 take it. On the other hand, a path with
Shelves: new-age-spirituality-occult
heart is easy; it does not make you work at
Back in the 70's, Carlos Castaneda—a young anthropologist from the liking it.” — 179 likes
University of California—was the shit amongst hippies, new-agers and
More quotes…
wanna-be-cool academics desperate to shed their stuffy tweed. Now? Not so
much. For many readers, Castaneda's death knell sounded when most of his
accounts turned out to be—factually speaking—complete and utter BS. To
which diehard Castanites objected: "But, like, what is truth anyways, man?"

I don't wish to get terribly enmeshed in the debate. But to my logical,

...more

40 likes · Like · 13 comments · see review

Hyun-mi rated it Aug 11, 2011

Shelves: read-forever

The Best Advice that anyone has ever given me is all in this book. This book
is my spiritual guidance.
"A warrior acknowledges his pain but he doesn't indulge in it.
The mood of the warrior who enters into the unknown is not one of
sadness; on the contrary, he's joyful because he feels humbled by
his great fortune, confident that his spirit is impeccable, and
above all, fully aware of his efficiency. A warrior's joyfulness
comes from having accepted his fate, and from having truthfully
assessed ...more

32 likes · Like · 5 comments · see review

Laura rated it Sep 15, 2007

Recommends it for: Pagans
Shelves: witchynonfic!on

I am going to give the same review to all the Carlos Castaneda books I read
in that series, simply because they are all outstanding. I was lucky to come
across Castaneda very early on my magickal path. My spells and rituals have
always relied on the power of intent, and I have found no better education
on how to focus your intent than in this series of books. Back then (1994)
they were classifed as nonfiction. Lately, they say they are fiction. All I know
is much of what is in these books works. ...more

31 likes · Like · 2 comments · see review

Adam rated it · review of another edi!on Mar 05, 2007

A young anthropologist goes into the desert, meets an old shaman and does
a bunch of peyote, DMT/salvia, and shrooms. This book is his account from
one trip to another with bits of hippy-wisdom thrown in, like the oft-quoted
"ask yourself if this path has a heart" passage. Beyond the tripping, the
author doesn't seem to understand the spiritual aspects of what Don Juan is
trying to tell him. Like when he smoked the "little smoke" and thought
himself to become a bird, he asks Don Juan afterwards ...more

29 likes · Like · 1 comment · see review

Ninja rated it Jan 05, 2011

This obscure writer has a huge cult following who believe that Castaneda's
semi-fictious stories about Don Juan and the indigenous peoples of Mexico
hold the keys to power and enlightenment. Ninja is a skeptic. She doesn’t
believe in any of that rot – but they are best books being peddled as non-
fiction that I have ever read.

Years ago, I caught an edition of “Imprint” on our local public television

station TVO. The host, Daniel Richler, was leading a panel discussion about
native spirituality an ...more

23 likes · Like · 2 comments · see review

Irene rated it May 03, 2016

Shelves: at-coulter-library

kinda boring

17 likes · Like · 7 comments · see review

g rated it Nov 01, 2008

Shelves: fall-2008

The discussions on whether this book is fiction or non-fiction are rather

futile, and prevent the reader from engaging with it more closely. I think a
smarter move would be to suspend judgment on the matter, and look into
what one can learn from this account.

The Teachings of Don Juan may be read as a bildungsroman where the

narrator/anthropologist Carlos Castaneda engages with an alternative
reality, under the strict guidance of Don Juan, on the path to becoming “a
man of knowledge”. As a means ...more

17 likes · Like · 1 comment · see review

Pamela Wells rated it Mar 15, 2010

Every Seeker has at some point experienced an unexplainable moment.

These are great opportunities to expand your perceptions to begin to believe
in something greater then yourself that cannot be explained by your culture,
current beliefs or family. Any of Carlos Castanada's books will give you the
opportunity to discover another perspective about what reality really is. For
those who call themselves Seekers - looking for the meaning of life - this is
a foundational book. This was the first book ...more

12 likes · Like · comment · see review

Jessika rated it · review of another edi!on Aug 27, 2015

Shelves: non-fic!on, library, na!ve-american

I'm just going to be honest here--I did not like this book. It was a struggle
for me. There were a few quotes that I liked, but they were few & far
between.

Since taking a class in college, I've been interested in learning about Native
American spirituality. This book just wasn't what I was expecting. The first
section containing the teachings & dialogue of Don Juan was interesting. But
the descriptions of "non-ordinary reality" were oftentimes so bizarre that
they sounded fake to me. Granted, I ...more

10 likes · Like · see review

David rated it Dec 09, 2008

Shelves: 2019

This may be the first book that truly exposed me to psychedelic literature. I
have just completed it for my third time, and it was just as fresh as the
times I read it during college.

Carlos Castaneda was an American author who wrote a series of books about
his experiences with traditional Mesoamerican Shamanism. The books that
follow The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge are also
excellent, and I plan on re-reading the series and reviewing it. This book is
written in first person b ...more

10 likes · Like · 2 comments · see review

Nick rated it Jan 02, 2008

Recommends it for: no one

I was reminded of this book by a recent article, and I realized I had never
read it when it first came out. I was curious to see what the fuss was about. I
must say I was sorely disappointed -- the book is clumsily written and very
sparing with its insights. Not recommended for enlightenment or even a
good read.

9 likes · Like · comment · see review

Michael Lassoff rated it Jun 03, 2008

Recommends it for: everyone
Recommended to Michael by: Barre"
Shelves: psycho-spiritual-babble

Normally teachings that involve drugs bother me to no end. Somehow this

book is proving an exception to that. Drugs, I think, complicate spirituality
by orienting seekers toward intense spiritual experiences. They strike me as
a great form of laziness, which would be fine if they were more effective
than they are. But it usually just boils down to rich white kids that watched
the matrix one too many times. Again, in the person of Don Juan, the drugs
occupy a very secondary position. Foremost, mo ...more

8 likes · Like · comment · see review

Erik Graff rated it · review of another edi!on Mar 24, 2008

Recommends it for: those interested in altered states of consciousness
Recommended to Erik by: Bill Causer
Shelves: religion

Carlos Castaneda's series about Yaqui religion is a mixture of fact and

fiction. According to the Wikipedia article about him, the first three of the
dozen or so volumes he produced constitute the academic work leading to
his doctorate in anthropology. However, only this volume, the first, has an
academic tone. Subsequent volumes are more literary.

Although Castaneda is rightly criticized for misrepresenting his work to the

UCLA faculty of anthropology, the first three books still bear reading fo
...more

9 likes · Like · 8 comments · see review

Wesley Gerrard rated it Sep 19, 2013

Shelves: spiritual, non-fic!on, shamanism, narco!cs

For anyone who has the vaguest interest in shamanism, this is an essential
text. It is Carlos Casteneda's seminal work and in my opinion is a work of
art. He has a very direct personal way of revealing his story, about an
encounter with an ageing Native-American man of knowledge, who takes
Carlos under his wing and reveals to him some of the secrets of shamanism.
The range of psychedelics encountered are followed up in the book, after
consumption, with vivid detail of the accompanying experience ...more

7 likes · Like · 1 comment · see review

JRemick rated it · review of another edi!on May 11, 2009

Very deep, you need to be in the right frame of mind for this one

7 likes · Like · comment · see review

David rated it Mar 15, 2014

Shelves: my-reviews, no, fraud, wri"en-by-a-liar, fic!on, wri"en-by-a-lowlife

Carlos Castenada was at best a fraud and a liar. He later founded a cult.
...more

7 likes · Like · 1 comment · see review

Marshall rated it Oct 19, 2016

Shelves: biography, culture, non-fic!on

This is a book about a Western student's apprenticeship under a Yaqui

sorcerer named Don Juan. That's how the author thinks of it. It was more
like getting high in the desert with an old man and playing with lizards.

I think this book was mistitled. A more accurate title would have been, The
Drug Trips of Don Juan: An Indian Way of Drug Tripping. It's not about
teachings or knowledge at all, at least not as I understand those words to
mean. The entire book was a memoir of his drug trips and conve ...more

7 likes · Like · see review

Samantha rated it · review of another edi!on Jun 23, 2009

I liked the first half of the book, but then it just seemed to be more of the
same, so I stopped about 3/4 of the way through. Maybe I'm just impatient,
or maybe the story was going nowhere. I understand why don Juan was
annoyed with the narrator, he got on my nerves at times, too.

There were good parts, though, I liked where they were out in the desert
ingesting peyote, and he wandered off talking to the embodiment of peyote,
or "Mescalito", who told him to eat some more, but he didn't have a kn
...more

6 likes · Like · 1 comment · see review

Adam rated it Jan 14, 2008

Whoa. This one was a real trip and half. UCLA grad student in botany goes
down to southern Arizona to learn about plants in the 1960s. Winds up
studying under the tutelage of a local Yaqui shaman and explores the
nether-regions of human perception, induced through a variety of 'power
plants' as well as peyote (its own special deity). The is the first of a whole
series of books and a large following that were largely inspired by the
author, Carlos Castaneda. I haven't read the others, but I like ...more

6 likes · Like · comment · see review

Gary Beauregard Bo"omley rated it Feb 27, 2021

If only I could find a wise shaman to lead me on my journey and get me to

realize that non-sense-reality is as real as real-reality and make assertions
without foundation on the power that pervades the world which only a wise
shaman knows through the wisdom of the elders since there is no Western
way to truth, and there is no Eastern way to truth, there is only the fact free
assertions of a mystic-native-American way to truth especially when it’s
mixed with drug inducing psychedelic peyote tripp ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Eric rated it Aug 13, 2017

I recently attended a short course (8 hours) at UCSD Extension entitled

Principles of Clarity. It could also have been called Mindfulness if that term
is more useful to you in envisioning the nature of the course. Forewarning,
this is the longest Goodreads review I have ever written.

One of the readings recommended by Karen Dobkins (the professor at UCSD

instructing the course) was The Teachings of Don Juan; A Yaqui Way of
Knowledge. Her intent was to help us comprehend that there were more
ways ...more

5 likes · Like · comment · see review

Miquixote rated it Dec 17, 2010

Shelves: anthropology, biography, religion, 3-google-scholar, spirituality, philosophy,
psychology, memoir

The 20th century’s most successful literary trickster: Carlos Castaneda?

Or perhaps even the largest literary and academic fraud in history?

Is Carlos Castaneda a nut job?

Is the story really a fiction?

Did he really hallucinate these things?

Is he the shaman per-excellence?

Well, it was writtten in drug positive times (1968)....

It is bizarre , yet certainly well-written, lucid and believable.

Gotta love the turgid "structural analysis", makes it sound like a legit work
of scholarship.

So, fantastic, ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Jetska Kahanek rated it May 22, 2011

I loved this book but once I researched the author a little more, I found his
cult like theories to be weird and creepy. I have 3 of his books and wouldn't
mind parting with them. These books are primarily about student
anthropologists who studies Native American usage of peyote,
Dimethyltryptamine(DMT), saliva, and mushrooms. He meets a shaman
who teaches him the method in which to use peyote and discovers the
powers of shamanism. The first half of this book goes into the efforts of
trust and s ...more

5 likes · Like · 1 comment · see review

Eleanor rated it Apr 07, 2012

Shelves: favorites

Spiritual learning and hallucinations in the desert. Enjoyable to read and

also full of interesting and inspiring knowledge; I gained a lot of ideas about
self-awareness, personal improvement and approaching life with a more
respectful and open attitude. Be the warrior!

“All paths are the same: they lead nowhere. A path is only a path, and there is no
affront, to oneself or to others, in dropping it if that is what your heart tells you ...
Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as ma ...more

5 likes · Like · 1 comment · see review

Steven rated it Sep 20, 2011

Although the authenticity of this text has been questioned over the years,
and it has been disowned as an anthropological case study (for obvious
reasons), this text remains a beautiful and thought-provoking piece of
historical fiction. Castaneda no doubt spent a great deal of time in the
Mexican Southwest and in this novel he recounts his first years under the
tutelage of Don Juan, a Yaqui "brujo" or sorcerer. He describes his
fascination with psychotropic cacti, mushrooms and jimson weed, and
...more

5 likes · Like · comment · see review

Emily rated it Sep 16, 2010

This book was recommended to me a few years ago by a professor of mine. I

was deep into graduate school by then, attempting to earn my MFA while
not losing my mind. My work as well and my mental state were suffering.

My professor told me I needed to learn how to see. And this book would
show me how.

And it did. It helped tremendously. I did not approach the book as an

anthropologist. Nor did I approach it as a study of any kind. I had no prior
knowledge of Castaneda or any of the controversy his b ...more

5 likes · Like · comment · see review

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