Buddhist Astrology: Chart Interpretation from a Buddhist Perspective by Jhampa Shaneman and Jan Angel—with the added gravitas of a preface by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and a foreword by astrologer Steven Forrest—first made its way onto bookshelves in 2002, published by Sumeru Press, Canada’s largest independent publishing house.
Revised in 2013, it’s not exactly hot off the press, yet when I was invited to dive into the archives at Sumeru, this was one of the first books that caught my attention. As someone with toes in both worlds, I was curious: might Buddhism and astrology speak to each other in a shared language, even a shared practice? And truthfully, this book didn’t disappoint.
The authors, both practicing astrologers, have decades of Buddhist experience. They spent formative years in Asia during the early 1970s. Jhampa, one of the first Western monks to study under Lama Thubten Yeshe, brings a grounded depth to the text. I had the pleasure of chatting with him, discussing the book and the social evolution of both traditions over the years.
Buddhist Astrology is divided into four sections: an interpretive chart for Siddhartha Gautama; an introduction to blending Western astrological concepts with Buddhist principles and practice; a practical “cookbook” of planetary placements; and, finally, a portion of Jhampa’s own story, which adds a touch of narrative inspiration.
In many respects, this is a book that helps us seafarers of life tack the winds of the cosmos while piloting this biological ship of an incarnation that we may call Crucible. It aids us in alchemizing our shadow, our unconscious behaviors and proclivities, as well as helping us see the rocks and lighthouses on our journey of awakening—even when that awakening is at the everyday level of mindful interactions and life choices.
To use the planetary cookbook, having one’s birth chart to hand is invaluable. The information shared by the authors is digestible and clear—perhaps bite-sized for the seasoned astrologer, but broad enough to offer insights across many placements. I even found myself noting down relevant sections to craft a kind of personal blueprint, enriched with Buddhist psychology and contemplative practice.
What struck me most was how the fusion of Western astrology and Buddhist wisdom didn’t feel forced. In fact, it felt like something that already existed—just hidden under layers of bifurcated spiritual disciplines. This book simply offers a way to see that union more clearly.
“Astrology offers a wonderful opportunity to recognize that we’re much more part of the environment than we often think,” Jhampa reflects. “Just as we’ve polluted and destroyed parts of the planet by seeing ourselves as outside the environment, we shouldn’t make the same mistake with ourselves. Astrology reminds us that we are a dynamic piece of this dynamic universe. The Earth isn’t a resource, it’s our home, and within that home there are a variety of factors that create who we are and what we are, which includes astrology. But we mustn’t make astrology our religion. It’s an influence, yes. But our attitude is what truly matters.”
This is the interplay between theory and praxis. “Good astrologers aren’t just book learners,” says Jhampa. “They need intuition. You look at a chart and think, ‘Okay, this person grew up in California versus growing up in Boston. Well, there’s going to be a difference in headspace, in attitude.’ So how you talk about the chart must shift accordingly. Intuition has to be in there. A lot.”
Jhampa also reflects on how Buddhist education has changed: “People today are far more educated. You’ve got late 20- and 30-year-olds fully committed to Buddhist practice. It’s exciting. There are books now, so many books. Back in the day, I had to learn Tibetan just to understand Buddhism. And even then, only a few texts were available.”
When it comes to the Buddha’s astrology, the chart offered in the book is based on informed, yet still mythological, clues. I posed a rather uncomfortable question: have you used astrology to fit the myth? The Buddha’s story spans more than 2,500 years, layered with cultural biases and mythic overlays. How do we avoid projecting astrological significance onto a historical figure? It is very easy, very human in fact, to imbue situations and people, especially such an established character as the Buddha, with “arguments” that fit an accepted narrative. I drive a hard line of questioning, but I feel it’s relevant to the integrity of the book.
“I don’t disagree with you,” Jhampa explains. “There’s no confirmed birthdate for Shakyamuni Buddha. I went back about 2,500 years and looked for basic placements. His mother’s death shortly after birth suggested Chiron in the seventh house conjunct his Moon. I don’t recall every detail offhand, but there were major placements in the ninth and third houses, which gave him a huge philosophical nature and then an ability to be an educator.”
He adds: “The story goes that he was born on a full moon. So I searched for aspects that aligned, and it came out fairly well. In the book, I delineate those elements in detail.”
Jhampa was honest too: “It’s my fantasy version of who he is. But he influenced all of Asia. He must’ve had remarkable astrology. Even in his birth story, his father invited an astrologer who burst into tears after seeing the chart, and apparently said, ‘This boy is going to become so incredible, and I’m so old that I won’t see what’s going to happen.’ So, yes, I think his chart must’ve been spectacular.”
What also separates Buddhist Astrology from other books is its willingness to tackle the earthy and the real. In today’s hyper-sensitive world, one that likes to blindly adhere to a romantic zealotry and the lived-out implications of opinions based over so many hundreds of years, Jhampa offers a grittier portrayal of Gautama, for example, regarding sexuality: “He was a crown prince with access to hundreds of courtesans. So he had a robust sexual life before monasticism. In commentaries, it says: ‘You shouldn’t try to make love more than six times in a night.’ But then you get these monks, over the next two millennia, and they put their opinions in there, and so suddenly you get all this discussion of what’s sexually appropriate and what’s not, and all the garbage that goes with male-female relationships. It’s good to recognize that all you needed was that influential monk, a while later, to start proselytizing his particular view on sexuality and women, and it’s all taken as being doctrine. But it’s his opinion. I have a bone to pick about a lot of the stuff that is said with regard to sexuality or women that comes out of some influential monk’s opinion about how things should be.”
What about Gautama himself? As a reminder that the Buddha’s teachings were lived, not frozen, Jhampa explained: “What I wanted to do was write him according to his astrology, but also through a psychological lens, focusing on how he dealt with desire, anger, and power. I wanted to humanize him. Astrology was a fun way to explore that.”
For students of inner alchemy and archetypal inquiry, the intersection of astrology and Buddhist wisdom in these pages is a helpful companion. One that speaks to spirit, psyche, and myth, while also looking at the human, not the myth, that would become enlightened.
Jhampa’s voice—both in the book and in conversation—is dynamic, grounded, and refreshingly candid. “I’d hope that Buddhist Astrology opens the minds of astrologers,” he said. “To see there are many ways to appreciate what astrology offers.”
See more
Buddhist Astrology: Chart Interpretation from a Buddhist Perspective (Sumeru Books)
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As a student of Vedic astrology and Chinese astrology, both systems which formed the basis of Tibetan astrology, I can say from my own practical experience that Western Astrology doesn’t’ work because it’s not based on the sideral system used by Vedic astrology, the kind of system used at the time Buddha Shakyamuni was in a human visible form in this world was the Vedic one, the most accurate which is used to this day.
Using new age opinions and misguiding many who could consider that book as a reference will certainly create karmic repercussions. Labels such as “archetypes”, even calling Buddhism as a philosophy is problematic since philosophy in the Western world is subjective-ignorant perception, Buddhism is an objective and direct perception of reality.
There is a huge difference between the perceptions of an enlightened mind and the perceptions of an obscured and sick mind such as the ones who formed the basis of Western “psychology”, placing Buddhism as something similar or even at the same level with something such as psychology, which is worthy remembering is strongly based on the ignorance of people such as Freud who was a drug addict himself and reduced human beings to unsastisfied sexual desires is outrageus, but happens frequently, I wonder if many Buddhist masters across different traditions of Buddhism are even aware of who they are dealing with when meetings, forums and symposiums with “scientists” and other “experts” from different fields take place in many parts of the world.
Westerners should learn to speak less and listen more, there are too much people spreading ignorance based on their sick and distorted perceptions in the world, we don’t need more of that, especially when the topic is spirituality.
This website should be more careful and attentive with the writers and the kind of content they make available for the public, you could be misguiding millions of people with this.
There is a difference between being Buddhist and liking Buddhist ideas, Buddhism is not entertainment, and unfortunately, there are many people who do not even realize they are just entertaining themselves, especially with Vajrayana.
I suggest you read the Tripitaka sutras, the words of the Buddha, the enlightened one, as someone with a Tibetan background, I can say, it’s life changing.
Insightful and well stated, thank you.