Over the past five hundred years the Dalai Lamas have contributed works of vital importance to the library of tantric literature. Glenn Mullin, a translator and scholar of Tibetan texts and acknowledged authority on the Dalai Lamas, has collected many of these writings here for the first time. His introduction situates the tantric tradition within overall Buddhist practice. The sweeping survey by the Thirteenth Dalai Lama which follows treats all the principal Tibetan Buddhist tantric systems found in all four categories of tantras.
The wonderful texts that follow include works on the powerful and profound systems of Avalokitshvara, Kalachakra, Chakrasamvara, Hayagriva and Yamantaka, as well as other less widely known practices such as the Six Yogas of Niguma and living on the essence of flowers. For the reader wishing to encounter Tantric Buddhism through authentic sources, this book is a must.
This book masterfully succeeds in clarifying the nature of tantric practice. In contrast to the approaches of conventional religion, tantra does not attempt to soothe the turmoil of existence with consoling promises of heaven and salvation. The tantric practitioner chooses to confront the bewildering and chaotic forces of fear, aggression, desire, and pride, and to work with them in such a way that they are channeled into creative expression, loving relationships, and wisely engaged forms of life.
In order to make the processes of tantra psychologically intelligible for a contemporary reader, Rob Preece makes judicious use of the work of modern psychotherapy, forging a compelling link between a Western tradition that hearkens back to the alchemical traditions of our own past and the comparably "alchemical" strategies of Tibetan Buddhist tantric practices. In keeping with the pragmatic and therapeutic aims of both psychotherapy and Buddhist meditation, The Psychology of Buddhist Tantra never loses sight of the central importance of applying these ideas to the concrete realities of day-to-day life.
By illuminating the richly symbolic language of tantra through the intermediate language of psychology, The Psychology of Buddhist Tantra points to the transformative nature of tantric practices.
TAKING THE RESULT AS THE PATH: Core Teachings of the Sakya Lamdre Tradition by Cyrus Stearns
The Path with the Result, or lamdre, is the most important tantric system of theory and meditation practice in the Sakya school. Yet its writings have never been published in any European language until now. This book contains 11 vital works from the tradition including the basic text by the great Indian adept Virupa. Here too are sacred writings from Jamyang Khyentse Wangchuk and an instruction manual by the Fifth Dalai Lama. This collection was personally approved by His Holiness Sakya Trizin, head of the Sakya tradition.
DEITY, MANTRA, AND WISDOM: Development Stage Meditation in Tibetan Buddhist Tantra by Jigme Lingpa, Patrul Rinpoche, and Getse Mahapandita
Deity, Mantra, and Wisdom presents for the first time in any Western language four of the most famed and cherished classical Tibetan Buddhist commentaries that elucidate the philosophy and practice of deity visualization and mantra recitation--also known as "development stage meditation" (bskyed rim).
The authors of these timeless classics have all profoundly shaped Tibetan Buddhism through their vast scholarship and deep spiritual realization. In these eloquent and inspiring writings they lay out the path of Tantra, explaining in a detailed and lucid manner the fundamental philosophy of the Vajra Vehicle as well as the way to make this view a living experience through the practice of meditation.
The practice of the development stage is one of the central trainings on the path of Tantra, and the texts contained in this book are among the most widely studied commentaries from the Tibetan tradition.
COMMENTARIES ON THE EIGHT GREAT SUTRA AND TANTRA OF THE KAGYU LINEAGE - Net Ornaments of Vajras and Revealing the Secrets of the Indestructible Vajra by Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche
Five key texts in the original Tibetan language only!
Net Ornaments of Vajras and Revealing the Secrets of the Indestructible Vajra
(brtag gnyis kyi tshig don gzhom med rdo rje'i gsang ba 'byed pa)
A General Meaning Commentary and a Word Commentary on the Hevajra Tantra
(brtag gnyis kyi spyi don legs bshad bsang ba bla na med pa rdo rje drva ba'i rgyan can)
by Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye
Alt Sp: Abhisamayalamkara, Abhisamayalankara, Abhisamayalakara
COMMENTARIES ON THE EIGHT GREAT SUTRA AND TANTRA OF THE KAGYU LINEAGE - The Noble One Resting at Ease by Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche
Five key texts in the original Tibetan language only!
The Noble One Resting at Ease: A Commentary on the Abhisamayalamkara
(shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa'i lung
chos mtha' dag gi bdud rtsi'i snying por gyur pa gang la ldan pa'i gzhi rje
btsun mchog tu dgyes par ngal gso'i yongs 'dus brtol gyi ljon pa rgyas pa)
by HH the 8th Karmapa Mikyo Dorje
COMMENTARIES ON THE EIGHT GREAT SUTRA AND TANTRA OF THE KAGYU LINEAGE - The Ornament that Clarifies the Perfect Liberation of Mind by Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche
Five key texts in the original Tibetan language only!
The Ornament that Clarifies the Perfect Liberation of Mind:
An Explanation of the Profound Inner Reality
(zab mo nang don gyi 'grel bshad sems kyi rnam par thar pa gsal bar byed pa'i rgyan)
by Khedrub Chogyal Tenpa
"Grant your blessings to myself and all beings that our minds may go to the Dharma.
Grant your blessings that the Dharma may become a path.
Grant your blessings that the path may clarify bewilderment.
Grant your blessings that bewilderment may arise as wisdom."
Despite their brevity, these lines express the entirety of the Buddha's teachings. In this masterful exposition, Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche illuminates their meaning in a series of six talks. Beginning with the story of Lord Gampopa, the great bodhisattva who integrated the Kadampa lineage of Atisha with the mahamudra lineage of Milarepa, it continues with the motivation for turning one's mind to Dharma, developing the correct motivations for practice, concise explanation of the methods of vajrayana practice, and finally mahamudra.
Translated with great precision and skill by Karma Yeshe Gyamtso, this is a teaching of extraordinary depth and clarity that will benefit students at many levels of learning.
A CEREMONY OF OFFERING TO THE GURUS by the Glorious Gyalwang Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje
Ceremony of Offering to the Gurus, by His Holiness Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje, was composed for the annual Kagyu Monlam to accord with our present needs and to be accessible to all people. It is a carefully constructed compilation of selected Gurupujas from many different traditions.
These include extracts from the Pangkong Chagyapa Sutra, which was the earliest dharma to reach Tibet; the Bodhicharyavatara by Shantideva; the Gurupuja by the mahasiddha Lingrepa; the Gurupuja by Panchen Lozang Chogyen; the Gurupuja of All the Dakpo Kagyu by the guru Jamgon Lodro Thayey; the Shakyamuni Ceremony by the great scholar Mipam Jamyang Namgyal; the Ceremony of the Elders by Shamar Chodrak Yeshe; and sutra rituals composed by several of the Sakya tradition.
THE TREASURY OF KNOWLEDGE, Book Eight, Part Three: The Elements of Tantric Practice by Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Tayé, translated by Ingrid Loken McLeod
Jamgon Kongtrul's Treasury of Knowledge in ten volumes is a unique encyclopedic masterpiece embodying the entire range of Buddhist teachings as they were presented in Tibet. The Elements of Tantric Practice sets forth the inner system of meditation--that of highest yoga tantra, which comprises two phases. The phase of creation relies primarily on the use of the imagination to effect personal transformation. In the phase of completion, practitioners actually achieve these transformations by the use of powerful inner yogas that manipulate the inner energies and constituents of the mind and body, leading to the realization of the fundamental nature of mind and phenomena. Together these practices constitute, in Kongtrul's words, «a magnificent tradition composed of teachings explicitly set forth in the tantras--cherished by scholars and siddhas of [ancient] India who achieved total realization [by relying] on it.»
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