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"In his famously accessible language, the author of Mindfulness in Plain English unpacks the foundational Buddhist theory of dependent origination, showing the reader how by eliminating ignorance we can eliminate suffering. Nothing happens by accident. All things, no matter how mundane or meaningful, arise based on causes and conditions. And without those causes and conditions they would not arise at all. This, in short, is the Buddha's teaching of dependent origination. Embedded in this fundamental theory are central teachings such as nonself, impermanence, and the four noble truths. And from it we can see for ourselves how suffering and rebirth, the great problems lying at the heart of the Dhamma, arise-and how they pass away. In Dependent Origination in Plain English, the venerable scholar-monk Bhante Gunaratana and his student Veronique Ziegler break down this keystone Buddhist teaching from the Pali canon into its core components, guiding the reader step by step from ignorance to suffering and its end. The process leading to future rebirths may seem far off, but it's not some distant event. It's happening now, with every breath you take"--

The renowned translator Bhikkhu Bodhi has crafted this anthology of suttas from the Samyutta Nikaya to enable students of Early Buddhism to penetrate into the heart of the Buddha’s teachings on the four noble truths and the eightfold path as directly and clearly as possible. The aim is to attain direct insight into foundational Buddhist teachings on liberation.Brilliantly translated by Bhikkhu Bodhi, this anthology of suttas from the Samyutta Nikaya takes us straight to the heart of the Buddha’s teaching on liberation through the four noble truths and the noble eightfold path—the two mainstays of Buddhist doctrine that illuminate the nature of things and generate direct insight into the teachings. These suttas all pertain to the ultimate good, the attainment of nibbana, or liberation. They illuminate the Buddha’s radical diagnosis of the human condition—and more broadly, the condition of all sentient existence—in light of the four noble truths. They underscore the pervasive flaws inherent in the round of rebirths, trace our existential predicament to its deepest roots, and lay out the path to unraveling our bondage and winning irreversible release. Ven. Bodhi arranged the chapters, each with its own introduction, to provide an overview of the Dhamma that mirrors the four noble truths, thus enabling students of Early Buddhism to see into the heart of the Buddha’s teachings as directly and clearly as possible.

"An incisive look into the early Buddhist teachings on emptiness, and a manual for bringing those teachings into our everyday lives. Before the growth of the Mahayana and the Perfection of Wisdom, the Buddha gave his own teachings, to his attendant Ananda, on the importance of emptiness (Pali sunnata, Sanskrit sunyata) in formal meditation and everyday practice. In this volume, renowned scholar-monk Bhikkhu Analayo explores these teachings and shows us how to integrate them into our lives. Bhikkhu Analayo draws from instructions found in the Greater and the Smaller Discourses on Emptiness (the Mahasunnatasutta and the Culasunnatasutta). In each chapter, he provides a translation of a pertinent excerpt from the discourses, follows this with clear and precise explanations of the text, and concludes by offering instructions for practice. Step by step, beginning with daily life and concluding with Nirvana, Bhikkhu Analayo unpacks the Buddha's teachings on the foundational teaching of emptiness."--

"The Guru Yoga of Jâe Tsongkhapa is an inspiring and well-loved guru yoga practice that originated from Jâe Tsongkhapa himself and was disseminated by the First Dalai Lama. In this book, Chèoden Rinpochâe, a celebrated scholar who was chosen as a debate partner for His Holiness the Dalai Lama, as well as an accomplished yogi who spent nineteen years in solitary retreat, offers two different commentaries to guide the reader's understanding. Rinpochâe's first commentary is based on the tantric oral tradition as presented by the great lama and scholar Pabongkha Dechen Nyingpo in his own inspired commentary on The Hundreds of Deities of Tuòsita, called A Treasury of Precious Jewels, which is presented here in full. Rinpochâe adds clarifying instruction to Jâe Pabongkha's work, bringing out the deeper meaning of the text and revealing how ordinary practitioners may understand and apply Pabongkha's instruction. The second commentary from Rinpochâe is a condensed commentary based on the såutra tradition. Thus, the reader is treated to two different perspectives of the guru yoga practice of Jâe Tsongkhapa. Previously published as Opening the Door of Blessings, this edition has been revised and updated, and is an essential edition to any practitioner's library"--

"Following the exhibition Encountering the Buddha: Art and Practice across Asia at the National Museum of Asian art, ten eminent scholars present their insights into Buddhism's fascinating relation with the five senses (sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch), which careens between delight and disgust, rarely finding a middle way. While much of Buddhist literature is devoted to overcoming the attachment that dooms us to rebirth in samsara, primarily by deprecating sense experience and showing that whatever brings us sensual pleasure leads only to all manner of physical and mental pain, in texts such as the Lotus Sutra, sensory powers do not offer sensory pleasure but rather knowledge, clear observation, and ability to preach the Dharma. Considering such religiously and historically contingent ambiguity, this volume presents each of the five senses in two instantiations, the good and the bad, opening up the discourse on the senses across Buddhist traditions. Just as the museum departed from tradition to incorporate sensory experiences into the exhibition, this volume is a new direction in scholarship to humanize Buddhist studies by foregrounding sensory experience and practice, inviting the reader to think about the senses in a focused manner and shifting our understanding of Buddhism from the conceptual to the material or practical, from the idealized to the human, from the abstract to the grounded, from the mind to the body"--

Tsongkhapa’s seminal contributions to Buddhist thought and practice, and to the course of history, are illuminated and celebrated by some of his foremost modern interpreters.Few figures have impacted the trajectory of Buddhism as much as the great philosopher and meditator, scholar and reformer, Tsongkhapa Losang Drakpa (1357–1419), the founder of the Geluk school of Tibetan Buddhism and teacher of the First Dalai Lama. His Ganden tradition spread throughout Central Asia and Mongolia, and today, through figures such as the Dalai Lama, who calls Tsongkhapa a second Nagarjuna, his teachings are shaping intellectual conversations and ethical practice globally. To commemorate the 600th anniversary of Tsongkhapa’s passing, a special conference was held at Ganden Monastery in India in 2019, featuring some of the best translators and interpreters of his teachings today. Highlights of those incisive summations of Tsongkhapa’s special contributions are gathered in this volume. Here we discover Tsongkhapa the philosopher, Tsongkhapa the master of the Buddhist canon, Tsongkhapa the tantric adept, and Tsongkhapa as the visionary who united wisdom to compassion. Each of the authors featured looks at a distinct facet of Tsongkhapa’s legacy. Donald Lopez provides a global context, Guy Newland distills Tsongkhapa’s Middle Way, Dechen Rochard uncovers the identity view, Jay Garfield examines the conceptualized ultimate, Thupten Jinpa highlights the seminal importance Tsongkhapa placed on ascertainment, David Gray looks at his approach to Cakrasamvara tantra, Gavin Kilty surveys his Guhyasamaja tantra commentary, Roger Jackson surmises his views on Zen and mahamudra, Geshé Ngawang Samten examines his provisional-definitive distinction, Gareth Sparham highlights his scholastic prowess, Mishig-Ish Bataa illuminates his impact in Mongolia, and Bhiksuni Thubten Chodron presents his instructions on how to cultivate compassion. Whether you are well acquainted with Tsongkhapa’s life and thought or you are encountering him here for the first time, you will find The Legacy of Tsongkhapa an illuminating survey of his unique explorations of the highest aspirations of humanity.

"Blazing Splendor is a rare and profound gift: an intimate view into the world of one of the most celebrated and influential meditation masters of the last century. In these memoirs, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche (1920-1996) recounts with incredible lucidity and humility his unique spiritual and familial heritage, his training in Tibetan Buddhism, and remarkable encounters with some of the most renowned masters of Tibet. This wide-reaching narrative stretches across generations to provide insight into the lived experience of contemplative adepts and into life before and after the Cultural Revolution, which left Tibet changed forever. Born the great-grandson of the seminal terma-revealer Chokgyur Lingpa and a holder of both Nyingma and Kagyu lineages, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche tells us of his unique family legacy, in which each generation has been saturated with spiritual accomplishments. He tells of how he, in time, became responsible for learning and then transmitting this lineage of Buddhist teachings, which continues today in the flourishing activities of his surviving sons Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, and Tsoknyi Rinpoche. Blazing Splendor is a window into the life of a Mahamudra and Dzogchen master that illuminates the transmission of sacred teachings in a modern world-a world we inhabit too, where the miraculous and the mundane exist side by side. This special, revised edition of the modern classic includes color illustrations"--

"Dèudjom Rinpochâe was renowned for being among the foremost scholars in the Nyingma tradition. With his vast erudition, he wrote forty volumes of texts, which include classic scholarly texts as well as pith instructions, the latter of which you will find in this book. In addition to being a great scholar and contemplative, he was also a great bodhisattva, or mahåasattva, who inspired countless people to devote themselves to the practice of Dharma, with a special emphasis on Dzokchen. Like his predecessor, Dèudjom Lingpa, Dèudjom Rinpochâe was also a great tertèon, or treasure revealer, as illustrated in his root verses, which form the basis of his commentary in this volume. The treasures revealed by Dèudjom Lingpa and Dèudjom Rinpochâe together form what is known as the Dèudjom Tersar - the New Treasure tradition of the Dèudjom lineage-which in turn was passed on to Gyatrul Rinpochâe, as well as many other distinguished lamas who became disciples of Dèudjom Rinpochâe. Within this book, you will find Dèudjom Rinpochâe's pith instructions in the form of root verses, entitled Guidance Transmitted One-on-One to Those of Good Fortune. These verses are actually part of a much larger cycle of treasure texts revealed by Dèudjom Rinpochâe on the wrathful manifestation of Padmasambhava known as Dorjâe Drolèo. Dèudjom Rinpochâe's autocommentary on these pith instructions, entitled The Illumination of Primordial Wisdom, forms the core of this volume. I have provided my own commentary on his root texts with the intention to help illuminate this path of the Great Perfection and inspire you to devote yourself to this greatest of all journeys. My own understanding, which I will share with you here, has been informed and inspired by the core teachings and guidance I've received from my lamas, who have led me toward this path of irreversible transformation - namely, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Gyatrul Rinpochâe, Yangthang Rinpochâe, Drupèon Lama Karma, and many others"--

"His Holiness the Dalai Lama skillfully illuminates the unique qualities and complexities of Vajrayåana, as practiced in Tibet, and illuminates the method to eradicate the subtlest obscurations preventing the full awakening of a buddha. Speaking to newcomers and advanced students alike, he explains the similarities and differences of the Såutra and Tantra paths. Having gathered many of the doubts and difficult points concerning the tantric path, he clarifies the purpose of receiving proper empowerment by qualified gurus and the ethical restraints and commitments required to enter the path of secret mantra. The paths and stages of the four tantric classes are explained, as are the generation-stage and completion-stage practices of Highest Yoga Tantra. You are introduced to the practices of clear appearance and divine identity common to all tantric såadhanas, as well as the unique practices of illusory body and actual clear light that overcome the subtlest defilements on the mind and eliminate all obscurations quickly. The understanding of emptiness in Såutra and Tantra is the same, but the consciousness perceiving emptiness differs. In Highest Yoga Tantra that consciousness is great bliss, which arises from knowing the methods to manipulate the channels, winds, and drops of the subtle body. In short, in Vajrayåana and the Culmination of the Path the Dalai Lama sets out the path that leads to blissful awakening and enables us to be of great benefit to all sentient beings"--

"You don't need to get enlightened again or to make your enlightenment better. It's not something you have to create or believe in. You just need to recognize who you already are. Dzogchen is an ancient Tibetan tradition that is perfect for countering the stress of our modern lives. A simple and quick method, Dzogchen is practical and direct, and open to us all-you simply need to recognize the great potential that is naturally born within everyone. In his highly anticipated first book, the Seventh Dzogchen Rinpoche, Jigme Losel Wangpo, shows us how our everyday lives can be turned into spiritual practice-not only to ease our stress, but to allow the true nature of our minds to reveal itself, right now, on the spot. The Dzogchen view is the highest view, the view from the top of the mountain. We need to build a platform that will hold the view, and Dzogchen Rinpoche provides the meditations and advice for living that will help you do just that. In turn, you'll find true peace in a mind at rest"--

"Buddhist tradition tells us that enlightenment is possible for each and every one of us. It's actually the best thing we can do for others and for the world, but also the best thing we can do for ourselves, because it means being free from all misery, pain, depression, dissatisfaction, and negative emotions, and abiding forever in peace, joy, love, and compassion. What could be more wonderful than that? Kathleen McDonald (Sangye Khadro), a Western nun with decades of experience and author of the bestselling book How to Meditate, guides us through the next step in our meditation practice: the transformative meditations on the Tibetan lamrim stages to enlightenment. She helps us see that the whole purpose of meditation is to transform our mind in a constructive way. For this to happen, we need to become so thoroughly familiar with the lamrim topics that they become our natural way of thinking and living our life. This warm and encouraging guide takes us through meditations on these lamrim topics, such as: - impermanence - refuge - karma - the four noble truths - bodhichitta - the six perfections: giving, ethics, patience, joyous effort, concentration, and wisdom How to Meditate on Lamrim offers practical advice, support, and step-by-step guidance on how to meditate on the stages of the path to enlightenment that will transform the practice of new meditators and seasoned practitioners alike"--

"Signposts on a journey through the darkest and brightest moments of our lives, the poems gathered here are explorations of loss, of thanksgiving, of transformation. Some show a path forward and others simply acknowledge and empathize with where we are, but all are celebrations of poetry's ability to express what seemed otherwise inexpressible, to touch deep inside our hearts-and also pull ourselves out of our selves and into greater connection with the world around us. Includes poems by Rainer Maria Rilke, Robert Frost, Elizabeth Bishop, Czeslaw Milosz, Seamus Heaney, Billy Collins, Joy Harjo, Danusha Lameris, Ada Limon, Kevin Young, Arthur Sze, Ellen Bass, Li Young-Lee, Natasha Tretheway, and many more The editor also includes an essay on appreciative attention and links to guided meditations for select poems, offering us a chance to have an even deeper experience of reflection"--

"In this first of two volumes of The Amazing Treasury of the Sakya Lineage, translators Khenpo Kunga Sherab and Matthew King capture a truly remarkable period in Buddhist and Asian history. Here, Ameshab Ngakwang Kunga Sèonam (1597-1659), a member of the Khèon aristocracy and the twenty-seventh throne holder of Sakya Monastery, offers a narrative that recounts the lives of numerous iconic leaders of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism during the transformational period between the tenth and fourteenth centuries. This landmark volume reconstructs that long era of religious and political innovation and upheaval through the rise of the Mongol Empire. In this book, you'll see how Sakya Buddhist leaders emerged in this early period as translators, adopters, arbiters, and innovators of newly circulating Indian Buddhist scholastic and tantric cultures. In the thirteenth century, when the Mongol Empire forever transformed medieval Eurasia, leaders of the Sakya school became confidants and tutors to some of its most powerful leaders. The biographies of numerous Sakya luminaries are retold here, like Sakya Paònòdita and Phakpa Lodrèo Gyaltsen; along with their Mongol contemporaries, Kèoten Ejen and Qubilai Qayan, these leaders laid the groundwork for forms of patronage, religious and political sovereignty, scholasticism and tantrism, and righteous rule that would endure for the next eight centuries down to today"--

"This volume contains English translations of two critical treatises of the Middle Way (Madhyamaka) Buddhist philosophical school: the Reason Sixty, by the most important of Indian thinkers Nåagåarjuna (2nd CE), and the commentary by his most influential successor, Chandrakåirti (7th CE). These two treatises emphasize the non-foundationalist reasoning for which Madhyamaka thought is famed, here within the context of that quintessential Buddhist topic, universal compassion, thereby illuminating the nondual nature of these two fundamental components of Indian Buddhist thought. The full import of Nåagåarjuna's verses are brought to life by Chandrakåirti, whose influence in Tibetan Buddhist educational institutions remains profound to the present. Translator Joseph Loizzo, a Harvard-trained psychiatrist and Columbia-trained Buddhologist, elucidates the relevance of these two treatises to the linguistic turn in contemporary philosophy and emphasizes their practical, therapeutic possibilities. Comparing in particular the deep resonances between Chandrakåirti's commentary and Wittgenstein's later work, Loizzo presents a masterful analysis in cross-cultural thought that highlights the transformative potential of philosophy"--

"We all want to find happiness. But how do we go about it? In this easygoing and clear-sighted guide, celebrated Buddhist meditation and philosophy master Khangser Rinpoche provides us with down-to-earth advice on how to train our minds and find our own innate wisdom and kindness along the way. He helps us see the profound insight that is open to us, too, and how it can awaken us to the truth of the way things are. This insight into the truth, and the practices that help you cultivate this awareness, transforms suffering into wisdom and compassion-and ultimately joy. A Wise Mind and a Kind Heart brings the ancient Tibetan mind training tradition into our twenty-first century lives. Through stories, real-life examples, reflections, and meditation practices-all told with warmth and humor-Khangser Rinpoche shows us how we can transform the suffering of our life into happiness. When we train the mind from within the context of our difficult emotions we can find true joy, just as the oyster transforms sand into a pearl"--

"Jetsun Rinpoche Dragpa Gyaltsen (1147-1216)-revered as one of Tibet's greatest yogis and one of the founding figures of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism-composed his Great Song of Experience as a way to distill and communicate the essence of the Buddhist path to enlightenment. Shimmering with double meanings, seeming tautologies, and ribald references, Dragpa Gyalsten's verses resound with insights thrown out like bolts of lightning: "When mind itself is comprehended, that is Buddha; do not seek elsewhere for the Buddha!" Beloved teacher Lama Migmar Tseten's newly updated translation of Dragpa Gyeltsen's Great Song brings these verses to life with a clarity and immediacy that belies the underlying challenge that these verses pose to our ordinary ways of thinking and being. In his extensive verse-by-verse commentary, Lama Migmar unravels Dragpa Gyaltsen's terse, enigmatic verses with clarity and humor, bringing Rinpoche's ecstatic realization and pointed insights into conversation with twenty-first-century concerns, showing how the experiential teachings of a twelfth-century Tibetan yogi can help us understand and counteract the modern pressures of wanton consumerism, greed and inequality, isolation and loneliness, and environmental degradation. Lama Migmar's insightful commentary opens the door to the radical vision presented by Dragpa Gyalsten's poetic teachings, showing us a view of the mind without center or limits, as bright as the sun, and clear and open as space. In addition to Lama Migmar's extensive verse-by-verse commentary, the book includes facing-page English and Tibetan editions of the root text of Great Song of Experience, and the laudatory poem Praise to Jetsun Rinpoche Dragpa Gyaltsen by Dragpa Gyaltsen's nephew and student, the great Sakya Paònòdita (1182-1251)"--

The second volume in a historic six-volume series containing many of the first English translations of the classic mahamudra literature compiled by the Seventh Karmapa.Sounds of Innate Freedom: The Indian Texts of Mahamudra are historic volumes containing many of the first English translations of the classic mahamudra literature. The texts and songs in these volumes constitute the large compendium called The Indian Texts of the Mahamudra of Definitive Meaning, compiled by the Seventh Karmapa Chötra Gyatso (1456–1539). Translated, introduced, and annotated by Karl Brunnhölzl, acclaimed senior teacher at the Nalandabodhi community of Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, the collection offers a brilliant window into the richness of the vast ocean of Indian mahamudra texts cherished in all Tibetan lineages, particularly in the Kagyü tradition, giving us a clear view of the sources of one of the world’s great contemplative traditions. This volume 2 (thirty-four texts) contains two long-established sets of Mahamudra works: “The Sixfold Pith Cycle” and short texts of Maitripa’s “Twenty-Five Dharmas of Mental Nonengagement,” which present a blend of Madhyamaka, Mahamudra, and certain tantric principles, as well as two commentaries by Maitripa’s students. The vital focus of this volume is the accomplishment of true reality.

"The Blazing Inner Fire of Bliss and Emptiness presents lucid translations of a pair of detailed commentaries by the famed Tibetan tantric master Ngulchu Dharmabhadra (1772-1851), illuminating a set of extremely secret and restricted tantric practices of highest yoga tantra. The first of these commentaries details the practices of the Six Yogas of Naropa, one of the most celebrated and revered systems of completion-stage practice in Tibet. Dharmabhadra presents the Six Yogas by elaborating upon Lama Tsongkhapa's (1357-1419) masterpiece on the subject entitled Endowed with the Three Inspirations, which served as the basis for nearly all subsequent commentaries on the Six Yogas within the Gelug tradition. Ngulchu Dharmabhadra's commentary is unique in that it presents the Six Yogas within the context of Vajrayogini practice, making this book a perfect companion piece to The Extremely Secret Dakini of Naropa (Wisdom Publications, 2020). Also contained in this book is Ngulchu Dharmabhadra's lucid and concise commentary on the First Panchen Lama's (1570-1662) famous Supplication for Liberation from [Fear of] the Perilous Journey of the Intermediate State. The prayer-a beautiful literary contribution from the First Panchen Lama in its own right-invokes the immediacy of death and the potential to use the process of dying as an opportunity for liberation. The prayer extols the efficacy of the "nine mixings" of the completion stage as direct means of transforming our ordinary death process by using advanced yogas, presented in the first commentary on the Six Yogas. Together, these works present the reader with a vast and profound vision of spiritual transformation-one in which every aspect of human experience can be used as an opportunity for transcendence and spiritual liberation"--

"This is Lama Zopa Rinpoche's commentary on perseverance (virya in Sanskrit; tsèondrèu in Tibetan), the fourth of the six bodhisattva perfections and the subject of the seventh chapter of Shantideva's Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life (Bodhisattvacharyavatara), which was written about 1,300 years ago. Rinpoche would often use the text to emphasize how we need to overcome our attachment to the samsaric pleasures of this life-what are called the eight worldly dharmas or worldly concerns. These are our big addiction and the reason this realm we live in is called the desire realm. Our senses constantly reach out for pleasurable objects: sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and so forth. As long as chasing our desires dominates our life, we not only have no freedom to become a better person but we are also assuring ourselves (and our planet) great suffering in the future. Breaking this addiction is not easy. We need great determination, great perseverance. This is the subject of Shantideva's seventh chapter, where he explores in detail the effort we need to move from a selfish nonvirtuous attitude to one that serves others. Of A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life, Rinpoche says, "The whole of Shantideva's wonderful text is like an elaborated commentary on the lamrim [the graduated path to enlightenment]. In the monasteries, A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life is not used much as a text for debating, but students constantly refer back to it, quoting from it often. Many great teachers, such as His Holiness the Dalai Lama, quote extensively from it for many different subjects. It is so practical that we can use whatever Shantideva says as everyday advice, showing us how to conduct our lives.""--

"In this profound work of five hundred verses, we encounter a presentation of Buddhism that integrates both the worldly and the transcendent. The clear and sagacious advice laid out on every page serves as a road map to one's highest goal-whether that goal is a better life, here called the Dharma of ascendance, or the ultimate one of spiritual freedom, the Dharma of the highest good. The verses, written for an unnamed ruler, touch on questions of statecraft, but their broader themes speak to us today because they tackle the difficulty of integrating one's spiritual journey with the social and political demands of daily life. Nåagåarjuna was an Indian Buddhist teacher, probably of the second century CE, who was renowned for his astute articulation of the philosophy of the Middle Way (Madhyamaka). His thoroughgoing critique of all forms of essentialism became a touchstone for Mahåayåana Buddhism in India, Tibet, and throughout East Asia, and his importance for the development of the Mahåayåana tradition can scarcely be exaggerated. The translators here first rendered Nåagåarjuna's letter for the Dalai Lama's teachings on the work in Los Angeles in 1997. While that commemorative edition was translated from the Tibetan, the present volume prioritizes the surviving Sanskrit verses along with the only known Indian commentary, by the eleventh-century scholar Ajitamitra. This is the first complete translation in English of the Precious Garland that takes the Indian text and commentary as its primary authorities. In addition, they provide rigorous working editions of the Sanskrit and Tibetan verses they translate. This elegant and precise rendering of Nåagåarjuna's work is certain to become the touchstone translation of this celebrated Buddhist text"--

This commentary on Guhyasamaja tantra is the seminal guide to deity yoga and tantric visualization for the Geluk school of Tibetan Buddhism.The Guhyasamaja Tantra, called the king of all tantras, is revered in Tibet, especially by the Geluk school. Ocean of Attainments, a commentary on Guhyasamaja practice, was composed by Khedrup Jé Gelek Palsang (1385–1438), a key disciple of the Geluk school founder, Tsongkhapa Losang Drakpa. It explores the creation stage, a quintessential Buddhist tantric meditation that together with the completion stage comprises the path of unexcelled tantra. In the creation stage, meditators visualize themselves as buddhas at the center of the celestial mandala, surrounded in all directions by male and female buddhas, bodhisattvas, and other enlightened beings. Yet creation-stage practice is not merely visualization but deity yoga—indivisibly uniting the meditation on emptiness with the visualization of the mandala. The creation stage uses the conceptualization in visualization to overcome conceptualization, thereby creating a nonconceptual and nonerroneous direct perception. Such a mind, profound and vast, can bring about a transformation that stops samsaric suffering. How can visions generated as mental constructs not be erroneous? To the awakened eye, the buddhas and other beings who dwell in the mandala are “reality,” and in a sense they are more than real. While the previously published Essence of the Ocean of Attainments is a concise exposition on the practice of the Guhyasamaja sadhana, Ocean of Attainments is far more detailed, providing extensive scriptural citations, clear explanation of the body maanala, arguments on points of contention, reference to other tantric systems, and critiques of misinterpretations. With its extensive and clear introduction, this volume is a vital contribution to the growing body of scholarship on Guhyasamaja and on Buddhist tantra in general.

"Saraha's spontaneous songs, or dohas, contain the special instructions of a guru, whose qualities of realization can then directly enter the heart of devoted disciples. These songs represent the rare perfection of the Buddhist art of expressing the inexpressible, and they can trigger a mind-to-mind transmission that some take to have the power of directly pointing out the true nature of mind. Saraha's dohas are quoted fairly often in Indic materials, which points to the fact that he was indeed an influential authority. The dohas are the most distinctive literary expression of a class of tantric Buddhist masters called siddhas, hailed by tradition as beings of exceptional spiritual realization. Essentially, these are gnomic verses; composed not just in the doha meter proper using a kind of literary Middle Indic called Apabhramsa, they also purportedly convey a high degree of mystical insight and were transmitted in collections. The "text" (already a tricky term) of Saraha's Spontaneous Songs has not yet been available in full, nor has it been stabilized to any degree of satisfaction. The discovery of two hitherto-overlooked manuscripts has helped to fill in the gaps. In fact, the present volume is the first in over six decades to bring to light new original material"--

"A detailed, beautifully illustrated presentation of the construction and symbolism of the famed Kalachakra mandala, the crown jewel of the Indo-Tibetan tantric traditions. This volume contains an extensive analysis of the construction and symbolism of the mandala of the Kalachakra tantric system, the most intricate and explicit of the Indian Buddhist unexcelled yoga tantras, the most advanced teachings within the Indo-Tibetan tradition. Indo-Tibetan tantric traditions, particularly the unexcelled category, depend on imagery and visualization for the processes of purifying cyclic existence, and Kalachakra is the most detailed. The late scholar-practitioner Edward Henning, one of the earliest Western specialists on this material, offers this labor of love as a testament to the genius of the Tibetan tradition in preserving and transmitting these teachings over a thousand years. Well known internationally now due to the Dalai Lama's many public initiations, the Kalachakra mandala serves as a primary focal point for meditators both new and seasoned. Henning draws primarily from the Jonang tradition of Kalachakra practice, particularly the modern master Banda Gelek, to elucidate and clarify inconsistencies across traditions and literature, including the authoritative Indian commentary Stainless Light (Vimalaprabha), regarding the construction and visualization of the three-tiered mandala with its hundreds of deities. In addition to providing detailed information on the images to be visualized, Henning provides in the final chapter a clear and extensive explanation of the symbolism of the habitat and inhabitants that are to be animated during the meditation session"--

"In Impermanence in Plain English, the beloved author and teacher Bhante Gunaratana, alongside Julia Harris, clearly and masterfully explains the key Buddhist insight of impermanence and invites the reader to personally investigate its truth. Once-youthful bodies grow old and weary. New thoughts, feelings, and sensations arise and fade every second. Impermanence is not some abstract, metaphysical idea. This is the Dhamma, and you can see it for yourself. Drawing from Pali scriptures and writing with fresh, direct language, Bhante Gunaratana and Julia Harris highlight the Buddha's exhortation that we must directly realize for ourselves the liberating insights that free us from suffering and cyclic existence, without relying only on the word of religious authorities or academic or philosophical musings"--

"Nirvana is a critical part of the Buddhist path, though it remains a difficult concept to fully understand for Buddhist practitioners. In The Signless and the Deathless: On the Realization of Nirvana, scholar-monk Bhikkhu Anåalayo breaks new ground, or rediscovers old ground, by showing the reader that realizing Nirvana entails "a complete stepping out of the way the mind usually constructs experience." With his extraordinary mastery of canonical Buddhist languages, Venerable Anåalayo first takes the reader through discussions in early Buddhist suttas on signs (Pali nimitta), the characteristic marks of things that signal to us what they are, and on cultivating concentration on signlessness as a meditative practice. Through practicing bare awareness, we can stop defilements that come from grasping at signs-and stop signs from arising in the first place. He then turns to deathlessness. Deftly avoiding the extremes of nihilism and eternalism that often cloud our understanding of Nirvana, Venerable Anåalayo shows us that deathless as an epithet of Nirvana "stands for the complete transcendence of mental affliction by mortality"-ours or others'-and that it is achievable while still alive. Advanced practitioners and scholars alike will value the work for its meticulous academic expertise and its novel way of explaining the highest of all Buddhist goals-the final end of suffering"--

"In Dharma Talk, award-winning poet John Brehm explores the perennial themes of aging, compassion, emptiness, nonseparation, and more. At once poignant and humorous, Brehm's gentle, wry poems remind us that the personal and the universal are not different-and point us to the Dharma of everyday life"--

Explore an in-depth explanation of buddha nature and self-emptiness.The original Sublime Continuum Explanatory Commentary was written by Noble Asanga to explain the verses received from the bodhisattva Maitreya in the late fourth century CE in northern India. Here it is introduced and presented in an original translation from Sanskrit and Tibetan, with the translation of an extensive Tibetan Supercommentary by Gyaltsap Darma Rinchen (1364–1432), whose work closely followed the view of his teacher, Tsong Khapa (1357–1419). Contemporary scholars have widely misunderstood the Buddhist Centrist (Madhyamaka) teaching of emptiness, or selflessness, as either a form of nihilism or a radical skepticism. Yet Buddhist philosophers from Nagarjuna on have shown that the negation of intrinsic reality, when accurately understood, affirms the supreme value of relative realities. Gyaltsap Darma Rinchen, in his Supercommentary, elucidates a highly positive theory of the buddha nature, showing how the wisdom of emptiness empowers the compassionate life of the enlightened, as it is touched by its oneness with the truth body of all buddhas. With his clear study of Gyaltsap’s insight and his original English translation, Bo Jiang completes his historic project of studying and presenting these works from Sanskrit and Tibetan in both Chinese and, now, English translations, in linked publications.

The thirty-four essays in this volume follow the particular interests of Leonard van der Kuijp, whose groundbreaking research in Tibetan intellectual and cultural history imbued his students with an abiding sense of curiosity and discovery.As part of Leonard van der Kuijp’s research in Tibetan history, as he patiently and expertly revealed treasures of the Tibetan intellectual tradition in fourteenth-century Tsang, or seventeenth-century Lhasa, or eighteenth-century Amdo, he developed an international community of colleagues and students. The thirty-four essays in this volume follow the particular interests of the honoree and express the comprehensive research that his international cohort have engaged in alongside his generous tutelage over the course of forty years. He imbued his students with the abiding sense of curiosity and discovery that can be experienced through every one of his writings, and that can be found as well in these new essays in intellectual, cultural, and institutional history by Christopher Beckwith, the late Hubert Decleer, Franz-Karl Ehrhard, Jörg Heimbel and David Jackson, Isabelle Henrion-Dourcy, Nathan Hill, Matthew Kapstein, Kurtis Schaeffer, Michael Witzel, Allison Aitken, Yael Bentor, Pieter Verhagen, Todd Lewis, William McGrath, Peter Schwieger, Gray Tuttle, and others.

"Janet Gyatso has made substantial, influential, and incredibly valuable contributions to the fields of Buddhist and Tibetan studies. Her paradigm-shifting approach is to take a topic, an idea, a text, a term-often one that had long been taken for granted or overlooked-and turn it inside out, to radically reimagine the kinds of questions that might be asked and what the answers might reveal. The twenty-nine essays in this volume, authored by colleagues and former students-many of whom are now also colleagues-represent the breadth of her interests and influence, and the care that she has taken in training the current generation of scholars of Tibet and Buddhism. They are organized into five sections: Women, Gender, and Sexuality; Biography and Autobiography; the Nyingma Imaginaire; Literature, Art, and Poetry; and Early Modernity: Human and Non-Human Worlds. Contributions include Josâe Cabezâon on the incorporation of a Buddhist rock carving in Central Asian culture; Matthew Kapstein on the memoirs of an ambivalent reincarnated lama; Willa Baker on Jikmâe Lingpa's theory of absence; Andrew Quintman on a found poem expressing worldly sadness on the forced closure of a monastery; and Padma 'tsho on Tibetan women's advocacy for full female ordination. These and the many other chapters, each fascinating reads in their own right, together offer a glowing tribute to a scholar who indelibly changed the way we think about Buddhism, its history, and its literature"--