Tantra in Practice

Tantra in Practice

Author: David Gordon White

Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publ.

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 662

ISBN-13: 9788120817784

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Tantra in Practice is the eight volume of Princeton Readings in Religions and the first substantial anthology of Tantric works ever to appear in English. The thirty-nine contributors, drawn from around the world, are leading scholars of Tantra. Each contributor has provided a translation of a key work, in most cases translated here for the first time. Each chapter in the volume begins with an introduction in which the translator discusses the history and influence of the work, identifying points of particular difficulty or interest. David White has provided a general introduction to the volume that serves as an ideal guide to the riches contained between the covers of this book. He has organized the volume thematically, providing fascinating juxtapositions of works from different regions, periods, and traditions. Two additional tables of contents are provided, organizing the works by tradition and by country of origin. The range of works represented here is remarkable, spanning the continent of Asia and the traditions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Islam over more than a millennium. With the publication this volume, the long disparaged and neglected Tantric traditions of Asia receive the attention they so rightly deserve. This is a groundbreaking work.


A Manual of Ritual Fire Offerings

A Manual of Ritual Fire Offerings

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9788186470510

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The Ritual Fire Offering, which is derived from Indian tradition, plays an important part in buddhist Tantric Practice. The Ritual Fire Offering for Peace is commonly performed at the conclusion of the prescribed meditation retreat associated with specific meditational deities, in order to compensate for any errors that may have occurred during the practice. The Ritual Fire Offering for Increase may be Performed to increase merit, wealth, life span and so forth. This manual contains translations of texts required to perform the Ritual Fire Offering for Peace associated with six meditational deities: Thirteen Deity Vajrabhairava, Solitary Hero Vajrabhairava, Guhyasamaja, Heruka, Vajra Yogini, and Cittamani Tara, according to the Gelugpa traditon of Tibetan Buddhism. It further includes a description of the changes required to convert the ritual for peace to the ritual for increase in association with Guhyasamaja. The texts have been clearly presented in English to enable people who are qualified by initiation, but who do not know Tibetan, to understand the stages and Procedures of Ritual Fire Offerings so that they may perform them effectively.


The Yogini's Eye

The Yogini's Eye

Author:

Publisher: Xlibris Corporation

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 590

ISBN-13: 1477150447

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The Yogini's Eye: Comprehensive Introduction to Buddhist Tantra, Volume I: Systemization and Interpretation introduces a new translation series, Classics of the Early Sakya, which will focus on the extensive literature of the Sakya Lamdre lineage of the Hevajra Tantra cycle of revelation. This first volume of introduction is the earliest book of its type and comprehensive treatment of the subject matter to have been written, and initiated the scholarly study of Tibetan Buddhist Tantra. Subsequent studies in all lineages were built on the foundation established by this book. The Yogini's Eye has served as the introductory textbook for the study of Sakya Tantra continuously for over 800 years. Over the centuries, the textbook has been supplemented by a total of fifteen commentaries and study guides written by the most learned scholars of the Sakya tradition, including Lama Dampa Sonam Gyaltsen (1312 1375), Yeshe Gyaltsen (1300's 1406), Ngorchen Kunga Zangpo (1382 1450), Lowo Khenchen Sonam Lhundrup (1456 1532), Ngorchen Konchok Lhundrup (1497 1547), Amezhap Ngawang Kunga Sonam (1597 1659), and Dezhung Chopel Jamyang Kunga Namgyal (1880's mid-1950's). This first English edition contains the translation of thirteen of these study guides, excluding all repetitive sections, inserted into the original book in the appropriate context.


Passionate Enlightenment

Passionate Enlightenment

Author: Miranda Shaw

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2022-06-07

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 0691235597

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The now-classic exploration of the role of women and the feminine in Buddhist Tantra The crowning cultural achievement of medieval India, Tantric Buddhism is known in the West primarily for the sexual practices of its adherents, who strive to transform erotic passion into spiritual bliss. Historians of religion have long held that this attempted enlightenment was for men only, and that women in the movement were at best marginal and subordinated and at worst degraded and exploited. In Passionate Enlightenment, Miranda Shaw argues to the contrary and presents extensive evidence of the outspoken and independent female founders of the Tantric movement and their creative role in shaping its distinctive vision of gender relations and sacred sexuality. Including a new preface by the author, this Princeton Classics edition makes an essential work available for new audiences.


Tibetan Ritual

Tibetan Ritual

Author: Jose Ignacio Cabezon

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2009-12-08

Total Pages: 317

ISBN-13: 0199742405

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Ritual is one of the most pervasive religious phenomena in the Tibetan cultural world. Despite its ubiquity and importance to Tibetan cultural life, however, only in recent years has Tibetan ritual been given the attention it deserves. This is the first scholarly collection to focus on this important subject. Unique in its historical, geographical and disciplinary breadth, this book brings together eleven essays by an international cast of scholars working on ritual texts, institutions and practices in the greater Tibetan cultural world - Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, and Mongolia. While most of the chapters focus on Buddhism, two deal with ritual in Tibet's indigenous Bon religion. All of the essays are original to this volume. An extensive introduction by the editor provides a broad overview of Tibetan ritual and contextualizes the chapters within the field of Buddhist and Tibetan studies. The book should find use in advanced undergraduate courses and graduate seminars on Tibetan religion. It will also be of interest to students and scholars of ritual generally.


Tibetan Literature

Tibetan Literature

Author: Leonard van der Kuijp

Publisher: Shambhala Publications

Published: 1996-01-01

Total Pages: 555

ISBN-13: 1559390441

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Tibetan Literature addresses the immense variety of Tibet's literary heritage. An introductory essay by the editors attempts to assess the overall nature of 'literature' in Tibet and to understand some of the ways in which it may be analyzed into genres. The remainder of the book contains articles by nearly thirty scholars from America, Europe, and Asia—each of whom addresses an important genre of Tibetan literature. These articles are distributed among eight major rubrics: two on history and biography, six on canonical and quasi-canonical texts, four on philosophical literature, four on literature on the paths, four on ritual, four on literary arts, four on non-literary arts and sciences, and two on guidebooks and reference works.


Ruthless Compassion

Ruthless Compassion

Author: Robert N. Linrothe

Publisher: Serindia Publications, Inc.

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 380

ISBN-13: 0906026512

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The historical development of Esoteric Buddhism in India is still known only in outline. A few verifiably early texts do give some insight into the origin of the ideas which would later develop and spread to East and Southeast Asia, and to Tibet. However, there is another kind of evidence which can be harnessed to the project of reconstructing the history of Esoteric Buddhist doctrines and practice. This evidence consists of art objects, mainly sculpture, which survive in significant numbers from the 6th to the 13th century.


Vajrayogini Sadhana & Commentary

Vajrayogini Sadhana & Commentary

Author: Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey

Publisher: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives

Published: 2019-01-01

Total Pages: 64

ISBN-13: 8186470549

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Vajrayogini Sadhana and Commentary, a translation of an oral explanation given by Geshe Ngawang Dhargey in Seattle, Washington, USA, in 1981. Traditionally, the practice of tantra is supposed to kept secret, and it is to be noted that this book is intended purely for those who have received the proper initiations. However, as His Holiness the Dalai Lama has advised, the great misunderstandings to which tantra is often subject to are more harmful than the partial lifting of such secrecy, so there is a necessity for books to be made available which contain authentic explanations. Venerable Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey was born in Kham Province of Tibet in 1928 and attended Sera Je Monastery. He escaped from Tibet in 1959 to India where he was able to continue teaching and meditating. He received his Geshe Lharampa degree in 1969. In 1971 His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama asked him to teach Dharma courses to westerners at the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharamsala. In 1986 he left for Dunedin, New Zealand, where he was the resident Spiritual Director at the Thargye Dharma Center until his death in 1996.


Homa Variations

Homa Variations

Author: Richard K. Payne

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 449

ISBN-13: 0199351589

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Throughout human history, and across many religious cultures, offerings are made into fire. The essays collected in Homa Variations provide detailed studies of this practice, known in the tantric world as the "homa," from its inception up to the present.