Establishing Appearances as Divine, a concise treatise by the eleventh-century Tibetan Buddhist philosopher Rongzom Chökyi Zangpo, sets out to prove the provocative point that everything that appears is actually deity manifest. Many books on Tibetan Buddhism address the important themes of mind training, compassion, and proper conduct, but this penetrating study and translation of Rongzom’s text goes beyond that in its aim to bring the reader face to face with his or her pure, divine nature.
A highly esteemed Buddhist treatise on realizing your divine nature. This concise treatise by the eleventh-century Tibetan Buddhist philosopher Rongzom Chökyi Zangpo sets out to prove the provocative point that everything that appears is actually deity manifest. Many books on Tibetan Buddhism address the important themes of mind training, compassion, and proper conduct, but this book goes beyond that in its aim to bring the reader face to face with his or her divine and pure nature. Transformation not only of one's identity but also of one's environment is an important principle in Tantric Buddhist philosophy. In Tantric scriptures one is instructed to visualize oneself as a deity, a divine identity who resides in a perfect sphere. By repeatedly training in this visualization, one perfects the transformation and ultimately becomes the deity itself. Establishing Appearances as Divine seeks to unravel the interplay between rationality, truth, and divinity, bringing to light the view that underlies Tantric Buddhist practices.
In this eleventh-century commentary, the renowned Nyingma (Ancient School) scholar Rongzom Chokyi Zangpo sets out his analysis of the nature of purity. This penetrating study, directed towards scholars and serious practitioners, contains Koppl's English-language translation of Rongzom's original text and her explication of his views.
People have reported encounters with God since the beginning of recorded history. Visitations gave rise to every major religion, influencing the hearts and minds of billions of believers. These powerful events are part of the human record, but it is unclear how accurate they are or how frequently they occur. However, reports from those who claim to have encountered Divinity are fairly consistent: There’s something unfathomable out there. Al Guart, a committed agnostic, diminished these accounts as possibly the result of overactive imaginations, mental illness, mythology or drugs – until the first of his unexpected encounters in 1980. He kept silent about his experiences over the past forty years, working to integrate them into daily life while trying to fathom how and why they happened. In this ground-breaking book, Al relives two Divine encounters in stark, journalistic detail. The first Visitation overwhelmed him with sheer jubilance, and the second – also imbued with joy – left him weeping as never before. Along the way, he takes a hard look at historical accounts of Divine appearances and challenges the renderings of God left in their wake. He offers the fruits of his spiritual inquiries for consideration but encourages readers to seek their own direct contact with the Creator - and to settle for nothing less.
Dzogchen (Great Perfection) goes to the heart of our experience by investigating the relationship between mind and world and uncovering the great secret of mind's luminous nature. Weaving in personal stories and everyday examples, Pema Rigtsal leads the reader to see that all phenomena are the spontaneous display of mind, a magical illusion, and yet there is something shining in the midst of experience that is naturally pure and spacious. Not recognizing this natural great perfection is the root cause of suffering and self-centered clinging. After introducing us to this liberating view, Pema Rigtsal explains how it is stabilized and sustained in effortless meditation: without modifying anything, whatever thoughts of happiness or sorrow arise simply dissolve by themselves into the spaciousness of pure presence. The book is divided into chapters on the view, meditation as the path, conduct, the attainment, and the four bardos. Each chapter consists of mini-sections that can be read as stand-alone Dharma talks. Pema Rigtsal has studied and lived with several authentic Dzogchen masters and has surprising stories to tell about their unconventional methods to introduce students to the subtle view of Dzogchen.
A unique presentation of the Buddhist path by Chökyi Dragpa, the foremost Gelug disciple of the famed nineteenth-century Tibetan master Patrul Rinpoche. Illuminating the Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva's quotations and direct instructions from realized sages of the past reinforce one another, subtly penetrating the mind and preparing it for meditation. This book, while fully accessible to newcomers, is especially powerful for serious, established practitioners. Illuminating the Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva was previous published under the title Uniting Wisdom and Compassion.
This collection contains four of the most cherished Tibetan Buddhist commentaries on the practices of visualization, mantra recitation, and meditative absorption—elements that form the core of development stage meditation, one of the most important practices of Buddhist Tantra. The texts within this volume—Ladder to Akaniṣṭha, Clarifying the Difficult Points in the Development Stage, The Four Stakes That Bind the Life-Force, and Husks of Unity—are among the most widely studied commentaries on this topic and have formed the basis for spiritual study and practice for centuries. In these eloquent and inspiring translations, Jigme Lingpa, Patrul Rinpoche, and Getse Mahāpaṇḍita explain the fundamental philosophy of the development stage, illuminating its profound insights into the nature of reality and how to utilize these insights through the practice of meditation.
Explore the Book is not a commentary with verse-by-verse annotations. Neither is it just a series of analyses and outlines. Rather, it is a complete Bible survey course. No one can finish this series of studies and remain unchanged. The reader will receive lifelong benefit and be enriched by these practical and understandable studies. Exposition, commentary, and practical application of the meaning and message of the Bible will be found throughout this giant volume. Bible students without any background in Bible study will find this book of immense help as will those who have spent much time studying the Scriptures, including pastors and teachers. Explore the Book is the result and culmination of a lifetime of dedicated Bible study and exposition on the part of Dr. Baxter. It shows throughout a deep awareness and appreciation of the grand themes of the gospel, as found from the opening book of the Bible through Revelation.
The mind-training practices contained in the Dzogchen tradition of Tibetan Buddhism have never before been presented in the English language. The main text translated here, The Steps to Liberation, will be of great interest to Western practitioners, since its instructions are pithy and direct, and experiential rather than scholarly. The contemplations on core Buddhist principles like impermanence and karma, intended for beginning meditators, unfold as dramatic stories in which the meditator is to vividly imagine himself or herself as the main character who undergoes a sequence of experiences that result in transformative realizations. They distill the most essential teachings of the Buddha into a practical system that can be easily implemented in a daily meditation practice. At the same time, they bring together the most foundational Buddhist teachings with the profound methods of the Vajrayana (the esoteric teachings of Buddhist tantra). This is the hallmark of Dzogchen mind training and what sets it apart from other mind-training lineages.
It seems that the wish to benefit all, and to lavish indiscriminately upon the first comer one’s own gifts, was not a thing altogether commendable, or even free from reproach in the eyes of the many; seeing that the gratuitous waste of many prepared drugs on the incurably-diseased produces no result worth caring about, either in the way of gain to the recipient, or reputation to the would-be benefactor. Rather such an attempt becomes in many cases the occasion of a change for the worse. The hopelessly-diseased and now dying patient receives only a speedier end from the more active medicines; the fierce unreasonable temper is only made worse by the kindness of the lavished pearls, as the Gospel tells us. I think it best, therefore, in accordance with the Divine command, for any one to separate the valuable from the worthless when either have to be given away, and to avoid the pain which a generous giver must receive from one who treads upon his pearl,’ and insults him by his utter want of feeling for its beauty.
