The five volume set, Karma Chakme's Mountain Dharma, includes the text as taught by Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche at Karma Triyana Dharmachakra (KTD) from 1999 to 2003, with translations by Lama Yeshe Gyamtso and Chojor Radha. Volume two examines the complete path of Mahamudra from initial experience to full realization. There is emphasis on how to conduct a proper retreat, including the use of geomancy in determining the appropriate site, the longevity practices of White Tara and Tseringma, chA practice, and how to use compassion as protection from fear and danger. This volume introduces the tantras, and gives anuttara yoga tantra instructions for Vairochana purification practices both for oneself and for the deceased.
Karma Chakme's Mountain Dharma is a complete text for those who want to practice Tibetan Buddhism. Whether you are in an intensive retreat where you practice most of the time or in a busy life where you practice as much as you can, the issues are the same, the practices are the same, and the postmeditation is the same. Mountain Dharma contains everything you need to undertake any practice, from the most basic to the tantrayana, including how to conduct a proper retreat. Because this text is very precise and very clear, you do not have to obtain sixty different texts. Volume four explores the conduct and lifestyle that create an appropriate framework for Dharma including how to relate to the sangha, incorporating insights on how to benefit others through the traditions of scholarship and realization, and includes a comprehensive exploration of the phenomenon of death.
The Quintessence of the Union of Mahamudra and Dzokchen presents, in a very concise and inclusive way, all that an individual actually needs to practice in order to attain awakening. This style of presentation, in its brevity and directness, is appropriate for the present time because our mental afflictions are strong and life is short. We do not have time to waste. The text, which is composed of eight songs, presents the quintessence of both Mahamudra and Dzokchen while celebrating their fundamental unity. Written in Karma Chakme's unique style of extreme simplicity and great profundity, it makes what is normally difficult to understand very easy and straightforward.
Tara, the feminine embodiment of enlightened activity, is a Buddhist deity whose Tibetan name means "liberator," signaling her ability to free beings from the delusion and ignorance that keep them trapped in ever-recurring patterns of negativity. She embodies a challenge, but one that is profoundly nurturing: to transform our minds and become like her, reflecting the tranquility, compassion, and wisdom that make her so beautiful. Thubten Chodron describes a simple meditation on Tara, explaining its benefits and its application to daily life. She also presents two well-loved praises—"Homage to the Twenty-one Taras" and "A Song of Longing for Tara, the Infallible"—together with reflections on their meanings for modern practitioners.
In this rare gem we learn more that just details of this particular Medicine Buddha practice. Rinpoche, has king included many basic principles of tantric theory and practice in general.
Collection of poetic songs (Tib. mgur) and instructions attributed to the first Traleg Rinpoche (Tib. Khra-legs Skyabs-mgon Nyi-ma-bkra-shis, flourished in the late 15th century), who is associated with Thrangu (Khra-ʼgu) Monastery and the Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism; includes recollection of successive lives and story of his relics.
Fear, anger, and negativity are states that each of us have to contend with. Machik's Complete Explanation, the most famous book of the teachings of Machik Lapdrön, the great female saint and yogini of eleventh- to twelfth-century Tibet, addresses these issues in a practical, direct way. Machik developed a system, the Mahamudra Chöd, that takes the Buddha's teachings as a basis and applies them to the immediate experiences of negative mind states and malignant forces. Her unique feminine approach is to invoke and nurture the very "demons" that we fear and hate, transforming those reactive emotions into love. It is the tantric version of developing compassion and fearlessness, a radical method of cutting through ego-fixation. This expanded edition includes Machik Lapdrön's earliest known teaching, the original source text for the tradition, The Great Bundle of Precepts on Severance (Chöd). This pithy set of instructions reveals that the teachings of the perfection of wisdom are the true inspiration for Chöd. It is beautifully clarified in a short commentary by Rangjung Dorje, the Third Karmapa.
Marpa the Translator, the eleventh-century farmer, scholar, and teacher, is one of the most renowned saints in Tibetan Buddhist history. In the West, Marpa is best known through his teacher, the Indian yogin Nâropa, and through his closest disciple, Milarepa. This lucid and moving translation of a text composed by the author of The Life of Milarepa and The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa documents the fascinating life of Marpa, who, unlike many other Tibetan masters, was a layman, a skillful businessman who raised a family while training his disciples. As a youth, Marpa was inspired to travel to India to study the Buddhist teachings, for at that time in Tibet, Buddhism had waned considerably through ruthless suppression by an evil king. The author paints a vivid picture of Marpa's three journeys to India: precarious mountain passes, desolate plains teeming with bandits, greedy customs-tax collectors. Marpa endured many hardships, but nothing to compare with the trials that ensued with his guru Nâropa and other teachers. Yet Marpa succeeded in mastering the tantric teachings, translating and bringing them to Tibet, and establishing the Practice Lineage of the Kagyüs, which continues to this day.
Exiled from his native land by the Communist Chinese, Tibetan lama Dezhung Rinpoche arrived in Seattle and continued his role as a teacher of teachers, mentoring some of the most prominent Western scholars of Tibetan Buddhism today.
The Dorje Chang Tungma is probably the most well-known of the Kagyu prayers, traditionally recited before teaching sessions and often recited by practitioners as part of their daily practice. Nearly everyone knows this prayer by heart, but such familiarity can be dangerous. It is all too easy to recite the prayer mindlessly, like a parrot, without focusing on the words or reflecting on the meaning of what we are saying. By studying it, we should gain deeper understanding and be able to appreciate its profundity more fully. In so many ways, it is much more than an ordinary prayer. It includes all the important stages of the training in mahamudra: revulsion at samsara, renunciation, devotion to the guru, undistracted meditation, and so forth. As such, it is like a pith instruction. In the beginning, the prayer recalls all the lineage masters of the Kagyu. When we talk about lineage, we mean more than the one-to-one, physical transmission from teacher to student. Lineage is an unbroken spiritual line that begins with the source and continues uninterrupted from generation to generation. Not only that, as we recite the body of the prayer, we are reminded of the core practices of mahamudra: revulsion is the legs of the practice, uncontrived devotion is the head of the practice, non-distraction is the core of meditation practice, and so on. Originally, this teaching was part of the 29th Kagyu Monlam Chenmo and was given under the most auspicious circumstances. It happened at the perfect place, Dorje Den, the sacred site where Lord Buddha attained enlightenment; at the perfect time, just after Tibetan New Year during the Month of Miracles; and all four pillars of the sangha -- bhikshus, bhikshunis, upasikas and upasikis --were present, along with many rinpoches, tulkus and khenpos of the Karma Kamtsang.From the preface by The Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje
