Quintessential Dzogchen elucidates how our confusion can dawn as wisdom. Arranged for the simple meditator, these pithy instructions strike the heart of the Buddha's teachings by explaining how to both acknowledge and train in your own enlightened essence. Quintessential Dzogchen is an invaluable handbook replete with source materials for those who seek further guidance. In forty-two writings by some of the greatest masters, both past and present, as well as excerpts from the most profound scriptures, the entire ground, path & fruition of the foremost teachings of Tibetan Buddhism are clearly explained. Book jacket.
A classic collection of writings on the meditation practice and theory of Dzogchen, the Great Perfection, by the celebrated fourteenth-century scholar and adept Longchen Rabjam (Longchenpa). This classic collection of texts on the meditation practice and theory of Dzogchen presents the Great Perfection through the writings of its supreme authority, the fourteenth-century Tibetan scholar and visionary Longchen Rabjam. The pinnacle of Vajrayana practice in the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, Dzogchen embodies a system of training that awakens the intrinsic nature of the mind to reveal its original essence, utterly perfect and free from all duality—buddha nature, or buddhahood itself. In The Practice of Dzogchen, Tulku Thondup translates essential passages from Longchen Rabjam’s voluminous writings to illuminate and clarify this teaching. He also draws on the works of later masters of the tradition, placing Dzogchen in context both in relation to other schools of Buddhism and in relation to the nine-vehicle outline of the Buddhist path described in the Nyingma tradition. This expanded edition includes Counsel for Liberation, Longchenpa’s poetic exhortation to readers to quickly enter the path of liberation, the first step toward the summit of Dzogchen practice.
The Tibetan Buddhist meditation practice known as Dzogchen is a pragmatic method for getting in touch with the pure, clear awareness that is hidden under our constant flow of anxious thoughts. Dzogchen Essentials makes available the methods to meet and utilize this rich spiritual path. Marcia Binder Schmidt, a long time, close attendant to one of the foremost Dzogchen Masters of the last century, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, has put together the most comprehensive and accessible collection of the essential instructions vital to this subject. She has organized them into a handbook for the genuine trainee of this tradition. The book includes a useful preface an introductory teaching by a leading Dzogchen Master as well as classical and original pieces that impart crucial explanations. This is a book for the layperson as well as the scholar. For centuries, Dzogchen has been a secretly held and privately transmitted teaching, which was unknown beyond the confines of Tibetan culture. But that changed in the final decades of the last century, as many Tibetans saw the long-awaited unfolding of a famous ninth-century prophecy: "When the Dark Age is rampant, the Dzogchen teachings will blaze like wildfire."
This book main idea is that intrinsic to the heart, mind and spirit in every human being is an identical essence which can be realized. This realization makes any man or woman a Buddha. The focus of this book is the method of how to implement that through a system of training which is of timeless value, and not bound by cultural limitations. The timeless truth it conveys is as meaningful for a Westerner today as it was in India and Tibet. During the centuries this system of effortless training has been applied by people from all any occupation -- tailers and kings, monks and business men - and provided them with a simple method to not only withstand the changes of life but also to transcend them. Like the waves on an ocean, the ups and downs, joys and sorrows, we meet in our lives can be seen as movements in the ocean, giving true peace and room for caring for others. I will be hard to find another book which is as concise as Heart Lamp. The audience is the steadily increasing followers of Buddhism in the Americas, Europe and Asia, which is grown in the wake of Tibetan masters' teaching outside of Tibet. Heart Lamp is unique in that its translator worked closely with several of the most respected meditation masters of recent times and was able to receive knowledge from the "lifeblood" of the living tradition. Heart Lamp is unique in its brevity without losing the depth of a true spiritual lineage the training in which can bring about enlightenment in a single lifetime. And, it is being used as the textbook during meditation retreats around.
Present Fresh Wakefulness is more than a set of general instructions on how to practice, it is the quintessential advice of an experienced, living master on what he considers to be the absolute necessities today's yogis to arrive at liberation and complete enlightenment. We should know how to make the distinction between self existing wakefulness and dualistic mind. Believing that we are sustaining the natural state of mind while we are caught up with ordinary thinking is not much use. We need to identify the genuine, the authentic -- this is important. We need to identify that which is utterly empty, utterly naked, not confined to anything, totally clear and cognizant yet not fixated on anything. Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche In this series of teachings and conversations, Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche, a revered abbot, Tibetan meditation master and author of Union of Mahamudra & Dzogchen, Bardo Guidebook and Indisputable Truth, conveys the indispensable principles for arriving at the heart of Buddhist practice in his characteristic style, filled with humor, candor and wit.
Dzogchen, or the "Great Perfection," is considered by many to be the apex of Tibetan Buddhism, and Longchen Rabjam is the most celebrated of all the saints of this remarkable tradition. Natural Perfection presents the radical precepts of Dzogchen, pointing the way to absolute liberation from conceptual fetters and leading the practitioner to a state of pure, natural integration into one's true being. Transcending the Tibetan context or even the confines of Buddhist tradition, Longchen Rabjam delivers a manual full of practical wisdom. Natural Perfection is a shining example of why people have continued to turn to the traditions of Tibet for spiritual and personal transformation and realization. Keith Dowman's illuminating translation of this remarkable work of wisdom provides clear accessibility to the profound path of Dzogchen in the here-and-now.
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.
The author designed his book to be a transformative journey that conclusively reveals one's own "enlightened self-nature" directly, leaving no room for doubt or uncertainty. For those who are serious about self-realization, this book offers explanations, insights and practical methods that can easily be applied without prior knowledge or experience with meditation or Eastern practices. The key teachings originate in the Tibetan wisdom tradition known as the "The Great Perfection", but are inclusive of other traditions such as Zen, that offer insights and methods into discovering our True Nature immediately and directly, not after months or years of study, meditation and practice. The author also studied deeply the teachings of the Sufis in Kashmir, India which revealed the wisdom of the Heart and Love, both necessary qualities in realizing one's true nature. The approach shared is very direct and capable of revealing immediate benefits. The overall goal is the acquisition of a completely new perspective on life that is grounded in spontaneity, freedom, joy and unconditional love for the benefit of oneself and others.The journey includes delving into the nature of thought, mind and ego-self to learn how we create our own suffering. From there we are introduced to our own inner jewel of enlightened awareness and knowingness that has always been present but never or rarely noticed. We then learn methods of how to broaden the "recognition" and how to stabilize and integrate this wisdom awareness into all aspects of our lives. Finally we are introduced to the nature of our spiritual Heart the seat of unconditional love and True Being. We learn how we are all just "one life", and with this recognition we find joy for ourselves and love for all beings. The author has spent over forty-seven years in pursuit of the wisdom teachings that can bring about enlightenment and liberation from personal suffering. As a result his travels to meet actual masters who were themselves accomplished in this path, took him to India, China, Nepal, Japan, Korea, Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. This book represents the essence of those teachings yet are presented in a completely generic and unique approach that anyone can benefit from. The author shares: "It is my hope that seekers of all types may find the realization of their goals fulfilled through the reading and application of the teachings as offered in this book and are able to realize the immediate presence of the Natural Bliss of Being for themselves as I have, and realize: 'Relishing and celebrating life's journey is the realization of Enlightenment itself!'"
