The Six Yogas of Naropa
The Six Yogas of Naropa

Author: Glenn H. Mullin

Publisher: Shambhala Publications

Published: 2014-05-13

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 1559399066

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Tsongkhapa's commentary entitled A Book of Three Inspirations: A Treatise on the Stages of Training in the Profound Path of Naro's Six Dharmas is commonly referred to as The Three Inspirations. Anyone who has read more than a few books on Tibetan Buddhism will have encountered references to the Six Yogas of Naropa, a preeminent yogic technology system. The six practices—inner heat, illusory body, clear light, consciousness transference, forceful projection, and bardo yoga—gradually came to pervade thousands of monasteries, nunneries, and hermitages throughout Central Asia over the past five and a half centuries.

Secret of the Vajra World
Secret of the Vajra World

Author: Reginald A. Ray

Publisher: Shambhala Publications

Published: 2002-07-23

Total Pages: 545

ISBN-13: 157062917X

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An entrée into the world of Tantric Buddhism—a unique collection of texts, concepts, and meditation practices presented by Tibetan masters teaching in the West The “Vajra World” (vajradhatu in Sanskrit) is a realm of indestructibility, the level of reality beyond all thought and imagination, all impermanence and change, which a fully realized person knows and inhabits. Used metaphorically, “Vajra World” refers to the traditional culture of Tibet and the unique spirituality that is its secret strength. Secret of the Vajra World is the companion volume to the author’s earlier book, Indestructible Truth: The Living Spirituality of Tibetan Buddhism. While that book focuses on the history, cosmology, philosophy, and practice of the more public, exoteric side of Tibetan Buddhism, this work treats its more hidden and esoteric aspects as they take shape in Vajrayana. Together, the two volumes provide a broad introduction to the major traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. Topics include: • The tantric view of human nature and the external world • The special role of the guru, or tantric mentor • The preliminary practices that prepare the student for full initiation • The major dimensions of Vajrayana practice, including visualizations, liturgies, and inner yogas • The tradition of the tulku, or incarnate lama • The lore surrounding the death of ordinary people and of saints • The practice of solitary retreat, the epitome of traditional Tibetan Buddhism

The Seven Instruction Lineages
The Seven Instruction Lineages

Author: Jo Nang Taranatha

Publisher: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives

Published: 2007-01-01

Total Pages: 181

ISBN-13: 8186470654

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In the present work, Taranatha paints a miraculous picture of the great Siddhas of India their lives and the lineages which sprang from their teachings. In all, the lives of some 59 Siddhas are related some well known, others more obscure, but all linked by their various lineages and by the instructions handed down from Siddha to disciple. Taranatha’s account of these remarkable lives is especially valuable as he had as his gurus, and as the sources of these accounts, three Indians from the very traditions about which he wrote with such conviction. The lineage accounts are very important for a clear understanding of the Tantric upadesas themselves. In several places Taranatha makes quite sure that his own lineage is irrefutably established so that there is no doubt that he is a participator in the upadesas themselves, not merely a hander down of legends. The accounts were evidently passed on and, due to the special factors involved in the tantric oral tradition, we cannot but understand them as being accurate and reliable.

Daemons Are Forever
Daemons Are Forever

Author: David Gordon White

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2021-02-01

Total Pages: 350

ISBN-13: 022671506X

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A richly illustrated tapestry of interwoven studies spanning some six thousand years of history, Dæmons Are Forever is at once a record of archaic contacts and transactions between humans and protean spirit beings—dæmons—and an account of exchanges, among human populations, of the science of spirit beings: dæmonology. Since the time of the Indo-European migrations, and especially following the opening of the Silk Road, a common dæmonological vernacular has been shared among populations ranging from East and South Asia to Northern Europe. In this virtuoso work of historical sleuthing, David Gordon White recovers the trajectories of both the “inner demons” cohabiting the bodies of their human hosts and the “outer dæmons” that those same humans recognized each time they encountered them in their enchanted haunts: sylvan pools, sites of geothermal eruptions, and dark forest groves. Along the way, he invites his readers to reconsider the potential and promise of the historical method in religious studies, suggesting that a “connected histories” approach to Eurasian dæmonology may serve as a model for restoring history to its proper place at the heart of the discipline of the history of religions.

Sacred Biography in the Buddhist Traditions of South and Southeast Asia
Sacred Biography in the Buddhist Traditions of South and Southeast Asia

Author: Juliane Schober

Publisher: University of Hawaii Press

Published: 1997-01-01

Total Pages: 392

ISBN-13: 9780824816995

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"Sacred Biography brings together the erudite scholarship of major scholars in the field who enhance our knowledge of Buddhism in South and Southeast Asia. The combination of thematic depth and theoretical sophistication makes this volume innovative reading for all scholars with comparative interests in the study of religion, history, and anthropology."--BOOK JACKET

Tibetan Histories
Tibetan Histories

Author: Dan Martin

Publisher: Serindia Publications, Inc.

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 9780906026434

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Over 700 items are featured in this bibliography which attempts to provide a comprehensive listing in chronological sequence of Tibetan-language works belonging to the typical historical genres that have evolved between the 11th century and the present. As well as dates and details of composition or publication, authorship and title, there are also references to the secondary literature in other languages.