King Gesar, renowned throughout Tibet and Central Asia, represents the ideal warrior—the principle of all-victorious confidence. As the central force of sanity, he conquers all his enemies, the evil forces of the four directions, who turn people's minds away from the true teachings of Buddhism. These enemies graphically represent the different manifestations of cowardly mind. As Chögyam Trungpa explains in the Foreword: "When we talk here about conquering our enemy, it is important to understand that we are not talking about aggression. The genuine warrior does not become resentful or arrogant . . . It is absolutely necessary for the warrior to subjugate his own ambition to conquer at the same time that he is subjugating his other more obvious enemies. Thus the idea of warriorship altogether is that by facing all our enemies fearlessly, with gentleness and intelligence, we can develop ourselves thereby attaining self-realization." The legends of Gesar usually take weeks for a bard to recount. Filled with magic, adventure, and the triumphs of this great warrior-king, the stories will delight all—young and old alike.
The Gesar of Ling epic is the Tibetan equivalent of The Arabian Nights. For hundreds of years, versions of it have been known in oral and written form in Tibet, China, Central Asia, and across the eastern Silk Route. King Gesar, renowned throughout these areas, represents the ideal warrior. As a leader with his people's loyalty and trust, he conquers all their enemies and protects the peace. His life story, which is full of miracles and magic, is an inspiration and a spiritual example to the people of Tibet and Central Asia even today; Gesar's warrior mask can be seen in the town square and on the door of homes in towns and villages throughout this area. As a Buddhist teaching story, the example of King Gesar is also understood as a spiritual allegory. The "enemies" in the stories represent the emotional and psychological challenges that turn people's minds toward greed, aggression, and envy, and away from the true teachings of Buddhism. These enemies graphically represent the different manifestations of the untamed mind. The teaching is that genuine warriors are not aggressive, but that they subjugate negative emotions in order to put the concerns of others before their own. The ideal of warriorship that Gesar represents is that of a person who, by facing personal challenges with gentleness and intelligence, can attain spiritual realization. This book contains volumes one through three, which tell of Gesar's birth, his mischievous childhood, his youth spent in exile, and his rivalry for the throne with his treacherous uncle. The Gesar epic tells how the king, an enlightened warrior, in order to defend Tibet and the Buddhist religion from the attacks of surrounding demon kings, conquers his enemies one by one in a series of adventures and campaigns that take him all over the Eastern world. He is assisted in his adventures by a cast of heroes and magical characters who include the major deities of Tibetan Buddhism as well as the native religion of Tibet. Gesar fulfills the Silk Route ideal of a king by being both a warrior and a magician. As a magician he combines the powers of an enlightened Buddhist master with those of a shamanic sorcerer. In fact, at times the epic almost seems like a manual to train such a Buddhist warrior-magician. In the story, the people and nation of Ling represent the East Asian notion of an enlightened society. There, meditation, magic, and the oral folk wisdom of a communal nomadic society are synchronized in a lifestyle harmonious with the environment, but ambitious for growth and learning and refined literate culture. Filled with magic, adventure, and the triumphs of this great warrior-king, the stories will delight all—young and old alike. The Gesar epic is still sung by bards in Tibet. The words of the Gesar epic have never been translated into a Western language before.
The Tibetan Gesar epic has known countless retellings, translations, and academic studies. The Many Faces of Ling Gesar, presents its historical, cultural, and literary aspects for the first time in a single volume for both general readers and specialists.
The Tibetan classic The Epic of King Gesar believed to date from the 12th century, the tale relates the heroic deeds of the cultural icon Gesar, the fearless lord of the legendary kingdom of Ling.The epic is composed of a numerous versions, each with many variants, and is reputed by some to be the longest epic tale in the world. In 2009, China had the epic included in UNESCO's Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. This book vividly demonstrates the highest achievement of Tibetan folk art, Gesar, in unique Tibetan scroll painting form. With 100 pieces of Thangka paintings, it illustrates how the hero Gesar descended from heaven to conquer the devils of other tribes and seek to help ordinary people before finally returning to heaven after completing his sacred mission. It offers a vivid glimpse into the world's longest epic through Thangka's exceptional artwork.
A practicing Buddhist and Oriental linguist recounts supernatural events she witnessed in Tibet during the 1920s. Intelligent and witty, she describes the fantastic effects of meditation and shamanic magic — levitation, telepathy, more. 32 photographs.
The Gesar epic encompasses a vast range of ancient Central Asian cultural and spiritual traditions. At its center, Gesar, King of Ling battles tirelessly in a world riven by greed, confusion, fear, and religious ambition to open pathways to an enlightened society. The Warrior Song of King Gesar follows the unbroken heritage of that warrior tradition and presents the saga of Gesar's life, from the hardships of his youth through his great battles against the demonic enemies of the four directions. This ever evolving epic tradition continues to inspire people in diverse societies by showing that, despite failures, an unsparing spiritual journey is integral to a secular life and that, despite defeats, such a quest is inseparable from working towards true social harmony. The Venerable Tulku Thondup's introduction is uniquely valuable for its profound scholarship and contains the only account in English of King Gesar's mind teachings. * "I hope that the wisdom, imagination, and humor with which Douglas Penick has conveyed both Gesar's story and the energy of his being will rouse unconditional confidence throughout the world." Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, head of Shambhala International, author of Making the Mind into an Ally, and Ruling Your World. "The Warrior Song of King Gesar maintains traditional Asian epic genres and conventions while simultaneously transforming them into a completely contemporary vehicle of expression. The book captures in a remarkable way the nomadic warrior traditions from which Gesar's inner life emerged while uncovering the personal reality hidden within them. This work then is not a 're-telling' of the Gesar saga, but an authentic continuation of that tradition which thus becomes available to modern audiences in new and provocative ways." Kidder Smith- former Professor of Chinese History at Bowdoin College, author of articles on the East Asian classics, lead translator in the Denma Translation Group's Sun Tzu's Art of War.
The Dalai Lama tells the life story of his remarkable teacher, Ling Rinpoché, who remained a powerful anchor for him from childhood and into his emergence as a global spiritual leader. The Sixth Ling Rinpoché (1903–83) was a towering figure in Tibetan Buddhism. Combining great learning with great humility, he was ordained by the Thirteenth Dalai Lama and went on to serve as the the head of the Geluk tradition and as the senior tutor to the present Dalai Lama. In temperament and wisdom, he had a profound influence on the Dalai Lama’s spiritual development, and he became a steadying presence for His Holiness during the chaotic changes that defined the Tibetan experience of the twentieth century, with the invasion of their county by Communist forces and the subsequent rebuilding of their culture in India. Ling Rinpoché’s extensive travels among exiled communities abroad and across India bouyed the spirits of the Tibetan diaspora, and the training and activities of this consummate Buddhist master, here told by the Dalai Lama in the traditional Tibetan style, will inspire and amaze. Over one hundred archival photos bring the text to life.
