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Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Non-Christian religions > Religions of Indic & Oriental origin > Buddhism > Tibetan Buddhism
A text belonging to the same cycle as "The Tibetan Book of the
Dead," this instruction on the method of self-liberation presents
the essence of Dzogchen, "The Great Perfection," regarded in Tibet
as the highest and most esoteric teaching of the Buddha. Teaching
the attainment of Buddhahood in a single lifetime, this text was
written and concealed by Guru Padmasambhava in the eighth century
and rediscovered six centuries later by Karma Lingpa. The
commentary by the translator is based on the oral teachings of
Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche and Lama Tharchin Rinpoche.
Through the eventful life of a Himalayan Buddhist teacher, Khunu
Lama, this study reimagines cultural continuity beyond the binary
of traditional and modern. In the early twentieth century, Khunu
Lama journeyed across Tibet and India, meeting Buddhist masters
while sometimes living, so his students say, on cold porridge and
water. Yet this elusive wandering renunciant became a revered
teacher of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. At Khunu Lama's death in
1977, he was mourned by Himalayan nuns, Tibetan lamas, and American
meditators alike. The many surviving stories about him reveal
significant dimensions of Tibetan Buddhism, shedding new light on
questions of religious affect and memory that reimagines cultural
continuity beyond the binary of traditional and modern. In
Renunciation and Longing, Annabella Pitkin explores devotion,
renunciation, and the teacher-student lineage relationship as
resources for understanding Tibetan Buddhist approaches to
modernity. By examining narrative accounts of the life of a
remarkable twentieth-century Himalayan Buddhist and focusing on his
remembered identity as a renunciant bodhisattva, Pitkin illuminates
Tibetan and Himalayan practices of memory, affective connection,
and mourning. Refuting long-standing caricatures of Tibetan
Buddhist communities as unable to be modern because of their
religious commitments, Pitkin shows instead how twentieth- and
twenty-first-century Tibetan and Himalayan Buddhist narrators have
used themes of renunciation, devotion, and lineage as touchstones
for negotiating loss and vitalizing continuity.
At the heart of successful Mahamudra practice is the ability to
understand the nature of mind. The Ninth Karmapa, Wangchuk Dorje
(1556 1603), the acknowledged master of this approach, wrote three
definitive texts on Mahamudra; Pointing Out the Dharmakaya is the
shortest and most practical of the three. Brilliant explanations by
Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche make this text vividly relevant for
contemporary Western practitioners. For those committed to
ascertaining the mind s true nature, there is no more systematic or
comprehensive approach than can be found in this extraordinary set
of instructions.
As people increasingly seek alternatives to modern medicine,
interest is growing in the ancient system of Tibetan medicine,
which has been practised for over 2,500 years. Known as
'gSo-ba-Rig-pa', or 'the science of healing', it is based on
Buddhist philosophical principles, astrology and the close
relationship between body and mind. This concise introduction
presents all the essential information on Tibetan medicine. It
covers the basic theoretical principles, practice and history of
this traditional system, as well as methods of diagnosis and
treatments such as urine analysis, golden needle therapy and
cupping. It includes a chapter on case histories and provides
information on what to expect from a practising physician based on
compassion. With a comprehensive resources section, this book
provides everything there is to know about Tibetan medicine at an
introductory level. This book will be of interest to anyone who
wants to know more about Tibetan medicine, as well as anyone
looking to find out more about Tibetan thought, Tibetan Buddhism,
traditional medicine, comparative religion or Eastern spirituality.
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