Here is a treasury of short selections from the best-selling books of Pema Chodron, the beloved Tibetan Buddhist nun. Sized to fit easily into a pocket or purse, this little book can be taken anywhere, providing on-the-go inspiration. Topics of this book include opening the heart; becoming fearless; breaking free of destructive patterns; developing patience and joy; and, discovering one's natural warmth, intelligence, and goodness.

The Tibetan Book of the Dead was traditionally used as a mortuary text, read or recited in the presence of a dying or dead person. As a contribution to the science of death and of rebirth, it is unique among the sacred books of the world. The texts have been discovered and rediscovered in the West during the course of almost the entire 20th century, starting with Oxford's edition by W Y Evans-Wentz in 1927. The new edition includes a new foreword, afterword and suggested further reading list by Donald S Lopez Jr to update and contextualize this pioneering work. Lopez examines the historical background of OUP's publication, the translation against current scholarship, and its profound importance in engendering both scholarly and popular interest in Tibetan religion and culture.

Despite the many differences between the numerous sects of Tibetan Buddhism, they all unite in holding the Great Yogi Milarepa, a Tibetan religious leader who lived over 800 years ago, in the highest reverence and esteem. Evans-Wentz points to similiarities between the life and teachings of Milarepa and the greatest of modern India's spiritual leaders, Mahatma Gandhi. In translating from the original Tibetan, the late Lama Kazi Dawa Samdup, Evans-Wentz's Tibetan guru for many years, wishes to show Western readers one of our great teachers as he actually lived in a biography of him, much of which is couched in the words of his own mouth, and the remainder in the words of his disciple Rechung, who knew him in the flesh. In this new reissue, Lopez contributes a critical foreword to update and contextualize the historical significance of this volume in Evans-Wentz's Tibetan series.

As a companion volume to the author's Tsongkhapa's Six Yogas of Naropa from 1996, this book contains translations of six classical Indian and Tibetan texts, his disciple Pandita Naropa, Lama Jey Tsongkhapa, Gyalwa Wensapa, the First Panchen Lama, and Jey Sherab Gyatso. The texts describe the roots and approach to the method of achieving enlightenme

This fascinating collection by Buddhist writer Francesca Hampton explores modern situations in both India and America through the prism of Tibetan Buddhist teachings. From a lonely paddle boarder contemplating suicide on the dark Pacific, to a wayward Tibetan lama on a Greyhound bus, to a journalist who reconnects with a journey begun in a previous life in an interview with the Dalai Lama, it is a welcome addition to the emerging genre of Buddhist fiction.

A visual presentation of Tibetan yoga, the hidden treasure at the heart of the Tibetan Tantric Buddhist tradition - Explains the core principles and practices of Tibetan yoga with illustrated instructions - Explores esoteric practices less familiar in the West, including sexual yoga, lucid dream yoga, and yoga enhanced by psychoactive substances - Draws on scientific research and contemplative traditions to explain Tibetan yoga from a historical, anthropological, and biological perspective - Includes full-color reproductions of previously unpublished works of Himalayan art Tibetan yoga is the hidden treasure at the heart of the Tibetan Tantric Buddhist tradition: a spiritual and physical practice that seeks an expanded experience of the human body and its energetic and cognitive potential. In this pioneering and highly illustrated overview, Ian A. Baker introduces the core principles and practices of Tibetan yoga alongside historical illustrations of the movements and beautiful, full-color works of Himalayan art, never before published. Drawing on Tibetan cultural history and scientific research, the author explores Tibetan yogic practices from historical, anthropological, and biological perspectives, providing a rich background to enable the reader to understand this ancient tradition with both the head and the heart. He provides complete, illustrated instructions for meditations, visualizations, and sequences of practices for the breath and body, as well as esoteric practices including sexual yoga, lucid dream yoga, and yoga enhanced by psychoactive plants. He explains how, while Tibetan yoga absorbed aspects of Indian hatha yoga and Taoist energy cultivation, this ancient practice largely begins where physically-oriented yoga and chi-gong end, by directing prana, or vital energy, toward the awakening of latent human abilities and cognitive states. He shows how Tibetan yoga techniques facilitate transcendence of the self and suffering and ultimately lead to Buddhist enlightenment through transformative processes of body, breath, and consciousness. Richly illustrated with contemporary ethnographic photography of Tibetan yoga practitioners and rare works of Himalayan art, including Tibetan thangka paintings, murals from the Dalai Lama's once-secret meditation chamber in Lhasa, and images of yogic practice from historical practice manuals and medical treatises, this groundbreaking book reveals Tibetan yoga's ultimate expression of the interconnectedness of all existence.

These extraordinary teachings on the spiritual path were given between March 3, 2000 and June 6, 2003, when Geshe Michael Roach engaged in a 3 year silent meditation retreat in the Arizona desert wilderness. In order to fulfill a promise to his students, he came blindfolded to the edge of his retreat boundary to teach. These books are transcripts of those talks, with very little editing, in order to preserve the freshness of his language and the several layers of meaning they convey. Geshe Michael Roach is the first American to pass the rigorous training and exam for the title of Geshe, or Master of Buddhism, after twenty years at Sera Mey Tibetan Buddhist Monastery.

Although the Dzogchen teachings are principally familiar to Westerners through the teachings of the Nyingma school, they also survive in the ancient Bon Religion of Tibet. "Wonders of the Natural Mind "presents Dzogchen as taught in the Zhang Zhung Nyan Gyud, the fundamental Bon text. The book summarizes the main points of Dzogchen and its relation to the various systems of Bon teaching. In offering these teachings, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche provides the reader with a vivid and engaging portrait of Bon culture as he interweaves the teachings with his personal story and reflections on the practice of Dzogchen in the West.

Hevajra (Tib. Kye'i rdo rje) is one the principal adevat (Tib. Yidam) or meditational deities of tantric Buddhism and is key to Sa skya pa practice in Tibetan Buddhism. Professor SWnellgrove's edition of the Hevajra-tantra has been prepared on the basis of the extant Sanskrit manuscripts, the core being a Sanskrit original found in Nepal in the 19th century. The translation is made with reference also to the Tibetan edition of the tantra, as well as the most important Indian commentaries, among which is the Yogaratnamby Kha, here reproduced in full. The first part is in two sections: the introduction provides historical and religious setting, and then interprets the essential meaning of the tantra; then follows the complete translation, with full explanatory notes based upon the commentaries. The second part contains the complete romanised Sanskrit and Tibetan texts of the tantra, followed by Yogaratnam. Both versions of the text are fully annotated, and followed by a select vocabulary: Tibetan-Sanskrit-English, then Sanskrit-Tibetan.

2010 Reprint of 1924 Edition. In 1924 Spalding published this first and most important volume of Life and Teaching of the Masters of the Far East. It describes the travels to India and Tibet of a research party of eleven scientists in 1894. During their trip they claim to have made contact with "the Great Masters of the Himalayas," immortal beings with whom they lived and studied, gaining a fascinating insight into their lives and spiritual message. This close contact enabled them to witness many of the spiritual principles evinced by these Great Masters translated into their everyday lives, which could be described as 'miracles'. Such examples are walking on water, or manifesting bread to feed the hungry party. These books have remained consistently popular with spiritual seekers, those interested in the philosophy of the East and those who enjoy a good story because of their accessible nature and easy-to-follow format. However, despite most of the action taking place in India, the Great Masters make it clear that the greatest embodiment of the Enlightened state is that of the Christ (as personified by Jesus): "The Masters accept that Buddha represents the Way to Enlightenment, but they clearly set forth that Christ IS Enlightenment, or a state of consciousness for which we are all seeking - the Christ light of every individual; therefore, the light of every child born into the world."

Whereas Western society views death as the last taboo, the Tibetan tradition incorporates meditation on death into everyday life. Tibetan Buddhists believe that a conscious awareness of one's own impermanence allows a person to live a happy, fulfilled life. Over the centuries, the Tibetans have developed a wide-ranging literature on death, including inspirational poetry and prose, prayers, and practical works on caring for the dying. This fascinating book presents nine short Tibetan texts. Important writings by the Second, Seventh, and Thirteenth Dalai Lamas and by Karma Lingpa, author of "The Tibetan Book of the Dead," are included. It covers topics such as meditation techniques to prepare for death, inspirational accounts of the deaths of saints and yogis, and methods for training the mind in the transference of consciousness at the time of death.

A favorite of Tibetans and recommended by the Dalai Lama and other senior Buddhist teachers, this practical guide to inner transformation introduces the fundamental spiritual practices common to all Tibetan Buddhist traditions.The Words of My Perfect Teacher is the classic commentary on the preliminary practices of the Longchen Nyingtig-one of the best-known cycles of teachings and a spiritual treasure of the Nyingmapa school-the oldest Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Patrul Rinpoche makes the technicalities of his subject accessible through a wealth of stories, quotations, and references to everyday life. His style of mixing broad colloquialisms, stringent irony, and poetry has all the life and atmosphere of an oral teaching. Great care has been taken by the translators to render the precise meaning of the text in English while still reflecting the vigor and insight of the original Tibetan. A preface by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, insightful introductory essays, explanatory notes, and classic illustrations enhance this quintessential introduction to Tibetan Buddhist practice. This new edition includes translations of a postface to the text written a century ago (for the first printed edition in Tibetan) by the first Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche, and a new preface by the late Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. The notes, glossary and bibliography have been expanded and updated, Sanskrit names and terminology have been given their proper transliterated form, and the illustrations have been improved in quality and supplemented with new material.

In the shamanic world-view of Tibet, the five elements of earth, water, fire, air, and space are accessed through the raw powers of nature and through non-physical beings associated with the natural world. In the Tibetan tantric view, the elements are recognized as five kinds of energy in the body and are balanced with a program of yogic movements, breathing exercises, and visualizations. In these Dzogchen teachings, the elements are understood to be the radiance of being and are accessed through pure awareness. Healing with Form, Energy, and Light offers the reader healing meditations and yogic practices on each of these levels. Tenzin Rinpoche's purpose is to strengthen our connection to the sacred aspect of the natural world and to present a guide that explains why certain practices are necessary and in what situations practices are effective or a hindrance. This is a manual for replacing an anxious, narrow, uncomfortable identity with one that is expansive, peaceful, and capable. And the world too is transformed from dead matter and blind processes into a sacred landscape filled with an infinite variety of living forces and beings.

The Six Perfections of generosity, ethical discipline, patience, enthusiastic effort, concentration, and wisdom are practiced by Bodhisattvas who have the supreme intention of attaining enlightenment for the sake of others. These six are perfections because they give rise to complete enlightenment. Practice of them also insures the attainment of an excellent body and mind in the future and even more favorable conditions for effective practice than those we enjoy at present. Generosity leads to the enjoyment of ample resources, ethical discipline gives a good rebirth, patience leads to an attractive appearance and supportive companions, enthusiastic effort endows the ability to complete what is undertaken, fostering concentration makes the mind invulnerable to distraction, and wisdom discriminates between what needs to be cultivated and what must be discarded and leads to greater wisdom in the future.

In "Understanding the Dalai Lama", Rajiv Mehrotra brings together a range of contributors who offer insights into different facets of His Holiness the fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet. Pico Iyer draws a portrait of a disarming man with an infectious laugh, Robert Thurman gives us a glimpse of the Dalai Lama's spiritual development, and Matthieu Ricard describes a day in the life of His Holiness. The Dalai Lama's deep curiosity, keen insight and high level of scientific sophistication are revealed by Daniel Goleman, while Thupten Jinpa recounts the Dalai Lama's passion for Tibet's thousand-year-old intellectual tradition of logic and philosophical debates. The book also includes a syllable by syllable translation of the Dalai Lama's full name by Jeffrey Hopkins, a poem by U.R. Ananthamurthy and an extended interview with His Holiness by Rajiv Mehrotra.

In "The Heart of the Buddha," the Tibetan meditation master Chogyam Trungpa presents the basic teachings of Buddhism as they relate to everyday life. The book is divided into three parts. In "Personal Journey," the author discusses the open, inquisitive, and good-humored qualities of the "heart of the Buddha," an "enlightened gene" that everyone possesses. In "Stages on the Path," he presents the three vehicles--Hinayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayana--that carry the Buddhist practitioner toward enlightenment. In "Working with Others," he describes the direct application of Buddhist teachings to topics as varied as relationships, drinking, children, and money. "The Heart of the Buddha "reflects Trungpa's great appreciation for Western culture and deep understanding of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, which enabled him to teach Westerners in an effective, contemporary way.

Love and Liberation reads the autobiographical and biographical writings of one of the few Tibetan Buddhist women to record the story of her life. Sera Khandro Kunzang Dekyong Chonyi Wangmo (also called Dewe Dorje, 1892-1940) was extraordinary not only for achieving religious mastery as a Tibetan Buddhist visionary and guru to many lamas, monastics, and laity in the Golok region of eastern Tibet, but also for her candor. This book listens to Sera Khandro's conversations with land deities, dakinis, bodhisattvas, lamas, and fellow religious community members whose voices interweave with her own to narrate what is a story of both love between Sera Khandro and her guru, Drime Ozer, and spiritual liberation. Sarah H. Jacoby's analysis focuses on the status of the female body in Sera Khandro's texts, the virtue of celibacy versus the expediency of sexuality for religious purposes, and the difference between profane lust and sacred love between male and female tantric partners. Her findings add new dimensions to our understanding of Tibetan Buddhist consort practices, complicating standard scriptural presentations of male subject and female aide. Sera Khandro depicts herself and Drime Ozer as inseparable embodiments of insight and method that together form the Vajrayana Buddhist vision of complete buddhahood. By advancing this complementary sacred partnership, Sera Khandro carved a place for herself as a female virtuoso in the male-dominated sphere of early twentieth-century Tibetan religion.

This short gem of a book shows how distorted perceptions and disturbing emotions--arising from our misunderstanding of reality--can be completely uprooted, resulting in freedom from suffering.

Many of us, without even realizing it, are dominated by fear. We might be aware of some of our fears--perhaps we are afraid of public speaking, of financial hardship, or of losing a loved one. Chogyam Trungpa shows us that most of us suffer from a far more pervasive fearfulness: fear of ourselves. We feel ashamed and embarrassed to look at our feelings or acknowledge our styles of thinking and acting; we don't want to face the reality of our moment-to-moment experience. It is this fear that keeps us trapped in cycles of suffering, despair, and distress.
Chogyam Trungpa offers us a vision of moving beyond fear to discover the innate bravery, trust, and delight in life that lies at the core of our being. Drawing on the Shambhala Buddhist teachings, he explains how we can each become a spiritual warrior: a person who faces each moment of life with openness and fearlessness. "The ultimate definition of bravery is not being afraid of who you are," writes Chogyam Trungpa. In this book he offers the insights and strategies to claim victory over fear.

With the intimate freshness of a personal teaching, this book presents the main practices of the Mahayana Buddhist path. It details the attitudes cultivated in meditation--ranging from turning away from cyclic existence to developing love and compassion for all beings, to understanding the profound view of emptiness.