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.

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.

'Essence of Mind' outlines the author's approach to Dzogchen, the natural primordial state of human consciousness that is timeless and untouched by suffering. He describes different methods for pointing out the essence of consciousness and the techniques related to them. Then he outlines key principles of a training system suited to Western students that can lead to realisation. The final section outlines the significance of continuous exercises, and describes the way spiritual practice slowly permeates daily life.

Machig Labdron is popularly considered to be both a dakini and a deity, an emanation of Yum Chenmo, or Prajnaparamita, the embodiment of the wisdom of the buddhas. Historically, this Tibetan woman, a contemporary of Milarepa, was an adept and outstanding teacher, a mother, and a founder of a unique transmission lineage known as the Chod of Mahamudra. This translation of the most famous biography of Machig Labdron, founder of the unique Mahamudra Chod tradition, is presented together with a comprehensive overview of Chod's historical and doctrinal origins in Indian Buddhism and its subsequent transmission to Tibet.
Chod refers to cutting through the grasping at a self and its attendant emotional afflictions. Most famous for its teaching on transforming the aggregates into an offering of food for demons as a compassionate act of self-sacrifice, Chod aims to free the mind from all fear and to arouse realization of its true nature, primordially clear bliss and emptiness.

Tibetan biographers began writing Jetsun Milarepa's (1052--1135) life story shortly after his death, initiating a literary tradition that turned the poet and saint into a model of virtuosic Buddhist practice throughout the Himalayan world. Andrew Quintman traces this history and its innovations in narrative and aesthetic representation across four centuries, culminating in a detailed analysis of the genre's most famous example, composed in 1488 by Tsangny?n Heruka, or the "Madman of Western Tibet." Quintman imagines these works as a kind of physical body supplanting the yogin's corporeal relics.

Tsultrim Allione brings an eleventh-century Tibetan woman's practice to the West for the first time with FEEDING YOUR DEMONS, an accessible and effective approach for dealing with negative emotions, fears, illness, and self-defeating patterns. Allione-one of only a few female Buddhist leaders in this country and comparable in American religious life to Pema Chodron-bridges this ancient Eastern practice with today's Western psyche. She explains that if we fight our demons, they only grow stronger. But if we feed them, nurture them, we can free ourselves from the battle. Through the clearly articulated practice outlined in FEEDING YOUR DEMONS, we can learn to overcome any obstacle and achieve freedom and inner peace.

An absorbing exposition of the methods of realization of the Middle Way Consequence School (Prasangika Madhyamika) by Jeffrey Hopkins--considered by many the foremost Western authority on Tibetan Buddhism. His presentation is based on Jang-gya's famous work--the original and translation are included. The reasonings used to analyze persons and phenomena to establish their true mode of existence are discussed in the context of meditative practice. This exposition includes a masterful treatment of the compatibility of emptiness and dependent-arising.

This monograph is a study of the Rgyal ba'i dben gnas rwa sgreng gi bshad pa nyi ma'i 'od zer (Rays of the Sun: A Statement about Rwa sgreng Monastery, Hermitage of the Victor), which is a newly discovered hand-written manuscript from the Fifth Dalai Lama's private library at 'Bras spungs monastery, Lhasa. It is the first known work devoted solely to Rwa sgreng monastery, the mother monastery of the Bka' gdams school founded by 'Brom ston Rgyal ba'i 'byung gnas (1005-1064) in 1057 after the death of his master Atisa (982-1054). The Bka' gdams school no longer exists, but it has greatly influenced major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, such as Dge lugs, Bka' brgyud, and Sa skya school. Rwa sgreng monastery itself has shifted to the Dge lugs school, but it still has a strong presence as a monastery related to Bka' gdams school. Since this work was written at approximately the end of the thirteenth century, it is a relatively early text in the history of the Bka' gdams school, and it provides valuable historical, political, and sociological data on Rwa sgreng monastery. This study aids understanding of the history of Rwa sgreng monastery and the early Bka' gdams school-and more broadly illuminates important aspects of Tibetan history.

The aim of Dzogchen is the reawakening of the individual to the primordial state of enlightenment, which is naturally found in all beings. The master introduces the student to his or her real nature already perfected and enlightened, but it is only by recognizing this nature and remaining in this state of recognition in all daily activities that the student becomes a real Dzogchen practitioner of the direct path of self-liberation. In this book the Dzogchen teaching is presented through the tantra Kunjed Gyalpo, or "The King Who Creates Everything"--a personification of the primordial state of enlightenment. This tantra is the fundamental scripture of the Semde, or "Nature of Mind," tradition of Dzogchen and is the most authoritative source for understanding the Dzogchen view. The commentary by Chogyal Namkhai Norbu gives easier insight into the depths of these teachings. Adriano Clemente translated the main selections of the original tantra.

Whether you are looking for a room, visiting a monastery, or bargaining for a bus seat, " Learning Practical Tibetan" will make immediate communication with Tibetans easy and fun. This book is designed for anyone wishing to communicate with Tibetans, either in Asia or in the West, and is suitable for beginners as well as for students familiar with the Tibetan language.
"Learning Practical Tibetan" begins with a simple but complete grammar so that you can immediately begin to form your own sentences. Using both Tibetan script and an easy-to-understand phonetic system, the book then presents useful vocabulary, phrases, and dialogues related to situations you might encounter with Tibetans: eating in restaurants, shopping, speaking to monks, traveling with pilgrims, or visiting a Tibetan doctor. The appendix provides helpful sections on Tibetan numbers, dates, telling time, festivals, religious terms, and an extensive vocabulary list.
To help you learn how to pronounce Tibetan words correctly, mp3 files of Yanki Tshering reading Tibetan text found in "Learning Practical Tibetan" are available for download at this link: http: //www.shambhala.com/learning-practical-tibetan.html

Tibetan medicine holistically restores and maintains balance of the body's various systems through a variety of treatments, including diet, behavior modification, and the use of medicine and accessory therapy. Tibetan medicine is delicately responsive to patients' complete symptom patterns--no complaint being disregarded. Its wide variety of curative techniques are clearly explained. Dr. Donden's book was seen on NBC's "Dateline "during a feature on Tibetan medicine and breast cancer.

Determined to hang prayer flags at Mt. Everest Base Camp, Olivia trekked through Tibet while under the scrutiny of Communist China. She survived earthquakes, landslides, and a middle-of-the-night hijacking while enroute to a remote village in Nepal. Confronted with her own sense of meaning, she went toe-to-toe with the suffering, challenges, and decisions that all beings face, which included the capacity to love and let go.

Compiled from numerous Tibetan and Bhutanese sources, including Longchenpa's autobiography and stories of his previous lives and subsequent rebirths, 'The Life of Longchenpa' weaves an inspiring and captivating tale of wonder and magic, of extraordinary visions and spiritual insight, set in the kingdoms of 14th-century Tibet and Bhutan.

This narrative of subsistence on the Tibetan plateau describes the life-worlds of people in a region traditionally known as Kham who move with their yaks from pasture to pasture, depending on the milk production of their herd for sustenance. Gillian Tan's story, based on her own experience of living through seasonal cycles with the people of Dora Karmo between 2006 and 2013, examines the community's powerful relationship with a Buddhist lama and their interactions with external agents of change. In showing how they perceive their environment and dwell in their world, Tan conveys a spare beauty that honors the stillness and rhythms of nomadic life.

"The Collected Works of Chogyam Trungpa" brings together in eight volumes the writings of one of the first and most influential and inspirational Tibetan teachers to present Buddhism in the West. Organized by theme, the collection includes full-length books as well as articles, seminar transcripts, poems, plays, and interviews, many of which have never before been available in book form. From memoirs of his escape from Chinese-occupied Tibet to insightful discussions of psychology, mind, and meditation; from original verse and calligraphy to the esoteric lore of tantric Buddhism--the impressive range of Trungpa's vision, talents, and teachings is showcased in this landmark series. Volume Seven features the work of Chogyam Trungpa as a poet, playwright, and visual artist and his teachings on art and the creative process, which are among the most innovative and provocative aspects of his activities in the West. While it includes material in which Trungpa Rinpoche shares his knowledge of the symbolism and iconography of traditional Buddhist arts (in "Visual Dharma)," this richly varied volume primarily focuses on his own, often radical creative expressions. "The Art of Calligraphy" is a wonderful showcase for his calligraphy, and "Dharma Art" brings together his ideas on art, the artistic process, and aesthetics. Tibetan poetics, filmmaking, theater, and art and education are among the topics of the selected writings.

This title provides down-to-earth, practical meditation instructions and advice, presented in a conversational style. It will appeal to Buddhist practitioners and to readers specifically interested in female manifestations of the divine.

If any anthropologist living today can illuminate our dim understanding of death's enigma, it is Robert Desjarlais. With Subject to Death, Desjarlais provides an intimate, philosophical account of death and mourning practices among Hyolmo Buddhists, an ethnically Tibetan Buddhist people from Nepal. He studies the death preparations of the Hyolmo, their specific rituals of grieving, and the practices they use to heal the psychological trauma of loss. Desjarlais's research marks a major advance in the ethnographic study of death, dying, and grief, one with broad implications. Ethnologically nuanced, beautifully written, and twenty-five years in the making, Subject to Death is an insightful study of how fundamental aspects of human existence--identity, memory, agency, longing, bodiliness--are enacted and eventually dissolved through social and communicative practices.

The paradox of awareness is very profound and yet very simple. It can't be described because it has no objective qualities and no limitation. Sometimes it comes naturally to the surface when we are fully in the present moment and no longer lost in thought or mental projections. Pure consciousness is neither high nor low, neither pleasant nor unpleasant, neither good nor bad. No matter where we are, no matter what we are doing, we always have an immediate access to that inner stillness. It can be experienced in an instant in all circumstances once we know how to pay attention to it. It is utterly peaceful and it is also insightful, so it sees through all illusions. Whenever there is a moment of being deluded, we can use that moment to practice settling in the very perfect sphere of the Buddha mind without trying to change anything. When we reside in that liberated mind, we find the very thing we have been seeking all along.