The Training Anthology-or TSiksa-samuccaya-is a collection of quotations from Buddhist sutras with illuminating and insightful commentary by the eighth-century North Indian master Santideva. Best known for his philosophical poem, the Bodhicaryavatara, Santideva has been a vital source of spiritual guidance and literary inspiration to Tibetan teachers and students throughout the history of Tibetan Buddhism. Charles Goodman offers a translation of this major work of religious literature, in which Santideva has extracted, from the vast ocean of the Buddha's teachings, a large number of passages of exceptional value, either for their practical relevance, philosophical illumination, or aesthetic beauty. The Training Anthology provides a comprehensive overview of the Mahayana path to Awakening and gives scholars an invaluable window into the religious doctrines, ethical commitments, and everyday life of Buddhist monks in India during the first millennium CE. This translation includes a detailed analysis of the philosophy of the Training Anthology, an introduction to Santideva's cultural and religious contexts, and informative footnotes. The translation conveys the teachings of this timeless classic in clear and accessible English, highlighting for the modern reader the intellectual sophistication, beauty, and spiritual grandeur of the original text.

Advice and encouragement from a leading spiritual teacher and popular author on how to approach the foundational practices of Tibetan Buddhism.
For anyone interested in Buddhist practice and philosophy, this book gives detailed instruction and friendly and inspiring advice for those embarking on the Tibetan Buddhist path in earnest. By offering guidance on how to approach the process and giving instruction for specific meditation and contemplation techniques, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche provides gentle yet thorough commentary, companionship, and inspiration for committing to the Buddhist path.

Santideva's eighth-century work, the Guide to Bodhisattva Practice (Bodhicaryavatara), is known for its eminently practical instructions and its psychologically vivid articulations of the Mahayana path. It is a powerful, succinct poem into which are woven diverse Buddhist traditions of moral transformation, meditative cultivation, and philosophical insight. Since its composition, it has seen continuous use as a ritual, contemplative, and philosophical manual, making it one of the crucial texts of the Buddhist ethical and philosophical tradition. This book serves as a companion to this Indian Buddhist classic. The fifteen essays contained here illuminate the Guide's many philosophical, literary, ritual, and ethical dimensions. Distinguished scholars discuss the historical significance of the text as an innovative piece of Indian literature, illuminate the important roles it played in shaping Buddhism in Tibet, and bring to light its contemporary significance for philosophy and psychology. Whether experienced or first-time students of Buddhist literature, readers will find compelling new approaches to this resonant masterpiece.

Over the past century and with varying degrees of success, China has tried to integrate Tibet into the modern Chinese nation-state. In this groundbreaking work, Gray Tuttle reveals the surprising role Buddhism and Buddhist leaders played in the development of the modern Chinese state and in fostering relations between Tibet and China from the Republican period (1912-1949) to the early years of Communist rule. Beyond exploring interactions between Buddhists and politicians in Tibet and China, Tuttle offers new insights on the impact of modern ideas of nationalism, race, and religion in East Asia.

After the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911, the Chinese Nationalists, without the traditional religious authority of the Manchu Emperor, promoted nationalism and racial unity in an effort to win support among Tibetans. Once this failed, Chinese politicians appealed to a shared Buddhist heritage. This shift in policy reflected the late-nineteenth-century academic notion of Buddhism as a unified world religion, rather than a set of competing and diverse Asian religious practices.

While Chinese politicians hoped to gain Tibetan loyalty through religion, the promotion of a shared Buddhist heritage allowed Chinese Buddhists and Tibetan political and religious leaders to pursue their goals. During the 1930s and 1940s, Tibetan Buddhist ideas and teachers enjoyed tremendous popularity within a broad spectrum of Chinese society and especially among marginalized Chinese Buddhists. Even when relationships between the elite leadership between the two nations broke down, religious and cultural connections remained strong. After the Communists seized control, they continued to exploit this link when exerting control over Tibet by force in the 1950s. And despite being an avowedly atheist regime, with the exception of the Cultural Revolution, the Chinese communist government has continued to recognize and support many elements of Tibetan religious, if not political, culture.

Tuttle's study explores the role of Buddhism in the formation of modern China and its relationship to Tibet through the lives of Tibetan and Chinese Buddhists and politicians and by drawing on previously unexamined archival and governmental materials, as well as personal memoirs of Chinese politicians and Buddhist monks, and ephemera from religious ceremonies.

This volume contains teachings from gurus of Tibet and India that were unkown to the Western world until its first publication in 1954. The book interprets the quintessence of the Supreme Path, the Mahayana, and reveals the yogic method of attaining Enlightenment. The original text of this yoga belongs to the Bardo Thodol series of treatises concerning various methods of attaining transcendence. The whole series is part of the Tantric school of Mahayana, and this particular work is attributed to the legendary Padmasambhava. An account of the great guru's life and doctrines precedes the text itself. Carl Jung's psychological commentary discusses the differences in Eastern and Western modes of thought. For the new reissue, Donald S. Lopez Jr writes a critical foreword to update and contextualize Evans-Wentz's work as an historical artefact contributing to the introduction of Tibetan Buddhism in the West.

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.

This is the most comprehensive and authoritative introduction to Tibetan Buddhism available to date, covering a wide range of topics, including history, doctrines, meditation, practices, schools, religious festivals, and major figures. The revised edition contains expanded discussions of recent Tibetan history and tantra and incorporates important new publications in the field. Beginning with a summary of the Indian origins of Tibetan Buddhism and how it eventually was brought to Tibet, it explores Tibetan Mahayana philosophy and tantric methods for personal transformation. The four main schools of Tibetan Buddhism, as well as Bon, are explored in depth from a nonsectarian point of view. This new and expanded edition is a systematic and wonderfully clear presentation of Tibetan Buddhist views and practices.

An indispensable guidebook through the journey of life and death, "Mind Beyond Death" weaves a synthesis of wisdom remarkable in its scope. With warm informality and profound understanding of the Western mind, the Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche makes the mysterious Tibetan teachings on the bardos--the intervals of life, death, and beyond--completely available to the modern reader.
Drawing on a breathtaking range of material, "Mind Beyond Death" shows us how the bardos can be used to conquer death. Working with the bardos means taking hold of life and learning how to live with fearless abandon. Exploring all six bardos--not just the three bardos of death--"Mind Beyond Death" demonstrates that the secret to a good journey through and beyond death lies in how we live. Walking skillfully through the bardos of dream meditation and daily life, the Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche takes us deep into the mysterious death intervals, introducing us to their dazzling mindscape. This tour de force gives us the knowledge to transform death, the greatest obstacle, into the most powerful opportunity for enlightenment. With both nuts-and-bolts meditation techniques and brilliant illumination, "Mind Beyond Death" offers a clear map and a sturdy vehicle that will safely transport the reader through the challenging transitions of this life and the perilous bardos beyond death.

This concise treatise by the 11th-century Tibetan Buddhist philosopher Rongzom Chokyi Zangpo sets out to prove the provocative point that everything that appears is actually deity manifest. Many books on Tibetan Buddhism address the important themes of mind training, compassion, and proper conduct, but this book goes beyond that in its aim to bring the reader face to face with his or her divine and pure nature.

A manual of Tibetan meditation that simply and thoroughly presents the practices of Dzogchen and Mah?mudr?. These are two of the most profound methods of Tibetan Buddhist meditation, and in this book, the reader is given instructions on how to bring them together into a single unified approach that leads to realizing the ultimate nature of consciousness.

Originally published in 1997, "Religions of Tibet in Practice" is a landmark work--the first major anthology on the topic ever produced. This new edition--abridged to further facilitate course use--presents a stunning array of works that together offer an unparalleled view of the Tibetan religious landscape over the centuries.

Organized thematically, the twenty-eight chapters are testimony to the vast scope of religious practice in the Tibetan world, past and present. "Religions of Tibet in Practice" remains a work of great value to scholars, students, and general readers.

A leading writer and researcher on Tibet, Sam van Schaik offers an accessible and authoritative introduction to Tibetan Buddhism by examining its key texts, from its origins in the eighth century to teachings practiced across the world today. In addition to demonstrating its richness and historical importance, van Schaik's fresh translations of and introductions to each text provide a comprehensive overview of Tibetan Buddhism's most popular teachings and concepts-including rebirth, compassion, mindfulness, tantric deities, and the graduated path-and discusses how each is put into practice. The book unfolds chronologically, conveying a sense of this thousand-year-old tradition's progress and evolution. Under the spiritual leadership of the Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhism has an estimated ten to twenty million adherents worldwide. Written for those new to the topic, but also useful to seasoned Buddhist practitioners and students, this much-needed anthological introduction provides the deepest understanding of the key writings currently available.

Mind Training is a comprehensive practice that is suitable for all types of students. It contains the entire path and does not depend on a person's background. Mind Training nurses and cultivates the Buddha Nature, that pure seed of awakening that is at the very heart of every sentient being. It has the power to transform even egotistical self-clinging into selflessness. Put into practice diligently, it is enough to lead you all the way to awakening. In "The Path to Awakening", Shamar Rinpoche gives his own detailed commentary on Chekawa YeshE Dorje's "Seven Points of Mind Training", a text that has been used as a basis for transformative practice in Tibetan Buddhism for close to a thousand years. Clear, accessible, and yet profound, this book is filled with practical wisdom, philosophy, and meditation instructions.

This book includes seven authentic Tibetan yoga texts that were first published in English in 1935. A companion to The Tibetan Book of the Dead, it is illustrated with photographs, yoga paintings and manuscripts, and contains some of the principal meditations used by Hindu and Tibetan gurus and philosophers in attaining Right knowledge and enlightenment. Special commentaries precede each translated text and a preface contrasts Buddhism with European concepts of religion, philosophy and science. For this new reissue, Donald S Lopez Jr writes a critical foreword, to update and contextualize the work as historical artifact contributing to the introduction of Tibetan Buddhism to the West.

"Apparitions of the Self" is a groundbreaking investigation into what is known in Tibet as "secret autobiography," an exceptional, rarely studied literary genre that presents a personal exploration of intimate religious experiences. In this volume, Janet Gyatso translates and studies the outstanding pair of secret autobiographies by the famed Tibetan Buddhist visionary, Jigme Lingpa (1730-1798), whose poetic and self-conscious writings are as much about the nature of his own identity, memory, and the undecidabilities of autobiographical truth as they are narrations of the actual content of his experiences. Their translation in this book marks the first time that works of this sort have been translated in a Western language.

Gyatso is among the first to consider Tibetan literature from a comparative perspective, examining the surprising fit--as well as the misfit--of Western literary theory with Tibetan autobiography. She examines the intriguing questions of why Tibetan Buddhists produced so many autobiographies (far more than other Asian Buddhists) and how autobiographical self-assertion is possible even while Buddhists believe that the self is ultimately an illusion. Also explored are Jigme Lingpa's historical milieu, his revelatory visions of the ancient Tibetan dynasty, and his meditative practices of personal cultivation. The book concludes with a study of the subversive female figure of the "Dakini" in Jigme Lingpa's writings, and the implications of her gender, her sexuality, and her unsettling discourse for the autobiographical subject in Tibet.

The Four Immeasurables is a rich suite of practices that open the heart, counter the distortions in our relationships to ourselves, and deepen our relationships to others. Alan Wallace presents a unique interweaving of teachings on the Four Immeasurables (the cultivation of loving-kindness, compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity) with instruction on quiescence or shamatha, meditation practices to empower the mind. The book includes both guided meditations and lively discussions on the implications of these teachings for our own lives.

This is the paperback edition of the first full study, translation, and critical annotation of the "Essence of True Eloquence" by Jey Tsong Khapa (1357-1419), universally acknowledged as the greatest Tibetan philosopher. Robert Thurman's translation and introduction present a strain of Indian Buddhist thought emphasizing the need for both critical reason and contemplative realization in the attainment of enlightenment. This book was originally published under the title "Tsong Khapa's Speech of Gold in the "Essence of True Eloquence.""

"I am very happy that Tsong Khapa's masterpiece of Tibetan Buddhist philosophy has been translated into English, and can now be studied by Western philosophers and practitioners of Buddhism. It has long been one of my favorite works, and I hope that others will appreciate its deep thought and lucid insights as we have for centuries in Tibet."--From the foreword by the Dalai Lama

'This very moment is the perfect teacher, and, lucky for us, it's with us wherever we go' - Pema Chodron. How can we go on living "when things fall apart" - when we are overcome by pain, fear, and anxiety? Pema Chodron's answer to that question contains some spectacularly good news: there is a fundamental happiness readily available to each one of us, no matter how difficult things seem to be. To find it, according to traditional Buddhist teaching, we must learn to stop running from suffering and instead actually learn to approach it - fearlessly, compassionately, and with curiosity. This radical practice enables us to use all situations, even very painful ones, as means for discovering the truth and love that are utterly indestructible.

The Dalai Lama has represented Buddhism as a religion of non-violence, compassion, and world peace, but this does not reflect how monks learn their vocation. This book shows how monasteries use harsh methods to make monks of men, and how this tradition is changing as modernist reformers - like the Dalai Lama - adopt liberal and democratic ideals, such as natural rights and individual autonomy. In the first in-depth account of disciplinary practices at a Tibetan monastery in India, Michael Lempert looks closely at everyday education rites - from debate to reprimand and corporal punishment. His analysis explores how the idioms of violence inscribed in these socialization rites help produce educated, moral persons but in ways that trouble Tibetans who aspire to modernity. Bringing the study of language and social interaction to our understanding of Buddhism for the first time, Lempert shows and why liberal ideals are being acted out by monks in India, offering a provocative alternative view of liberalism as a globalizing discourse.