Even the most casual contact with the culture, politics, or religion of Tibet and the surrounding region brings outsiders face to face with the institution of reincarnate spiritual masters. Past masters are identified as small children installed in their predecessor's monastery in a ceremony called "enthronement" and educated to continue the work of their former incarnation. This custom has provided a principal source of spiritual renewal for Himalayan Buddhists for the past thousand years. The introduction places the subject of reincarnate meditation masters within two major contexts: the activity of bodhisattvas, and in modern Tibetan society, where the reappearance of past masters is both natural and profoundly moving.
Tai Situpa Rinpoche, a contemporary reincarnate master and a leader of the Kagyu lineage, describes the process of finding other reincarnate masters. Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye, an outstanding writer and meditation master, offers a traditional view of the enthronement of reincarnate masters.

The Kagyu and Nyingma traditions of Himalayan tantric Buddhism require a long period of intensive training in meditation--a three-year, three-month retreat--before a practitioner is considered to be a qualified teacher. "Jamgon Kongtrul's Retreat Manual" was written in the mid-nineteenth century for those who wish to embark on this rigorous training. It guides them in preparing for retreat, provides full details of the program of meditation, and offers advice for their re-entry into the world.
"Jamgon Kongtrul's Retreat Manual" also introduces us to one of the towering figures of nineteenth-century Tibet: Jamgon Kongtrul the Great (1813-99). The three-year retreat center he describes in this book was his creation, and its program consisted of those practices Kongtrul treasured enough to pass on to future generations through the spiritual leaders he trained.