Vajra Wisdom: Deity Practice in Tibetan Buddhism

by Shechen Gyaltsap IV, Kunkyen Tenpe Nyima, Dharmachakra Translation Committee (Translator)

Vajra Wisdom presents the commentaries of two great nineteenth-century Nyingma masters that guide practitioners engaged in development stage practice through a series of straightforward instructions. The rarity of this kind of material in English makes it indispensable for practitioners and scholars alike.

The goal of development stage meditation in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition is to directly realize the inseparability of phenomena and emptiness. Preceded by initiation and oral instructions, the practitioner arrives at this view through the profound methods of deity visualization, mantra recitation, and meditative absorption.

Genres: Buddhism

256 pages, Hardcover

First published May 14, 2013

Reviews

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are very few books available in English (or in Tibetan, for that matter) concerning the details, that is to say, the 'bare bones of' the so-called 'generation phase' (Tib. bskyed rim, Skt. utpattikrama) of Vajrayana Buddhist practice per se. To date (unless I'm missing some) we have Sarah Harding's translation of Jamgön Kongtrül's bskyed rdzogs kyi gnad bsdus, "Creation and Completion; Essential Points of Tantric Mediation", "Deity, Mantra and Wisdom" by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee which contains 'Jigme Lingpa's "Ladder to Akanishtha", Patrül Rinpoche's sub-commentary on that entitled "Key Points for Meditating of the Four Stakes that Bind the Life-Force", and Getse Mahapandita's "Husks of Unity: a Clarification of the Development Stage Ritual", and, aside from the marvellous details in Dudjom Lingpa's works and Sera Khandro's commentaries on them, that was pretty much it till Vajra Wisdom appeared. This contains "General Notes on the Rituals of the Development Stage" by Künkhyen Tenpai Nyima and "A Brief, Clearand Comprehensible Overview of the Development Stage" by Pema Namgyal, the IVth Shechen Gyaltsap. These four collections together constitute a veritable wish-granting gem, explaining, as they do, not only the what but also the why of the framework, or 'stage' of the practice as well as the meaning of and content of the ritual acts that help develop it. Well worth getting - all four.