Dzogchen Essentials: The Path That Clarifies Confusion

by Padmasambhava, Erik Pema Kunsang (Translator), Marcia Binder Schmidt (Editor)

The Tibetan Buddhist meditation practice known as Dzogchen is a pragmatic method for getting in touch with the pure, clear awareness that is hidden under our constant flow of anxious thoughts. Dzogchen Essentials makes available the methods to meet and utilize this rich spiritual path.

Marcia Binder Schmidt, a long time, close attendant to one of the foremost Dzogchen Masters of the last century, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, has put together the most comprehensive and accessible collection of the essential instructions vital to this subject. She has organized them into a handbook for the genuine trainee of this tradition. The book includes a useful preface an introductory teaching by a leading Dzogchen Master as well as classical and original pieces that impart crucial explanations. This is a book for the layperson as well as the scholar.

For centuries, Dzogchen has been a secretly held and privately transmitted teaching, which was unknown beyond the confines of Tibetan culture. But that changed in the final decades of the last century, as many Tibetans saw the long-awaited unfolding of a famous ninth-century "When the Dark Age is rampant, the Dzogchen teachings will blaze like wildfire."

Genres: Buddhism, Spirituality

288 pages, Paperback

First published July 16, 2004

About the author

According to tradition, Padmasambhava was incarnated as an eight-year-old child appearing in a lotus blossom floating in Lake Dhanakosha, in the kingdom of Uddiyana, traditionally identified with the Swat Valley in present-day Pakistan. His special nature was recognized by the local king who married him to one of his daughters, Mandarava. She and Padmasambhava's other main consort, Yeshe Tsogyal, developed into realised practitioners. Many thangkas and paintings show Padmasambhava in between them.
Padmasambhava's ability to memorize and comprehend esoteric texts in a single hearing established his reputation as a master above all others. Knowing that the life force of the wife and son of evil minister was about to end, he constructed an accident which resulted in their death. As a result, Padmasambhava was banished from the court and exiled in a charnel ground. Transiting various heavens and hells, he developed the power to transcend the cycle of birth and death, accomplishing the so-called great transference.
His fame became known to Trisong Detsen, the 38th king of Tibet (742–797), whose kingdom was beset by evil mountain deities. The king invited Padmasambhava to Tibet where he used his tantric powers to subdue the evil deities he encountered along the way, eventually receiving the Emperor's wife, identified with the dakini Yeshe Tsogyal, as a consort. This was in accordance with the tantric principle of not eliminating negative forces but redirecting them to fuel the journey toward spiritual awakening. In Tibet he founded the first monastery in the country, Samye Gompa, initiated the first monks, and introduced the people to the practice of Tantric Buddhism.
In Bhutan he is associated with the famous Taktshang or "Tiger's Nest" monastery built on a sheer cliff wall about 500m above the floor of Paro valley. He flew there from Tibet on the back of Yeshe Tsogyal, whom he transformed into a flying tigress for the purpose of the trip. Later he travelled to Bumthang district to subdue a powerful deity offended by a local king. Padmasambhava's body imprint can be found in the wall of a cave at nearby Kurje Lhakhang temple.
According to Tibetan tradition, the Bardo Thodol (commonly referred to as the Tibetan Book of the Dead) was among many treasures hidden by Padmasambhava, subsequently discovered by a Tibetan terton, Karma Lingpa.