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Essentials of Mahamudra: Looking Directly at the Mind
What would you see if you looked directly at your mind? The Tibetan Buddhist teachings on mahamudra are known for their ability to lead to profound realization. Peaceful and infinitely adaptable, these teachings are as useful for today's busy world as they have been for centuries. Written by the tutor to the seventeenth Karmapa, Essentials of Mahamudra is a commentary on Tashi Namgyal's famous Moonlight of Mahamudra - a text that the sixteenth Karmapa had identified as the most valuable for Westerners. Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche recognized that Western meditators don't just need to know how to maintain our meditation practice - we need to know why we should do it. Unmatched in its directness, Essentials of Mahamudra addresses both these needs, rendering one of the most advanced forms of meditation more easily adaptable to our everyday lives.
290 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 1, 1996
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About the author
Khenchen Thrangu
80 books41 followersVery Venerable Ninth Khenchen Thrangu Tulku, Karma Lodrö Lungrik Maway Senge (Tibetan: ཁྲ་འགུ་, Wylie: khra 'gu) is a prominent tulku (reincarnate lama) in the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism.
At the age of four he was formally recognized by His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa and Eleventh Tai Situpa as the ninth incarnation of the great Thrangu tulku, the abbot of Thrangu Monastery, whose root incarnation was Shüpu Palgyi Sengé, one of the twenty-five disciples of Guru Rinpoche. Forced to flee to India in 1959, he went to Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim, where the Karmapa had his seat in exile. Thrangu Rinpoche then served as the main teacher of the four principal Karma Kagyü tulkus of that time—the four regents of the Karmapa (Shamar Rinpoche, Tai Situ Rinpoche, Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche, and Gyaltsab Rinpoche). In 1976 he began to teach in the West and became the abbot of Gampo Abbey—a Buddhist monastery in Nova Scotia, Canada—as well as to take charge of the three-year retreat centre at Samyé Ling in Scotland.
He is also the author of the widely studied The Practice of Tranquility and Insight, a commentary on the eighth chapter of Jamgön Kongtrul's Treasury of Knowledge, on shamatha and vipashyana.
At the age of four he was formally recognized by His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa and Eleventh Tai Situpa as the ninth incarnation of the great Thrangu tulku, the abbot of Thrangu Monastery, whose root incarnation was Shüpu Palgyi Sengé, one of the twenty-five disciples of Guru Rinpoche. Forced to flee to India in 1959, he went to Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim, where the Karmapa had his seat in exile. Thrangu Rinpoche then served as the main teacher of the four principal Karma Kagyü tulkus of that time—the four regents of the Karmapa (Shamar Rinpoche, Tai Situ Rinpoche, Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche, and Gyaltsab Rinpoche). In 1976 he began to teach in the West and became the abbot of Gampo Abbey—a Buddhist monastery in Nova Scotia, Canada—as well as to take charge of the three-year retreat centre at Samyé Ling in Scotland.
He is also the author of the widely studied The Practice of Tranquility and Insight, a commentary on the eighth chapter of Jamgön Kongtrul's Treasury of Knowledge, on shamatha and vipashyana.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 5, 2017
Reading it second time now. Excellent book. Simplifying the original text and bring out the essence in clear and profound words. Reading it is not too difficult to understand, thanks to the way it is written. But realizing it is another matter.
July 10, 2020
The best book on Buddhist meditation I’ve read.
I don’t make this claim lightly. Over the past twenty years I’ve read and studied many traditional and modern texts on Eastern spirituality and meditation – both Hindu and Buddhist, but this book blew me away in terms of clarity, depth, and pragmatism.
Essentials of Mahamudra is a commentary on Tashi Namgyal’s famous mahamudra manual Moonlight of Mahamudra, and Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche does a great job at working out and explaining the original text in great detail, while adopting the teaching to modern times without loosing any authenticity. The book is replete with Buddhist philosophy of emptiness and nature of mind, but the recurrent theme is union of philosophy with experiential wisdom through the practice of meditation.
While Essentials of Mahamudra can be of benefit to non-Buddhists and beginner level meditators, I think both, the original text and Thrangu’s commentary, are primarily aimed at serious mahamudra practitioners willing to study and practice both texts in depth repeatedly.
I don’t make this claim lightly. Over the past twenty years I’ve read and studied many traditional and modern texts on Eastern spirituality and meditation – both Hindu and Buddhist, but this book blew me away in terms of clarity, depth, and pragmatism.
Essentials of Mahamudra is a commentary on Tashi Namgyal’s famous mahamudra manual Moonlight of Mahamudra, and Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche does a great job at working out and explaining the original text in great detail, while adopting the teaching to modern times without loosing any authenticity. The book is replete with Buddhist philosophy of emptiness and nature of mind, but the recurrent theme is union of philosophy with experiential wisdom through the practice of meditation.
While Essentials of Mahamudra can be of benefit to non-Buddhists and beginner level meditators, I think both, the original text and Thrangu’s commentary, are primarily aimed at serious mahamudra practitioners willing to study and practice both texts in depth repeatedly.
September 11, 2023
This is a re-read. I first read it almost twenty years ago, after it first came out. It cemented my decision to pursue practicing the Mahamudra path. A great addition to the root text Mahamudra: The Moonlight, which I highly recommend reading first.
February 19, 2017
There definitely were some nuggets of wisdom but it was kind of hard for me to get through. Maybe I just wasn't ready.
February 22, 2018
The more of these direct translations of Tibetan works I read, the less I understand why anyone would print them.
It's obvious that Tibetan Buddhism has, at the very least, one of the world's deepest systems of contemplative techniques. However, traditional explanations of those techniques (like this) are hopelessly obtuse and make silly claims like "unlike other types of meditation, you can do ours unless you receive a magical 'transmission' from an instructor".
It's obvious that Tibetan Buddhism has, at the very least, one of the world's deepest systems of contemplative techniques. However, traditional explanations of those techniques (like this) are hopelessly obtuse and make silly claims like "unlike other types of meditation, you can do ours unless you receive a magical 'transmission' from an instructor".
March 1, 2015
Excellent book and one I will read again once I have a better practice-grasp of the concepts. It was probably a bit too advanced for where I currently am in my meditation practice, but it was still a wonderful book.
October 25, 2016
Rinpoche is always clear and lucid in explaining the practices. His insights shine.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews