The Great Exposition of Secret Mantra, Volume One: Tantra in Tibet (Revised Edition)

by Dalai Lama XIV, Tsongkhapa, Jeffrey Hopkins (Editor)

Tantra in Tibet is the first volume in The Great Exposition of Secret Mantra series in which the Dalai Lama offers illuminating commentary on Tsongkhapa’s seminal text on Buddhist tantra. It is followed by Volume Deity Yoga and Volume Yoga Tantra.This revised work describes the differences between the Mahayana and Hinayana streams in the sutra tradition, and between the sutra tradition and that of tantra generally. It includes highly practical and compassionate explanations from H.H. the Dalai Lama on tantra for spiritual development; the first part of the classic Great Exposition of Secret Mantra text; and a supplement by Jeffrey Hopkins on the meaning of emptiness, transformation, and the purpose of the four classes of tantra.

Genres: Buddhism

324 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 27, 2016

About the author

Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso (born Lhamo Döndrub), the 14th Dalai Lama, is a practicing member of the Gelug School of Tibetan Buddhism and is influential as a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, the world's most famous Buddhist monk, and the leader of the exiled Tibetan government in India.

Tenzin Gyatso was the fifth of sixteen children born to a farming family. He was proclaimed the tulku (an Enlightened lama who has consciously decided to take rebirth) of the 13th Dalai Lama at the age of two.

On 17 November 1950, at the age of 15, he was enthroned as Tibet's ruler. Thus he became Tibet's most important political ruler just one month after the People's Republic of China's invasion of Tibet on 7 October 1950. In 1954, he went to Beijing to attempt peace talks with Mao Zedong and other leaders of the PRC. These talks ultimately failed.

After a failed uprising and the collapse of the Tibetan resistance movement in 1959, the Dalai Lama left for India, where he was active in establishing the Central Tibetan Administration (the Tibetan Government in Exile) and in seeking to preserve Tibetan culture and education among the thousands of refugees who accompanied him.

Tenzin Gyatso is a charismatic figure and noted public speaker. This Dalai Lama is the first to travel to the West. There, he has helped to spread Buddhism and to promote the concepts of universal responsibility, secular ethics, and religious harmony.

He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, honorary Canadian citizenship in 2006, and the United States Congressional Gold Medal on 17 October 2007.

Reviews

[boris · Rating 5 out of 5]

An authoritative presentation of tantra

Great book which clarifies many misconceptions about tantra. It sets clear many basic concepts which are often overlooked or ignored. Since the authors are Lama Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, and His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama, the presentation is traditional and authoritative.

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent introduction to the differences between sutra and mantra. I thought the translator's commentary at the end was a little unnecessary since both the Dalai Lama and Tsongkhapa already said what he was saying twice over, but overall it's a very good book as a whole. On to Volume 2!

[Logan Streondj · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's like listening to someone argue back and fourth for every page, very little actual applicable information as it's mostly just arguments such as' some say x, but it's not because y'.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative, Insightful, and Inspiring

I am not a Buddhist, but learning Tibetan tantric wisdom has helped to clarify and encourage me. A lot of what is called tantra in the West is very degenerated, so learning from auspicious and pure sources like the Dalai Lama and Tsongkhapa is very refreshing.