The Magic Key: Instructions on the Bodhicitta

by Christopher Wilkinson

The Magic Key is a Sutra of the Great Perfection, the Atiyoga or Dzogchen. It contains an account of the teaching of the Lord of Secrets to Vajrasattva. It is an upadeśa instruction, pointing out advice for yogins of the Great Perfection. It was first translated into Tibetan by Sri Singha and Vairochana in the Eighth Century of our era. It survives in the collections known as The Hundred Thousand Tantras of the Ancients (Nyingma Gyubum). In its sixty-one chapters we are given direct instructions on every aspect of the Great Perfection, including detailed instructions on practices and methods that are generally not written down. Its insights are both fresh and brilliant. Here we find an ancient wisdom that also speaks to the realities of our own world.

231 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 12, 2019

About the author

Christopher Wilkinson (M.A. Buddhist Studies, University of Calgary; B.A. Asian Languages and Literature, Comparative Religion, University of Washington, 1980) is a Buddhist monk, academic, and translator. He has been visiting professor of English Literature in Sulawesi, Indonesia (1990–1993); research fellow for the Shelly and Donald Rubin Foundation; research fellow at the Centre de Recherches sur les Civilisations de l'Asie Orientale, Collège de France; and Adjunct Professor at the University of Calgary. He is most closely associated with the Dzogchen tradition and the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism.