Teachings of Tibetan Yoga

by Garma C.C. Chang

A translation of three preliminary texts on Mahamudra (literally, "grand gesture"), all very old and something that nearly all practitioners respect, recite, and often commit to memory. One of them is a paean to Mahamudra that Naropa's teacher wrote. Following is a translation of a summary text which introduce the reader to the Six Yogas of Naropa.

Genres: Buddhism, Gnosticism

128 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Garma C. C. Chang (born Zhang Chengji) was an important Buddhist schfolar and philosopher.

Born in Shanghai, Republic of China, his father Zhang Dulun was a senior army officer and later provincial governor of Hubei. Together with his mother, Chang frequently visited Buddhist temples and recited regularly at Buddhist sutras. At 15, he entered a Chan Monastery in the Lushan Mountains in the Jiangxi Province, and from the age of 16 spent nine years in Buddhist monasteries in Vajrayana, eastern Tibet, including six years with his Guru Rinpoche Gangkar in the Minyak Gangkar Monastery in southwest Kangding.

Chang returned to his family in Nanjing in 1945 and emigrated with his wife to the United States in the 1950s. Having gained extensive knowledge of Buddhist philosophy and being proficient in the Chinese, Tibetan, Sanskrit, Pali and English languages, he became a lecturer at various American universities and eventually professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Pennsylvania State University in State College.

Chang translated and interpreted many Chinese and Tibetan texts into English, including songs of the great Tibetan yogi Milarepa, Zen practice, the practice of Mahamudra, and the Philosophy of Hua-yen. His books gained considerable popularity amongst Western practitioners of Vajrayana and the Chan/Zen and became widely distributed in the U.S. and Europe.

Chang suffered from heart problems and failing eyesight and died in 1988 in Marietta, Georgia at the age of 67.

Reviews

[JD Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

What was best about the book is that it incorporated some important invocations that many Tibetan Buddhists say, regardless of what school they may practice. What was harder to follow was the condensation of the Six Yogas that constituted the second part of the book. Since I have another, fuller translation of such, that may be just an inconvenience for me. It may, however, arouse the curiosity of the novice practitioner and encourage that person to find a proper teacher. Sadly, as I have noticed over the past 50-60 years or so, there are many works in Tibetan that remain only.in the original language, books that Garma Chang refers to in the text.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short! A very brief introduction, got me curious, will definitely explore more

[Paul Brooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

great instruction on gTummo