Ringu Tulku

Ringu Tulku

Ringu Tulku Rinpoche was born in Kham Lingtsang, in eastern Tibet, and was recognized by His Holiness the Sixteenth Gyalwang Karmapa as the incarnation of one of the tulkus of Ringu monastery, a Kagyüpa monastery in his home province. He studied with some of the most distinguished khenpos of the Nyingma and Kagyu traditions and received teachings from many outstanding masters, including Thrangu Rinpoche, Dodrupchen Rinpoche, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, and the Gyalwang Karmapa. He is the author of Path to Buddhahood and The Ri-me Philosophy of Jamgön Kongtrul the Great.

Ringu Tulku

Ringu Tulku Rinpoche was born in Kham Lingtsang, in eastern Tibet, and was recognized by His Holiness the Sixteenth Gyalwang Karmapa as the incarnation of one of the tulkus of Ringu monastery, a Kagyüpa monastery in his home province. He studied with some of the most distinguished khenpos of the Nyingma and Kagyu traditions and received teachings from many outstanding masters, including Thrangu Rinpoche, Dodrupchen Rinpoche, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, and the Gyalwang Karmapa. He is the author of Path to Buddhahood and The Ri-me Philosophy of Jamgön Kongtrul the Great.

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GUIDES

Gampopa: A Guide for Readers

Gampopa: A Guide for Readers

Gampopa-Banigan

Gampopa, by Chris Banigan from The Supreme Siddhi of Mahamudra

Indestructible truth
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The following short biography of Gampopa is adapted from Indestructible Truth: The Living Spirituality of Tibetan Buddhism:

In terms of the institutional continuity of the Kagyu¨ lineage, Gampopa was Milarepa’s most influential disciple. He was born in 1079 in the region of Takpo and is hence also known as Takpo Lhaje (the Doctor from Takpo). His biography tells us that, as a young man, he marries and has one child. However, while he is still in his mid-twenties, a plague sweeps through the region, and both his wife and child die. Disconsolate, with a new and vivid understanding of death, he realizes that seeking ordinary happiness in the world makes no sense and is doomed to failure. From this realization comes his decision, at the age of twenty-five, to renounce the world and enter monastic life.

Gampopa enters the Kadam tradition of Atisha and pursues a life defined by following the monastic Vinaya, studying the main scholarly traditions of Buddhism, and practicing meditation. His support is provided by some land that he continues to own. One spring, he has entered retreat in a hut built near the monastery. On a certain day, having come out of retreat and walking in the monastic grounds, he hears three beggars talking. The first expresses a desire for plentiful food and drink, while the second says he would like to be a king like Tsede of Tibet.

The third, however, comments, "Even Tsede will one day die, so his happiness is not lasting. As long as you are going to wish, wish to become a great yogin like Milarepa who needs no clothing or human food. He is fed nectar by the Dakinis, rides atop a white snow lion, and flies in the sky. Now that would be truly wondrous."

"Merely by hearing the name of Milarepa the hair of Gampopa’s body stood on end, tears came to his eyes and a special devotion, unlike he had ever felt before, emerged in his mind." Initially, his upsurge of feeling paralyzes him, and he is unable to move. When he eventually returns to his retreat hut, he is unable to meditate but keeps thinking constantly and obsessively about Milarepa. He returns to the monastery, locates the three beggars, and questions them about the person, the teachings, and the location of Milarepa. They direct him to a mountainous region in western Tibet where Milarepa is in retreat. Selling his land for four ounces of gold, Gampopa sets off to find his master.

At this point in Indestructible Truth, the meeting between Gampopa and Milarepa is recounted by Kalu Rinpoche.   It then continues:

Gampopa’s path included the strict disciplinary and scholarly training of the monk as well as the meditation of the yogin in solitary retreat. In his person and in the teachings he gave, Gampopa expressed the integrated combination of these two strands, something that was unusual in Tibet at that time. This integration is laid out in his Jewel Ornament of Liberation, a work on the stages of the path that has enjoyed great fame throughout Tibetan Buddhist history and is still popular today. It was Gampopa’s mission to institutionalize this integration of his Kadam and Kagyu¨ training. In fulfillment of this, he built a monastery and ordained his main disciples. According to his biography, almost all of his primary disciples were ordained monks, following the Vinaya.

Essential Texts by and about Gampopa

Life of Gampopa
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The Life of Gampopa, Second Edition

By Jampa Mackenzie Stewart, illustrated by Eva Van Dam, introduction by Lobsang Lhalungpa

Here is the first complete life story of Gampopa, foremost disciple of Milarepa and a forefather of the Kagyu lineages. Compiled from numerous Tibetan biographies, this comprehensive and inspiring rendition highlights the extraordinary details of Gampopa's meditative experiences and presents direct insights into the practice and realization of Mahamudra. Includes a history of the Kagyu and an essay on Mahamudra.

A history of the Kagyu order by Lobsang P. Lhalungpa augments Gampopa's biography, illustrating this revered teacher's central role in the development of the Tibetan
Kagyu lineages. A concluding essay on Mahamudra introduces Vajrayana Buddhism to beginners, while simultaneously supporting advanced practitioners with fresh insights.

Jewel Ornament of Liberation

The Jewel Ornament of Liberation (Tibetan: དམ་ཆོས་ཡིད་བཞིན་གྱི་ནོར་བུ་ཐར་པ་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་རྒྱན, Wylie: dam chos yid bzhin nor bu thar) is Gampopa's most famous text.  As His Holiness the Dalai Lama says in his forewrod to the translation below:

This text is an excellent work that reflects the blending of two systems of teaching-the Kadampa tradition and the Mahamudra tradition. Gampopa received complete transmissions of Jowo Je' s Lamrim tradition and Naropa' s Mahamudra tradition. This text is therefore a Lamrim text and reflects the Madhyamika philosophical view, but it also implicitly reflects the teachings of Annuttarayoga Tantra and Mahamudra. Mahamudra is not explained explicitly, however, as this is a sutric text and Mahamudra deals with the secret teachings of tantra.

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The Jewel Ornament of Liberation: The Wish-Fulfilling Gem of the Noble Teachings

By Gampopa, Translated by Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen Rinpoche
Foreword by H.H. the Fourteenth Dalai Lama

A masterwork of Tibetan Buddhism—providing the complete foundation for study and practice—from beginning to Buddhahood. Includes teachings on Buddha-nature, finding the spiritual master, impermanence, karma, cultivation of bodhicitta, development of the six perfections, the ten bodhisattva bhumis, Buddhahood, and the activities of the Buddha.

Path to Buddhahood
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Path to Buddhahood: Teachings on Gampopa's Jewel Ornament of Liberation

By Ringu Tulku

The Jewel Ornament of Liberation is regarded by all Tibetan Buddhist schools as one of the most inspiring and comprehensive works of the tradition. Written by Gampopa (born 1079 CE), the main spiritual son of the great hermit Milarepa, this important text lays out the stages of the Buddhist path and explains how an enlightened attitude is strengthened by practicing the six perfections of generosity, discipline, patience, exertion, meditation, and knowledge.

For the first time, this sometimes difficult text is made accessible to Western readers in a clear and engaging commentary. Tibetan teacher Ringu Tulku explores this classic work of Buddhist practice and philosophy with the playful and fresh style that has made him so popular among students of Buddhism. Using folksy examples and anecdotes, he brings this text to life, discussing topics such as:

  • seeing through the illusions that cause us to suffer
  • advice on acting with kindness, generosity, and patience
  • instructions on how to put others first
  • guidance for attaining peace and lasting compassion
Confusion Arises as Wisdom image
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Confusion Arises as Wisdom: Gampopa's Heart Advice on the Path of Mahamudra

By Gampopa and Ringu Tulku

How could confusion arise as wisdom? According to the Mahamudra view, confusion arises as wisdom when we realize that everything we experience is the radiance of the mind’s own nature. And what is the nature of our mind? And how do we come to recognize that? These are the questions Gampopa answers for his students in the text commented upon here, known as the Great Community Talks. He shows them—and now us—the path of deep understanding and meditation that leads to the realization of Mahamudra, the “Great Seal” of the true nature of reality.

This book contains a few general instructions on Mahayana topics, most of the instructions are on Mahamudra meditation and the Vajrayana view and practice.

Chapter 1 opens the book in a traditional way by giving the lineage history of these teachings and some background on Gampopa’s life.

Chapter 2 is a detailed discussion of the importance of devotion. The way devotion is described in seven categories is stylistically reminiscent of Gampopa’s most influential book, the Jewel Ornament of Liberation.

Chapter 3 tells a short story about a monk who was able to talk directly with Chenrezik, the bodhisattva of compassion, and ask him questions on behalf of Atisha Dipankara, the founder of the Kadampa lineage.

Chapter 4 is Gampopa’s own explanation of what is popularly known as the Four Dharmas of Gampopa. This way of explaining the Four Dharmas is somewhat unusual, and the last section of this chapter forms a bridge with the upcoming Vajrayana teachings by introducing coemergent wisdom, a key term in Mahamudra.

The next three chapters discuss Mahamudra in more detail from different angles: chapter 5 is on applying coemergent wisdom to our experience, including some very practical advice on bringing negativity onto the path; chapter 6 is a pointing-out instruction on the nature of the mind; and chapter 7 discusses the meaning of Mahamudra in terms of experience and realization. Later in the book, chapters 9 and 12 also focus on Mahamudra: chapter 9 is on stabilizing recognition of the nature of the mind, and chapter 12 discusses the great significance of knowing tamel gyi shepa, the ordinary mind.

Chapter 8 is a detailed explanation of creation stage practice, or deity yoga, and emphasizes the way it transforms our perception of ourselves and our world. Chapter 10 discusses how to tell if a spiritual teacher is genuine or not, and chapters 11 and 13 examine the Vajrayana view, meditation, action, and result from two very different perspectives. Chapter 14 is a pithy explanation of right and wrong motivation when listening to dharma teachings. Chapter 15, “Pitfalls in Experience and Deviations from the View,” points out some typical mistakes people make in practicing meditation and understanding emptiness. Chapter 16 highlights the illusory, dreamlike nature of bodhichitta as the inseparability of compassion and wisdom.

Chapter 17 is Gampopa’s heart advice to students doing long retreats. One can imagine Gampopa talking to a small group of dedicated practitioners, giving them very personal and pointed advice about what they must do to reach liberation. The final chapter, chapter 18, lists ten ways that students would ideally serve their teachers. The commentary is followed by an appendix, which contains the entire translation of the root text without commentary.

Moonbeams of Mahamudra
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Moonbeams of Mahamudra

By Dakpo Tashi Namgyal, translated and introduced by Elizabeth M. Callahan

This classic Buddhist work, written in the sixteenth century, comprehensively presents the entire scope of the Tibetan Kagyu Mahāmudrā tradition. These profound yet accessible instructions focus on becoming familiar with the nature of one’s mind as the primary means to realize ultimate reality and thus attain buddhahood. Dakpo Tashi Namgyal’s manual for the view and practice of Mahāmudrā is widely considered the single most important work on the subject, systematically introducing the view and associated meditation techniques in a progressive manner.

Moonbeams of Mahāmudrā, along with the Ninth Karmapa Wangchuk Dorje’s Dispelling the Darkness of Ignorance, are to this day some of the most studied texts on Mahāmudrā in the Kagyu monasteries throughout Tibet and the Himalayas. Elizabeth M. Callahan, a renowned translator of classical Kagyu literature, has provided new translations of these two texts along with ancillary materials and annotations, making this a genuine resource for both scholars and students of Tibetan Buddhism. This historic contribution therefore offers the necessary tools to properly study and apply the Mahāmudrā teachings in a modern context.

Gampopa is central to this work and appears many hundreds of time throughout.  Here is an example:

Gampopa taught somewhat differently from his Kadam teachers and Milarepa. Marpa and Milarepa guided their students to the realization of mahāmudrā by first teaching them caṇḍālī and then mahāmudrā. Once their students had experienced the wisdom of caṇḍālī, the force of that brought forth the realization of mahāmudrā. While Gampopa did teach the same Vajrayāna path of method to certain disciples, he also taught other students mahāmudrā as a path distinct from the Mantra path and its methodology.

More Books Featuring Naropa

Great Kagyu
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$27.95 - Paperback

The Great Kagyu Masters: The Golden Lineage Treasury

Compiled by Dorje Dze Öd, translated by Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen Rinpoche

The Golden Lineage Treasury was compiled by Dorje Dze Öd a great master of the Drikung lineage active in the Mount Kailasjh region of Western Tibet.  This text of the Kagyu tradition profiles and the forefathers of the tradition including Vajradhara, the Buddha, Tilopa, Naropa, the Four Great Dharma Kings of Tibet, Marpa, Milarepa, Atisha, Gampopa, Phagmodrupa, Jigten Sumgon, and more.

The chapter on Gampopa is  19 pages long.

marpa
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$49.95 - Hardcover

Marpa Kagyu, Part One - Methods of Liberation: Essential Teachings of the Eight Practice Lineages of Tibet, Volume 7

The Treasury of Precious Instructions

By Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye

The seventh volume of the series, Marpa Kagyu, is the first of four volumes that present a selection of core instructions from the Marpa Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. This lineage is named for the eleventh-century Tibetan Marpa Chokyi Lodrö of Lhodrak who traveled to India to study the sutras and tantras with many scholar-siddhas, the foremost being Naropa and Maitripa. The first part of this volume contains source texts on mahamudra and the six dharmas by such famous masters as Saraha and Tilopa. The second part begins with a collection of sadhanas and abhisekas related to the Root Cakrasamvara Aural Transmissions, which are the means for maturing, or empowering, students. It is followed by the liberating instructions, first from the Rechung Aural Transmission. This section on instructions continues in the following three Marpa Kagyu volumes. Also included are lineage charts and detailed notes by translator Elizabeth M. Callahan.

The piece by Gampopa in this volume includes Mahāmudrā: Path of a Single Stride.  From Callahan's introduction to the piece:

This work is not included in Gampopa’s Collected Works [in Tibetan] and nothing seems to be known of its provenance other than that its colophon says that Gampopa transmitted it to Dusum Khyenpa. This text, in a few words, describes, as its title says, “the path of a single stride,” a phrase often used in mahāmudrā texts to refer to the ever-present, indivisible quality of mahāmudrā, the nature of mind. Dakpo Tashi Namgyal explains:

Mahāmudrā, the essence of dharmatā, is a path of a single stride.
Since dharmatā cannot be divided in terms of its essence, it is said
that on the level of the definitive meaning, it is not possible to
delineate the stages of bhūmis and paths.

when clouds part
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When the Clouds Part: The Uttaratantra and Its Meditative Tradition as a Bridge between Sutra and Tantra

Translated by Karl Brunnhölzl

This book discusses a wide range of topics connected with the notion of buddha nature as presented in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism and includes an overview of the sūtra sources of the tathāgatagarbha teachings and the different ways of explaining the meaning of this term. It includes new translations of the Maitreya treatise Mahāyānottaratantra (Ratnagotravibhāga), the primary Indian text on the subject, its Indian commentaries, and two (hitherto untranslated) commentaries from the Tibetan Kagyü tradition.

There is a chapter entitled "Gampopa’s Mahāmudrā and the Uttaratantra", but he appears in a couple hundred places throughout the book related to how his teachings connect to the teachings on Buddha Nature from the Uttaratantra.

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The Supreme Siddhi of Mahamudra: Teachings, Poems, and Songs of the Drukpa Kagyu Lineage

Translated by Gerardo Abboud, Sean Price, and Adam Kane

The Drukpa Kagyu lineage is renowned among the traditions of Vajrayana Buddhism for producing some of the greatest yogis from across the Himalayas. After spending many years in mountain retreats, these meditation masters displayed miraculous signs of spiritual accomplishment that have inspired generations of Buddhist practitioners. The teachings found here are sources of inspiration for any student wishing to genuinely connect with this tradition.

These translations include Mahamudra advice and songs of realization from major Tibetan Buddhist figures such as Gampopa, Tsangpa Gyare, Drukpa Kunleg, and Pema Karpo, as well as modern Drukpa masters such as Togden Shakya Shri and Adeu Rinpoche. This collection of direct pith instructions and meditation advice also includes an overview of the tradition by Tsoknyi Rinpoche.

The second chapter, on Gampopa, is a translation of the The Single Sufficient Path of Mahamudra, which has three sections:

  1. resolving the natural state
  2. pointing out the nature of things
  3. training in suchness as the path.

Combined with guidance from a qualified teacher, these teachings offer techniques for resting in the naturally pure and luminous state of our minds. As these masters make clear, through stabilizing the meditative experiences of bliss, clarity, and nonthought, we will be liberated from suffering in this very life and will therefore be able to benefit countless beings.

Translator on Gerardo Abboud on The Supreme Siddhi of Mahamudra

Gampopa-beer

Gampopa, from the Buddhist Art Coloring Book 2

$21.95 - Paperback

Additional Resources on Tilopa

Lotsawa House hosts at least five works by Gampopa as well as several where he features.  lotswa house

BDRC has a set of associated works related to Gampopa

...
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A Guide to the Treasury of Precious Instructions

The Treasury of Precious Instructions

Guide for Readers

This guide to exploring The Treasury of Precious Instructions includes selections from the text, words of advice and praises from distinguished Tibetan teachers, audio and video series from the translators, and helpful resources. Use the navigation menu below to explore each page and discover this truly remarkable and timeless series of texts!

Series Overview

Summary of the Series

The Treasury of Precious Instructions or Dam-ngak Rinpoché Dzö by Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Taye, one of Tibet’s greatest Buddhist masters, is a shining jewel of Tibetan literature, presenting essential teachings from the entire spectrum of practice lineages that came from India into Tibet. In its eighteen volumes, Kongtrul brings together some of the most important texts on key topics of Buddhist thought and practice as well as authoring significant new sections of his own.

This is one of Jamgön Kongtrul’s Five Treasuries, his major collections of writing. It is considered one of the most important contributions to Tibetan literature. This Treasury contains the collected transmissions and esoteric instructions of the eight principal practice lineages of Tibetan Buddhism, which trace their lineages back to India. These eight lineages of accomplishment (one model of classifying the practice traditions of Tibet) are encompassed  in 18 volumes. This collection was compiled in roughly chronological order as the traditions developed:

  • Nyingma - Volume 1 & 2
  • Kadam - Volume 3 & 4
  • Sakya Path & Result - Volume 5 & 6
  • Marpa Kagyu - Volume 7-10
  • Shangpa Kagyu - Volume 11 & 12
  • Zhije - Volume 13
  • Chöd - Volume 14
  • Kalacakra & Orgyen Nyendrup - Volume 15
  • Mahasiddha Practice - Volume 16 & 17
  • Jonang - Volume 18
jamgon-kongtrul

Individual Volume Details

Forthcoming

Nyingma, Part One
Volume 1 of the Treasury of Precious Instructions

Nyingma, Part Two
Volume 2 of the Treasury of Precious Instructions

On Sale Autumn 2024

Volume 1 and 2concern the teachings of the Nyingma school, established in the eighth century with the arrival in Tibet of masters such as Padmākara and Vimalamitra. Kongtrul classifies the texts included in these volumes according to the Nyingma model of the three yogas (mahāyoga, anuyoga, and atiyoga) and the three categories within atiyoga: the Category of Mind (sems sde), the Category of Expanse (klong sde), and the Category of Direct Transmission (man ngag sde).

Available for Preorder
On Sale 04/02/2024

$54.95 - Hardcover

Kadam:
Stages of the Path, Mind Training, and Esoteric Practice, Part One

Volume 3 of the Treasury of Precious Instructions

Translated by Artemus B. Engle

The third volume of this series covers the teachings and practices of the Kadam lineage. This tradition is based on the teachings of the Indian master Atiśa, who traveled to Tibet in the early eleventh century and stayed for twelve years transmitting teachings that would be embraced by many traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. The three categories of teachings covered here and in the fourth volume of the series—Stages of the Path, Mind Training, and esoteric instructions—correspond to three root texts: Atiśa’s Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment, the aphorisms of the Seven-Point Mind Training, and Atiśa’s Bodhisattva’s Jewel Garland.

Forthcoming

Kadam, Part Two
Volume 4 of the Treasury of Precious Instructions

The fourth volume (along with volume 3 which is already available) contains texts from the Kadampa tradition that sprang from the teachings of the great Indian master Atīśa (980–1054) and structured itself on what the late E. Gene Smith called “the fundamental contribution of Atīśa—the Graduated Path (Lam rim), with its emphasis on the exoteric as an indispensable foundation for the esoteric.” These texts are categorized under three headings: the source texts (gzhung), which in this case are short works by Atīśa; the spiritual instructions (gdams ngag), which here focus on the system known as “mental training” (blo sbyong); and the pith instructions (man ngag), which include Vajrayāna teachings and practices.

$44.95 - Hardcover

Sakya:
The Path with Its Result, Part One

Volume 5 of the Treasury of Precious Instructions

Translated by Malcolm Smith

The fifth volume of this series, Sakya: The Path with Its Result, is the first of two volumes that present a selection of teachings and practices from the Path with Its Result (Lamdre) practice lineage of the Sakya tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. The Sakya lineage derives from Virūpa, Dombhi Heruka, and other Indian masters, or mahāsiddhas, and passes through Gayadhara and his Tibetan disciple Drokmi Lotsāwa Śākya Yeshe (992–1072). The practice tradition centers around the teaching and transmission of the Hevajra Tantra and its subsidiary texts.

Sakya II

$39.95 - Hardcover

Sakya:
The Path with Its Result, Part Two

Volume 6 of the Treasury of Precious Instructions

Translated by Malcolm Smith

The sixth volume of this series, and part two of Sakya: The Path with Its Result, completes Kongtrul’s presentation of a selection of texts from the Sakya tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. This volume includes the complete teachings and practices of the Eight Ancillary Path Cycles. These eight complete the nine path cycles that begin with Virūpa’s Vajra Verses found in volume five of the series. These path cycles are generally only taught to students who have received the entire Path with Its Result (Lamdre) teaching. They contain oral instructions transmitted to Drokmi Lotsāwa by the early eleventh-century Indian masters—Ācārya Vīravajra, Mahāsiddha Amoghavajra, Pandita Prajñāgupta of Oddiyāna, and Pandita Gayadhara. These cycles provide copious material on the creation and completion stages, which was incorporated later into the Three Tantras literature, the signature Vajrayāna teaching of the Sakya school.

marpa

$49.95 - Hardcover

Marpa Kagyu, Part 1:
Methods of Liberation

Volume 7 of the Treasury of Precious Instructions

Translated by Elizabeth M. Callahan

The seventh volume of the series, Marpa Kagyu, is the first of four volumes that present a selection of core instructions from the Marpa Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. This lineage is named for the eleventh-century Tibetan Marpa Chokyi Lodrö of Lhodrak who traveled to India to study the sutras and tantras with many scholar-siddhas, the foremost being Naropa and Maitripa.

Forthcoming

Marpa Kagyu, Part Two
Volume 8 of the Treasury of Precious Instructions

Marpa Kagyu, Part Three
Volume 9 of the Treasury of Precious Instructions

Marpa Kagyu, Part Four
Volume 10 of the Treasury of Precious Instructions

Volume 8-10(along with volume 7 which is already available) focus on teachings from the Kagyu tradition of Marpa the Translator (1012–1097)—Kongtrul’s primary affiliation, at least at that stage of his life—with its numerous schools and subschools. In the Vajrayāna context, the Kagyu teachings have a dual emphasis on the path of skillful method (Tib. thabs lam), epitomized by the Six Dharmas of Nāropa, and the path of freedom (Tib. grol lam), that is, the teachings on Mahāmudrā.

$44.95 - Hardcover

Shangpa Kagyu:
The Tradition of Khyungpo Naljor, Part One

Volume 11 of the Treasury of Precious Instructions

Translated by Sarah Harding

Volume 11 of the series, Shangpa Kagyu, is the first of two volumes that present a selection of teachings and practices from the Shangpa practice lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. This tradition was established in Tibet by the eleventh-century yogi Khyungpo Naljor, who had received profound esoteric teachings from many great Indian masters, especially the two yoginīs Niguma and Sukhasiddhi, as well as Maitrīpa, Rāhula, and Vajrāsana. He established a monastery in the Shang region of Tibet, from which the lineage derives its name.

ShangpaV2

$49.95 - Hardcover

Shangpa Kagyu:
The Tradition of Khyungpo Naljor, Part Two

Volume 12 of the Treasury of Precious Instructions

Translated by Sarah Harding

This is the second of two volumes that present teachings and practices from the Shangpa Kagyu practice lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. This tradition derives from two Indian yoginīs, the dākinīs Niguma and Sukhasiddhi, and their disciple, the eleventh-century Tibetan yogi Khyungpo Naljor Tsultrim Gönpo of the Shang region of Tibet. There are forty texts in this volume, beginning with Jonang Tāranātha’s classic commentary and its supplement expounding the Six Dharmas of Niguma. It includes the definitive collection of the tantric bases of the Shangpa Kagyu—the five principal deities of the new translation (sarma) traditions and the Five-Deity Cakrasamvara practice. The source scriptures, liturgies, supplications, empowerment texts, instructions, and practice manuals were composed by Tangtong Gyalpo, Tāranātha, Jamgön Kongtrul, and others.

$39.95 - Hardcover

Zhije:
The Pacification of Suffering

Volume 13 of the Treasury of Precious Instructions

Translated by Sarah Harding

In this volume, Kongtrul presents a diverse corpus of texts from the Zhije (Pacification) tradition that trace especially to the South Indian master Dampa Sangye (d. 1117), whose teachings are also celebrated in the Chöd (Severance) tradition.

$59.95 - Hardcover

Chöd:
The Sacred Teachings on Severance

Volume 14 of the Treasury of Precious Instructions

Translated by Sarah Harding

In this, the fourteenth volume, Kongtrul compiles the teachings on Severance, or Chöd. It includes some of the tradition’s earliest source scriptures, such as the “grand poem” of Āryadeva, and numerous texts by the tradition’s renowned founder, Machik Lapdrön. Kongtrul also brings together the most significant texts on the rites of initiation, empowerments for practice, and wide-ranging instructions and guides for the support of practitioners.

Forthcoming

Kalachakra and Orgyen Nyendrup
Volume 15 of the Treasury of Precious Instructions

Volume 15 includes teachings from the last two of the eight lineages of accomplishment: that of Vajra Yoga (also known as the Six Branches of Union, or Jordruk) and Dorje Sumgyi Nyendrup (Stages of Approach and Accomplishment of the Three Vajras). The former is a system of advanced tantric practices based on the teachings of the Kālacakra tantra, particularly as transmitted through the Jonang tradition of Tibet. Though ostensibly a tantra of the Sarma tradition, the Kālacakra was also highly esteemed in the Nyingma school. The great Nyingma master Jamgön Ju Mipam Gyatso (1846–1912) wrote a two-volume commentary on the Kālacakra cycle and considered the teachings of this tradition to reflect those found in the Dzogchen approach of the Nyingma. The final lineage is the least known among the eight, one transmitted by the master Orgyenpa Rinchen Pal (1230–1309), who was also a student of the second Karmapa, Karma Pakshi (1204–1283), and a teacher of the third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje (1284–1339). Orgyenpa received this lineage, which incorporates practices also found in the Vajra Yoga approach, in a visionary transmission from Vajravārāhī and other ḍākinīs. Although the lineage continued unbroken until Kongtrul’s time, it was another tradition that he considered “exceedingly rare and in danger of dying out.”

$39.95 - Hardcover

Mahasiddha Practice:
From Maitrayogin and Other Masters

Volume 16 of the Treasury of Precious Instructions

Translated by Padmakara Translation Group

Mahāsiddha Practice, the sixteenth volume, presents a selection of teachings and practices centered on the mahāsiddhas, Indian tantric masters. The mahāsiddha Mitrayogin, whose work forms the majority of this volume, visited Tibet in the late twelfth century. His ritual texts along with instructions are here translated from Tibetan, including sādhanas, empowerments, guru yogas, authorization rituals for protector deities, and detailed compositions on Mahāmudrā practice, or resting in the nature of mind.

Forthcoming

Mahasiddha Practice
Volume 17 of the Treasury of Precious Instructions

In a traditional manner to ensure an auspicious conclusion to the collection, volume 16 and 17 (16 available now) contains transmissions focusing on the deities of longevity: the white Tārā, Amitāyus, and Uṣṇīṣavijayā.
As Kongtrul writes:

The ninth section of this collection contains a number of unrelated teachings—spiritual advice that derives from various traditions. These include the blessing ritual and instructions concerning the Eighty-Four Mahasiddhas; the individual empowerments and instructions for The Six Instructions of Maitripa; the cycles of Mahakarunika Chittavishramana and The Threefold Quintessential Meaning as  transmitted in the Zhalu tradition; the five definitive instructions on Avalokiteshvara; Thangtong Gyalpo’s practice associated with the six-syllable mantra; the Mahamudra instructions and The Sutra Ritual of the Sage from the Bodong tradition; the instruction on chandali and the transference of consciousness transmitted by Rechen Paljor Zangpo; the “mother transference” of Rongtön; the instructions on the “seven lines of specific transmission” according to the new translations of the Jonang tradition; and various kinds of alchemical procedures.

The collection concludes in a positive manner with the authorizations for the three deities of longevity, the intimate oral lineage of the seven-day longevity sadhana, the instructions for the longevity practice of White Tara according to the tradition of Bari Lotsawa, and a ritual to honor the three deities of longevity.

$39.95 - Hardcover

Jonang:
The One Hundred and Eight Teaching Manuals

Volume 18 of the Treasury of Precious Instructions

Translated by Gyurme Dorje

In this volume, Kongtrul expands on The One Hundred and Eight Guidebooks, a collection of teaching manuals compiled by the sixteenth-century Tibetan master Kunga Drolchok, adding Indic source texts, Tibetan antecedents, and later interpretations. Though compiled by a Jonangpa abbot and transmitted by the Jonang tradition, these teaching manuals are actually drawn from the Kadam, Sakya, Kagyu, and, to a lesser extent, Nyingma traditions.

Additional Resources
On The Treasury of Precious Instructions

Watch the Video Series

Treasury Precious Instructions Videos

In 2016, the Tsadra Foundation sponsored a series of talks on the Treasury of Precious Instructions focusing on Kongtrul and the specifics of the Eight Chariots.  Translator and teacher Sarah Harding who has been immersed in this work for decades and has completed several volumes of this work leads the conversations.  Also included are Elizabeth Callahan and Acharya Tenpa Gyaltsen.

Listen to the Talks

This series of talks on the Eight Chariots, or Practice Lineages, is also available for streaming, downloading, or listening to on your podcast app of choice.

Ringu Tulku on the Treasury of Precious Instructions

Ringu Tulku is extremely happy that the Tsadra Foundation is translating the Treasury of Precious Instructions, a collection of the most profound teachings from all 8 lineages of Tibetan Buddhism. He says, "I feel that this is a golden time for the translation of Tibetan Buddhist texts into English and other languages."

Matthew Kapstein on Dam Ngak in the Treasury of Precious Instructions

Read Matthew Kapstein's chapter from Tibetan Literature: Studies in Genre, one of the great collections of scholarly works on Tibetan literature.  This paper focuses on Dam Ngak (gDams ngag) or special instructions.  He uses the Jonang volume from Jamgon Kongtrul's Treasury of Precious Instructions as the basis.

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Chanting the Names of Manjushri: A Reader's Guide

The Litany of the Names of Manjushri or Chanting the Names of Manjusri (’jam dpal mtshan brjod; Skt. Manjushrinamasamghiti) and also referred to as The King of All Tantras and Net of Magical Manifestation of Manjushri, is an extremely important tantric text, relied on by all the schools of Tibetan Buddhism. In particular it is connected with the Hevajra, Guhyagarbha, and Kalachakra tantras.

It was first translated into Tibetan by Rinchen Zangpo, but soon thereafter was revised and commented on. Jamgon Kongtrul mentions  Smritijnana, an Indian scholar who traveled to eastern Tibet where he taught extensively, helped in the translation of the new tantras, and wrote commentaries such as his commentary on Chanting the Names of Manjushri (Manjushrinamasamgiti). Some believe that after his death [Smritijnana] reincarnated in Tibet as the renowned Rongzom Mahapandita and subsequently Dudjom Lingpa and Dudjom Rinpoche.

It comprises 169 (in some editions) stanzas and begins with Vajrapani asking the Buddha Shakyamuni to explain the "chanting of the names" which has profound meaning. There are various levels of this, but one meaning of the"names" is the deities of the mandala.

Manjuvajra, the tantric form of Manjushri. This statue, which appears in The Art of Buddhism, is believed to be related to he Chanting the Names of Manjushri and comes from the tantric Bengal region in the Pala Dynasty.

Chanting the Names of Manjushri in English.

There are several straight translations that are easy to find online.

The most comprehensive commentary in English is included in the great 19th century Dzogchen yogi Choying Tobden Dorje's The Complete Nyingma Tradtion: The Essential Tantras of Mahayoga, Volumes 15-17.

As the translator, the late Gyurme Dorje, explains, Choying Tobden Dorje draws the interlinear commentary

specifically from the treatise of Candragomin, which is entitled Extensive Commentary on the Sublime Litany of the Names of Mañjuśrī. This commentary, which Candragomin is said to have received in a vision from Avalokiteśvara, is contained in the yogatantra section of the Derge Tengyur and in the yoganiruttara section of the Peking Tengyur ....The criteria on which the classification of the Litany of the Names of Mañjuśrī as Yogatantra or Yoga–niruttaratantra are based have been briefly noted in Davidson 1981,and Wayman 1983. Those same translators of the root verses have opted to follow commentarial sources other than Candragomin. Wayman, for example, bases his annotations largely on the treatises of Narendrakīrti, Candrabhadrakīrti, and Smṛtijñānakīrti, while Davidson utilizes the commentaries of Prahevajra, the prolific Mañjuśrīmitra , Vilāsavajra , and Vimalamitra, which have primacy within the Nyingma tradition. However, Choying Tobden Dorje and indeed Candragomin both acknowledge that the vajrapada of the root tantra lend themselves to multiple levels of interpretation. Those familiar with the earlier published translations and editions of the root tantra will note that, according to Candragomin, the core eulogies of the text are addressed to Mañjuśrī in the second person.

Another translation, dated but still of interest, with comments from a Tibetlogist is by Alex Wayman, Chanting the Names of Manjushri.

Some History

In The Ri-me Philosophy of Jamgon Kongtrul the Great:A Study of the Buddhist Lineages of Tibet Ringu Tulku details some of the history and classification of this tantra.

The third class among the Father tantras is the Ignorance class, and its primary text is the tantra of the Manjushri Namasamgiti, or Chanting the Names of Manjushri. This text is the “Net of Meditations” chapter from the large tantra, the Manjushri Net of Magical Display in Sixteen Thousand Stanzas. This tantra is explained in different ways. For example, the bodhisattva kings of Shambhala explain it according to the Kalachakra Tantra, Lalitavajra explains it as a Father tantra of Anuttarayoga, and the bodhisattvas Manjushrikirti and Manjushrimitra explain it according to Yoga Tantra. In Tibet it is sometimes explained according to Atiyoga, and in India it is sometimes explained according to Madhyamaka. Around the year 1000, Lochen Rinchen Zangpo translated Chanting the Names of Manjushri into Tibetan. Later on, several translators revised the translation. Panchen Smritijnana gave the complete teaching of this tantra, including the empowerment, tantra, and pith instructions, to Kyi Jema Lungpa, who transmitted it to Ngogtön Chöku Dorje. This teaching lineage accords with the Yoga Tantra. Marpa Chökyi Lodrö received this teaching according to the Anuttarayoga Tantra from Maitripa. Marpa’s lineage of the empowerment and reading transmission still exists today, as does the teaching lineage that began with Panchen Smritijnana.

There are many different translations of Chanting the Names of Manjushri, but there are not many different meanings. The only difference is the wording, “the empty essence—one hundred letters” according to the Yoga Tantra, and “the empty essence—six letters” according to the Anuttarayoga Tantra.

It is said that if one gains confidence in this king of tantras, then one will gain confidence in all the Anuttarayoga tantras. And if one does not understand the meaning of this tantra, then one does not understand the meaning of Anuttarayoga altogether. It says in the Stainless Light:

In order to free all beings from doubt, the Tathagata collected Chanting the Names of Manjushri from all the Mantrayana teachings and taught it to Vajrapani. Whoever does not know Chanting the Names of Manjushri does not know the wisdom body of Vajradhara. Whoever does not know the wisdom body of Vajradhara does not understand the Mantrayana. Whoever does not understand the Mantrayana remains in samsara, separated from the path of the conqueror Vajradhara.

Further on Ringu Tulku relates that the "Sarma tantras are held in common by both the Early and New Translation traditions. Not only did the Nyingmapas spread the Sarma tantras through explanation and practice, but they never criticized them. Also, the Nyingmapas have held the teaching lineages of Chanting the Names of Manjushri and the Kalachakra Tantra with particular respect."

Chanting the Names of Manjusri in the Life of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

To demonstrate the centrality of this text for those in the Nyingma tradition, we do not have to look much further than Brilliant Moon: The Autobiography of Dilgo Khyentse where this texts come up repeatedly.

[Shechen] Gyaltsap Rinpoche was in the process of establishing a monastic school at Shechen, and on one astrologically favorable day, he said they should hold the opening ceremony. For a few days Khyentse Chökyi Lodro gave elaborate teachings based on a commentary written by Khyentse Wangpo on Chanting the Names of Manjushri, and together with Shechen Kongtrül, Gontoe Chöktrul, Gyaltsap Rinpoche’s nephew Khenchen Lodro Rabsel, and Khenpo Phakang, it was attended by all the participants of the Treasury of Spiritual Instructions. Later they all became unrivaled practitioners of sutra, tantra, and science, endowed with learning, discipline, and goodness.

and later:

From Lama Rigzin Tekchok, I received Mipham Rinpoche’s exegesis of the Novice Aphorisms, as well as Dodup Tenpai Nyima’s guidance on Chanting the Names of Manjushri.

And another instance:

Next I went to Dzongsar to study with the omniscient Jamgön Chökyi Lodro. He gave the long-life empowerment of the rediscovered treasure Combined Sadhana of the Three Roots, the explanation of the Condensed Perfection of Wisdom based on Mipham Rinpoche’s commentary, the great pandita Vimalamitra’s commentary on Chanting the Names of Manjushri, Hevajra according to the Sakya tradition, the major empowerment of the Khon tradition, and the major empowerment of the protector Gur.

Brilliant Moon also includes reminiscences from other masters who mention this text.

Rabjam RinpocheRabjam Rinpoche relates, "

Until Khyentse Rinpoche passed away, I used to do my morning and evening prayers with him. In the morning we did Chanting the Names of Manjushri and in the evening we did the protector chants. So I learnt most of them by heart, but there were maybe a hundred points where I made mistakes. When I chanted them by heart in front of Rinpoche, he knew exactly where I would make mistakes, and just before reaching the passage where I was about to go wrong, he would raise his voice to guide me to say it right. Later Rinpoche wrote all the sentences where I made mistakes in a small notebook—he had actually memorized all the mistakes I made!

Also, Trulshik Rinpoche wrote,

The daily ceremonies include morning and evening prayers according to the Mindroling tradition, starting with refuge, bodhichitta, the seven-branch offering, and the renewal of the two bodhisattva vows, followed by the reading of the Guhyagarbha Tantra and the Magical Net of Vajrasattva, one different chapter every day. Then there is the reading of Chanting the Names of Manjushri, the Epitome Sutra, and the Prayer of Excellent Conduct, which were spoken by the Buddha himself.

Jamgön Kongtrul Rinpoche on This Text
Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye

Jamgön Kongtrul mentions the text multiple times in the ten-volume Treasury of Knowledge.

In Volume 8, Book 3, in the section on "The Completion Phase in Father and Mother Tantras", he describes the text in this way:

To the family of delusion tantras, of those translated into Tibetan, belongs Chanting the Names of Manjushri. This is considered a delusion tantra because it teaches methods to purify delusion and is intended to treat persons whose strongest affliction is delusion.

The translators of this volume, Elio Guarisco and Ingrid McLeod include the following note:

This work, the first in the tantric section of the Dergé Kangyur, forms a class of its own. One set of commentaries explains it in terms of the system of highest yoga tantra; and another set, in terms of that of yoga tantra.

Manjushriyashas, in his Extensive Explanation of Chanting the Names of Manjushri, and Manjushrimitra, in his Commentary on Chanting the Names of Manjushri, expound this tantra from the perspective of yoga tantra, while Lalitavajra, in his Extensive Commentary on Chanting the Names of Manjushri, expounds it from the perspective of highest yoga tantra. The authors of the Commentaries by the Bodhisattvas interpret the Net of Magical Manifestation from the Kalachakra point of view. It has also been treated from the perspective of the central way and from that of the great perfection. Butön and others considered this tantra to be of the class of highest yoga tantra in terms of its nature but explained the sadhana in the format of yoga tantra.

Kongtrul states that, of the highest yoga tantra families of attachment, aversion, and delusion, Chanting the Names of Manjushri belongs to the delusion family. The main deity is usually a male figure without consort, although some sadhanas include a consort. However, there is neither the urging of the molten form of the deity nor the creation of the deities by emanating them from the womb of the consort. Moreover, Chanting the Names of Manjushri describes the ground, path, and result in detail but merely alludes to practices such as release and union. It teaches primarily a nonconceptual form of the phase of creation.

Kongtrul further points out that although some Indian scholars have explained this tantra in terms of yoga tantra, this does not necessarily signify that it is a yoga tantra, just as the fact that Anandagarbha’s expositions of the Guhyasamaja are written in terms of yoga tantra does not prove that the Guhyasamaja tantra belongs to the yoga class. In particular, as indicated in the Indian treatise written by Varabodhi, Mandala Rite of Manjushri: Source of Qualities, the descriptions of the secret initiation and the initiation of pristine awareness through wisdom are teachings on the inner-fi re practices involving four channel-wheels, the liberative path of contemplation of the deity in union, typical of highest yoga tantras. Th is point is explained in Smritishrijnana’s commentary on the Sadhana of the Net of Magical Manifestation of Manjushri. Moreover, the presence within the sadhanas of the Chanting the Names of Manjushri of the four seals and other practices that are the same as those of yoga tantras does not prove that this tantra does not belong to the highest yoga tantra class since such practices are also found in the Chatuhpitha.

Ngoktön Chöku Dorjé (1036-1102) was the holder of two lineages of the Chanting the Names of Manjushri: one transmitted from Marpa, who received the initiation and teachings on the tantra from Maitripa, and the other, from Purang Sherab Dorjé . (Ngoktön received the transmission from Purang before meeting Marpa.) The first of these lineages is exclusively that of the highest yoga tantra; the second lineage (which eventually vanished) was in accordance with yoga tantra. See Kongtrul’s Sadhana of Chanting the Names of Manjushri, Lord of All Tantras, Union of Families: The Blazing Sword of Pristine Awareness.

Chōgyam Trungpa Rinpoche on This Text

A final anecdote comes from Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche's third volume of the Profound Treasury trilogy"

The First Trungpa and Adro Shelu-bum

When Künga Gyaltsen left Trung Ma-se, he visited various places. As he traveled around eastern Tibet, he came to the fort of Adro Shelu-bum, who was the local landowner and local lord. When Künga Gyaltsen arrived, he was repeating a line from a very famous Manjushri text, the Manjushri-nama-sangiti (Chanting the Names of Manjushri). In the text there is a phrase, chökyi gyaltsen lekpar dzuk, which means “Firmly plant the victorious banner of dharma.” So he arrived at the door of Adro Shelu-bum’s castle with that particular verse on his lips, and he repeated that line three times. For that reason, at my principal monastery in Tibet, Surmang Dütsi Tel, we always repeated that same line twice when we chanted the text. And here in the West, that line has been made into one of the main slogans of Naropa University. We have translated it in that context as “We firmly plant the victory banner of dharma.”

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"Radical Compassion" Free eBook

This free eBook is available from the following vendors:

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Tibetan Buddhism, In celebration of Naropa’s fortieth anniversary

What is compassion?

Much more than just being nice, compassion is about looking deeply at ourselves and others and recognizing the fundamental goodness we all share. It’s about opening up to the vulnerable space inside every one of us and letting our barriers down. And it’s about daring to be present to ourselves and others with genuine love and kindness.

Empowering personal awakening and social change, it might be the most radical and transformative thing we can do.


Empowering personal awakening and social change, it might be the most radical and transformative thing we can do.

The cultivation of compassion has long been at the core of Naropa University’s mission, since its origins in 1974—and its students and faculty have been leaders in contemplative education with heart.

Tibetan Buddhism, In celebration of Naropa’s fortieth anniversary


 leaders in contemplative education with heart. . . .

In celebration of Naropa’s fortieth anniversary, Shambhala Publications is pleased to offer these teachings on the path of compassion from a collection of authors who have helped shape the school’s unique and innovative identity, including:

  • Chögyam Trungpa on opening ourselves more and more to love the whole of humanity
  • Dzogchen Ponlop on how to cultivate altruism with the help of a spiritual mentor
  • Judith L. Lief on the common obstacles to compassion and how to overcome them
  • Gaylon Ferguson on awakening human-heartedness in oneself and society amidst everyday life
  • Diane Musho Hamilton on connecting to natural empathy and taking a compassionate approach to conflict resolution
  • Reginald A. Ray on spiritual practices for developing the enlightened mind and heart in the Mahayana Buddhist tradition
  • Ringu Tulku on the practices of bodhisattvas, those who devote themselves to the path of enlightenment for the sake of all beings
  • Pema Chödrön on building up loving-kindness for oneself and others with help from traditional Buddhist slogans
  • Ken Wilber on what it really means to be a support person, with reflections from his own life
  • Karen Kissel Wegela on avoiding caregiver’s burnout and staying centered amidst our efforts to help those in need and reflections on Naropa University and the meaning of radical compassion from longstanding faculty member Judith Simmer-Brown

For more information–Authors' Bios and Books:

Chogyam Trungpa

Chögyam Trungpa (1940–1987)—meditation master, teacher, and artist—founded Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, the first Buddhist-inspired university in North America; the Shambhala Training program; and an international association of meditation centers known as Shambhala International. He is the author of numerous books, including Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the WarriorCutting Through Spiritual Materialism, and The Myth of Freedom.

Books by Chogyam Trungpa

Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche

Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, born in 1965 in northeast India, was trained in the meditative and intellectual disciplines of Indian and Tibetan Buddhism under the guidance of many of the greatest masters from Tibet’s pre-exile generation. He is a widely celebrated teacher, known for his skill in making the full richness of Buddhist wisdom accessible to modern minds, and devotes much of his energy to developing a vision of a genuine Western Buddhism.

For more information, go to www.rebelbuddha.com.

Books by Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche

Judith L. Lief

Judith L. Lief is a Buddhist teacher, writer, and editor. She was a close student of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, who empowered her as a teacher, and she has edited many of his books including The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma volumes and Milarepa. She has been a teacher and practitioner for over 35 years and continues to teach and lead retreats throughout the world. Lief is also active in the field of death and dying and is the author of Making Friends with Death.

Books by Judith L. Lief

Gaylon Ferguson

Gaylon Ferguson is a faculty member in both Religious Studies and Interdisciplinary Studies at Naropa University, in Boulder, Colorado. He is an acharya, or senior teacher, in the Shambhala International Buddhist community. After studying meditation and Buddhist philosophy with Tibetan master Chögyam Trungpa in the 1970s and 1980s, Ferguson became a Fulbright Fellow to Nigeria and completed a doctoral degree in cultural anthropology at Stanford University. After several years of teaching cultural anthropology at the University of Washington, he became teacher-in-residence at Karmê Chöling Buddhist Retreat Center, through 2005, when he joined the faculty of Naropa University.

Books by Gaylon Ferguson

Diane Musho Hamilton

Diane Musho Hamilton is an award-winning professional mediator, author, and teacher of Zen meditation. She is the Executive Director of Two Arrows Zen, a practice in Utah, and cofounder of the Integral Facilitator, a training program oriented to personal development and advanced facilitator skills. She is the author of Everything Is Workable and The Zen of You and Me.

Books by Diane Musho Hamilton

Reginald A. Ray

Dr. Reginald "Reggie" Ray is the cofounder and Spiritual Director of the Dharma Ocean Foundation and has been dedicated to the evolution and flowering of the teachings of Tibetan Tantra for more than four decades. A longtime student of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, today Reggie brings a uniquely somatic perspective to Buddhist practice. Reggie is the author of many books, including The Awakening Body and The Practice of Pure Awareness. Reggie also offers online courses on somatic meditation and retreats in Crestone, Colorado. More on Reggie can be found at www.dharmaocean.org.

Books by Reginald A. Ray

Ringu Tulku

Ringu Tulku Rinpoche was born in Kham Lingtsang, in eastern Tibet, and was recognized by His Holiness the Sixteenth Gyalwang Karmapa as the incarnation of one of the tulkus of Ringu monastery, a Kagyüpa monastery in his home province. He studied with some of the most distinguished khenpos of the Nyingma and Kagyu traditions and received teachings from many outstanding masters, including Thrangu Rinpoche, Dodrupchen Rinpoche, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, and the Gyalwang Karmapa. He is the author of Path to Buddhahood and The Ri-me Philosophy of Jamgön Kongtrul the Great.

Books by Ringu Tulku

Ani Pema Chödrön became a novice nun in 1974, in her mid-thirties, while studying with Lama Chime in London. His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa came to Scotland at that time, and Ani Pema received her ordination from him.

Pema ChodronPema first met her root guru, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, in 1972 and studied with him from 1974 until his death in 1987. At the request of the Sixteenth Karmapa, she received the full bikshuni ordination in the Chinese lineage of Buddhism in 1981 in Hong Kong.

Ani Pema served as the director of Karma Dzong in Boulder, Colorado, until moving in 1984 to rural Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, to be the director of Gampo Abbey. She currently teaches in the United States and Canada and plans for an increased amount of time in solitary retreat under the guidance of Venerable Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche.

She is interested in helping to establish Tibetan Buddhist monasticism in the West, as well as continuing her work with Western Buddhists of all traditions, sharing ideas and teachings. Her nonprofit, the Pema Chödrön Foundation, was set up to assist in this purpose.

Books by Pema Chodron

Ken Wilber

Ken Wilber is one of the most widely read and influential American philos­ophers of our time. His writings have been translated into over twenty languages. He lives in Denver, Colorado.

Books by Ken Wilber

Karen Kissel Wegela, PhD, is a psychotherapist and professor of contemplative psychology at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. A longtime student of Buddhism, she speaks to professionals about the connections between Buddhism and psychotherapy and writes a popular blog at psychologytoday.com. She is also the author of The Courage to Be Present: Buddhism, Psychotherapy, and the Awakening of Natural Wisdom.

Books by Karen Kissel Wegela

Judith Simmer-Brown

Judith Simmer-Brown, Ph.D., is professor and chair of the religious studies department at Naropa University (formerly the Naropa Institute), where she has taught since 1978. She has authored numerous articles on Tibetan Buddhism, Buddhist-Christian dialogue, and Buddhism in America. She is an Acharya (senior teacher) in the lineage of Chögyam Trungpa. A practicing Buddhist since 1971, she lives in Boulder, Colorado.

Books by Judith Simmer-Brown

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SNOW LION NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE

Ringu Tulku on Dealing with Emotions: The Vajrayana Approach

The following article is adpated from

Daring Steps: Traversing the Path of the Buddha

By Ringu Tulku
Edited and translated by Rosemarie Fuchs

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When should we counteract our difficult emotions, and when should we go with their energy? How we are advised to deal with our emotions varies according to which vehicle of Buddhism is in focus. 

When dealing with strong emotions, a Vajrayana practitioner does not have to use deliberate means to stop them. Unlike in other systems, the Vajrayana provides very skillful methods so that the negative emotions are used in order to transmute themselves. This is a very characteristic feature of the Vajrayana approach to practice.

In the Shravakayana context, effort is directed at counteracting our emotions. When, for example, strong anger or attachment arises, deliberate effort is made to generate its opposite, like loving kindness or nonattachment. Once this is successfully achieved, the negative emotions have no opportunity to surface, since opposite emotions, like anger and loving kindness, cannot be present together at the same time. In this way, the negative emotions are reversed through giving rise to the corresponding positive ones.

Within the context of the Mahayana, the practitioner takes a further step and seeks to understand his or her emotions and see their nature. When anger comes up, we try to look at ourselves and our anger in order to see the egolessness of our mind and the emptiness of that anger. There are different methods that lead us to see the ultimate nature of ourselves and our emotions. Using these methods, we will understand that the nature of everything is subjective. Anger, as everything else, is not something solid, something truly and independently existing. Through this understanding, the negative emotions are counterbalanced and positive emotions gradually arise.

Following the Vajrayana teachings, we do not give up or reject anything; rather we make use of whatever is there. We look at our negative emotions and accept them for what they are. Then we relax in this state of acceptance. Using the emotion itself, it is transformed or transmuted into the positive, into its true face. When, for instance, strong anger or desire arises, a Vajrayana practitioner is not afraid of it. Instead he or she would follow advice along the following lines: Have the courage to expose yourself to your emotions. Do not reject or suppress them, but do not follow them either. Just look your emotion directly in the eye and then try to relax within the very emotion itself. There is no confrontation involved. You don’t do anything. Remaining detached, you are neither carried away by emotion nor do you reject it as something negative. Then, you can look at your emotions almost casually and be rather amused.

When our usual habit of magnifying our feelings and our fascination resulting from that are gone, there will be no negativity and no fuel. We can relax within them. What we are trying to do, therefore, is to skillfully and subtly deal with our emotions. This is largely equivalent to the ability of exerting discipline.

Generally speaking, to be able to apply the methods of the Vajrayana, a great deal of discipline is required, far more than is necessary within the context of the other vehicles. It is a matter of first knowing the technique to apply, and then of actually applying it. This is not easy, since whatever is there is dealt with directly. The negative emotions themselves are used. The process is almost like using poison as medicine. For this reason, a high degree of discipline is necessary. We need the awareness and courage first to see clearly whatever is there and then to accept and endure it, no matter how negative it may be. Strong anger, for instance, is a very intense and fierce emotion, and is usually experienced as being totally overpowering. It is not a minor thing, but constitutes a real challenge. If we are able to relax within that kind of feeling, we will be able to relax within everything. Once this capacity is acquired, it will not matter how strong our emotions are—it is even said that the stronger they are the better. Yet, if we are not skillful enough, we will not be able to apply these subtle methods.

Once we have gained the necessary knowledge and skill, this practice is very easy, since we simply make use of what we have and are at the moment. With the prerequisites at hand, this is not difficult at all. Whatever negativity surfaces, that is used as our strength, as our main practice. Nagarjuna’s verse refers to someone who is highly intelligent and disciplined and at the same time very skilled and capable. To practice the Vajrayana, an individual must be able to face any negativity that comes up, and to use that negativity without losing control. This requires a high degree of intelligence, combined with an equal amount of discipline and skill. For such a person, the Vajrayana methods are more excellent than those of the preceding vehicles.

Confusion Arises as Wisdom Ringu TulkuRingu Tulku Rinpoche was born in Kham Lingtsang, in eastern Tibet, and was recognized by His Holiness the Sixteenth Gyalwang Karmapa as the incarnation of one of the tulkus of Ringu monastery, a Kagyüpa monastery in his home province. He studied with some of the most distinguished khenpos of the Nyingma and Kagyu traditions and received teachings from many outstanding masters, including Thrangu Rinpoche, Dodrupchen Rinpoche, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, and the Gyalwang Karmapa. He is the author of Path to Buddhahood and The Ri-me Philosophy of Jamgön Kongtrul the Great.

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Ringu Tulku on Tonglen Practice to Deal with Fear

Confusion Arises as Wisdom Ringu TulkuIn this excerpt from Mind Training, Ringu Tulku teases out some of the issues that we face when doing Tonglen practice—metabolizing the suffering within and around us, and using it for spiritual practice.

The Tibetan word tonglen means “giving and taking” and this simple and short exchange is essential for releasing us from suffering and generating compassion.

Both our fear and our desire are directly provoked by the tonglen meditation and it is an especially direct and effective way of dealing with aversion. We deliberately face all the things we dislike and dread. This takes courage. We imagine taking in and eliminating the hardship and pain that we have previously fought against and tried to run away from. The pleasures of wealth, power, and health that we wished for ourselves we now send to others. This totally counteracts our normal behavior and puts us on a collision course with the ego. Accepting and enduring negative things and daring to let them happen to us dispels both their harmful effects and our own anger and hatred. It makes adversity less frightening. We do not cause suffering or seek it out. We take up whatever suffering is around us, transforming it in the “giving and taking” exercise so that no one else will be injured by it and the negativity which already exists in the world is reduced. Thinking of our family and friends, the people we love—both alive and dead—our acquaintances, strangers, and even our enemies, we resolve to work on conquering all their misery and bad karma.

It would not be possible to give out such positive energy unless we felt positive ourselves, and the more we exchange good things for bad, the better we feel. We are the source of healing and happiness. Our generosity and concern pacify every negative situation. As we send out kindness, we grow accustomed to being strong and kind. In this way, our positive feelings are constantly renewed and can never be exhausted.

Perhaps you know the story about the man who arrived in heaven and when asked by God where he wanted to go replied that he wanted to see both heaven and hell. First, he went to hell. There was a large table with all the inhabitants of hell sitting around it. The center of the table was full of delicious food. Each person had two very long chopsticks. They could reach the food but they could not get it into their mouths because their chopsticks were too long. They were miserable. No one was eating and everyone went hungry. Next he was taken to visit heaven. All the inhabitants of heaven were also sitting around a big table full of delicious food but they were happy. They too had very long chopsticks but they were eating and enjoying themselves. They used the chopsticks to feed each other across the table. The people in heaven had discovered that it was in their interest to collaborate unselfishly.

Mind Training Ringu TulkuTonglen subdues our fear. What frightens us most is the thought of being afraid. That is the greatest fear. Nothing puts us in more danger than our own mind and when what we are frightened of actually happens, it is never as bad as we imagined. There is no protection against fear. Even when we think that we have found some safety, we still wonder if our defenses are reliable and this uncertainty destroys our security. We create fear and we can uncreate it. It is a habit that can be broken. A good remedy against fear is to actively provoke it. Instead of feeling helpless we confront our worst fear. If you are frightened of losing something, give it away. If heights scare you, climb to a high place. If you are terrified of speaking in public, stand before an audience. This is the simplest way of mastering fear.

Book cover
“Train in taking and sending. These two should ride the breath.”

The exchange we make between ourselves and others is based on the breath. As we exhale we send out all our good fortune and well-being into the world around us. Breathing in again we absorb all the suffering of others, taking every sad and uncomfortable aspect of life upon ourselves.

All the negativity in the world is visualized either as a cloud of dust or black smoke, almost as a form of pollution. This enters our body through the nose and settles in our heart. It purifies and eats away all our own fear, aversion, and ignorance instantly. Like the sun coming out, our alaya nature arises as bright, radiant light. Healing and purifying us from within, it totally erases every trace of negativity. Breathing out, positive energy, joy, wisdom, and purity stream from our heart as light towards all beings. It touches them and they are well, happy, and free.

Our first attempts to practice tonglen may go better if we hold in our mind someone who has been very loving towards us. They feel so dear to us that we willingly take on their negativity and pain. Drawing their sorrows in and sending back to them our peaceful and protective qualities, we remove all their suffering. During the meditation it is important to breathe normally and it is not necessary to make the exchange with each and every breath.

Negativity is an illusion and a symptom of our mistaken view of things, so taking on negativity cannot possibly harm us or put us at any risk. We are the cause of healing. Our focus is not on suffering but on creating complete freedom from suffering. Tonglen does not threaten anything except our ego. The anxiety that we may be injured by the exchange only develops because our aversion is intensified by the meditation. Remember that the greatest source of suffering is our aversion to suffering and when we take on this aversion fearlessly, meeting it in an inclusive way, it becomes a friend and an ally.

Mind Training

$18.95 - Paperback

By: Ringu Tulku

Confusion Arises as Wisdom

$22.95 - Paperback

By: Ringu Tulku

Path to Buddhahood

$22.95 - Paperback

By: Ringu Tulku

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Ringu Tulku: Thoughts for the New Year, 2003

The following article is from the Winter, 2003 issue of the Snow Lion Newsletter and is for historical reference only. You can see this in context of the original newsletter here.

This is to wish you a most wonderful New Year for the year 2003. (March 3rd is the beginning of Losar)

What a nice thing this concept of a New Year.

We have a chance to make a new beginning.

We have a chance to leave some bad habits.

At least we can make a promise.

What a nice thing this concept of a New Year.

We can rejoice of the promises we kept.

We can forgive the breaches we made.

At least we can make another beginning.

Put off the burden on your mind.

Revive and refresh your inspirations.

Put a song in your heart and smile on your face.

"This year I will do something good for me

and something good for others."

Let us celebrate a Happy New Year.

Ringu Tulku

Gangtok, 30th Dec. 2002

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