Dakini's Warm Breath

Dakini's Warm Breath
Author :
Publisher : Shambhala Publications
Total Pages : 427
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781570629204
ISBN-13 : 157062920X
Rating : 4/5 (04 Downloads)

Synopsis Dakini's Warm Breath by : Judith Simmer-Brown

A fresh interpretation of the dakini—a Tibetan Buddhist symbol of the feminine—that will appeal to practitioners interested in goddess worship, female spirituality, and Tantric Buddhism The primary emblem of the feminine in Tibetan Buddhism is the dakini, or “sky-dancer,” a semi-wrathful spirit-woman who manifests in visions, dreams, and meditation experiences. Western scholars and interpreters of the dakini, influenced by Jungian psychology and feminist goddess theology, have shaped a contemporary critique of Tibetan Buddhism in which the dakini is seen as a psychological “shadow,” a feminine savior, or an objectified product of patriarchal fantasy. According to Judith Simmer-Brown—who writes from the point of view of an experienced practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism—such interpretations are inadequate. In the spiritual journey of the meditator, Simmer-Brown demonstrates, the dakini symbolizes levels of personal realization: the sacredness of the body, both female and male; the profound meeting point of body and mind in meditation; the visionary realm of ritual practice; and the empty, spacious qualities of mind itself. When the meditator encounters the dakini, living spiritual experience is activated in a nonconceptual manner by her direct gaze, her radiant body, and her compassionate revelation of reality. Grounded in the author's personal encounter with the dakini, this unique study will appeal to both male and female spiritual seekers interested in goddess worship, women's spirituality, and the tantric tradition.

Dakini Power

Dakini Power
Author :
Publisher : Shambhala Publications
Total Pages : 348
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780834828377
ISBN-13 : 0834828375
Rating : 4/5 (77 Downloads)

Synopsis Dakini Power by : Michaela Haas

Pema Chödrön, Joan Halifax, and ten other female Tibetan Buddhist teachers share inspiring personal stories, revealing how we can embody Buddhist wisdom and overcome everyday challenges What drives a young London librarian to board a ship to India, meditate in a remote cave by herself for twelve years, and then build a flourishing nunnery in the Himalayas? How does a surfer girl from Malibu become the head of the main international organization for Buddhist women? Why does the daughter of a music executive in Santa Monica dream so vividly of peacocks one night that she chases these images to Nepal, where she finds the love of her life in an unconventional young Tibetan master? The women featured in Dakini Power—contemporary teachers of Tibetan Buddhism, both Asians and Westerners, who teach in the West—have been universally recognized as accomplished practitioners and brilliant teachers whose life stories demonstrate their immense determination and bravery. Meeting them in this book, readers will be inspired to let go of old fears, explore new paths, and lead the lives they envision. Featured here are: Jetsun Khandro Rinpoche (This Precious Life) Dagmola Sakya (Princess in the Land of Snows) Jetsun Tenzin Palmo/Diane Perry (Into the Heart of Life) Pema Chödrön/Deirdre Blomfield-Brown (When Things Fall Apart; Start Where You Are) Khandro Tsering Chödron (late aunt of Sogyal Rinpoche, author of The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying) Thubten Chodron/Cherry Greene (Buddhism for Beginners; Taming the Mind) Karma Lekshe Tsomo/Patricia Zenn (Buddhism Through American Women ’s Eyes) Chagdud Khadro/Jane Dedman (P ’howa Commentary; Life in Relation to Death) Sangye Khandro/Nanci Gay Gustafson (Meditation, Transformation, and Dream Yoga) Roshi Joan Halifax (Being with Dying) Lama Tsultrim Allione/Joan Rousmanière Ewing (Women of Wisdom; Feeding Your Demons) Elizabeth Mattis-Namgyel (The Power of an Open Question)

Buddhist Goddesses of India

Buddhist Goddesses of India
Author :
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Total Pages : 586
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780691168548
ISBN-13 : 0691168547
Rating : 4/5 (48 Downloads)

Synopsis Buddhist Goddesses of India by : Miranda Shaw

"The Indian Buddhist world abounds with goddesses--voluptuous tree spirits, maternal nurturers, potent healers and protectors, transcendent wisdom figures, cosmic mothers of liberation, and dancing female Buddhas. Despite their importance in Buddhist thought and practice, these female deities have received relatively little scholarly attention, and no comprehensive study of the female pantheon has been available. Buddhist Goddesses of India is the essential and definitive guide to divinities that, as Miranda Shaw writes, "operate from transcendent planes of bliss and awareness for as long as their presence may benefit living beings." Beautifully illustrated, the book chronicles the histories, legends, and artistic portrayals of nineteen goddesses and several related human figures and texts. Drawing on a sweeping range of material, from devotional poetry and meditation manuals to rituals and artistic images, Shaw reveals the character, powers, and practice traditions of the female divinities. Interpretations of intriguing traits such as body color, stance, hairstyle, clothing, jewelry, hand gestures, and handheld objects lend deep insight into the symbolism and roles of each goddess. In addition to being a comprehensive reference, this book traces the fascinating history of these goddesses as they evolved through the early, Mahayana, and Tantric movements in India and found a place in the pantheons of Tibet and Nepal."--Publisher's website.

Machik's Complete Explanation

Machik's Complete Explanation
Author :
Publisher : Shambhala Publications
Total Pages : 369
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780834829084
ISBN-13 : 0834829088
Rating : 4/5 (84 Downloads)

Synopsis Machik's Complete Explanation by : Sarah Harding

Fear, anger, and negativity are states that each of us have to contend with. Machik's Complete Explanation, the most famous book of the teachings of Machik Lapdrön, the great female saint and yogini of eleventh- to twelfth-century Tibet, addresses these issues in a practical, direct way. Machik developed a system, the Mahamudra Chöd, that takes the Buddha's teachings as a basis and applies them to the immediate experiences of negative mind states and malignant forces. Her unique feminine approach is to invoke and nurture the very "demons" that we fear and hate, transforming those reactive emotions into love. It is the tantric version of developing compassion and fearlessness, a radical method of cutting through ego-fixation. This expanded edition includes Machik Lapdrön's earliest known teaching, the original source text for the tradition, The Great Bundle of Precepts on Severance (Chöd). This pithy set of instructions reveals that the teachings of the perfection of wisdom are the true inspiration for Chöd. It is beautifully clarified in a short commentary by Rangjung Dorje, the Third Karmapa.

Kiss of the Yogini

Kiss of the Yogini
Author :
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Total Pages : 393
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780226027838
ISBN-13 : 022602783X
Rating : 4/5 (38 Downloads)

Synopsis Kiss of the Yogini by : David Gordon White

For those who wonder what relation actual Tantric practices bear to the "Tantric sex" currently being marketed so successfully in the West, David Gordon White has a simple answer: there is none. Sweeping away centuries of misunderstandings and misrepresentations, White returns to original texts, images, and ritual practices to reconstruct the history of South Asian Tantra from the medieval period to the present day. Kiss of the Yogini focuses on what White identifies as the sole truly distinctive feature of South Asian Tantra: sexualized ritual practices, especially as expressed in the medieval Kaula rites. Such practices centered on the exchange of powerful, transformative sexual fluids between male practitioners and wild female bird and animal spirits known as Yoginis. It was only by "drinking" the sexual fluids of the Yoginis that men could enter the family of the supreme godhead and thereby obtain supernatural powers and transform themselves into gods. By focusing on sexual rituals, White resituates South Asian Tantra, in its precolonial form, at the center of religious, social, and political life, arguing that Tantra was the mainstream, and that in many ways it continues to influence contemporary Hinduism, even if reformist misunderstandings relegate it to a marginal position. Kiss of the Yogini contains White's own translations from over a dozen Tantras that have never before been translated into any European language. It will prove to be the definitive work for persons seeking to understand Tantra and the crucial role it has played in South Asian history, society, culture, and religion.

Dakini Activity

Dakini Activity
Author :
Publisher : Rangjung Yeshe Publications
Total Pages : 194
Release :
ISBN-10 : 0997716274
ISBN-13 : 9780997716276
Rating : 4/5 (74 Downloads)

Synopsis Dakini Activity by : Padmasambhava

Cave in the Snow

Cave in the Snow
Author :
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages : 234
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781582340456
ISBN-13 : 1582340455
Rating : 4/5 (56 Downloads)

Synopsis Cave in the Snow by : Vicki Mackenzie

How an Englishwoman has become a Buddhist legend and a champion for the rights of women to attain spiritual enlightenment.

Meeting the Great Bliss Queen

Meeting the Great Bliss Queen
Author :
Publisher : Beacon Press
Total Pages : 340
Release :
ISBN-10 : 0807073075
ISBN-13 : 9780807073070
Rating : 4/5 (75 Downloads)

Synopsis Meeting the Great Bliss Queen by : Anne C. Klein

Buddhist practices such as mindfulness - in which calm centering and keen awareness of change coexist - and compassion - in which the self is recognized as both powerful in itself and interdependently connected with all others - can be important resources for contemporary Western women. Likewise, feminism can expand the traditional horizons of Buddhist concerns to include social, historical, and psychological issues.

An Atlas of the Himalayas by a 19th Century Tibetan Lama

An Atlas of the Himalayas by a 19th Century Tibetan Lama
Author :
Publisher : BRILL
Total Pages : 389
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9789004416888
ISBN-13 : 9004416889
Rating : 4/5 (88 Downloads)

Synopsis An Atlas of the Himalayas by a 19th Century Tibetan Lama by : Diana Lange

Diana Lange's patient investigations have, in this wonderful piece of detective work, solved the mysteries of six extraordinary panoramic maps of routes across Tibet and the Himalayas, clearly hand-drawn in the late 1850s by a local artist, known as the British Library's Wise Collection. Diana Lange now reveals not only the previously unknown identity of the Scottish colonial official who commissioned the maps from a Tibetan Buddhist lama, but also the story of how the Wise Collection came to be in the British Library. The result is both a spectacular illustrated ethnographic atlas and a unique compendium of knowledge concerning the mid-19th century Tibetan world, as well as a remarkable account of an academic journey of discovery. It will entertain and inform anyone with an interest in this fascinating region. This large format book is lavishly illustrated in colour and includes four separate large foldout maps.

Guide to Dakini Land

Guide to Dakini Land
Author :
Publisher : Tharpa Publications US
Total Pages : 554
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780948006395
ISBN-13 : 0948006390
Rating : 4/5 (95 Downloads)

Synopsis Guide to Dakini Land by : Kelsang Gyatso

Reprint. originally published: Tharpa Publications, 1991.