A description of the Tibetan Buddhist Dzogchen path of awakening, with instructions and guidance for following it. With deep compassion, sharp observations, and arresting metaphors, the Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche explicates "The Aspiration of Samantabhadra" for both new and experienced practitioners. This Dzogchen prayer explores the different manifestations of rigpa, our basic awareness in daily life, and constitutes a set of instructions for refining the path of practice. Taken from material from a series of talks in Germany and the United States, Penetrating Wisdom includes the text of the prayer, Rinpoche's always-lively commentary, and lucid answers to questions posed by his students. This book is a commentary on an ancient, well-known Tibetan Buddhist prayer of aspiration that expounds on the Dzogchen path to enlightenment. Containing key fundamentals about the Vajrayana path--the guru-student relationship, the role of faith in Vajrayana Buddhism, recognizing basic awareness, and the notion of reality that is beyond mental concepts--this book is a clear and accessible explication of a complex system of philosophy and meditation techniques that are central to Tibetan Buddhism. While the author is a traditionally trained master in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, he has won great appreciation in the West for his humor, familiarity with Western culture, and his unique talent for using examples that are drawn directly from Western metropolitan lifestyles. He has lived and taught in Europe and North America for many years.

The Perfection of Wisdom Sutras, The Prajnaparamita, is a collection of about forty texts. They were composed in India between approximately 100 BC and AD 600. Those contained within this volume are among the shorter ones; they are also some of the most well known such as The Heart Sutra and The Diamond Sutra. The Prajnaparamita texts are central to the Mahayana, the Great Vehicle tradition of Buddhism which today includes the Zen and Tibetan traditions. They are a magnificent work which offer guidance to those who wish to plumb the depths of their own mind and come face to face with the reality of existence by realising the truth of the Buddha's deep teachings on Emptiness and Great Wisdom. Dr Edward Conze (1904-1979) was the author of many books and the translator of much of the Prajnaparamita texts. He served on the faculties of several universities in Britain and the United States including Oxford, London, and California. Not only was he a great Buddhist scholar but also a serious practitioner, and his translations are very highly regarded.

Some 2000 years ago Buddhism experienced a major reformation through a movement called the Mahayana, or "Great Vehicle," which dominated religious through in much of Asia for many centuries and still exerts considerable influence. The basic Mahayana texts, sermons ascribed to the Buddha and called "sutras" in Sanskrit, discussed the "perfect wisdom." The "Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom" took shape between 50 and 2000 A.D. in southern India during one of the most momentous outbursts of religious creativity in human history.

A balanced selection from Buddhist writings, including scriptures used by the Zen School, with chapters on the Buddha, Tibetan Buddhism, Concentration and Meditation, the Buddhist Order, and Nirvana. With sources, glossary and index.

There are secrets that they don't teach in school. Bookmarks in history books that point to pages that don't exist. The world that has been sold to us is not authentic. The sterile white rooms that test observable reality exist to protect us from the things that we might find out if we look for ourselves. Science would have you believe that everything that is has only existed for a finite period of time. Humans are only 200,000 years old. We'll celebrate our world's five billionth birthday in about half a billion years. The books will tell you that we were hunter-gatherers first. We emerged from evolution only recently. We're just a blink in the eye of the universe, hurling through space on a lonely rock. Alone in the universe with nothing on the other side of reality. Lies. We, and the world we live on, is far older than they tell us. There is another world that existed before. Before we evolved. Before the dinosaurs. Before the great ice ages. Before Jesus. Before Babel. Before Pangea. Before everything we know and everything that science teaches us there was a time of technology and magic. Of heroes and gods who walked among us. Of divine creatures barely removed from the birth of our world. This was a time before our eyes were blinded. Before our ears failed to hear the songs of the incarna. Before our souls withered away from the disconnection to the truth. This is the story we have forgotten. This is the Warsong. Delve into the fantastic, futuristic world of Lemuria in Warsong, the Sengoku Punk role-playing game. This 362 page core book includes everything you need to play!

The Middle Way is a central idea for all Buddhists, yet its definition varies across Buddhist cultures. In Tibetan Buddhism, the interpretation of what are called the two truths -- the truth of conventional appearances and the ultimate truth of emptiness -- is especially contentious. This comparative analysis examines the differing approaches toward the Middle Way taken by the two great Buddhist scholars, Tsongkhapa and Gorampa. It demonstrates how philosophical positions have dramatic implications both for how one approaches Buddhist practice and for how one ultimately understands enlightenment itself.

This landmark volume in the Teachings of the Buddha series translates the Suttanipata, a text that matches the Dhammapada in its concise power and its centrality to the Buddhist tradition. Celebrated translator Bhikkhu Bodhi illuminates this text and its classical commentaries with elegant renderings and authoritative annotations. The Suttanipata, or “Group of Discourses” is a collection of discourses ascribed to the Buddha that includes some of the most popular suttas of the Pali Canon, among them the Discourse on Loving-Kindness Sutta. The suttas are primarily in verse, though several are in mixed prose and verse. The Suttanipata contains discourses that extol the figure of the muni, the illumined sage, who wanders homeless completely detached from the world. Other suttas, such as the Discourse on Downfall and the Discourse on Blessings, establish the foundations of Buddhist lay ethics. The last two chapters—the Atthakavagga (Chapter of Octads) and the Parayanavagga (The Way to the Beyond)—are considered to be among the most ancient parts of the Pali Canon. The Atthakavagga advocates a critical attitude toward views and doctrines. The Parayanavagga is a beautiful poem in which sixteen spiritual seekers travel across India to meet the Buddha and ask him profound questions pertaining to the highest goal. The commentary, the Paramatthajotika, relates the background story to each sutta and explains each verse in detail. The volume includes numerous excerpts from the Niddesa, an ancient commentary already included in the Pali Canon, which offers detailed expositions of each verse in the Atthakavagga, the Parayanavagga, and the Rhinoceros Horn Sutta. Translator Bhikkhu Bodhi provides an insightful, in-depth introduction, a guide to the individual suttas, extensive notes, a list of parallels to the discourses of the Suttanipata, and a list of the numerical sets mentioned in the commentaries.