The Stories and Words of Great Buddhist Masters, Volume 1 is an anthology of teachings, interviews and personal stories of the lives of our lineage masters, drawn from Mandala magazine’s archive issues. This collection of material is intended to inspire, with tales of the tremendous compassion, humility and wisdom that our gurus perform for sentient beings. These intimate stories and interviews are coming from the masters themselves and from those who were close to them. Mandala’s ebooks are created as a benefit of the Friends of FPMT program. You can receive all of Mandala’s ebooks by supporting Friends of FPMT. Learn more by visiting the Friend’s website. 2016 Edition.

The Stories and Words of Great Buddhist Masters, Volume 2 shares more personal stories and remembrances of the inspiring Gelug-lineage teachers familiar to many Western Dharma students. This collection of material drawn from Mandala magazine’s archive includes first-hand stories about the generation of Tibetan Buddhist masters who left Tibet and brought the precious teachings of the Buddha into the larger world. Mandala’s ebooks are created as a benefit of the Friends of FPMT program. You can receive all of Mandala’s ebooks by supporting Friends of FPMT. Learn more by visiting the Friend’s website. 2016 Edition.

Introduction and Encouragement This eBook Modern Buddhism – The Path of Compassion and Wisdom, in three volumes, is being distributed freely at the request of the author Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. The author says: “Through reading and practicing the instructions given in this book, people can solve their daily problems and maintain a happy mind all the time.” So that these benefits can pervade the whole world, Geshe Kelsang wishes to give this eBook freely to everyone. We would like to request you to please respect this precious Dharma book, which functions to free living beings from suffering permanently. If you continually read and practice the advice in this book, eventually your problems caused by anger, attachment and ignorance will cease. Volume 1 Sutra explains how to practise basic Buddhist compassion and wisdom in daily life. Covering topics such as What is Buddhism?, Buddhist Faith, The Preciousness of our Human Life, What does our Death Mean?, What is Karma?, The Four Noble Truths & Training in Love and Compassion, this volume shows how we can transform our lives, improve our relationships with others and look behind appearances to see the way things really are. Please enjoy this special gift from Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, who dedicates: “May everyone who reads this book experience deep peace of mind, and accomplish the real meaning of human life.” With best wishes, Manuel Rivero-De Martine Tharpa Publications, UK Tharpa Director [email protected]

Based on teachings from the Kadampa Buddhist Tradition, Modern Buddhism is a special presentation that communicates the essence of the entire path to liberation and enlightenment in a way that is easy to understand and put into practice.

"This landmark collection is the definitive introduction to the Buddha's teachings in his own words. The American scholar monk Bhikkhu Bodhi, whose voluminous translations have won widespread acclaim, here presents selected discourses of the Buddha from the Pali Canon, the earliest record of what the Buddha taught. Divided into ten thematic chapters, In the Buddha's Words reveals the full scope of the Buddha's discourses, from family life and marriage to renunciation and the path of insight. A concise informative introduction precedes each chapter, guiding the reader toward a deeper understanding of the texts that follow." "In the Buddha's Words allows even readers unacquainted with Buddhism to grasp the significance of the Buddha's contributions to our world heritage. Taken as a whole, these texts bear eloquent testimony to the breadth and intelligence of the Buddha's teachings, and point the way to an ancient yet ever vital path. Students and seekers alike will find this systematic presentation indispensable."--BOOK JACKET.

Wisdom of the Kadam Masters is the second volume in the Tibetan Classics series, which aims to make available accessible paperback editions of key Tibetan Buddhist works drawn from Wisdom Publications' Library of Tibetan Classics. The phrase "Kadam masters" evokes for many Tibetans a sense of a spiritual golden age--the image of a community of wise yet simple monks devoted to a life of mental cultivation. These eleventh- and twelfth-century masters were particularly famed for their pithy spiritual sayings that captured essential teachings in digestible bites. In these sayings one unmistakably detects a clear understanding of what comprises a truly happy life, one that is grounded in a deep concern for the welfare of others. Like the Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Lao Tzu, or Rumi, the teachings contained in Wisdom of the Kadam Masters can be approached as a part of the wisdom heritage of mankind, representative of the long history of the long human quest to understand our existence and its meaning. This volume offers some of the most beloved teachings of the Tibetan tradition.

In the classic bestseller, Introduction to Tantra, Lama Yeshe offered a profound and wonderfully clear glimpse into the sophisticated practices of Tibetan Buddhist tantra. This present book, the last major teachings of this great lama, opens up the world of advanced practices for Highest Yoga Tantra initiates in much the same way his earlier work opened up the world of tantra in general. Following Je Tsongkhapa's (1357-1419 C.E.) text Having the Three Convictions, Lama Yeshe introduces the renowned Six Yogas of Naropa, focusing mainly on the first of these six, the practice of inner fire (tummo). Mastery of inner fire quickly brings the mind to its most refined and penetrating state--the experience of clear light, an extra-ordinarily powerful state of mind that is unequaled in its ability to directly realize ultimate reality. Lama Yeshe felt that twentieth-century Westerners could easily grasp the often misunderstood ideas of this esoteric tradition: "We really need tantra these days because there is a tremendous explosion of delusion and distraction.and we need the atomic energy of inner fire to blast us out of our delusion." Lama Yeshe's aim was for his students to actually taste the experience of inner fire rather than merely gain an intellectual understanding. Lama's own realization of the transformative power of these practices comes through, inspiring his students to discover for themselves their own capacity for inexhaustible bliss.

“A terrific introduction to the Buddha’s teachings.” —Paul Blairon, California Literary Review This indispensable volume is a lucid and faithful account of the Buddha’s teachings. “For years,” says the Journal of the Buddhist Society, “the newcomer to Buddhism has lacked a simple and reliable introduction to the complexities of the subject. Dr. Rahula’s What the Buddha Taught fills the need as only could be done by one having a firm grasp of the vast material to be sifted. It is a model of what a book should be that is addressed first of all to ‘the educated and intelligent reader.’ Authoritative and clear, logical and sober, this study is as comprehensive as it is masterly.” This edition contains a selection of illustrative texts from the Suttas and the Dhammapada (specially translated by the author), sixteen illustrations, and a bibliography, glossary, and index. “[Rahula’s] succinct, clear overview of Buddhist concepts has never been surpassed. It is the standard.” —Library Journal

Essential Mind Training is the first volume in the Tibetan Classics series, which aims to make available accessible paperback editions of key Tibetan Buddhist works drawn from Wisdom Publications' Library of Tibetan Classics. The key to happiness is not the eradication of all problems but rather the development of a mind capable of transforming any problem into a cause of happiness. Essential Mind Training is full of guidance for cultivating new mental habits for mastering our thoughts and emotions. This volume contains eighteen individual works selected from Mind Training: The Great Collection, the earliest compilation of mind-training (lojong) literature. The first volume of the historic Tibetan Classics series, Essential Mind Training includes both lesser-known and renowned classics such as Eight Verses on Mind Training and The Seven-Point Mind Training. These texts offer methods for practicing the golden rule of learning to love your neighbor as yourself and are full of practical and down-to-earth advice. The techniques explained here, by enhancing our capacity for compassion, love, and perseverance, can give us the freedom to embrace the world.

The first volume of the 15th-century spiritual classic that condenses Buddhist teachings into one easy-to-follow meditation manual The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment (Tib. Lam rim chen mo) is one of the brightest jewels in the world’s treasury of sacred literature. The author, Tsong-kha-pa, completed it in 1402, and it soon became one of the most renowned works of spiritual practice and philosophy in the world of Tibetan Buddhism. Because it condenses all the exoteric sūtra scriptures into a meditation manual that is easy to understand, scholars and practitioners rely on its authoritative presentation as a gateway that leads to a full understanding of the Buddha’s teachings. Tsong-kha-pa took great pains to base his insights on classical Indian Buddhist literature, illustrating his points with classical citations as well as with sayings of the masters of the earlier Kadampa tradition. In this way the text demonstrates clearly how Tibetan Buddhism carefully preserved and developed the Indian Buddhist traditions. This first of three volumes covers all the practices that are prerequisite for developing the spirit of enlightenment (bodhicitta).