Creation and Completion represents some of the most profound teachings of Jamgon Kongtrul (1813-99), one of the true spiritual and literary giants of Tibetan history. Though brief, it offers a lifetime of advice for all who wish to engage in-and deepen-the practice of tantric Buddhist meditation. The original text, beautifully translated and introduced by Sara Harding, is further brought to life by an in-depth commentary by the contemporary master Thrangu Rinpoche. Key Tibetan Buddhist fundamentals are quickly made clear, so that the reader may confidently enter into tantra's oft-misunderstood "creation" and "completion" stages. In the creation stage, practitioners visualize themselves in the form of buddhas and other enlightened beings in order to break down their ordinary concepts of themselves and the world around them. This meditation practice prepares the mind for engaging in the completion stage, where one has a direct encounter with the ultimate nature of mind and reality.

Every Vajrayana practice has two phases to it: the creation stage in which one creates the visualization and the completion stage in which one dissolves the visualization. Jamgon Kongtrul wrote an important text describing these two processes and Thrangu Rinpoche gives a detailed commentary on this root text. The book includes a translation of the root text as well as Rinpoche's commentary. The entire practice, starting from the very beginning of the generation stage of the deity and culminating with the dissolution or withdrawal of the deity and mandala into the clear light, corresponds to all the events of one life. The very beginning of the generation corresponds to the entrance of the consciousness into the womb, for example, in the case of a human life. As the practice goes on there are specific elements that correspond to the birth, to all the experiences of this life, and finally in the withdrawal phase, to death.

This is a new release of the original 1927 edition.

The Plan is the first chronology of God's Word, arranged verse by verse beginning with the creation of all things, and ending with prophesied events yet to come. The Plan Outline is a world history outline that provides the framework including all 440 biblical dates and 870 world history dates. It seamlessly integrates biblical history and world history into one picture. This easy reference tool is useful for verifying biblical authority of any historical event.

A complex topic is here made crystal clear through the heartfelt teaching of one of the great Tibetan Buddhist masters of the twentieth century. With Pure Appearance Dilgo Khyenste Rinpoche offers an overview of Tibetan tantric practice that explains its concepts, clarifies its terminology, and shows how its myriad pieces fit together, including an extensive teaching on the bardos, or "between states"—essential for those new to the topic and a source of illumination for longtime students. Vajrayana methods for realizing the true nature of the mind take the resultant state of buddhahood as the path, or what is to be practiced. Pure Appearance focuses on the generation and completion stages of tantra that work with the pure form aspect of enlightenment. In this short but densely packed teaching Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche explains the structure of the tantric path and how its stages are put into practice, in terms that apply generally across the spectrum of deity practices. He emphasizes the distinctive features of the Nyingma approach but frequently correlates them with their counterparts in the New Translation traditions.

A Guide to Life's Journey from the Five Books of Moses * Have you ever wondered if the Pentateuch'the Five Books of Moses'is relevant to your life? * Do you think the Law, the Torah, has been relegated to a relic from another era? * How do the commandments, given to the Jewish people, contribute to society today? In Creation to Completion, Russell Resnik answers these questions, offering insight into the Torah. he shows that the Creator still desires his creatures to participate in bringing the Creation to completion. After each commentary, he presents a challenging thought "For the Journey."

The story of the men who build the transcontinental railroad in the 1860's.

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This commentary on Guhyasamaja tantra is the seminal guide to deity yoga and tantric visualization for the Geluk school of Tibetan Buddhism. The Guhyasamaja Tantra, called the king of all tantras, is revered in Tibet, especially by the Geluk school. Ocean of Attainments, a commentary on Guhyasamaja practice, was composed by Khedrup Jé Gelek Palsang (1385–1438), a key disciple of the Geluk school founder, Tsongkhapa Losang Drakpa. It explores the creation stage, a quintessential Buddhist tantric meditation that together with the completion stage comprises the path of unexcelled tantra. In the creation stage, meditators visualize themselves as buddhas at the center of the celestial mandala, surrounded in all directions by male and female buddhas, bodhisattvas, and other enlightened beings. Yet creation-stage practice is not merely visualization but deity yoga—indivisibly uniting the meditation on emptiness with the visualization of the mandala. The creation stage uses the conceptualization in visualization to overcome conceptualization, thereby creating a nonconceptual and nonerroneous direct perception. Such a mind, profound and vast, can bring about a transformation that stops samsaric suffering. How can visions generated as mental constructs not be erroneous? To the awakened eye, the buddhas and other beings who dwell in the mandala are “reality,” and in a sense they are more than real. While the previously published Essence of the Ocean of Attainments is a concise exposition on the practice of the Guhyasamaja sadhana, Ocean of Attainments is far more detailed, providing extensive scriptural citations, clear explanation of the body maanala, arguments on points of contention, reference to other tantric systems, and critiques of misinterpretations. With its extensive and clear introduction, this volume is a vital contribution to the growing body of scholarship on Guhyasamaja and on Buddhist tantra in general.

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