Kālacakra and the Tibetan Calendar

Kālacakra and the Tibetan Calendar PDF Author: Edward Henning
Publisher: American Institute of Buddhist Studies
ISBN:
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 416

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Book Description
Kalacakra and the Tibetan Calender describes the contents of current Tibetan almanacs, from basic mathmatics to symbolic and historical information. Essential for understanding the Kalacakra Tantra's first chapter, this book describes the origin of the calendrical systems in this Tantra and translates and elucidates the relevant sections from its famous commentary, the Vimalaprabha. The main calenders in use in Tibet today have remained unchanged since the 15th century, when lamas in several different traditions tried to make sense of the calculation systems they had inherited from India, and to adjust them to remove increasingly obvious errors. This book analyzes the main systems that survive today, assesing their accuracy and comparing them with the methods described in the original Tantra. Published by American Institute of Buddhist Studies (AIBS)

Kālacakra and the Tibetan Calendar

Kālacakra and the Tibetan Calendar PDF Author: Edward Henning
Publisher: American Institute of Buddhist Studies
ISBN:
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 416

Get Book Here

Book Description
Kalacakra and the Tibetan Calender describes the contents of current Tibetan almanacs, from basic mathmatics to symbolic and historical information. Essential for understanding the Kalacakra Tantra's first chapter, this book describes the origin of the calendrical systems in this Tantra and translates and elucidates the relevant sections from its famous commentary, the Vimalaprabha. The main calenders in use in Tibet today have remained unchanged since the 15th century, when lamas in several different traditions tried to make sense of the calculation systems they had inherited from India, and to adjust them to remove increasingly obvious errors. This book analyzes the main systems that survive today, assesing their accuracy and comparing them with the methods described in the original Tantra. Published by American Institute of Buddhist Studies (AIBS)

Ornament of Stainless Light

Ornament of Stainless Light PDF Author: Khedrup Norsang Gyatso
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0861717422
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 733

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Book Description
The premiere volume of Thupten Jinpa's thirty-two-volume Library of Tibetan Classics series, inaugurated to coincide with the Dalai Lama's conferral of the initiation rite of Kalacakra in Toronto in April 2004. The Kalacakra, or "wheel of time," tantra likely entered Indian Mahayana Buddhism around the tenth century. In expounding the root tantra, the Indian master Pundarika, one of the legendary Kalki kings of the land of Shambhala, wrote his influential Stainless Light.Ornament of Stainless Light is an authoritative Tibetan exposition of this important text, composed in the fifteenth century by Khedrup Norsang Gyatso, tutor to the Second Dalai Lama. One of the central projects of Kalacakra literature is a detailed correlation between the human body and the external universe. In working out this complex correspondence, the Kalacakra texts present an amazingly detailed theory of cosmology and astronomy, especially about the movements of the various celestial bodies. The Kalacakra tantra is also a highly complex system of Buddhist theory and practice that employs vital bodily energies, deep meditative mental states, and a penetrative focus on subtle points within the body's key energy conduits known as channels. Ornament of Stainless Light addresses all these topics, elaborating on the external universe, the inner world of the individual, the Kalacakra initiation rites, and the tantric stages of generation and completion, all in a highly readable English translation.

As Long as Space Endures

As Long as Space Endures PDF Author: Edward A. Arnold
Publisher: Shambhala
ISBN: 1559399104
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 498

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Book Description
The Kalacakra Tantra (Kalacakra means "wheel of time") is a tradition of Buddhist theory and practice whose root text treats a fantastic expanse of knowledge ranging from observations of the cosmos to investigations of meditative states and vital bodily energies. In the Tibetan-speaking world, a public Kalacakra initiation remains the most sought-after event in the life of a devout Buddhist. The Fourteenth Dalai Lama has long had a strong connection with the Kalacakra Tantra; he brought the initiation to the West in 1981, performing it in the United States, Switzerland, Spain, and Australia. This volume has been created to celebrate his long involvement with the Kalacakra teachings. The twenty-five contributors, scholars who have made tantric studies their specialty, have contributed translations of works by great Indian and Tibetan Kalacakra masters, analyses of historical figures, methods of practice, essays on medicine ritual expertise, and ethical discipline. The collection also includes practical advice for Western students and practitioners from contemporary Tibetan Kalacakra masters.

Introduction to the Kalachakra Initiation

Introduction to the Kalachakra Initiation PDF Author: Alexander Berzin
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 1559397381
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description
Kalachakra is a system of highest tantra practice for overcoming the limitations imposed by historical, astrological, and biological cycles so as to become a Buddha for the benefit of all. His Holiness the Dalai Lama and other great Tibetan teachers have been conferring the Kalachakra initiation in the West, empowering prepared practitioners to engage in its meditations. Large numbers of people also attend this initiation as interested observers and gain inspiration for their spiritual growth. Introduction to the Kalachakra Initiation explains on a practical level and in everyday language the theory of tantra, the vows, commitments, and their implications, the factors to consider in deciding if one is ready to attend a Kalachakra initiation as a participant, how to visualize during the initiation, and the most important thoughts and feelings for participants and observers at each step of the empowerment. In preparing this guidebook, Alexander Berzin has done a great service to everyone interested in the Kalachakra initiation. It will help people to prepare for the ceremony and understand the essential points of each step of the procedure.

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

An Atlas of the Himalayas by a 19th Century Tibetan Lama PDF Author: Diana Lange
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004416889
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 389

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Book Description
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.

The Kalachakra Tantra

The Kalachakra Tantra PDF Author: Dalai Lama XIV Bstan-'dzin-rgya-mtsho
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Kālacakra (Tantric rite)
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description


2500 Years of Buddhism

2500 Years of Buddhism PDF Author: P.V. Bapat
Publisher: Publications Division Ministry of Information & Broadcasting
ISBN: 8123023049
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 416

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Book Description
About the life of Buddha

Tibetan Astronomy and Astrology

Tibetan Astronomy and Astrology PDF Author: Jampa Gyaltsen Dagthon
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Astrology, Tibetan
Languages : en
Pages : 84

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Book Description
Contributed articles.

Identity, Ritual and State in Tibetan Buddhism

Identity, Ritual and State in Tibetan Buddhism PDF Author: Martin A. Mills
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136854746
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 448

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Book Description
This is a major anthropological study of contemporary Tibetan Buddhist monasticism and tantric ritual in the Ladakh region of North-West India and of the role of tantric ritual in the formation and maintenance of traditional forms of state structure and political consciousness in Tibet. Containing detailed descriptions and analyses of monastic ritual, the work builds up a picture of Tibetan tantric traditions as they interact with more localised understandings of bodily identity and territorial cosmology, to produce a substantial re-interpretation of the place of monks as ritual performers and peripheral householders in Ladakh. The work also examines the central and indispensable role of incarnate lamas, such as the Dalai Lama, in the religious life of Tibetan Buddhists.

Among Tibetan Texts

Among Tibetan Texts PDF Author: E. Gene Smith
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0861711793
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 402

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Book Description
For three decades, E. Gene Smith ran the Library of Congress's Tibetan Text Publication Project of the United States Public Law 480 (PL480) - an effort to salvage and reprint the Tibetan literature that had been collected by the exile community or by members of the Bhotia communities of Sikkim, Bhutan, India, and Nepal. Smith wrote prefaces to these reprinted books to help clarify and contextualize the particular Tibetan texts: the prefaces served as rough orientations to a poorly understood body of foreign literature. Originally produced in print quantities of twenty, these prefaces quickly became legendary, and soon photocopied collections were handed from scholar to scholar, achieving an almost cult status. These essays are collected here for the first time. The impact of Smith's research on the academic study of Tibetan literature has been tremendous, both for his remarkable ability to synthesize diverse materials into coherent accounts of Tibetan literature, history, and religious thought, and for the exemplary critical scholarship he brought to this field.