Author: Cyrus Stearns
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 1559392754
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
King of the Empty Plain is familiar to every Tibetan yet nearly unknown in the rest of the world. Tangtong Gyalpo's incredible lifespan, profound teachings, unprecedented engineering feats, eccentric deeds, and creation of Tibetan opera have earned this fascinating figure a unique status in Tibetan culture. Believed to be the great Indian master Padmasambhava appearing again in the world to benefit living beings, he discovered techniques for achieving longevity that are still held in highest esteem and are frequently taught six hundred years later. His construction of fifty-eight iron suspension bridges, sixty wooden bridges, 118 ferries, 111 stupa monuments, and countless temples and monasteries in Tibet and Bhutan remains an awe-inspiring accomplishment. This book is a detailed study of the life and legacy of this great master. An extensive introduction discusses Tangtong Gyalpo's Dharma traditions, the question of his amazing longevity, his "crazy" activities manifested to enhance his own realization and to benefit others, and his astonishing engineering and architectural achievements. The book includes a complete translation of the most famous Tibetan biography of Tangtong Gyalpo, as well as the Tibetan text and English translation of a unique early manuscript describing his miraculous death. The text is further enriched with ten color plates and seventy-seven black-and-white illustrations.
Author: Cyrus Stearns
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 155939837X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 1137
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Book Description
King of the Empty Plain is familiar to every Tibetan yet nearly unknown in the rest of the world. Tangtong Gyalpo's incredible lifespan, profound teachings, unprecedented engineering feats, eccentric deeds, and creation of Tibetan opera have earned this fascinating figure a unique status in Tibetan culture. Believed to be the great Indian master Padmasambhava appearing again in the world to benefit living beings, he discovered techniques for achieving longevity that are still held in highest esteem and are frequently taught six hundred years later. His construction of fifty-eight iron suspension bridges, sixty wooden bridges, 118 ferries, 111 stupa monuments, and countless temples and monasteries in Tibet and Bhutan remains an awe-inspiring accomplishment. This book is a detailed study of the life and legacy of this great master. An extensive introduction discusses Tangtong Gyalpo's Dharma traditions, the question of his amazing longevity, his "crazy" activities manifested to enhance his own realization and to benefit others, and his astonishing engineering and architectural achievements. The book includes a complete translation of the most famous Tibetan biography of Tangtong Gyalpo, as well as the Tibetan text and English translation of a unique early manuscript describing his miraculous death. The text is further enriched with ten color plates and seventy-seven black-and-white illustrations.
Author: Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 0834845342
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 1025
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Book Description
In this twelfth volume of The Treasury of Precious Instructions, Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Taye presents a second collection of compiled teachings and practices of the Shangpa Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, focusing on the teachings of the lineages of two Indian female celestial beings, Niguma and Sukkhasiddhi. The Treasury of Precious Instructions by Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Taye, one of Tibet's greatest Buddhist masters, presents essential teachings from a broad spectrum of practice lineages that existed in Tibet. Volumes in this series may be engaged as practice manuals while also preserving ancient teachings significant to the literature and history of world religions. Volume 12 of the series is the second of two volumes that present teachings and practices from the Shangpa Kagyu practice lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. This tradition derives from the female celestial beings, or ḍākinīs, Niguma and Sukhasiddhi and their disciple, the eleventh-century Tibetan yogi Khyungpo Naljor Tsultrim Gönpo of the Shang region of Tibet. There are forty texts in this volume, beginning with Jonang Tāranātha’s classic commentary and its supplement expounding the Six Dharmas of Niguma. It includes the definitive collection of the tantric basis of the Shangpa Kagyu—the five principal deities of the new translation (sarma) traditions and the Five-Deity Cakrasamvara practice. The source scriptures, liturgies, supplications, empowerment texts, instructions, and practice manuals were composed by Tangtong Gyalpo, Tāranātha, Jamgön Kongtrul, and others.
Author: David M. DiValerio
Publisher:
ISBN: 0199391211
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 369
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Book Description
Throughout the past millennium, certain Tibetan Buddhist yogins have taken on profoundly norm-overturning modes of dress and behavior, including draping themselves in human remains, consuming filth, provoking others to violence, and even performing sacrilege. They became known far and wide as "madmen" (smyon pa, pronounced ny npa), achieving a degree of saintliness in the process. This book offers the first comprehensive study of Tibet's "holy madmen" drawing on their biographies and writings, as well as tantric commentaries, later histories, oral traditions, and more. Much of The Holy Madmen of Tibet is dedicated to examining the lives and legacies of the three most famous "holy madmen" who were all of the Kagy sect: the Madman of Tsang (author of The Life of Milarepa), the Madman of , and Drukpa K nl , Madman of the Drukpa Kagy . Each born in the 1450s, they rose to prominence during a period of civil war and of great shifts in Tibet's religious culture. By focusing on literature written by and about the "holy madmen" and on the yogins' relationships with their public, this book offers in-depth looks at the narrative and social processes out of which sainthood arises, and at the role biographical literature can play in the formation of sectarian identities. By showing how understandings of the "madmen" have changed over time, this study allows for new insights into current notions of "crazy wisdom." In the end, the "holy madmen" are seen as self-aware and purposeful individuals who were anything but insane.
Author:
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 1559398744
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 1649
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Book Description
The Life of Shabkar has long been recognized by Tibetans as one of the masterworks of their religious heritage. Shabkar Tsogdruk Rangdrol devoted himself to many years of meditation in solitary retreat after his inspired youth and early training in the province of Amdo under the guidance of several extraordinary Buddhist masters. With determination and courage, he mastered the highest and most esoteric practices of the Tibetan tradition of the Great Perfection. He then wandered far and wide over the Himalayan region expressing his realization. Shabkar's autobiography vividly reflects the values and visionary imagery of Tibetan Buddhism, as well as the social and cultural life of early nineteenth-century Tibet.
Author:
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0861714474
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 691
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Book Description
"Drawing primarily from the Pacification, Severance, Shangpa Kagyèu, and Bodongpa traditions, Four Tibetan Lineages presents some of Tibet's most transformative yet lesser-known teachings on meditative practice. Most works in this volume are drawn from a Tibetan anthology known as the Treasury of Precious Instructions compiled by Jamgèon Kongtrul Lodrèo Thayâe (1813-1900). A vast preservation project, this anthology reflects Kongtrul's attempt to rescue rare teachings from disappearing. By foregrounding the teachings of masters like Khedrup Khyungpo Naljor (d. 1135), Dampa Sangyâe (d. 1117), Machik Labdrèon (1031/55-1126/50), Jonang Taranatha (1575-1634), and Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo (1820-92), this volume extends Jamgèon Kongtrul's preservation efforts into the modern world, presenting a set of rare teachings to English readers for the first time"--
Author:
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 1611800951
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 681
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Book Description
The first and only English translation of the centuries-old Tibetan spiritual allegory of King Gesar, a tale on a par with The Arabian Nights or the King Arthur stories. For hundreds of years, versions of the Gesar of Ling epic have been sung by bards in Tibet, China, Central Asia, and across the eastern Silk Route. King Gesar, renowned throughout these areas, represents the ideal warrior. As a leader with his people's loyalty and trust, he conquers all their enemies and protects the peace. The example of King Gesar is also understood as a spiritual teaching. The "enemies" in the stories represent the emotional and psychological challenges that turn people toward greed, aggression, and envy and away from the true teachings of Buddhism. The epic of Gesar is the longest single piece of literature in the world canon, encompassing some 120 volumes; here the first three volumes are translated, telling of Gesar's birth, his mischievous childhood and his youth spent in exile, and his rivalry for the throne with his treacherous uncle.
Author: David Shapiro
Publisher: Balboa Press
ISBN: 1982225149
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 223
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Book Description
King Gesar was not an ordinary human being but rather a manifestation of the enlightened activity of all the buddhas, brought forth by the strength of their great compassion at a time of despair in the land of Tibet. Dating from the ninth century and with versions originating in many of the countries of Asia, Gesar’s story paints a detailed picture of the culture and life of the time. In this reflective and sometimes humorous retelling, David Shapiro shares the epic tale of Gesar’s birth, his rather rambunctious and troublesome early years, and his eventual ascendancy to become a heroic legend and leader of Tibet. It is filled with the ancient folk wisdom of Tibet and the guidance of Buddhism, relayed through proverbs, prose, and verse. It is a coming of age story and an epic tale that has the power to change one’s mind.
Author: Hildegard Diemberger
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231143206
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 416
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Book Description
In the fifteenth century, the princess Chokyi Dronma was told by leading spiritual masters that she was the embodiment of the ancient Indian tantric deity Vajravarahi, known in Tibetan as Dorje Phagmo, the Thunderbolt Female Pig. Hildegard Diemberger builds her book around the translation of the first biography of Chokyi Dronma recorded by her disciples in the wake of her death. The account reveals an extraordinary phenomenon: Chokyi Dronma not only persuaded one of the highest spiritual teachers of her era to give her full ordination but was also officially recognized as one of two principal spiritual heirs to her main master--and she went on to establish a long, influential lineage and Buddhist order herself. Diemberger offers a number of theoretical arguments about the importance of reincarnation in Tibetan society and religion; the role of biographies in establishing a lineage; the necessity for religious teachers to navigate complex networks of political and financial patronage; the cultural and social innovation linked to the revival of ancient Buddhist civilizations; and the role of women in Buddhism. Four stage-setting chapters precede the biography, and four concluding chapters discuss the establishment of the reincarnation lineage and the role of the current incarnation under Tibet's peculiarly contradictory communist system.
Author: Stefan Larsson
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004203931
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 375
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Book Description
Best known today as the author of the Life of Milarepa, Tsangnyön Heruka (1452–1507) was one of the most influential mad yogins of Tibet. Stefan Larsson’s Crazy for Wisdom, describes Tsangnyön Heruka's life, based on narratives by his disciples, and examines an unexpected aspect of fifteenth-century Tibetan Buddhist practice.
