Widely renowned as one of the major proponents of the Tibetan shentong tradition, the Third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje (1284-1339), propounded a unique synthesis of Yogacara, Madhyamaka, and the classical teachings on Buddha nature. This book is a collection of some of his main writings on Buddha nature, the transition of ordinary deluded consciousness to enlightened wisdom, and the characteristics of buddhahood.

Part-murder mystery and part-family saga, this dramatic and often hilarious novel explores the history of Los Angeles's Iranian-Jewish community.

A resonant call to explore the darkness in life, in nature, and in consciousness—including difficult emotions like uncertainty, grief, fear, and xenophobia—through teachings, embodied meditations, and mindful inquiry that provide us with a powerful path to healing. Darkness is deeply misunderstood in today’s world; yet it offers powerful medicine, serenity, strength, healing, and regeneration. All insight, vision, creativity, and revelation arise from darkness. It is through learning to stay present and meet the dark with curiosity rather than judgment that we connect to an unwavering light within. Welcoming darkness with curiosity, rather than fear or judgment, enables us to access our innate capacity for compassion and collective healing. Dharma teacher, shamanic practitioner, and deep ecologist Deborah Eden Tull addresses the spiritual, ecological, psychological, and interpersonal ramifications of our bias towards light. Tull explores the medicine of darkness for personal and collective healing, through topics such as: Befriending the Night: The Radiant Teachings of Darkness Honoring Our Pain for Our World Seeing in the Dark: The Quiet Power of Receptivity Dreams, Possibility, and Moral Imagination Releasing Fear—Embracing Emergence Tull shows us how the labeling of darkness as “negative” becomes a collective excuse to justify avoiding everything that makes us uncomfortable: racism, spiritual bypass, environmental destruction. We can only find the radical path to wholeness by learning to embrace the interplay of both darkness and light.

Togal is an ancient spiritual path, a dynamic visionary process arising from your heart and the very basis of all manifestation. The rainbow-colored visions of Togal are primordial; they are the first and most radiant aspect of manifestation closest to essence. They are a doorway to direct perception of the luminous union of essence and radiance, but they are not separate from the natural world. They arise from the same source and for the same reason, to provide an avenue for return to essence; there is a sacred intent, a great compassion, woven throughout the very fabric of being.The visions of Togal mature in a way that is both specific and beautiful. Robert and Rachel Olds kept sketchbooks of the Togal visions during their nine-year retreat together, and they share their drawings and the perspective that the ripening of Togal brings to show the correlation between the visions of inner radiance and the vision that is this life. The images in the visions are not esoteric or secret; they are all around us in the natural world, from concentric rings on the surface of a pond to the patterns of the background radiation of the universe itself. The visions of Togal and the natural world are equally sacred. Now more than ever, when our Earth is in peril due to non-recognition of this inherent holiness, it is important to acknowledge and reaffirm the sacredness of this entire arising vision we call life.145 color illustrations

Coming to direct experience of original heart, original nature, outside words and doctrine is crucial for the spiritual path. The luminous awareness abiding naturally in your heart finds clear reflection within the natural world. To go outside concepts and entanglements of the mind that cloud the heart's perception, the most powerful avenue is simply to go outside into the embrace of the natural world. This book is a trail guide for all those who feel an instinctive resonance between spiritual practice and nature, for those who are seeking direct experience of spiritual awakening rather than further ritual or elaboration, and for those who seek a way to deepen their connection with their hearts and the heart of all life.

“Wake up from the slumber you are living in,and dream with your eyes open so that all thepossibilities of the future are available to you.” The Heart of the Shaman will take you on a journey into the sacred world of the shaman, through stories, dreams, and ancient rites. In his latest book, Alberto Villoldo sets his focus on the dreaming and time-travel practices of the medicine men and women of the Andes and Amazon, whose wisdom radically changed his worldview. Villoldo shares some of their time-honored teachings that emphasize the sacred dream: an ephemeral, yet powerful vision that has the potential to guide us to our purpose and show us our place in the universe. The practices in this book will help you forge a sacred dream for yourself. They will help you craft a destiny infused with courage, and driven by vision. You’ll be invited to follow the footsteps of the luminous warrior and learn how to break out of the three nightmares surrounding love, death, and safety that have held you captive, and transform them into the experience of timeless freedom, known as the Primordial Light. This creative power exercised by shamans will lead you to create beauty and healing, and dream a new world into being. When you transform these dreams and accept that life is ever changing, that your mortality is a given and that no one except you can free you from fear —the chaos in your life turns to order, and beauty prevails.

The Tibetan Book of the Dead, a best-seller for three decades, is one of the most widely read texts of Tibetan Buddhism. Over the years, it has been studied and cherished by Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike. Luminous Emptiness is a detailed guide to this classic work, elucidating its mysterious concepts, terms, and imagery. Fremantle relates the symbolic world of the Tibetan Book of the Dead to the experiences of everyday life, presenting the text not as a scripture for the dying, but as a guide for the living. According to the Buddhist view, nothing is permanent or fixed. The entire world of our experience is constantly appearing and disappearing at every moment. Using vivid and dramatic imagery, the Tibetan Book of the Dead presents the notion that most of us are living in a dream that will continue from lifetime to lifetime until we truly awaken by becoming enlightened. Here, Fremantle, who worked closely with Chögyam Trungpa on the 1975 translation of the Tibetan Book of the Dead (Shambhala), brings the expertise of a lifetime of study to rendering this intriguing classic more accessible and meaningful to the living. Luminous Emptiness features in-depth explanations of: • The Tibetan Buddhist notions of death and rebirth • The meaning of the five energies and the five elements in Tibetan Buddhism • The mental and physical experience of dying, according to the Tibetan Buddhist tradition