The Great Perfection, also known as the Atiyoga or Dzogchen (rDzogs chen), is both a name for the realization of instantaneous enlightenment and a name for the literature that talks about this. Generally speaking, the Great Perfection is beyond both words and deeds, yet even though nothing may be said about it, there does exist a large body of literature that discusses it. This literature exists today within the canons of teachings that are preserved from the earliest period of Buddhism's beginnings in Tibet, around the Eighth Century of the Common Era. These collections are known as The Hundred Thousand Tantras of the Ancients (Nyingma Gyubum). The most famous of the early translators of Great Perfection literature were Vairochana, a Tibetan monk who went to India in search of the teachings on instantaneous enlightenment, and Vimalamitra, an Indian master who came to Tibet. The collected translations of Vairochana are retained in a collection called The Hundred Thousand Tantras of Vairochana (Vairo Gyubum). From out of the many hundreds of titles to be found in these great collections, I have selected ten works that I believe will be of great interest. The first five Tantras in this book are pointing out instructions, or upadesha, on the enlightened mind, or Bodhicitta. These five Tantras are a set, and include the Soaring of the Great Garuda, the Pounce of the Great Lion, the Motion of the Geese, the Song of the Cuckoo of the Awareness, and the Withdrawal of the Golden Turtle. These texts are presented in beautiful poetry, which I have done my best to bring through into English. Each contains unique insights into the practice and realization of the Great Perfection. This set is followed by two Tantras titled The Fish Lies in Wait. The first is a "drop" of the Bodhicitta, while the second is simply the Bodhicitta. These two works strike at the very core of Great Perfection thinking, and are considered secret. The practices of the Skull-Jump (Thod rgal) and the Solid Cut (Khregs gcod) are widely taught by many teachers these days. The Nyingma Gyubum and Vairo Gyubum contain only one text that has Thod rgal in its title: The Great Skull-Jump Tantra. They also contain only one text that has Khregs gcod in its title: The Seven Solid Cuts. These two texts will be of great interest to students who are interested in these practice traditions. The Single Grain of the Black Yangti contains a very concise and to-the-point description of the very core of the Great Perfection.

Dzogchen, the Great Perfection, is the highest meditative practice of the Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism. Approaching the Great Perfection looks at a seminal figure of this lineage, Jigme Lingpa, an eighteenth-century scholar and meditation master whose cycle of teachings, the Longchen Nyingtig, has been handed down through generations as a complete path to enlightenment. Ten of Jigme Lingpa's texts are presented here, along with extensive analysis by van Schaik of a core tension within Buddhism: Does enlightenment develop gradually, or does it come all at once? Though these two positions are often portrayed by modern scholars as entrenched polemical views, van Schaik explains that both tendencies are present within each of the Tibetan Buddhist schools. He demonstrates how Jigme Lingpa is a great illustration of this balancing act, using the rhetoric of both sides to propel his students along the path of the Great Perfection.

In the Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism, the Great Perfection is considered the most profound and direct path to enlightenment. The instructions of this tradition present a spiritual shortcut—a radically direct approach that cuts through confusion and lays bare the mind's true nature of luminous purity. For centuries, these teachings have been taught and practiced in secret by some of the greatest adepts of the Buddhist tradition. Great Perfection: Outer and Inner Preliminaries contains detailed instructions on the foundational practices of this tradition, from "The Excellent Chariot," a practice manual compiled by the Third Dzogchen Rinpoche. Distilling the teachings of the Heart Essence of the Dakinis into an accessible, easy-to-practice format, The Excellent Chariot leads the reader through the entire Buddhist path, starting with basic Buddhist contemplations that work to dislodge deeply ingrained patterns of thinking and behaving, and continuing on to the most advanced and secret meditative practices of the Great Perfection. The teachings in this volume are drawn largely from the writings of the great Nyingma master Longchenpa and the root texts of the Heart Essence of the Dakinis itself. The Third Dzogchen Rinpoche begins by discussing the correct way to study and practice the Great Perfection teachings before presenting an overview of the Great Perfection lineage and an explanation on the meaning and importance of empowerment. In the chapters that follow, he presents practical instructions on the outer and inner preliminaries, the so-called "ngöndro" practices. These practices enable the practitioner to transform and purify the mind, preparing it for the advanced Great Perfection meditation of Trekchö and Tögal, the breakthrough and direct leap. In addition to the translation mentioned above, Great Perfection: Outer and Inner Preliminaries contains a beautiful introduction by the Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, a contemporary Great Perfection master, and an extensive glossary of key Great Perfection terminology.

A Mound of Jewels, The Blazing Pyre, and Beautiful Yellow Flowers are three Tantras, or esoteric scriptures, of the Great Perfection. The Great Perfection, also known as the Atiyoga or Dzogchen (rDzogs chen), is a tradition of esoteric Buddhism that upholds instantaneous enlightenment. This tradition arrived in Tibet in the Eighth Century of the Common Era and has been maintained up until this day. The scriptures of the Great Perfection have not survived in any language other than Tibetan, the originals having been lost in time. A Mound of Jewels and The Blazing Pyre both have colophons declaring that they were translated by Vimalamitra working together with Kawa Paltseg. Both of these translators figure prominently in the rise of Buddhism in Tibet during the Eighth Century of our era. The literature of the Great Perfection is divided into three sections or groups: The Mind Section, the Space Section, and the Upadesha Instruction Section. The Upadesha Instruction Section is represented by a famous set of Seventeen Tantras. The three Tantras translated in this volume are among these Seventeen Tantras, and are filled with practical advice and pointing out instructions for the realization of the Great Perfection.

The mind-training practices contained in the Dzogchen tradition of Tibetan Buddhism have never before been presented in the English language. The main text translated here, The Steps to Liberation, will be of great interest to Western practitioners, since its instructions are pithy and direct, and experiential rather than scholarly. The contemplations on core Buddhist principles like impermanence and karma, intended for beginning meditators, unfold as dramatic stories in which the meditator is to vividly imagine himself or herself as the main character who undergoes a sequence of experiences that result in transformative realizations. They distill the most essential teachings of the Buddha into a practical system that can be easily implemented in a daily meditation practice. At the same time, they bring together the most foundational Buddhist teachings with the profound methods of the Vajrayana (the esoteric teachings of Buddhist tantra). This is the hallmark of Dzogchen mind training and what sets it apart from other mind-training lineages.

Dzogchen, or the Great Perfection, is considered by both the Bonpos and the followers of the Nyigma school in Tibet to be the culmination of all spiritual teachings. The philosophical view of the Great Perfection introduces the individual to the knowledge of reality, which is one with the enlightened state of all beings. In this book the Dzogchen view is presented in two Bonpo texts belonging to the revered terma (treasure) and oral traditions, here for the first time translated and critically edited in their entirety.

In 1838, Choying Tobden Dorje, a Buddhist yogi-scholar of eastern Tibet, completed a multivolume masterwork that traces the entire path of the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism from beginning to end. Written by a lay practitioner for laypeople, it was intended to be accessible, informative, inspirational, and above all, practical. Its twenty-five books, or topical divisions, offer a comprehensive and detailed view of the Buddhist path according to the early translation school of Tibetan Buddhism, spanning the vast range of Buddhist teachings from the initial steps to the highest esoteric teachings of great perfection. Choying Tobden Dorje’s magnum opus appears in English here for the first time. In Foundations of the Buddhist Path, which covers the first ten of the treatise’s twenty-five books, the author surveys the scope of the entire work and then begins with the topics that set the cornerstones for all subsequent Buddhist practice: what constitutes proper spiritual apprenticeship, how to receive the teachings, how to make the best use of this life, and how to motivate ourselves to generate effort on the spiritual path. He then describes refuge and the vows that define the path of individual liberation before turning to the bodhisattva’s way—buddha nature, how to uplift the mind to supreme awakening, the bodhisattva’s training, and the attainments of the paths leading to supreme awakening.