Brief commentary by Thrangu Rinpoche on Gampopa's text. Gampopa was the main disciple of Milarepa and one of the founders of the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. Besides writing the Jewel Ornament of Liberation, Gampopa distilled the essence of the path into these four short lines of truth, or Dharmas. This advice became well known as the Four Dharmas of Gampopa.

May my mind become one with the Dharma. May the Dharma make success on the path. May the path clarify confusion. May confusion dawn as wisdom. Gampopa's Four Dharmas is closely related to his Jewel Ornament of Liberation, a text that deals with the stages in our spiritual development. First you begin to discover the Dharma, then you make a good job of it, then the Dharma becomes applicable on the path so you begin to clarify confusion on the path, and finally you transmute that confusion into wisdom. Those are the four Dharmas and they really relate to the development of the individual on the path. "Traleg Kyabgon

A concluding essay on mahamudra introduces Vajrayana buddhism to beginners, while simultaneously supporting advanced practitioners with fresh insights.

Thupten Jinpa holds a Geshe Lharam degree from Ganden monastic university and a Ph.D. in religious studies from Cambridge University. The translator and editor of numerous books, he has been the principal English-language translator for His Holiness the Dalai Lama for over two decades, and he is the author of Self Reality and Reason in Tibetan Philosophy. He lives in Montreal with his wife and two daughters. --Book Jacket.

"The art of composing spontaneous songs that express spiritual understanding has existed in Tibet for centuries. Over a hundred of these profound songs are found in this collection of the works of the great teachers of the Kagyü lineage, known as the Practice Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. Many readers are already familiar with the colorful life of the yogin Milarepa, an early figure in the Kagyü lineage, some of whose songs are included here. Songs by over thirty other Buddhist teachers are also presented, from those of Tilopa, the father of the lineage, to those of the Sixteenth Gyalwa Karmapa, as well as several songs by Chögyam Trungpa, the noted teacher of Buddhism in America who directed the translation of The Rain of Wisdom"--Publisher.