With their clear words, these wisdom-filled texts show us a path to a meaningful, happy life. They can help us experience a liberating inner transformation to a deeper, all-embracing consciousness, where we gain a clear, tranquil mind, filled with compassion. We can achieve a whole new perspective on life and can become able to consciously experience the directness of the present moment. Your true self is the radiating light of the mind, which dissolves all darkness and deception.

These sayings by one of the great spiritual masters of the present are filled with profound wisdom and with their clear words, they show us a path to the enlightenment of the mind. The inspiring words are filled with such spiritual force that they can touch us at our innermost depths. When the divine light of perception shines in your heart, it will raise you into eternal bliss.

This treasure of wisdom contains fifty inspiring sayings by one of the great spiritual masters of the present. With his clear, direct words, he reveals an entirely new perspective to us on body, mind and world and opens up an awareness for us of the immortality of our true self. The pure mind, beyond birth, death and all thinking, is your true, eternal self.

Across more than a millenium, the lamas, meditators, and scholars of Tibet created a vast literature dedicated to revealing the profound truths about who we are and how we should make use of our lives. Sages living in mountain caves and monastics pursuing their daily rituals used these texts to wear down their obscurations and make space for innate clarity and wisdom to manifest. For those of us in the modern world with hectic lives, however, such teachings from another time and place can be nearly impenetrable. To approach them, we need a guide, a helping hand from someone who is like ourselves but who has spent years learning the ins and outs of the sometimes secretive world of Tibetan Buddhist practice. Bestselling author and former Buddhist monk Alan Wallace is one such guide. With his trademark enthusiasm and keen intelligence, he introduces us here to one of the most cherished works of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism, Dudjom Lingpa's Vajra Essence. Written in the nineteenth century, the Vajra Essence presents the practice of Dzokchen, the Great Perfection--the highest of all the meditation traditions--and its contents have only been revealed to those with the requisite training. With permission from his teachers, Alan reveals here the work's opening section, which presents the methods for calming the mind and bringing it to a state of effortless concentration, the practice of shamatha. In his earlier book, The Attention Revolution, Alan guided readers through the stages of shamatha step by step. Here he uses the wisdom of the Dzokchen teachings to open up this practice into a space of freedom from hope and fear. He makes obscure concepts intelligible to contemporary readers and allows us to glimpse the profound realizations of a great spiritual adept.

Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Taye presents practical teachings from a variety of Tibetan Buddhist traditions in this volume of The Treasury of Precious Instructions. The Treasury of Precious Instructions by Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Taye, one of Tibet's greatest Buddhist masters, is a shining jewel of Tibetan literature, presenting essential teachings from the entire spectrum of practice lineages that existed in Tibet. In its eighteen volumes, Kongtrul brings together some of the most important texts on key topics of Buddhist thought and practice as well as authoring significant new sections of his own. In this, the eighteenth volume, Kongtrul expands on The One Hundred and Eight Guidebooks, a collection of teaching manuals compiled by the sixteenth-century Tibetan master Kunga Drolchok, adding Indic source texts, Tibetan antecedents, and later interpretations. Though compiled by a Jonangpa abbot and transmitted by the Jonang tradition, these teaching manuals are actually drawn from the Kadam, Sakya, Kagyu, and, to a lesser extent, Nyingma traditions. They are succinct and impart practical wisdom, as transmitted by key figures like Kunga Chogdrub and Lowo Khenchen Sonam Lhundrub. Gyurme Dorje, the translator, provides extensive notes and helpful context throughout. The resulting volume preserves and integrates the diverse lineages of Tibetan Buddhism while providing useful advice to practitioners.