"The first in a three-volume set presents the revelations of Dudjom Lingpa, a highly influential mystic of 19th century Tibet. It is translated by B. Alan Wallace, widely respected for his lucid and readable translations of Tibetan Buddhism. Dudjom Lingpa (1835-1904) was one of the foremost tantric masters of his time. This new series includes his five visionary teachings on the Great Perfection (Dzogchen), the pinnacle of practice in Tibet's oldest Buddhist school, along with three essential commentaries. Volume 1 contains four works explaining the view and practice of the Great Perfection, the signature style of meditation of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism: The Sharp Vajra of Conscious Awareness Tantra: This work is considered the root distillation of Dudjom Lingpa's wisdom. Essence of Clear Meaning: This definitive commentary, which unpacks the quintessential verses of The Sharp Vajra, is based on Dudjom Lingpa's oral teachings recorded by his disciple Pema Tashi. The Foolish Dharma of an Idiot Clothed in Mud and Feathers: Dudjom Lingpa narrates the essential Dharma teachings from the perspective of an old man rejecting superficial appearances. The Enlightened View of Samantabhadra: A masterful exposition of the Great Perfection is revealed as a dialogue between wisdom beings who bestow a treasury of pith instructions and specific advice for practitioners. While the teachings in this series have inspired generations of Tibetans, only one of the eight texts has been published in translation--until now"--

The revelations of Düdjom Lingpa, a highly influential mystic of 19th century Tibet, translated by B. Alan Wallace, widely respected for his lucid and readable translations of Tibetan Buddhism. Düdjom Lingpa (1835–1904) was one of the foremost tantric masters of his time. This new series includes his visionary teachings on the Great Perfection (Dzogchen), the pinnacle of practice in Tibet's oldest Buddhist school. Volume 1 contains four works explaining the view and practice of the Great Perfection, the signature style of meditation of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism: The Sharp Vajra of Conscious Awareness Tantra: This work is considered the root distillation of Düdjom Lingpa's wisdom. Essence of Clear Meaning: This definitive commentary, which unpacks the quintessential verses of The Sharp Vajra, is based on Düdjom Lingpa's oral teachings recorded by his disciple Pema Tashi. The Foolish Dharma of an Idiot Clothed in Mud and Feathers: Düdjom Lingpa narrates the essential Dharma teachings from the perspective of an old man rejecting superficial appearances. The Enlightened View of Samantabhadra: A masterful exposition of the Great Perfection is revealed as a dialogue between wisdom beings who bestow a treasury of pith instructions and specific advice for practitioners. While the teachings in this series have inspired generations of Tibetans, few have been published in translation—until now.

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.

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.

Shamatha meditation is a method for achieving previously inconceivable levels of concentration. Author B. Alan Wallace, an active participant in the much-publicized dialogues between Buddhists and scholars, has more than 20 years' practice in the discipline, some of it under the guidance of the Dalai Lama. This book is a definitive presentation of his knowledge of shamatha. It is aimed at the contemporary seeker who is distracted and defocused by the dizzying pace of modern life, as well as those suffering from depression and other mental maladies. Beginning by addressing the inherent problems.