Runner-up for 2017 Shantarakshita Award for Excellence in Translation from the Tsadra Foundation

From the preeminent Tibetan scholar B. Alan Wallace comes the much-anticipated Dudjom Lingpa’s Visions of the Great Perfection. 

This limited-edition set includes elegant clothbound editions of all three volumes, beautifully presented in a slipcase.

Düdjom Lingpa (1835–1904) was one of the foremost tantric masters of nineteenth-century Tibet. This new series includes Düdjom Lingpa’s five visionary teachings on the Great Perfection (Dzogchen), the pinnacle of practice in Tibet’s oldest Buddhist school, along with three essential commentaries. The teachings in this series have inspired generations of Tibetans.

Volume 1, Heart of the Great Perfection, contains four works, beginning with The Sharp Vajra of Conscious Awareness Tantra, considered the root distillation of Düdjom Lingpa’s wisdom. Unpacking these quintessential verses is the Essence of Clear Meaning, a definitive commentary based on Düdjom Lingpa’s oral teachings recorded by his disciple Pema Tashi. In 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. Finally, The Enlightened View of Samantabhadra is a masterful exposition of the Great Perfection revealed as a dialogue between wisdom beings who bestow a treasury of pith instructions and specific advice for practitioners.

Volume 2, Buddhahood without Meditation, includes Düdjom Lingpa’s most widely taught work, Buddhism Without Meditation, and two complementary works by his charismatic female disciple, Sera Khandro, who is accomplished and well loved in her own right. Her Garland for the Delight of the Fortunate spells out the implications of the root text’s highly condensed verses.

Volume 3, The Vajra Essence, contains Düdjom Lingpa’s magisterial Vajra Essence, his most extended meditation on the path of Great Perfection, in many senses a commentary on all his other Dzogchen works.

Anyen Rinpoche, Tibetan Buddhist master and teacher, and his longtime student and translator Allison Choying Zangmo present ancient and rich teachings on death in a contemporary, accessible manner.

Learn how to:

• release your attachments,
• embrace impermanence,
• cultivate virtue,
• and see the world as it really is—one day at a time.

Their practical, disciplined timeline encourages step-by-step development of qualities such as lovingkindness, compassion, generosity, and patience. Each day offers a short teaching followed by a specific, concrete exercise to help you reflect on and fully integrate the message.

Through vivid and evocative contemplative scenarios and action items, Living and Dying with Confidence brings practice off the cushion and into ordinary life.

In psychologically rich essays that equally probe traditional Buddhist thought and contemporary issues, Andrew Olendzki helps us to reconcile ancient Buddhist thought with our day-to-day life. His writing is sophisticated and engaged, filled with memorable imagery and insight drawn from decades of study, reflection, and meditation on Buddhist teachings. Seasoned Buddhist readers and anyone interested in the intellectual heart of Buddhism will find this collection of fascinating essays rewarding.

“I believe the life a lama lives is the greatest instruction to the students who follow him or her. It is an instruction we can actually see. The lama’s deeds display the Dharma in action for us. They can instruct our hearts with the fullness of lived experience. In the lama’s actions we can observe how the mind turns to Dharma, and how that Dharma becomes a path. We can watch how the path eliminates confusion, and how confusion arises as wisdom.”– H.H. the Seventeenth Karmapa

The Karmapas and Their Mahamudra Forefathers collects fascinating accounts of the lives of the Karmapas and of their forefathers in the Mahamudra practice lineage. Each story is accompanied by a beautiful, full-color illustration of its subject in the lineage, as depicted in a traditional style of Eastern Tibet used at the renowned Thrangu Tashi Yangtse Monastery in Nepal. 

Mindfulness is in fashion. Oprah loves it, Google teaches it to employees—it has become widespread as a cure-all for stress, health problems and psychological difficulties, interpersonal trouble, and existential anxiety. But when mindfulness is separated from the Buddhist tradition, is something lost?

The Zen teachers gathered here each offer a unique perspective on what “mindfulness” means, its strengths, and the potential pitfalls.

• Gil Fronsdal and Max Erdstein thoughtfully explore the rich Pali roots of mindfulness.
• Barry Magid and Marc Poirier examine the unintended side effects of exposing a spiritual tradition to the demands of capitalism.
• Norman Fischer demonstrates how mindfulness informs his creative process.
• Grace Schireson shows how mindfulness allows her to engage fully with the world as a feminist.
• And more, including essays on mindfulness and environmentalism, science, and psychology.

​Each chapter offers insights to ground mindfulness in a deeper understanding of both where it comes from, and where it might be headed.

The revolutionary figures in this book are those innovative, non-conformist masters—Zen “madmen”—whose unorthodox behavior has helped define the radical countercultural movement known simply as Zen.

In Zen Radicals, Rebels, and Reformers you’ll meet Zen boat-rockers that span from early eighth-century China all the way to the bustling streets of modern-day America with a stop in the middle to visit a courageous Zen master who made the ultimate sacrifice in his resistance to the brutal actions of the Japanese government in World War II.

These remarkable masters show us through their audacious actions and fearless words that the pursuit of spiritual awakening must ultimately be a rebellion against the very foundations of suffering in the world.

When we add kindness to mindfulness we get “kindfulness.” Kindfulness is the cause of relaxation. It brings ease to the body, to the mind, and to the world. Kindfulness allows healing to happen. So don’t just be mindful, be kindful!

With his trademark knack for telling engaging stories paired with step-by-step anyone-can-do-it instructions, Brahm brings alive and makes accessible powerful tools for transformation. This slim, beautifully designed volume is a quickstart guide for living a life of joy and compassion.

What is meditation? Why practice it? Which techniques are best? How do I do it? The answers to these often-asked questions are contained in this down-to-earth book, making it of enormous value for anyone who wishes to begin and maintain a meditation practice. Written by a Western Buddhist nun with solid experience in both the practice and teaching of meditation, How to Meditate contains a wealth of practical advice on a variety of authentic techniques, from what to do with our minds, to how to sit, to visualizations and other traditional practices. Best of all, McDonald’s approach is warm and encouraging.

Be sure to explore Kathleen’s latest book, How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path.

Kathleen Dowling Singh invites us to enter into an awakened relationship with our lives by exploring our own spiritual biography. Her thoughtful reflections and exercises guide us through the process, step-by-step, of recognizing the ever-presence of grace in our lives and learning to trust it and live from it.

This book also offers accounts from renowned teachers, including Rodney Smith, Cynthia Bourgeault, and Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, as well as other long-time practitioners. These intimate first-person accounts offer rare glimpses into early spiritual yearnings, struggles, and realizations—and serve as encouragement and inspiration for us to rediscover our own.

Learn to use your later years for awakening and spiritual growth. One of Spirituality & Practice’s Best Spiritual Books of 2014 and a Foreword Reviews IndieFab Winner!

Encouraging, inspiring, and practical, The Grace in Aging invites all those who have ever experienced spiritual longing to awaken in their twilight years. Since aging, in and of itself, does not lead to spiritual maturity, The Grace in Aging suggests and explores causes and conditions that we can create in our lives, just as we are living them, to allow awakening to unfold—transforming the predictable sufferings of aging into profound opportunities for growth in clarity, love, compassion, and peace.

Kathleen Dowling Singh streamlines vast and complex teachings into skillful means and wise views. Straightforward language and piercing questions bring Singh’s teachings into the sharp focus of our own lives; the contemplative nature of each chapter allows for an uncommon depth of inquiry. Examples from our lives and from the chatter in our own minds touch the reader personally, offering the chance to absorb the implications deeply and do the work of freeing his or her own mind. Ecumenical in spirit, tone, and language, Singh offers wisdom from teachers from a variety of spiritual backgrounds: Chogyam Trungpa, the Apostles, Annie Dillard, and more. Lessening our attachments, decreasing our aversions, unbinding what binds us, we bear witness to the possibility of awakening for all beings.

The Grace in Aging offers guidelines for older individuals of any wisdom tradition who wish to awaken before they die; no need for caves or seven-year retreats. This is spiritual practice for the lives we live.

The Record of Transmitting the Light traces the inheritance of the Buddha’s enlightenment through successive Buddhist masters. Written by a seminal figure in the Japanese Zen tradition, its significance as an historical and religious document is unquestionable. And ultimately, The Record of Transmitting the Light serves as a testament to our own capacity to awaken to a life of freedom, wisdom, and compassion.

Readers of Zen will also find the introduction and translation by Francis Dojun Cook, the scholar whose insights brought Zen Master Dogen to life in How to Raise an Ox, of great value.

Here, for the first time in any Western language, are the sacred biographies of six great tantric meditators from the Gelukpa school of Tibetan Buddhism. These life stories—or namtar—are actually tales of liberation. Part of a distinct tradition in Tibetan Buddhism, they are meant not only to inspire but also to instruct others on the path to enlightenment.

In Professor Willis’s introduction and detailed annotations, you’ll gain a wealth of information about how to read and interpret namtar texts, as well as some valuable insights into the religious and political worlds in which these early Tibetan masters studied, practiced, and became enlightened beings in their lifetimes.

Read the biographies of these masters at the Treasury of Lives:

• Jampel Gyatso
• Baso Chokyi Gyaltsen
• Chokyi Dorje
• Gyelwa Ensapa
• Sanggye Yeshe
• Fourth Panchen Lama, Losang Chokyi Gyeltsen
• Tsongkhapa

Whether speaking of student or master, Zen hinges on the question. Zen practice does not necessarily focus on the answers, but on finding a space in which we may sustain uncertainty and remain present and upright in the middle of investigations. Zen Questions begins by exploring “The World of Zazen,”—the foundational practice of the Zen school—presenting it as an attitude of sustained inquiry that offers us an entryway into true repose and joy. From there, Leighton draws deeply on his own experience as a Zen scholar and teacher to invite us into the creativity of Zen awareness and practice. He explores the poetic mind of Dōgen with the poetry of Rumi, Mary Oliver, Gary Snyder, and even “the American Dharma Bard” Bob Dylan. What’s more, Leighton uncovers surprising resonances between the writings of America’s Founding Fathers—including Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin—and the liberating ideals at the heart of Zen.

Engaged Buddhism is founded on the belief that genuine spiritual practice requires an active involvement in society. Engaged Buddhism in the West illuminates the evolution of this new chapter in the Buddhist tradition—including its history, leadership, and teachings—and addresses issues such as violence and peace, race and gender, homelessness, prisons, and the environment.

Eighteen new studies explore the activism of renowned leaders and organizations, such as Thich Nhat Hanh, Bernard Glassman, Joanna Macy, the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, and the Free Tibet Movement, and the emergence of a new Buddhism in North America, Europe, South Africa, and Australia.

Too often the history of Zen seems to be written as an unbroken masculine line: male teacher to male student. In this timely volume, Beata Grant shows us that women masters do exist—and have always existed.

Zen Echoes is a collection of classic koans from Zen’s Chinese history that were first collected and commented on by Miaozong, a twelfth-century nun so adept that her teacher, the legendary Dahui Zonggao, used to tell other students that perhaps if they practiced hard enough, they might be as realized as her.

Nearly five hundred years later, the seventeenth-century nuns Baochi and Zukui added their own commentaries to the collection. The three voices—distinct yet harmonious—remind us that enlightenment is at once universal and individual.

In her introduction to this shimmering translation, Professor Grant tells us that the verses composed by these women provide evidence that “in a religious milieu made up overwhelmingly of men, there were women who were just as dedicated to Chan practice, just as advanced in their spiritual realization, and just as gifted at using language to convey that which is beyond language.”

The Instructions on the Six Lamps is a profound and important work from the Bön Dzogchen tradition and is one of the root texts of the Zhangzhung Nyengyü (Oral Transmission of Zhangzhung) series of orally transmitted teachings. Considered to be the central work of the inner cycle of these teachings, it expertly details the principles of the natural state and its visionary marvels. The root text describes highly secret precepts of Dzogchen (Great Perfection) practice—the teachings of Trekchö and Thögel—as revealed by Tapihritsa to Gyerpung Nangzher Löpo. The teachings in this text represent oral instructions transmitted by a single master to a single disciple in the mode known as “single transmission.” It is through such a practice that one can see the clear light of one’s own mind before achieving complete buddhahood. In this respect, the text contains a complete teaching of Dzogchen, from beginning to end.

In Practical Ethics and Profound Emptiness Khensur Jampa Tegchok walks us carefully through a classic of Indian Buddhist philosophy, explaining the implications of its philosophical arguments and grounding its advice in a recognizable day-to-day world. In The Precious Garland, the source text for this commentary, Nagarjuna advises his patron king on how best to take advantage of human life to secure a happy rebirth in the next life while making progress toward the goal of enlightenment. Known primarily for his incisive presentation of emptiness, here Nagarjuna shows his wise understanding of how to navigate the intricacies of worldly life to balance everyday needs with spiritual practice. Loaded with equal measures of penetrating explanations of the highest reality and inspiring encouragement toward the bodhisattva practices, Practical Ethics and Profound Emptiness makes the case for living a thoughtful, morally upright life in the world to achieve immediate and ultimate spiritual goals.

In The State of Mind Called Beautiful, Burmese meditation master Sayadaw U Pandita lays out the breadth, depth, and wealth of the Theravadan tradition of Buddhism. U Pandita begins with the basic guidelines of Buddhism, and moves on to various practices: those that can be done for one minute a day, those that sweeten and strengthen the mind, those that heal societies and families, those that lead to liberation.

Also included are complete teachings on Vipassana or Insight meditation, from how to do it, to how to refine it, to how to deal with difficulties. Teachings on the development of mindfulness, wisdom, patience, and practice itself are all included, and the book is capped by an extremely helpful “Question and Answers” section—an FAQ for newcomers and established practitioners alike. Lastly, both Pali-to-English and English-to-Pali glossaries are included, with all such terms also being glossed in the text, ensuring that readers easily master the meanings of important terms.

Clara was a happy and popular girl. But when she lost her temper one too many times, she lost her friends with it. Clara was left all alone for summer vacation, until she received an unexpected visit from the coolest customer around: Brodhi the Bird. Over butter tarts, Brodhi teaches Clara to calm her temper through the art of meditation. Come September, Clara’s ready to go back to school and win back her friends—but will her newfound sense of calm survive the first day?

In the tradition of the great koan collections and the records of ancient masters, Robert Aitken distills a lifetime of teaching down to its essence. Intriguing and deceptively simple, Zen Master Raven is a brilliant encapsulation of Zen in over a hundred koan-like encounters alongside many charming illustrations. Featuring curious beginners like Mallard and Mole and profound teachers like Brown Bear, Moose Roshi, and Zen Master Raven himself, this classic of contemporary Zen and will inspire seekers for generations to come.