Dzokchen

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“This book is rather like decoding a terma treasure manuscript: the inner meaning contained in the three pages of the original Dzokchen text, The Illumination of Primordial Wisdom by Düdjom Jikdrel Yeshé Dorjé, is meticulously revealed and elucidated in this 300-page commentary by Lama Alan Wallace, the well-respected author of many books on Buddhist practice. Düdjom Rinpoché was a great master and scholar of Dzokchen, and for many years represented the Nyingma lineage-in-exile. This book is a treasury of profound advice and instruction on Dzokchen practice, and would be of immense benefit to all those seeking guidance on this path.” —Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo

“I am delighted that the esteemed Buddhist teacher B. Alan Wallace has translated Düdjom Rinpoche’s Illumination of Primordial Wisdom and composed a commentary on it for contemporary students. As with any terma, this great Dzogpa Chenpo root text holds tremendous blessings as a treasure circle of the incomparable master of Uddiyana Padmasambhava. Dzokchen teachings are known to be very pertinent to the people and cultures of these modern times. To paraphrase what is stated in the Reverberation of Sound tantra: As time progresses into the future and more disturbances arise in the world, the blessings of the Dzokchen teachings will work wonders to liberate beings. Alan Wallace received these precious teachings from his own teacher, the Venerable Gyatrul Rinpoche, in a very precise, guided, and traditional way, and has since practiced these instructions for many years. I am thus grateful for his work in making this profound root text available in English, and welcome his accompanying commentary as a valuable addition to the great library of translated texts for growing numbers of Nyingtik practitioners around the world. I highly recommend that those with a connection to the Dzokchen teachings acquire this book and rely upon it to enhance their confidence and growth as they progress along the Dzokchen path.” —Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche

DZOKCHEN

A Commentary on Dudjom Rinpoché's "Illumination of Primordial Wisdom"

B. Alan Wallace

Use code DZOKCHEN20 at checkout for 20% off through November 18!

Dudjom Rinpoche’s classic meditation manual on realizing the Great Perfection, presented and explained by Lama B. Alan Wallace.

In the concise yet comprehensive practice manual entitled Illumination of Primordial Consciousness, the great twentieth-century Tibetan Nyingma master Dudjom Rinpoche lays out a sequential path to spiritual freedom according to the teachings of the Great Perfection (Dzokchen): First, we refine our awareness by training in meditative quiescence (shamatha) and then proceed to the practices of insight meditation (vipashyana), by which our mind’s basic nature of luminosity and emptiness is revealed. Then, having recognized that the ordinary, deluded mind is actually without any intrinsic essence, we are primed to cut through this conditioned mind into unborn, timeless pristine awareness, which has never been contaminated by mental afflictions or other obscurations. Finally, we realize that our own awareness has never been other than the dharmakāya, the mind of a buddha, and perfect enlightenment is realized spontaneously and effortlessly.

Beloved teacher and renowned scholar Lama B. Alan Wallace guides the reader through this remarkable text, which he first translated for his teacher Gyatrul Rinpoche’s book Meditation, Transformation, and Dream Yoga. In this book, Lama shares insights gained over years of study, providing a line-by-line explanation interspersed with background teachings from revered Dzokchen scriptures written by Padmasambhava, Dudjom Lingpa, and others. Also included are a set of fifteen guided meditations given by Lama Wallace, along with links to audio tracks of Lama Wallace giving the instructions himself. Through the practices he describes, the mystery of the mind—its origin and what happens to it at death–is thus illuminated through one’s own meditative experience.

Lama Alan has provided several guided meditations to accompany this book and they can be found here.

book information
  • Paperback
  • 360 pages, 6 x 9 inches
  • $28.95
  • ISBN 9781614299165
  • Paperback
  • 360 pages
  • $21.99
  • ISBN 9781614299165
about the author
Dzokchen

B. Alan Wallace is president of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies. He trained for many years as a monk in Buddhist monasteries in India and Switzerland. He has taught Buddhist theory and practice in Europe and America since 1976 and has served as interpreter for numerous Tibetan scholars and contemplatives, including H. H. the Dalai Lama. After graduating summa cum laude from Amherst College, where he studied physics and the philosophy of science, he earned his MA and PhD in religious studies at Stanford University. He has edited, translated, authored, and contributed to more than forty books on Tibetan Buddhism, medicine, language, and culture, and the interface between science and religion.

Alan is also the founder of the Center for Contemplative Research (CCR), which now has retreat center locations in Crestone, Colorado, and in Castellina Marittima, Italy. A new center is also being established in New Zealand. The CCR is dedicated to researching the role and methods of the ancient contemplative practices of Shamatha and Vipashyana, and their involvement in mental health and wellbeing, as well as their role in fathoming the nature and origins of human consciousness.

The CCR vision builds on the results of the Shamatha Project. It is guided by a Scientific Advisory Board that includes the Nobel Prize-winning physicist and biologist Steven Chu (Stanford University), neuroscientist and clinical psychologist David Presti (UC Berkeley), theoretical physicist Marcelo Gleiser (Director of the Institute for Cross-Disciplinary Engagement at Dartmouth College), and philosopher Michel Bitbol (Director of Research at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique). Cognitive scientists at the University of Pisa, the University of Trent, and the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa are committed to conducting research in collaboration with the CCR.

For an introduction, listen to The Nature of Reality: A Dialogue Between a Buddhist Scholar and a Theoretical Physicist. In this public dialogue, Alan Wallace and Sean Carroll, a world-renowned theoretical physicist and best-selling author, discussed the nature of reality from spiritual and scientific viewpoints.

Other books by B. Alan Wallace:
The Attention Revolution
Fathoming the Mind
Open Mind
The Vajra Essence
Heart of the Great Perfection
Buddhahood Without Meditation
Dudjom Lingpa’s Visions of the Great Perfection
Natural Liberation
Transcending Time
Stilling the Mind
Tibetan Buddhism from the Ground Up

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