Luminous Essence is a complete introduction to the world of tantric thought and practice. Composed by the renowned Tibetan master Jamgon Mipham (1846-1912), the text provides an overview of the theory and experiential assimilation of a seminal tantric scripture, the Tantra of the Secret Essence (Guhyagarbha Tantra). Embodying the essence of tantric practice, this text has been a central scripture in Tibetan Buddhism for well over a thousand years. Mipham's explanation of this text, here translated for the first time, is one of the most celebrated commentaries on the...

The Gateway to Knowledge is a condensation of the Tripitaka and its accompanying commentaries. Consolidating the intent of Buddha Shakyamuni's teachings into a unified body of textbooks, it is the philosophical backbone of the living tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Volume IV of this rich source book elucidates, The Four Seals of the Dharma, which are that all conditioned things are impermanent, everything defiling is suffering, nirvana is peace, and all phenomena are empty and devoid of self-entity. It also includes the four right discriminations, which are meaning, Dharma, definitive words,...

The commentary translated in these pages is unusual and rare. But if the commentary is a rarity, its subject matter--the seven-line invocation of Padmasambhava--is one of the best-known prayers in the Tibetan Buddhist world.

The overall significance of the Seven-Line Prayer is perhaps best appreciated in relation to a practice called guru-yoga, or "union with the nature of the guru." The purpose of guru-yoga is to purify and deepen the student's relationship with his or her teacher. It is introduced as one of the preliminary practices, and it remains crucial--in fact, its importance...

A core text of the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, presented in English for the first time, with commentary by Jamgon Mipham, one of the Nyingma tradition's most lucid and brilliant minds.

A concise commentary by the eighth-century Indian Buddhist master Padmasambhava on a chapter from the Guhyagarbha Tantra, which gives an overview of the different Buddhist and non-Buddhist philosophical views, including the Great Perfection (Dzogchen), with an explicative commentary by the nineteenth-century scholar Jamgon Mipham (1846-1912). Padmasambhava's text is a core text of...