Lucid and economical, the Concise Introduction delivers a brisk, fast-moving survey. For many years, Powers' nearly six hundred-page Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism has served as the field's most authoritative and comprehensive introductory text on Tibet's distinctive Buddhist tradition. Now Powers has responded to requests to provide an introductory text in compact form. This slimmed-down reference explains the core Buddhist doctrines and the practices of meditation and tantra in an engaging manner. A survey of the four main sects of Tibetan Buddhism and a succinct history of the Tibetan cultural region complete this work.

Concise Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism, John Powers, Snow Lion Publications, Paperback, 2008, 165 Pages, $18.95

John Powers studied at College of the Holy Cross Massachusetts, taking a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Religion there in 1979. He went on to earn a Master of Arts in Indian philosophy at McMaster University in Ontario then a Doctorate of Religious history from the University of Virginia. From 1995 to 2016, Powers taught at the Australian National University, where he was made professor in 2008. Powers, like several others, left the university after a controversial restructuring of the department.[citation needed] A practicing Buddhist, he has special expertise in Buddhism in Tibet. He was invited by the Dalai Lama's Australian office, as the leading expert in the country, to Tenzin Gyatsho's 70th birthday celebration .[1] As well as publishing work on Buddhist spirituality and meditation techniques, he has written extensive translations of Tibetan works, and written on the history and culture of Tibet , India, and China. Powers, who supports Tibetan autonomy, has compared the Chinese treatment of the Tibetan people to the fate of the Aborigines during the colonization of Australia.[2]

	Contents: A Concise Introduction to TIBETAN Buddhism
	Technical Note	7
	Introduction	11
1.	THE INDIAN BACKGROUND	17
	Origins of Tibetan Buddhism	17
	The Buddha	18
	The Buddha's Teaching Career	26
2.	MAHAYANA	31
	Origins	31
	Mahayana Doctrines	36
	The Bodhisattva Path	38
3.	SOME IMPORTANT BUDDHIST DOCTRINES	45
	Karma and Rebirth	45
	Dependent Arising	50
4.	MEDITATION	55
	The Role of Meditation in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism	55
	Stabilizing and Analytical Meditation	58
	The Five Buddhist Paths	60
5.	TANTRA	63
	The Place of the Tantras in Buddhist Literature	63
	Tantra as a Branch of Mahayana	67
	Tantric Symbols	72
	Entering Tantric Practice	74
	The Four Classes of Tantra	79
	The Preliminary Practices	85
	Death and Dying in Tibetan Buddhism	94
6.	THE FOUR ORDERS	103
	Similarities and Differences	103
	The Nonsectarian Movement	106
	Nyingma	110
	Kagyu	117
	Sakya	126
	Geluk	133
	Lexicon of Buddhist Terms	141
	Bibliography	149
	English-Tibetan-Sanskrit Glossary	153
	Terms	153
	Names	157
	Locations	159
	Titles of Works Mentioned	160
	Index	161