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Essential Practice is an accessible and authoritative portrait of a bodhisattva's view, meditation, and conduct by one of the foremost masters of the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism and the tutor of H.H. the Seventeenth Karmapa. Teaching on Kamalashila's treatises outlining the stages of meditation, Thrangu Rinpoche explains the need for compassion and the way to develop it, the necessity for a bodhisattva's vast and durable altruism, as well as the means to generate, stabilize, and fortify it and the elements key to the meditative practices of calm abiding and insight. An engaging element of Essential Practice is the lively interaction of Thrangu Rinpoche with students and members of the faculty of Naropa University as he unfolds the text for them.
With exceptional generosity, Thrangu Rinpoche took delight in fielding basic and knotty questions that were put to him by relative newcomers and relatively seasoned practitioner/scholars. This record of a masterful teacher's instructions will help students old and new to determine what is essential to the practice of Buddhism and thereby bring the Buddha's teachings into their own experience. Essential Practice presents an incomparable wisdom on the methodology and means of meditation, as well as the ways in which to bring oneself to the transcendence of selfless behavior.
"The great Indian master Kamalashila's 'Stages of Meditation in the Middle Way School' opens the door of philosophy and practice to meditators at all levels. With brevity, it covers all the main topics one needs to know from developing compassion, through numerous methods of meditation, to the ultimate realization of full awakening. Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche has a unique ability to bring forth the central issues of a text and make them available to a contemporary audience. This text will certainly bring great benefit to all those who encounter it."
--His Holiness the Seventeenth Gyalwang Karmapa Ogyen Trinle Dorje
Essential Practice, Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, Snow Lion Publications, Paperback, 216 pages, $21.95
Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche is a renowned Tibetan Buddhist master known for his deep compassion and the clarity of his teachings. He was selected by His Holiness the Dalai Lama to serve as the principal tutor to His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, Oryen Trinley Dorje. Thrangu Rinpoche is a full holder and teacher of the Kagyu Vajrayana lineages. He founded the Namo Buddha retreat center in Nepal, has established two shedras (monastic universities) in Nepal and India, and serves as Abbot of Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia. He also built Tara Abbey, where nuns receive a full dharma education qualifying them to become khenpos or teachers. Thrangu Rinpoche teaches entensively throughout Asia, Europe and the United States. He has centers in Maine and California, and is building the Vajra Vidya Retreat Center in Crestone, Colorado.
Other teachings by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche:
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CONTENTS: Essential Practice
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Introduction
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1
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Technical Note
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4
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Acknowledgments
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5
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PART 1: First Treatise on the Stages of Meditation
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7
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Chapter One: Kamalashila, Compassion, and the Mind of Awakening
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9
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Chapter Two: Practice
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19
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Chapter Three: Contemplation
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31
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Chapter Four: Calm Abiding
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43
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Chapter Five: Insight
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55
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Chapter Six: Certainty
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65
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Chapter Seven: Meditative Stabilization
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77
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Chapter Eight: The Ten Grounds of Bodhisattvas and the Ground of a Buddha
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89
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PART 2: Intermediate Treatise on the Stages of Meditation
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101
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Chapter One: Compassion
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103
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Chapter Two: The Mind of Awakening and the Causes of Calm Abiding
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117
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Chapter Three: The Causes of Insight
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131
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Chapter Four: The Selflessness of Persons
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143
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Chapter Five: The Selflessness of Phenomena
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157
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Chapter Six: The Six Transcendent Actions
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171
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Chapter Seven: The Fruit of Realization
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187
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Notes
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199
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Glossary
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205
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List of Works Cited
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213
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