Mahamudra, or the Great Seal, refers to a path to enlightenment taught by the Buddha and transmitted through the spiritual lineage of Tilopa, Naropa, Marpa, and Milarepa. Gampopa, a disciple of Milarepa who lived in the eleventh century, brought together these teachings of the Buddha into one five-fold path consisting of an enlightened motivation, deity yoga, guru yoga, mahamudra and proper dedication. His main disciple, Pakmo Druba, gave this approach the name "The Profound Five-fold Path of Mahamudra."
Jigten Sumgon, the successor of Pakmo Drub, founded the Drikung Kagyu order and taught mahamudra extensively. The fifteenth successor of Jigten Sumgon, Kunga Rinchen, known for the directness and clarity of his teachings, composed the text translated here, Clarifying the Jewel Rosary of the Profound Five-fold Path.
This text is a manual of practical instructions for students who are, or are thinking about, practicing the path of Mahamudra.

Garland of Mahamudra Practices, Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen, Snow Lion Publications,139 pp., $16.95

Khenchen K�nchog Gyaltshen, founder of several Buddhist centers worldwide, is respected and beloved as an accomplished scholar, meditation master, teacher, translator, and author. In 2001 he received the high honor of being enthroned as Khenchen (great abbot). He lives in Frederick, Maryland.

Foreword	9
Preface by His Holiness, the Drikung Kyabgon	11
Introduction: The Fivefold Path	14
Clarifying the Jewel Rosary of the Profound Fivefold Path
Introduction	21
The Four Knowledges	23
The Four Contemplations	23
The Four Practices	24
The Five Meditations	24
Preparatory Practices	25
Common Preparatory Practices	27
Refuge	27
Contemplating the rarity of attaining leisure and fortune	27
Contemplating the faults of cyclic existence	28
Contemplating the benefits of liberation	28
Vajrasattva Meditation	30
Mandala Meditation	32
Mandala Establishment	32
Mandala Offering	33
Guru Yoga	34
The Four Empowerments	36
Special Preparatory Practices	39
Love	39
Generating love	39
The true nature of love	40
The increase of love	40
The activities of love	41
The error of neglecting to cultivate love	41
The benefits of cultivating love	41
Compassion	41
The object of observation of compassion	41
The increase of compassion	42
The activities of compassion	42
The fruit to be attained	42
Bodhichitta	42
Aspirational Bodhichitta	43
Actual Bodhichitta	44
The object of observation of actual Bodhichittha	44
Actual Practices	47
Meditation on Yidam--Deity Yoga	49
The stage of generation	50
Visualization	51
Commentary on the stage of generation	54
Meditation on the clear form	54
Mindfulness of the purity of the form	55
Mindfulness of the purity of the natural signs	55
Mindfulness of the purity that is emptiness	55
Holding firmly to the diamond-perfection of oneself as deity	56
The stage of completion	56
Meditation on the Teacher--Guru Yoga	58
The Emanation Body	60
The three branches of homage	61
The threefold offering	62
The sevenfold offering	62
The Complete Enjoyment Body	63
The Truth Body	68
The Nature Body	70
Meditation on Mahamudra	72
Settling the view	73
Settling the true nature of the mind	73
The mode of abiding of appearances	74
The mode of abiding of the mind	74
The four reasonings	74
The reasoning of the diamond slivers	75
The reasoning of one and many	75
The reasoning refuting the four possibilities of production	75
Four ways of misunderstanding emptiness	76
Three places of possible error in meditation	77
The reasoning of dependent-arising	77
Meditation on the view	79
The technique of body posture	79
The technique of time of practice	79
The technique of stabilizing the mind	80
Meditation on the mode of abiding of phenomena	80
The stage of completion with signs	80
The stage of completion without signs--the seven methods of stabilizing the mind	81
Sustaining the practice without taking anything to mind	81
Sustaining the practice while abandoning any conception of distinctions	82
Sustaining the practice without losings Mindfulness	83
Sustaining the practice with great effort	84
Sustaining the practice in regard to the meaning of nonmeditation	84
Sustaining the practice without the extremes of tightness and looseness	85
Sustaining the practice with one's mind in a natural, nonartificial state	85
Identification of the mode of abiding of phenomena	88
Identification of meditative equipoise as calm-abiding	88
Identification of self-awareness as Mahamudra	89
Quintessential instructions	89
Practicing in accordance with the quintessential instructions	93
Concluding Practices	95
Dedication	97
The dakorma dedication	98
The suitability of dedicating innate virtue	98
Buddha's word on dedicating innate virtue	98
Reasoning on dedicating innate virtue	99
Quintessential instructions on dedicating innate virtue	99
The objects to be dedicated	99
The recipients of the dedication	99
The purpose of the dedication	99
Colophon	102
The Life Story of the Author, Kunga Rinchen	104
Notes	111
Index	126