The great Tibetan meditation master Gyalwa Godrakpa (1170-1249) practiced and taught a nonsectarian approach to realization. Hermit of Go Cliffs is the first English translation of The Collected Songs of Godrakpa, presented here with the original Tibetan text and with Cyrus Stearns' comprehensive introduction to Godrakpa's life, legacy, and poetry. Like the songs of Tibet's great saint Milarepa, Godrakpa's songs are uniquely beautiful and accessible: sometimes stern and sharp, sometimes lyrical and filled with allusions to the natural world. These songs express what Godrakpa emphasized in his life no-nonsense approach to the practice of meditation.

Hermit of Go Cliffs: Timeless Instructions from a Tibetan Mystic, Godrakpa, Cyrus Stearns ( Translator), Wisdom Publications, 208 pages, $19.95

Cyrus Stearns has been a student of Tibetan Buddhism since 1973. His main teachers have been Dezhung Tulku Rinpoche, Chogye Trichen Rinpoche, and Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. He received a PhD in Buddhist studies from the University of Washington and has published several books about the Lamdre tradition and other topics. He is an independent scholar and translator living in the woods on Whidbey Island, north of Seattle, Washington.