In Luminous Emptiness, Francesca Fremantle presents the classic Tibetan Book of the Dead not as a scripture to be read to the dying but a guide to the living. [...]

By guiding the reader through the concepts upon which the text is based, the terms it uses, and the imagery it contains, Fremantle relates its world of symbols to our everyday mental and emotional experiences. The five deities of different colors that represent the five styles of wisdom and confusion, the symbolic sexual union of deities, the peaceful and wrathful deities that represent different states of mind -- all are encountered in the process of dying. By looking closely at these vivid and extraordinary images of Tibetan Buddhism, Fremantle guides us toward an understanding of that mysterious tradition.
Luminous Emptiness, Francesca Fremantle, Shambhala Publications, Paperback, 240 pp, $39.95

Francesca Fremantle is a scholar and translator of Sanskrit and Tibetan works of Hindu and Buddhist tantra, and was a student of Ch�gyam Trungpa for many years. Fremantle worked closely with Ch�gyam Trungpa on the 1975 translation of the Tibetan Book of the Dead (Shambhala).[1] Her 2001 revised combination of a translation of excerpts is embedded within an extended commentary on the Tibetan Book of the Dead, entitled Luminous Emptiness (Shambhala).[2] Fremantle received her doctorate from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. She is a teacher with the Longchen Foundation, established by Ch�gyam Trungpa and Dilgo Khyentse, and directed by Rigdzin Shikp

CONTENTS: Luminous Emptiness
	Illustrations	ix
	Preface	xi
	Acknowledgments	xxi
Part One	FOUNDATIONS
	Homage	3
Chapter One	A Book of the Living	5
Chapter Two	Liberation: Uncoiling in Space	21
Chapter Three	Hearing: The Power of Transmission	43
Chapter Four	Bardo: The Experience of Nowness	53
Chapter Five	The Rainbow of Elements	71
Chapter Six	The Five-Step Process of Ego	91
Chapter Seven	The Display of the Awakened State	111
Chapter Eight	Six Styles of Imprisonment	141
Chapter Nine	The Threefold Pattern of the Path	173
Chapter Ten	The Great Perfection	195
Part Two	THE TEXT
Chapter Eleven	Luminosity of Death	217
Chapter Twelve	Invincible Peace	249
Chapter Thirteen	Crazy Wisdom	289
Chapter Fourteen	Wrathful Compassion	307
Chapter Fifteen	At the Womb Door	345
	Aspiration	369
	Notes	371
	Illustration Credits	383
	Index	385