Teachings on Mahamudra and the Mahamudra Attitude Towards Meditation

This volume contains several teachings focusing on the mahamudra approach to meditation.
The first section provides an overview of mahamudra. The section is a transcript of teaching given by the Venerable Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche at the annual Buddhist Summer School held at Melbourne University in January 1993.
The second section contains simple yet profound advice on mahamudra and the mahamudra attitude to meditation. This section is a transcript of a teaching given by the Venerable Bokar Rinpoche at the 1992 Summer School.
The remaining sections contain translations of selected portions of the sixteenth century Tibetan text commonly known as Moonbeams of Mahamudra. These sections deal with the mahamudra approach to samatha, or tranquility meditation, and the mahamudra approach to vipasyana, or insight meditation. These teachings were given by the Venerable Traleg Rinpoche at the Kagyu Evam Buddhist Centre during September 1991 and March 1992, respectively. A complete version of the Moonbeams text, translated by Lobsang P. Lhalungpa, is available under the title Mahamudra, The Quintessence of Mind and Meditation.

Mahamudra Meditation, Traleg Rinpoche and Bokar Rinpoche, Kagyu E-Vam Buddhist Institute, 99 pages, $20.00

Bokar Rinpoche was born to a family of nomads in Western Tibet in 1940. Recognized at four as the reincarnation of the previous Bokar Rinpoche by the Sixteenth Karmapa, he studied at Bokar and Tsurpu Monasteries. He left Tibet for India at twenty and completed two three-year retreats under the guidance of the great Tibetan master, Kalu Rinpoche. Because of his remarkable qualities and deep realization, he succeeded Kalu Rinpoche as head of the Shangpa Kagyu Lineage. He taught advanced Vajrayana practice at monasteries in Northern India and Buddhist centers throughout the world.

The Venerable Traleg Kyabgon Riinpoche was born in 1955 in Eastern Tibet. At the age of two, he was recognised by His Holiness the sixteenth Gyalwa Karmapa, head of the Kagyu lineage, as the ninth incarnation of the Traleg tulkus, which can be traced back to the time of Saltong Shogam, a contemporary of the first Karmapa. Traleg Rinpoche was enthroned as the Abbot of Tra'gu Monastery in Tibet and following the Chinese invasion of his country was taken to safety in India. There he continued the rigorous training prescribed for tulkus born with responsibilities as major lineage holders in the Tibetan tradition of Vajrayana Buddhism. This training included five years at Sanskrit University in Varanasi and several years at Rumtek Monastery, the main seat of the Karma Kagyu Lineage. Not only has Traleg Rinpoche received the complete teachings of the Karma Kagyu tradition of Vajrayana Buddhism, but he is also well acquainted with the practices and philosophy of the Drugpa Kagyu strand of the Kagyu lineage, having spent nine years studying with the Regent of the Drugpa mKagyu, the late Dungsse Rinpoche, at his monastery in Darjeeling.
Rinpoche came to Australia in 1980 in order to make the teachings and practices of the Kagyu tradition available there. He established the Kagyu E-Vam Buddhist Institute in 1982 and regulaerly conducts courses and retreats in the practice and theory of Buddhism for the Institute. Rinpoche has travelled widely, giving lectures and seminars on Buddhism and related topics in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, South-East Asia and Europe.