Kalacakra mandala thangka from the private collection of Sergei Diakoff, photo by Robert Hutwohl. This first truly critical edition of the Sanskrit and two Tibetan translations of the first chapter of the basic text of the Kalacakra tantra provides a definitive text for the study of this important Vajrayana Buddhist scripture. The editor has established the Sanskrit text and presented all the evidence necessary to evaluate every reading. This reveals numerous features of the Sanskrit text that could not be;ascertained in prior editions. In addition, the critical edition of two Tibetan translations for the first time gives us easy access to study the techniques and choices of multiple Tibetan translators, enabling us to fully appreciate their extraordinary skill and their limitations. David Reigle's authoritative edition of the first chapter of the abridged Kalacakra-tantra is a landmark in the study of the Kalacakra tantra.-John Newman. The present Dalai Lama has long been promoting Kalacakra for World Peace, giving the Kalacakra Initiation many times, to hundreds of thousands of people all around the world. This has created much interest in Kalacakra. Yet, despite the existence of three previous editions of the Kalacakra-tantra, until now we have not had a reliable edition of this fundamental Sanskrit text. All of the previous editions, for different reasons, have numerous errors. The present corrected edition seeks to remedy that. Full use of a very early manuscript of the Kalacakra-tantra, brought to Tibet in the early 1200s by the Indian teacher Vibhuticandra, has made possible many corrections to all the existing editions. Full use has also been made of another early manuscript that had been brought to Tibet, dated 1264 CE. Use of three other important manuscripts that had not been used in any previous edition, along with reference to early manuscripts of the Vimalaprabha commentary, and full reference to the early Tibetan translations, have made essential contributions. For the indispensable full reference to the early Tibetan translations it was necessary to have accurate editions of them. For this reason, corrected editions of the standard Tibetan translation by Somanatha and 'Bro lotsawa, and of its revision by the Jonang translators, were made and included. This has also allowed us to see exactly what the Jonang revision consisted of. Altogether, the full use of the Sanskrit manuscript sources described above, and the full use of the newly edited Tibetan translations, have made possible the first reliable edition of the Kalacakra-tantra.

Kalacakra-Tantra: A Corrected Edition Along With Two Tibetan Translations, Vol.1: Chapter 1: Lokadhatu-Patal, David Reigle, Aditya Prakashan, Hardcover (8.5x11 inches), 165 pages, $60.00

David Reigle (August 22, 1952 in Danville, Pennsylvania) is an American author and an independent scholar of the Sanskrit scriptures of India and their Tibetan translations. He has written on the Buddhist Kalacakra teachings, and has published research on the sourcebooks accepted in Theosophy. These are the Books of Kiu-te, i.e., rgyud-sde, the Tibetan Buddhist tantras, and the so-called Book of Dzyan, which still remains unidentified.