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Kalachakra means the Wheel of Time. There is the outer wheel of time that charts the outer universe and the movements of the elements. There is the inner wheel of time that consists of looking at the minds and lives of sentient beings. Then, there is the other wheel of time. The other wheel of time is a set of special instructions on how sentient beings trapped in the worlds of cyclic existence might meditate to free themselves from the shackles of ignorance and afflictive emotions, through the revelations of the Kalachakra Tantra.
The Kalachakra Tantra was taught by the Buddha Shakyamuni, who manifested as the enlightened deity Kalachakra in Dharanikota. The tantra was first requested and received by Suchandra, the king of Shambhala. In the magical land of Shambhala, the Kalachakra tantra was then practiced and transmitted from one generation to the next. Great kings, like Pundarika and Manjushrikirti, composed essential commentaries upon it and condensed it into shorter forms. The Indian master Kalachakra Mahapada traveled to the land of Shambhala in his visions and received the Kalachakra empowerments, transmissions, and pith instructions.
He passed these instructions to his disciple Kalachakrapada the younger, the great master of Nalanda, Lord Naropa. The great master Naropa transmitted these instructions to his Kashmiri disciple Somanatha, who travelled to Tibet. In Tibet, Somanatha helped the translator Dro Lotsawa translate the Kalachakra. Somanatha also had many other students like Yumo Mikyo Dorje, the grandfather of the Jonang tradition. These lineages focused heavily on the yogic style of practicing the completion stage aspects of the Kalachakra in the system that is known as the Six Branches of Yoga.
Later, another disciple of Naropa's lineages came to Tibet by the name of Rahula Shribhadra. He transmitted the Kalachakra instructions to many, including Chal Lotsawa, Chak Lotsawa, and Sakya Pandita. Both of these two lineages from the Indian masters Somanatha and Rahula Shri Bhadra became absorbed into the Drigung Kagyu tradition.
Eventually, these were transmitted to the 17th century Drigung Kagyu master Rigdzin Chokyi Dragpa, who later became known as the first Chungtsang Rinpoche. Rigdzin Chokyi Dragpa was a master of the old translation traditions and the new translation traditions of Tibet. He condensed the vital heart essence of the sutras, tantras, and lineage pith instructions into easy to practice sadhanas and commentaries that have been used and practiced to this very day.
Here, in this book, are two sets of instructions. First, there are the generation stage instructions of Rahula Shribhadra. Second, there are the completion stage instructions of Somanatha. Together, these two texts by Rigdzin Chokyi Dragpa comprise the basis for sincere practitioners to attain complete enlightenment in a single lifetime, through the extraordinary methods revealed in the Kalachakra tantra.
Coemergent Kalachakra and the Six Branches of Yoga, Rigdzin Chokyi Dragpa, Spiral-bound, 47 pages, $25.00
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