Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche's commentary to the sixteenth century work Pith Instructions of Coemergent Wisdom, Entitled the Profound Essence of the Ocean of Certainty, by the Ninth Karmapa, Wangchuk Dorje, provides meditators with an overview of the path leading to the realization of mahamudra, the self-liberated and all-encompassing nature of reality.

Beginning with ngondro practice, Traleg Rinpoche guides students through the conditions needed to fully integrate the practice, along with instructions for shamatha and vipashyana meditation, which includes visualizations and exercises. A section devoted to strengthening practice lays out common pitfalls and wrong views and how to avoid them.

Finally, Rinpoche teaches on the four yogas of mahamudra one-pointedness nonconceptuality, one-flavoredness, and nonmeditation and the ground, path, and fruition of mahamudra in relation to the individual practitioner.
Ninth Karmapa, Wangchuk Dorje's Ocean of Certainty, Traleg Rinpoche, KTD Publications, Paperback, 176 pages, $18.95

The Venerable Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche 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 regularly 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.

CONTENTS: The Ninth Karmapa, Wangchuk Dorje's Ocean of Certainty
Introduction	1
PART 1: THE PRELIMINARIES
The Four Ordinary Preliminaries	7
The Four Extraordinary Preliminaries	27
The Four Conditions	63
PART 2: THE ACTUAL PRACTICE OF MAHAMUDRA
Shamatha	71
Vipashyana	93
Strengthening the Practice	115
PART 3: THE MAHAMUDRA PATH
The Four Yogas of Mahamudra	131
Ground, Path, and Fruition	151
Symbolic Meanings	159