The mind-training practices contained in the Dzogchen tradition of Tibetan Buddhism have never before been presented in the English language. The main text translated here, The Steps to Liberation, will be of great interest to Western practitioners, since its instructions are pithy and direct, and experiential rather than scholarly. The contemplations on core Buddhist principles like impermanence and karma, intended for beginning meditators, unfold as dramatic stories in which the meditator is to vividly imagine himself or herself as the main character who undergoes a sequence of experiences that result in transformative realizations. They distill the most essential teachings of the Buddha into a practical system that can be easily implemented in a daily meditation practice. At the same time, they bring together the most foundational Buddhist teachings with the profound methods of the Vajrayana (the esoteric teachings of Buddhist tantra). This is the hallmark of Dzogchen mind training and what sets it apart from other mind-training lineages.

Steps to the Great Perfection : The Mind-Training Tradition of the Dzogchen Masters, Jigme Lingpa, Snow Lion Publications, Paperback, 192 pp $19.95

JIGME LINGPA (1730-1798) was one of the most important masters of the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. He and the great fourteenth-century master Longchen Rabjam (1308-1363), with whom he was closely linked through visionary experience, are known as the "two omniscient masters, father and son." Jigme Lingpa was a terton, or discoverer of treasure teachings, and revealed the Longchen Nyingtik, one of the most important cycles of meditative practice in the Nyingma school.

CORTLAND DAHL (translator) is a Buddhist scholar and translator, a meditation teacher, and a collaborator on various scientific studies. He currently serves as Chairman of Tergar International, a global network of meditation groups and centers, and as a senior instructor in the Tergar community. He is also a research scholar at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Center for Healthy Minds. As an author and translator, Cortland has published numerous translations on meditation and Buddhist philosophy, as well as scientific articles on meditation research and the cultivation of well-being.

CONTENTS: Steps to the Great Perfection
Foreword by Tulku Thondup		ix
Translator's Introduction		xi
Excerpt from The Tantra of the Sole Offspring		3
Excerpt from The Secret Commentary on the Tantra of the Sole Offspring by Garab Dorje		5
The Seven Mind Trainings: Essential Instructions of the Preliminary Practices by Longchen Rabjam		7
The Steps to Liberation: Essential Instructions on the Common Preliminary Practice of the Sevenfold Mind Training by Jigme Lingpa		15
	Impermanence: The First Mind Training	27
	Karma: The Second Mind Training	33
		37
	The Guru: The Fourth Mind Training	57
	Meditation: The Fifth Mind Training	77
	Negativity: The Sixth Mind Training	79
	Wisdom: The Seventh Mind Training	91
	Conclusion	97
Abbreviations		107
Notes		109
Glossary		113
Works Cited		151
Selected Bibliography		155
Recommended Reading		159
Index		165