Creative Vision and Inner Reality is a translation of Easing the Beginner's Way: the Essential Points of Creation and Completion, written in verse at the age of twenty-seven by the amazing nineteenth century realized master and profound scholar Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye. Born in 1813 in Kham in eastern Tibet, Kongtrul offered this advice based on his own experiential understanding of these two basic methods in Tibetan Buddhist tantric meditation.

The aspiring practitioners way is eased by clear and extremely practical explanations of firstly, the phase of creation, referring to the gradual imaginative process of recreating, with the aid of mantra and mudra, one's self as the deity and the environment as the mandala, while maintaining the awareness of the lack of real existence of these and all appearances; and secondly, the phase of completion, referring to the dissolution of the visualization until the mind rests in its natural condition, the inseparability of bliss and emptiness, a state accomplished by, among other methods, concentration on one's so-called vajra body and its channels, winds, and vital essences. Thus, in the first phase of this aspect of Vajrayana teaching the goal is imagined, and in the second it is directly experienced.

In reality those who have some familiarity with Mahamudra and Dzogchen, the two systems that represent the ultimate sense and final goal of all teachings, will find in the text a subtle guide to deeper knowledge.

This volume contains a second text, Jamgon Kongtrul's Advice to Lhawang Trashi, in which the neophyte meditator is instructed in an inspiring and direct manner on how to recognize the landmarks and pitfalls that may be encountered along the path.

An Introduction and substantive notes by the translator are included in this useful and beautiful book.
Creative Vision and Inner Reality, Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye, Shang Shung Publications, Paperback, 131 pp, $20.00

Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye is a pivotal figure in eastern Tibet's nonsectarian movement, was one of the most outstanding writers and meditation masters of nineteenth-century.

Sarah Harding has been a Tibetan Buddhist translator and practitioner since 1974, and her publications include Creation and Completion and Machik's Complete Explanation: Clarifying the Meaning of Chod. She has served for ten years as a faculty member at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado.

Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche is a highly respected lama of the Karma Kagyu lineage with students around the world.

CONTENTS: Creative Vision and Inner Reality
EPIGRAPH		7
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS		9
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION		11
	Jamgong Kongtrul Lodro Thaye, the Author	11
	This Text	19
	Essence of the Creation Phase	22
	Practice of the Creation Phase and Its Preliminaries	23
	Essence of the Completion Phase	28
	Practice of the Completion Phase	29
	Beauty of the Advice	33
CREATIVE VISION AND INNER REALITY
THE ROOT TEXTS		35
	I. Easing the Beginner's Way: The Essential Points of Creation and Completion (lam zhugs kyi gang zag las dang po pa la phan pa'i bskyed rdzogs kyi gnad bsdus)	37
	II. Advice to Lhang Tashi (lha dbang bkra shis la gnang ba'i zhal gdams)	75
BIBLIOGRAPHY		81
NOTES		91
INDEX OF TIBETAN AND SANSKRIT TERMS		123