Secret Doctrines of the Tibetan Books of the Dead, Detlef Ingo Lauf

Home > Books & Publications > Books by Title A-Z >

Secret Doctrines of the Tibetan Books of the Dead
By: Lauf, Detlef Ingo

Secret Doctrines of the Tibetan Books of the Dead, Detlef Ingo Lauf

Our Price: $24.95

Members Price: $22.46

Author: Lauf, Detlef Ingo
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 1570626545 / 9781570626548

Availability: Usually Ships in 24 Hours
Product Code: 10967

Qty:

Description

About the author

Contents

The Tibetan Books of the Dead are a diverse collection of Buddhist scriptures that yield valuable insight into the psychology of death and dying and suggest the importance of meditative practice and knowledge as tools for self-understanding. This in-depth study of this rich body of Buddhist literature details the Tibetan Buddhist belief in the bardos, of intermediate states, and serves as an illuminating companion volume to The Tibetan Book of the Dead. Using original texts from both the Buddhist and pre-Buddhist Tibetan religious traditions, this book presents a detailed portrayal of the teachings and the iconography that play a major role in the Tibetan understanding of death and dying. The peaceful and wrathful deities, the mandala principle, the five Buddha families, and the six realms of experience are among the doctrines examined in this volume. A psychological commentary and the illustrations and diagrams in the book illuminate the Tibetan path from death, through the after-death state, to transformation and rebirth. A comparison with Western investigations of consciousness, death, and dying, as well as views of death in India, Egypt, and other ancient cultures, enables the reader to see how the Tibetan Buddhist perspective on death relates to the spiritual and psychological beliefs of other societies.

Secret Doctrines of the Tibetan Books of the Dead, Detlef Ingo Lauf, Shambhala Publications, 254 pages, $ 24.95

Introduction	ix
The Traditions of the Tibetan Books of the Dead	1
Basic Elements of Wisdom about Life and Knowledge about the After-Death State and Rebirth	13
Life, Karma, Death, and Rebirth	15
The Trikaya Doctrine as the Basis of the Initiations	23
The Six Kinds of Bardo and Other "Intermediate States"	33
The First Group of Three Bardos as Intermediate States for the Transformation of Awareness in This Life	36
The Second Group of Three Bardos as Intermediate States for the Guidance of Awareness in the World Beyond	38
Bardo as the Indivisible Union of the Essential	43
On the Symbolism of Tantric Polarity, the Trinity, the Quaternity and the Fivefold, and of Colors and Elements	47
From Unity to Multiplicity	49
Duality as an Expression of Polarity	50
Threefold Articulations	53
Some Groups of Four	58
The Fivefold Arrangement of the Mandala	62
The Six Realms of Incarnation	68
Other Symbolic Groupings	71
The Death Ritual as Guidance through the Bardo	74
Signs in the Transition between the Two Worlds and the Primordial Light at the Onset of Death	87
The Great Ritual of the Initiations into the Mandalas of the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities	97
The Peaceful Deities	99
The Adibuddha as the Mystical Creator of the Mandala	101
The Five Tathagatas (Yab-Yum)	104
The Buddha Vairocana	105
The Buddha Aksobhya	106
The Buddha Ratnasambhava	107
The Buddha Amitabha	108
The Buddha Amoghasiddhi	108
The Eight Mahabodhisattvas (Yab-Yum)	114
The Six Buddhas	118
The Six Buddhas of the Bhavacakra and the Ritual of Guidance through the Six Realms of Existence	118
The Six Buddhas and the Great Image of the Realm of Hells	130
The Four Guardians of the Mandala (Yab-Yum)	137
The Five Secret Vidyadharas (Yab-Yum)	139
The Wrathful Deities	141
The Great Heruka of the Adibuddha (Yab-Yum)	144
The Five Wrathful Buddha-Herukas (Yab-Yum)	145
The Eight Keurima	147
The Eight Phra-men-ma	148
The Four Animal-Headed Female Guardians of the Mandala	149
The 28 Powerful Animal-Headed Goddesses	150
The Five Jnana-Dakinis and the Powerful Vajrakumara-Heruka	154
From the Books of the Dead of the Pre-Buddhist Ancient Tibetan Bon Religion	156
The Peaceful Deities	159
The Wrathful Deities	167
Psyche and Awareness	173
Some Comparisons with Ideas about Death and the After-Life in Other Cultures	185
Indian Insights in the Upanisads	188
Comparable Elements in the Religions of Persia, Babylon, and Egypt	194
Comparable Elements with the Greeks, Romans, and Germans	198
The Soul and Death for the Manicheans and the Mandaeans	200
The Soul, Light, Life and Death in Some Western Schools of Thought	202
Psychological Commentary to the Bar-do thos-grol	211
General Basic Thoughts from Buddhist Philosophy and Elements of Psychology	213
Suffering and the Pleasure-Pain Principle	213
The Two Stages of Liberation	215
Ignorance and Wisdom	215
On the Relation of Mind and Body	217
Karma and Self-Responsibility	218
Alayavijnana and Archetypal Structures	220
Psychological Aspects of the Tibetan Book of the Dead	224
Notes	241
Bibliography	250
Tibetan Original Sources	250
Tibetan Buddhist Texts	250
Tibetan Texts of the Bon-po Religion	252
Secondary Literature	252
Comparative Literature	254

Share your knowledge of this product with other customers... Be the first to write a review

Browse for more products in the same category as this item:

Books & Publications > Books by Title A-Z
Books & Publications > Books by Subject > Books on Death, Dying and the Bardo
Books & Publications > Books by Publisher > Shambhala Publications
Books & Publications > Books by Subject
Books & Publications > Books by Publisher
Books & Publications