The Tantras of Vajrasattva's Magnificent Sky, also known as the Unfailing Royal Insignia, come to us in manuscript traditions, books copied through the centuries, from Tibet and Bhutan. The texts are translations attributed to Vairochana, a famous translator of the eighth century, a Tibetan who went to India in search of the literature on instantaneous enlightenment, found it, and brought it back to Tibet. The original Indian texts have been lost in time. Vairochana's translations fill many volumes, but he is most famous for translating the Ngagyur Nga (snga 'gyur lnga): The Five Early Translations. These are The Cuckoo of Awareness, Shaking off the Grand Search, The Soaring of the Magnificent Garuda, Meditating on the Bodhicitta, and the Unfailing Royal Insignia: The Magnificent Sky. I have already translated and published Vairochana's own teachings on these five Tantras in the book Beyond Secret. The teachings on the Magnificent Sky are said to be oceanic in proportion. What we have, in terms of surviving manuscript traditions, is fifteen individual titles. Basically, there are three Root Tantras, five Embellished Tantras, two Tantras associated with the Heart of Secrets, the Guhyagarbha, and a set of fifty-five verses that are found under various titles, and which constitute chapter 30 of the Kun byed rGyal po. I have already published a translation of one Root Tantra in this set: The Unborn, in the book Secret Wisdom. There remain two Root Tantras: Effulgent Vajra Light and Vajrasattva's Magnificent Sky. Both are translated here. The Embellished Tantras are: The Unwritten, For the King, For the Brahmins, For the Yogins, and for the Yoginis. The first three of these are translated in the book you now hold. The two Tantras connected to the Guhyagarbha will be published in an upcoming volume. How do these teachings fit into the Buddhist tradition? Generally speaking, the vast array of the Buddha's teachings is divided up in many different ways, depending on the objectives of different schools and individuals. We often hear of the division between the Hinayana and the Mahayana, where a concern for personal liberation characterizes the first and an enlightened attitude based on great compassion for all sentient beings characterizes the latter. We hear of a division between the approach of the Sutras and the approach of the Tantras, where the first represents the practical approach of a gradual search for enlightenment through the development of generosity, rules, patience, perseverance, meditation, and wisdom, while the approach of the Tantras is usually based on a deity yoga in which special methods are employed in the hope of rapid enlightenment. The Tantras of the Magnificent Sky belong to a special class of Tantra, the Great Perfection, which does not employ deity yoga, rejects practices of visualization, and recommends instantaneous enlightenment. For those who follow the Ancient Traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, the Nyingma, this is the highest and most profound Buddhist teaching. The schools of Buddhism in Tibet that are known as the New Schools, or Sarma, did not recognize the instantaneous approach as a true Buddhist teaching. The primary difference in opinion is that the New Schools insist that our progress toward enlightenment is a gradual process, while the Great Perfection teaches that enlightenment is instantaneous. We might say that while all the other pathways offered by Buddhism teach about becoming enlightened, the Great Perfection teaches about being enlightened. The Tantras of the Magnificent Sky are profound expressions of this approach.

Secret Sky: The Ancient Tantras on Vajrasattvas Magnificent Sky, Christopher Wilkinson, Independently published, Paperback, 361 pages, $34.99

Christopher Wilkinson began his career in Buddhist literature in 1972 at the age of fifteen, taking refuge vows from his guru Dezhung Rinpoche. In that same year he began formal study of Tibetan language at the University of Washington under Geshe Ngawang Nornang and Turrell Wylie. He then received many instructions from Kalu Rinpoche, completing the traditional practice of five hundred thousand Mahamudra preliminaries. He became a Buddhist monk at the age of eighteen, living in the home of Dezhung Rinpoche while he continued his studies at the University of Washington. He graduated in 1980 with a B.A. degree in Asian Languages and Literature and another B.A. degree in Comparative Religion (College Honors, Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa). After a two year tour of Buddhist pilgrimage sites throughout Asia he worked for five years in refugee resettlement in Seattle, Washington, then proceeded to the University of Calgary for an M.A. in Buddhist Studies where he wrote a groundbreaking thesis on the Yangti transmission of the Great Perfection tradition titled "Clear Meaning: Studies on a Thirteenth Century rDzog chen Tantra." He proceeded to work on a critical edition of the Sanskrit text of the 20,000 line Perfection of Wisdom in Berkeley, California, followed by an intensive study of Burmese language in Hawaii. In 1990 he began three years' service as a visiting professor in English Literature in Sulawesi, Indonesia, exploring the remnants of the ancient Sri Vijaya Empire there. He worked as a research fellow for the Shelly and Donald Rubin Foundation for several years, playing a part in the early development of the famous Rubin Museum of Art. In the years that followed he became a Research Fellow at the Centre de Recherches sur les Civilisations de l'Asie Orientale, Collge de France, and taught at the University of Calgary as an Adjunct Professor for five years. He is currently completing his doctoral dissertation, a study of the Yoginitantra first translated into Tibetan during the Eighth century of our era, at the University of Leiden's Institute for Area Studies.

Contents: Secret Sky: The Ancient Tantras on Vajrasattva's Magnificent Sky
Acknowledgements	vii
Introduction	ix
1. The Tantra on Bodhicitta: Effulgent Vajra Light	1
2. The Tantra of Vajrasattva's Magnificent Sky Embellished as The Unwritten	39
3. The Tantra of Vajrasattva's Magnificent Sky Embellished for the Brahmins	59
4. The Tantra of Vajrasattva's Magnificent Sky Embellished for the King	119
5. The Tantra on Vajrasattva's Magnificent Sky	213
THE TIBETAN TEXTS
1. The Tantra on Bodhicitta: Effulgent Vajra Light	285
2. The Tantra of Vajrasattva's Magnificent Sky Embellished as the Unwritten	295
3. The Tantra of Vajrasattva's Magnificent Sky Embellished for the Brahmins	301
4. The Tantra of Vajrasattva's Magnificent Sky Embellished for the King	317
5. The Tantra on Vajrasattva's Magnificent Sky	343
About the Translator	359