The Buddha himself said in a Lesser Vehicle sutra:
Son of the family! You are to become expert in the skandhas. You are to become expert in the ayatanas. You are to become expert in the dhatus. You are to become expert in pratityasamutpada. You are to become expert in topics. You are to become expert in non-topics.

With these words, the Buddha indicated that there are six topics which must be learned, at least to some extent, by every one of his followers. Although the Buddha gave these teachings in the Lesser Vehicle, they are a necessary foundation for practitioners of all levels, from those studying the Lesser Vehicle to those practising Mahamudra and Great Completion.

This book gives a thorough explanation of the six topics using a text written by Zhanphen Chokyi Nangwa, or Khenchen Zhan-ga as he is more commonly known, the greatest of all abbots to have presided over the famous Shri Singha monastic college at Dzogchen Monastery, Tibet. The author of the book, the well-known teacher and translator Tony Duff, supplements the explanations in the text with many clarifications in an extensive introduction.

The text is very similar to Mipham Namgyals famous mkhas jug or Gateway to Knowledge as it has been called. Unfortunately, Mipham's text is difficult for beginners. Zhan-gas text is quite different; it was not written merely as a piece of scholarship, but was carefully composed so as not to exclude beginners with excessively difficult explanations and moreover to be helpful to practitioners of all levels. For these reasons, Gangteng Tulku has selected our book rather than Mipham's Gateway of Knowledge in order to teach this topic to students in the second year of his shedra.

The Six Topics That All Buddhists Learn: A Text by the Great Khenpo Zhan-ga of Dzogchen Shri Singha College, Tony Duff, PKTC, Paperback, 222 pp, $25.00

The author, well-known translator and teacher Tony Duff has practised extensively with Gelug, Kagyu, and Nyingma traditions. He has been translating, teaching, and practising in these schools for thirty-five years. He is well known for his teaching, contributions to the translation of Tibetan Buddhism, and major works in preserving and re-publishing Tibetan Buddhist texts.

CONTENTS: The Six Topics That All Buddhists Learn
INTRODUCTION		v
	About the Author	vi
	About the Six Topics	xii
	About the Text	xiv
	About Key Terms	xxii
	Other Issues	xxviii
"A MIRROR REVEALING KNOWABLES", A TEACHING ON THE SIX TOPICS IN WHICH ONE IS TO BECOME EXPERT BY ZHANPHEN CHOKYI NANGWA		1
	Prologue	3
	Chapter One: the six topics in which one is to become expert	9
	Chapter Two: an explanation of the four dharma summaries of the Great Vehicle	61
	Chapter Three: the way to engage in the path of the Middle Way	89
	Chapter Four: the way to meditate on Luminosity Great Completion	93
	Epilogue	95
LIST OF TEXTS CITED		97
GLOSSARY OF TERMS		101
SUPPORTS FOR STUDY		123
TIBETAN TEXT		129
INDEX		179