"For all teachings on all practices, whether preliminaries or main, this text is indispensable"
..............Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, author of Heart Treasure of the Enlightened Ones and more

For more than a century, The Words of My Perfect Teacher has served as a guide to the spiritual practices common to all four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. It is the classic commentary on the preliminary practices of the Longchen Nyingthig cycle of teachings--the great spiritual treasure of the Nyingmapa school, the oldest of the Tibetan Buddhist traditions. The author, Patrul Rinpoche, makes his subject matter accessible through a wealth of stories, quotations, and references to everyday life. His sense of poetry and irony, and his warm, colloquial style infuse of the text with the atmosphere and vitality of an oral teaching.

This second, revised edition is the result of a detailed and painstaking comparison of the original Tibetan text with the English translation by the Padmakara Translation group. The new edition also includes translations of a preface written a century ago by the first Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche, and a new preface by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.

Patrul Rinpoche (1808-1887) was one of the greatest Tibetan teachers of the nineteenth century. Famous for his precise and direct style, he shunned high monastic office and lived the life of a homeless wanderer, writing his book in a rustic hermitage under an overhanging rock.

The Words of My Perfect Teacher, Patrul Rinpoche, Padmakara Translation Group, Yale University Press, Paperback, 457 pp, $35.00

Patrul Rinpoche (1808 - 1887) was one of the greatest Tibetan teachers of the nineteenth century. Famous for his precise and direct style, he shunned high monastic office and lived the life of a homeless wanderer, writing his book in a rustic hermitage under an overhanging rock.

The Padmakara Translation Group, based in France, has a distinguished reputation for all its translations of Tibetan texts and teachings. Its work has been published in several languages and is renowned for its clear and accurate literary style.

	List of illustrations	xxiii
	Foreword by the Dalai Lama	xxv
	Foreword by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche	xxvii
	Translators' Acknowledgments	xxviii
	Preface to the Second Edition	xxix
	Translators' Introduction	xxxi
	A brief historical introduction to Tibetan Buddhism	xl
	PROLOGUE	3
	PART ONE THE ORDINARY OR EXTERNAL PRELIMINARIES
	Chapter One The difficulty of finding the freedoms and advantages
I.	THE PROPER WAY TO LISTEN TO SPIRITUAL TEACHING	7
1.	Attitude	7
2.	Conduct	10
II.	THE TEACHING ITSELF: AN EXPLANATION OF HOW DIFFICULT IT IS TO FIND THE FREEDOMS AND ADVANTAGES
1.	Reflecting on the nature of freedom	19
2.	Reflecting on the particular advantages related to Dharma	21
3.	Reflecting on images that show how difficult it is to find the freedoms and advantages	33
4.	Reflecting on numerical comparisons	34
	Chapter Two The impermanence of life
I.	THE IMPERMANENCE OF THE OUTER UNIVERSE IN WHICH WE LIVE	39
II.	THE IMPERMANENCE OF BEINGS LIVING IN THE UNIVERSE	41
III.	THE IMPERMANENCE OF HOLY BEINGS	42
IV.	THE IMPERMANENCE OF THOSE IN POSITIONS OF POWER	44
V.	OTHER EXAMPLES OF IMPERMANENCE	45
VI.	THE UNCERTAINTY OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF DEATH	53
VII.	INTENSE AWARENESS OF IMPERMANENCE	54
	Chapter Three The defects of samsara
I.	THE SUFFERINGS OF SAMSARA IN GENERAL	61
II.	THE PARTICULAR SUFFERINGS EXPERIENCED BY THE BEINGS OF THE SIX REALMS	63
1.	The eighteen hells	63
2.	The pretas	72
3.	The animals	76
4.	The human realm	78
5.	The asuras	92
6.	The gods	93
	Chapter Four Actions: the principle of cause and effect
I.	NEGATIVE ACTIONS TO BE ABANDONED	101
1.	The ten negative actions to be avoided	102
2.	The effects of the ten negative actions	112
II.	POSITIVE ACTIONS TO BE ADOPTED	117
III.	THE ALL-DETERMINING QUALITY OF ACTIONS	118
	Chapter Five The benefits of liberation
I.	CAUSES LEADING TO LIBERATION	133
II.	THE RESULT: THE THREE LEVELS OF ENLIGHTENMENT	134
	Chapter Six How to follow a spiritual friend
I.	EXAMINING THE TEACHER	137
II.	FOLLOWING THE TEACHER	143
III.	EMULATING THE TEACHER'S REALIZATION AND ACTIONS	149
	PART TWO THE EXTRAORDINARY OR INTERNAL PRELIMINARIES
	Chapter One Taking Refuge, foundations stone of all paths
I.	APPROACHES TO TAKING REFUGE	171
1.	Faith	171
2.	Motivation	176
II.	HOW TO TAKE REFUGE	177
III.	PRECEPTS AND BENEFITS OF TAKING REFUGE	182
1.	The precepts of taking refuge	182
2.	The benefits of taking refuge	187
	Chapter Two Arousing bodhicitta, the root of the Great Vehicle
I.	TRAINING THE MIND IN THE FOUR BOUNDLESS QUALITIES	195
1.	Meditation on impartiality	196
2.	Meditation on love	198
3.	Meditation on compassion	201
4.	Meditation on sympathetic joy	213
II.	AROUSING BODHICITTA	218
1.	Classification based on the three degrees of courage	218
2.	Classification according to the Bodhisattva levels	218
3.	Classification according to the nature of bodhicitta	219
4.	Taking the vow of bodhicitta	220
III.	TRAINING IN THE BODHICITTA PRECEPTS	222
1.	Training in the precepts of bodhicitta aspiration	222
2.	Training in the precepts of the bodhicitta application: the six transcendent perfections	234
	Chapter Three Meditating and reciting on the teacher as Vajrasattva to cleanse all obscurations
I.	HOW OBSCURATIONS CAN BE PURIFIED THROUGH CONFESSION	263
II.	THE FOUR POWERS	265
1.	The power of support	265
2.	The power of regretting having done wrong	265
3.	The power of resolution	266
4.	The power of action as an antidote	266
III.	THE ACTUAL MEDITATION ON VAJRASATTVA	267
	Chapter Four Offering the mandala to accumulate merit and wisdom
I.	THE NEED FOR THE TWO ACCUMULATIONS	283
II.	THE ACCOMPLISHMENT MANDALA	285
III.	THE OFFERING MANDALA	286
1.	The thirty-seven element mandala offering	288
2.	The mandala offering of the three kayas according to the text	288
	Chapter Five The kusali's accumulation: destroying the four demons at a single stroke
I.	THE BODY AS AN OFFERING	297
II.	THE PRACTICE OF OFFERING THE BODY	298
1.	The white feast for the guests above	300
2.	The white feast for the guests below	300
3.	The variegated feast for the guests above	301
4.	The variegated feast for the guests below	301
III.	THE MEANING OF CHO	303
	Chapter Six Guru Yoga, entrance-way for blessings, the ultimate method for arousing the wisdom of realization
I.	THE REASON FOR GURU YOGA	309
II.	HOW TO PRACTICE GURU YOGA	313
1.	Visualizing the field of merit	313
2.	Offering the seven branches	317
3.	Praying with resolute trust	328
4.	Taking the four empowerments	329
III.	THE HISTORY OF THE ADVENT OF THE EARLY TRANSLATION DOCTRINE	332
1.	The mind lineage of the Conquerors	333
2.	The symbol lineage of the Vidyadharas	333
IV.	PROPAGATION OF THE ESSENCE-TEACHING IN TIBET, LAND OF SNOWS	341
3.	The hearing lineage of ordinary beings	345
	PART THREE THE SWIFT PATH OF TRANSFERENCE
	Chapter One Transference of consciousness, the instructions for dying: Buddhahood without meditation
I.	THE FIVE KINDS OF TRANSFERENCE	351
1.	Superior transference to the dharmakaya through the seal of the view	352
2.	Middling transference to the sambhogakaya through the union of the generation and perfection phases	352
3.	Lower transference to the nirmanakaya through immeasurable compassion	352
4.	Ordinary transference using three metaphors	352
5.	Transference performed for the dead with the hook of compassion	352
II.	ORDINARY TRANSFERENCE USING THREE IDEAS	355
1.	Training for transference	357
2.	Actual transference	357
3.	The steps of the meditation on transference	359
	CONCLUSION	367
	Postface by Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye	376
	Notes	377
	Glossary	403
	Bibliography	443
	Index	450
	Padmakara Translation Group	458