a complete guide to the practice of White Tara

In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, devotion to one's guru or spiritual master is considered to be of the utmost importance in spiritual practice. The instructions of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, based upon the teachings of the great eighteenth-century saint and visionary Rigdzin Jigme Lingpa, focus on the devotional practices of Guru Yoga, "Merging with the Mind of the Guru."

Focusing on the ninth to the fourteenth centuries, this study analyzes the ways in which relics functioned as material media for the interactions of Buddhist clerics, the imperial family, lay aristocrats, and warrior society and explores the multivocality of relics by dealing with specific historical examples. Brian Ruppert argues that relics offered means for reinforcing or subverting hierarchical relations. The author's critical literary and anthropological analyses attest to the prominence of relic veneration in government, in lay practice associated with the maintenance of the imperial line and warrior houses, and in the promotion of specific Buddhist sects in Japan.

By far one of the most important objects of worship in the Buddhist traditions, the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara is regarded as the embodiment of compassion. He has been widely revered throughout the Buddhist countries of Asia since the early centuries of the Common Era. While he was closely identified with the royalty in South and Southeast Asia, and the Tibetans continue to this day to view the Dalai Lamas as his incarnations, in China he became a she—Kuan-yin, the "Goddess of Mercy"—and has a very different history. The causes and processes of this metamorphosis have perplexed Buddhist scholars for centuries. In this groundbreaking, comprehensive study, Chün-fang Yü discusses this dramatic transformation of the (male) Indian bodhisattva Avalokitesvara into the (female) Chinese Kuan-yin—from a relatively minor figure in the Buddha's retinue to a universal savior and one of the most popular deities in Chinese religion. Focusing on the various media through which the feminine Kuan-yin became constructed and domesticated in China, Yü thoroughly examines Buddhist scriptures, miracle stories, pilgrimages, popular literature, and monastic and local gazetteers—as well as the changing iconography reflected in Kuan-yin's images and artistic representations—to determine the role this material played in this amazing transformation. The book eloquently depicts the domestication of Kuan-yin as a case study of the indigenization of Buddhism in China and illuminates the ways this beloved deity has affected the lives of all Chinese people down the ages.

The Wheel of Time Reread on Tor.com is an extensive analysis of Robert Jordan's epic fantasy series, covering the material chapter by chapter. Join Leigh Butler as she summarizes the chapters and comments on the ongoing mysteries of the series, gender issues, politics, history, and the many Crowning Moments of Awesome. Volume 1 of the collected Tor.com Wheel of Time Reread covers books 1 through 4 of The Wheel of Time: The Eye of the World, The Great Hunt, The Dragon Reborn, and The Shadow Rising. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Presents a comprehensive history of the Nyingtik lineage, which forms the core of the teachings known as Dzogchen.

A guide for retreats, provides full details of the Tibetan meditation program and offers advice for re-entry into the world.

The Hunza were people were renowned for their extraordinary physique and health, which Dr Wrench found by the fact that their food was not made 'sophisticated', by the artificial processes applied by modern processed food. How these processes affect our food is dealt with in great detail.

Dzogchen, a tradition of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism, is considered by many to be an extremely powerful path to enlightenment. This ground-breaking book offers translations of four sacred texts of the Dzogchen tradition: Secret Instruction in a Garland of Vision, The Flight of the Garuda, Emptying the Depths of Hell, and the Wish-Granting Prayer of Kuntu Zangpo. With an informative introduction by the translator, Flight of the Garuda is an invaluable resource for both practice and scholarship. Flight of the Garuda conveys the heart advice of one of the most beloved nonsectarian masters of Tibet. Ordained as a Gelug monk, the itinerant yogi Shabkar was renowned for his teachings on Dzogchen, the heart practice of the Nyingma lineage. He wandered the countryside of Tibet and Nepal, turning many minds toward the Dharma through his ability to communicate the essence of the teachings in a poetic and crystal-clear way. Buddhists of all stripes, including practitioners of Zen and Vipassana, will find ample sustenance within the pages of this book, and be thrilled by the lyrical insights conveyed in Shabkar's words. Along with the song by Shabkar, translator Keith Dowman includes several other seminal Dzogchen texts. Dzogchen practice brings us into direct communion with the subtlemost nature of our experience, the unity of samsara in nirvana as experienced within our own consciousness. Within the Nyingma school, it is held higher than even the practices of tantra for bringing the meditator face to face with the nature of reality.

A multidisciplinary forrum for communicating new information, new interpretations, and recent research results concerning Japan to the English-reading world.

本书共分两大部分, 即汉传佛教观音菩萨和藏传佛教观音菩萨, 收录汉藏观音菩萨造像和绘画作品121件.

Muroji: Rearranging Art and History at a Japanese Buddhist Temple is the first in-depth examination in English of the temple's art, architecture, and history. Relying on sensitive consideration of context along with traditional art historical modes of analysis, it offers a fuller understanding of a site of signal importance in the history of Japanese Buddhism. Its sophisticated blending of approaches will find an appreciative audience among art historians, historians, students of Japanese religion, and more broadly Buddhologists and others interested in the history of religion.

Chih-i (538-597) was the principal founder of the T'ien-t'ai (Tendai) school, one of the most influential and enduring traditions of East Asian Buddhism. In the Mo-ho chih-kuan (Great calming, contemplation), an extraordinarily comprehensive treatise on the theory and practice of meditation, the revered master sets forth the "perfect and sudden" approach to Buddhahood, a distinctively East Asian conception of the Buddhist path regarded by Chih-i and his contemporaries as the epitome of the Buddha's teaching. In many ways Chih-i's systematization of Chinese Buddhist meditation practice led the way to the development of Ch'an (Zen) and Pure Land. Such an illustrious history and catholicity of appeal secure it a place alongside Buddhagosa's Visuddhimagga and Tsong-kha-pa's Lam-rim chen-mo as one of the great classics of Buddhist spirituality. The original text of the Mo-ho chih-kuan consists of ten main chapters distributed over ten fascicles - the equivalent of four or five volumes in English. The translation of the first chapter is offered here together with the influential preface composed by Chih-i's disciple Kuan-ting (561-632), the man responsible for recording and editing the work. Known as the Synopsis, this chapter rehearses in condensed form the basic structure and thematic content of the Mo-ho chih-kuan as a whole. Because of the self-contained character of this chapter, T'ien-t'ai exegetes have treated it almost as a work unto itself; it contains an important and influential exposition of the Four Forms of Samadhi (not contained in the body of the text). The annotation provided in this volume draws from the authoritative commentary by Chan-jan (711-782). Scholars of Buddhism, most especially the T'ien-t'ai tradition, will appreciate the availability in English of this important work.