Finding Rest in the Nature of the Mind

Book

Longchenpa’s classic Buddhist manual for attaining liberation teaches us how to familiarize ourselves with our most basic nature—the clear, pristine, and aware mind. Written in the fourteenth century, this text is the first volume of Longchenpa’s Trilogy of Rest, a work of the Tibetan Dzogchen tradition. This profound and comprehensive presentation of the Buddhist view and path combines the scholastic expository method with direct pith instructions designed for yogi practitioners.

This first part of the Trilogy of Rest sets the foundation for the following two volumes: Finding Rest in Meditation, which focuses on Tibetan Buddhist meditation practice, and Finding Rest in Illusion, which focuses on post-meditation yogic conduct. The Padmakara Translation Group has provided us with a clear and fluid new translation to Finding Rest in the Nature of the Mind along with selections from its autocommentary, The Great Chariot, which will serve as a genuine aid to study and meditation.

Here, we find essential instructions on the need to turn away from materialism, how to find a qualified guide, how to develop boundless compassion for all beings, along with the view of tantra and associated meditation techniques. The work culminates with pointing out the result of practice as presented from the Dzogchen perspective, providing us with all the tools necessary to traverse the Tibetan Buddhist path of finding rest. Shambhala Publications

Citation	Fletcher, Wulstan, and Helena Blankleder (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. Finding Rest in the Nature of the Mind. Volume 1 of The Trilogy of Rest. By Longchenpa (klong chen rab 'byams pa dri med 'od zer). Boulder, CO: Shambhala Publications, 2017.

Longchenpa on Buddha-Nature

Book Excerpt

Foreword by Alak Zenkar Rinpochexiii
Foreword by Jigme Khyentse Rinpochexv
Translators' Introductionxix

Part One: Finding Rest in the Nature of the Mind
Prologue3
- 1. The Freedoms and Advantages of Human Birth So Hard to Find5
- 2. Impermanence11
- 3. The Sufferings of Samsara17
- 4. The Karmic Law of Cause and Effect35
- 5. The Spiritual Master51
- 6. Refuge67
- 7. The Four Unbounded Attitudes75
- 8. Cultivating the Attitude of Mind Oriented toward Enlightenment85
- 9. The Generation and Perfection Stages and Their Union103
- 10. The View That Dwells in Neither of the Two Extremes, the Wisdom whereby the Nature of the Ground Is Realized115
- 11. The Path: Stainless Meditative Concentration127
- 12. The Three Aspects of Meditative Concentration143
- 13. The Great, Spontaneously Present Result151
Conclusion163

Part Two: Excerpts from The Great Chariot
The Mind Is the Root of All Phenomena167
Mind, Intellect, and Consciousness171
The Eight Consciousnesses as the Basis of Delusion175
The Three Natures179
The Universal Ground191
The Universal Ground, the Eight Consciousnesses, and the State of Sleep201
The Tathagatagarbha205
Refuge243
The Three Concentrations of the Generation Stage253
The Simple Practice of the Generation and Perfection Stages257
The Mind and the Objects That Appear to It261
The Omniscient Longchenpa Speaks about His Realization265

Notes269
Texts Cited in The Great Chariot301
Bibliography305
The Padmakara Translation Group Translations into English309
Index311

Klong chen pa. Sems nyid ngal gso and Shing rta chen po. Root text and autocommentary. Gangtok: Dodrupchen, 1975? See
_____. Ngal gso skor gsum gyi spyi don legs bshad rgya mtsho. Gangtok: Dodrupchen, 1975? See