In 1838, Choying Tobden Dorje, a yogin and scholar of northeastern Tibet, completed a multivolume masterwork that traces the entire path of the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism from beginning to end. Written by a mantra practitioner for the benefit of mantra practitioners living among the lay community, it was intended to be informative, inspirational, and above all, practical. Its twenty-five books, or topical divisions, offer a comprehensive and detailed view of the Buddhist path according to the early translation school of Tibetan Buddhism, spanning the vast range of Buddhist teachings from the initial steps to the highest esoteric teachings of great perfection. Choying Tobden Dorje’s magnum opus appears in English here for the first time.
Books 15 to 17: The Essential Tantras of Mahayoga is presented in two volumes and concerns the first of the three classes of inner tantra. It presents the entire text of the Guhyagarbha Tantra, in Tibetan and English, together with the interlinear sections of one of its most important commentaries, Dispelling the Darkness of the Ten Directions, by the outstanding fourteenth-century master Longchen Rabjam. Also included is Choying Tobden Dorje’s rewriting of Candragomin’s inspirational Extensive Commentary on the Sublime Litany of the Names of Manjushri. (Source: Shambhala Publications)
- List of Illustrationsix
- Preface to the 1986 Tibetan Publication of the Root Verses and Outline, by
Nordrang Orgyanxiii
- A Biography of the Author, Choying Tobden Dorje, by Golok Nor-dexvii
- Foreword to the English Translation, by Chenak Hūṃchenxxvii
- In Memoriam, by Zenkar Rinpoche Tubten Nyimaxxxv
- Translator’s Introductionxxxvii
- The Extensive Commentary: Books 15 to 17
- Book 15: Secret Nucleus: The Inception of the Peaceful Deities3
- The Framing Narrative6
- An Exegesis Based on the Title13
- An Analysis of the Tantra’s Content and Words17
- The Interlinear Commentary38
- 1. The Introductory Narrative47
- 2. The Initiation of the Discourse97
- 3. The Establishment of All Phenomena119
- Book 16, Part 1: Secret Nucleus: The Ground of the Peaceful Deities
- 4. The Cyclical Array of the Garland of Letters161
- 5. The Meditative Stabilities That Attain the Net of Magical Emanation209
- 6. The Diffusion of the Maṇḍala235
- 7. The Absorption of the Maṇḍala and the Secret Mantras275
- 8. The Consecration of All Limbs as the Maṇḍala and the Subsequent
Diffusion of the Sealing Hand Gestures307
- 9. The Secret Commitment of the Indestructible Array341
- 10. The Conferral of the Empowerments399
- Book 16, Part 2: Secret Nucleus: The Path and Result of the Peaceful Deities
- 11. The Maṇḍala of the Communion421
- 12. The Attainment of the Communion463
- 13. The Nucleus of Most Secret Pith Instructions485
- 14. The Eulogy Which Pleases523
- Abbreviations535
- Notes to Books 15 and 16537
- Book 17, Part 1: Secret Nucleus: The Wrathful Deities and the Colophon
- 15. The Cloud-Like Diffusion of the Natural Maṇḍala of Wrathful Deities601
- 16. The Diffusion of the Maṇḍala of Buddha Speech of the Great Assembly
of Wrathful Deities655
- 17. The Revelation of the Maṇḍala of Wrathful Deities671
- 18. The Revelation of Genuine Offerings and Generosity685
- 19. The Commitments697
- 20. The Consecration of Spontaneous Enlightened Activity729
- 21. Eulogies to the Wrathful Deities755
- 22. That Which Is Pleasing and Retained765
- The Meaning of the Colophon779
- Book 17, Part 2: The Litany of the Names of Mañjuśrī
- The Request787
- The Response799
- Inspecting [the Classes of Individual Practitioners]803
- Manifest Enlightenment805
- Eulogy to the Maṇḍala of the Indestructible Expanse809
- The Pristine Cognition of Reality’s Expanse819
- The Mirrorlike Pristine Cognition837
- The Pristine Cognition of Discernment845
- The Pristine Cognition of Sameness871
- The Pristine Cognition of Accomplishment885
- Eulogy to the Five Conquerors895
- The Presentation of Advantages899
- The [Arrangement of the] Mantras901
- Rejoicing905
- The Root Verses: Books 15 to 17911
- The Concise Commentary: Books 15 to 17 943
- The Outline: Books 15 to 171093
- Concordance of Terminology1153
- Abbreviations1207
- Notes to Book 171209
- Bibliography1235
- Index1271
