The Kagyu and Nyingma traditions of Himalayan tantric Buddhism require a long period of intensive training in meditation-a three-year, three-month retreat-before a practitioner is considered to be a qualified teacher. Jamgon Kongtrul's Retreat Manual was written in the mid-nineteenth century for those who wish to embark on this rigorous training. It guides them in preparing for retreat, provides full details of the program of meditation, and offers advice for their re-entry into the world. Jamgon Kongtrul's Retreat Manual also introduces us to one of the towering figures of nineteenth-century Tibet: Jamgon Kongtrul the Great (1813-99). The three-year retreat center he describes in this book was his creation, and its program consisted of those practices Kongtrul treasured enough to pass on to future generations through the spiritual leaders he trained.

Jamgon Kongtrul's Retreat Manual

Religion & Spirituality

Kongtrul Lodro Taye, Jamgon

Buddhism

Shambhala

Even the most casual contact with the culture, politics, or religion of Tibet and the surrounding region brings outsiders face to face with the institution of reincarnate spiritual masters. Past masters are identified as small children installed in their predecessor's monastery in a ceremony called "enthronement" and educated to continue the work of their former incarnation. This custom has provided a principal source of spiritual renewal for Himalayan Buddhists for the past thousand years. The introduction places the subject of reincarnate meditation masters within two major contexts: the activity of bodhisattvas, and in modern Tibetan society, where the reappearance of past masters is both natural and profoundly moving. Tai Situpa Rinpoche, a contemporary reincarnate master and a leader of the Kagyu lineage, describes the process of finding other reincarnate masters. Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye, an outstanding writer and meditation master, offers a traditional view of the enthronement of reincarnate masters.

Enthronement: The Recognition of the Reincarnate Masters of Tibet and the Himalayas

Christian Books & Bibles

Jamgön Kongtrul’s encyclopedic Treasury of Knowledge presents a complete account of the major lines of thought and practice that comprise Tibetan Buddhism. Among the ten books that make up this tour de force, Book Six is by far the longest—concisely summarizing the theoretical fields of knowledge to be studied prior to the cultivation of reflection and discriminative awareness. The first two parts of Book Six, contained in this volume, respectively concern Indo-Tibetan classical learning and Buddhist phenomenology. The former analyzes the traditional subjects of phonology and Sanskrit grammar, logic, fine art, and medicine, along with astrology, poetics, prosody, synonymics, and dramaturgy. The principal non-Buddhist philosophical systems of ancient India are then summarized and contrasted with the hierarchical meditative concentrations and formless absorptions through which the “summit of cyclic existence” can genuinely be attained. Part Two examines the phenomenological structures of Abhidharma—the shared inheritance of all Buddhist traditions—from three distinct perspectives, corresponding to the three successive turnings of the doctrinal wheel.

The Treasury of Knowledge, Book Six, Parts One and Two: Indo-Tibetan Classical Learning and Buddhist Phenomenology

Snow Lion

Jamgön Kongtrul’s ten-volume Treasury of Knowledge is a unique encyclopedic masterpiece embodying the entire range of Buddhist teachings as they were preserved in Tibet. Tibetan Buddhist teachers expected their students to study Buddhist philosophical texts as well as practice reflection and meditation; present-day students have also realized that awakening has its source in study as well as in reflection and practice. Foundations of Buddhist Study and Practice comprises Book Seven and Book Eight, Parts One and Two of the Treasury of Knowledge. Book Seven elucidates the various keys needed to correctly interpret, understand, and contemplate Buddhist teachings, including the secret teachings of the Vajrayana. Parts One and Two of Book Eight explain how the teachings are to be integrated into one’s life through the practice of meditation, which unites a state of one-pointed attention with profound insight into emptiness. Jamgön Kongtrul’s evenhanded, elegant, and authoritative statement of such controversial doctrines as unqualified emptiness (“self-empty”) and qualified emptiness (“other-empty”), provisional and definitive meaning, and conventional and ultimate truth as presented in the various schools of Tibetan Buddhism will appeal to both serious Dharma practitioners and advanced students and scholars.

The Treasury of Knowledge, Book Seven and Book Eight, Parts One and Two: Foundations of Buddhist Study and Practice

The Buddha's definitive teachings on how we should understand the ground of enlightenment and the nature and qualities of buddhahood. All sentient beings, without exception, have buddha nature—the inherent purity and perfection of the mind, untouched by changing mental states. Thus there is neither any reason for conceit nor self-contempt. This is obscured by veils that are removable and do not touch the inherent purity and perfection of the nature of the mind. The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra, one of the “Five Treatises” said to have been dictated to Asanga by the Bodhisattva Maitreya, presents the Buddha’s definitive teachings on how we should understand this ground of enlightenment and clarifies the nature and qualities of buddhahood. This seminal text details with great clarity the view that forms the basis for Vajrayana, and especially Mahamudra, practice.

Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra with Commentary

Gyamtso, Khenpo Tsultrim

Maitreya

Asaṅga

Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Taye presents the Zhije (Pacification) teachings of some of Tibet's most historically significant and influential teachers in this next volume of the Treasury of Precious Instructions series, Kongtrul's great collection of teachings from all of Tibet's Buddhist lineages. The Treasury of Precious Instructions by Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Taye, one of Tibet's greatest Buddhist masters, is a shining jewel of Tibetan literature, presenting essential teachings from the entire spectrum of practice lineages that existed in Tibet. In its eighteen volumes, Kongtrul brings together some of the most important texts on key topics of Buddhist thought and practice as well as authoring significant new sections of his own. In this volume, Kongtrul presents a diverse corpus of texts from the Zhije (Pacification) tradition that trace especially to the South Indian master Dampa Sangye (d. 1117), whose teachings are also celebrated in the Chöd (Severance) tradition. It includes source scriptures by Dampa Sangye, empowerments by Lochen Dharmashrī, and guidance by Dampa Sangye, Lochen Dharmashrī, and Sönam Pal. Also included are lineage charts related to the transmission of Zhije teachings as well as detailed notes and an orientation to the texts by translator Sarah Harding.

Zhije: The Pacification of Suffering: Essential Teachings of the Eight Practice Lineages of Tibet, Volume 13 (The Trea sury of Precious Instructions)

Jamg n Kongtrul Lodr Taye presents practical teachings from a variety of Tibetan Buddhist traditions in this volume of The Treasury of Precious Instructions. Jamg n Kongtrul Lodr Taye presents practical teachings from a variety of Tibetan Buddhist traditions in this volume of The Treasury of Precious Instructions. The Treasury of Precious Instructions by Jamg n Kongtrul Lodr Taye, one of Tibet's greatest Buddhist masters, is a shining jewel of Tibetan literature, presenting essential teachings from the entire spectrum of practice lineages that existed in Tibet. In its eighteen volumes, Kongtrul brings together some of the most important texts on key topics of Buddhist thought and practice as well as authoring significant new sections of his own. In this, the eighteenth volume, Kongtrul expands on The One Hundred and Eight Guidebooks, a collection of teaching manuals compiled by the sixteenth-century Tibetan master Kunga Drolchok, adding Indic source texts, Tibetan antecedents, and later interpretations. Though compiled by a Jonangpa abbot and transmitted by the Jonang tradition, these teaching manuals are actually drawn from the Kadam, Sakya, Kagyu, and, to a lesser extent, Nyingma traditions. They are succinct and impart practical wisdom, as transmitted by key figures like Kunga Chogdrub and Lowo Khenchen Sonam Lhundrub. Gyurme Dorje, the translator, provides extensive notes and helpful context throughout. The resulting volume preserves and integrates the diverse lineages of Tibetan Buddhism while providing useful advice to practitioners.

Jonang: The One Hundred and Eight Teaching Manuals: Essential Teachings of the Eight Practice Lineages of Tibet, Volume 18 (The Trea sury of Precious Instructions)

A superb collection of writings on buddha nature by the Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje (1284-1339) focusing on the transition from ordinary deluded consciousness to enlightened wisdom, the characteristics of buddhahood, and a buddha's enlightened activity--now in paperback. The Third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje, propounded a unique synthesis of Yog&#257;c&#257;ra, Madhyamaka, and the classical teachings on buddha nature. His work occupies an important position between its Indian predecessors and the later, often highly charged, debates in Tibet about rangtong ("self-emptiness") and shentong ("other-emptiness"). The Third Karmapa is widely renowned as one of the major proponents of the Tibetan shentong tradition. This book contains a collection of some of his main writings on buddha nature; the transition of ordinary deluded consciousness to enlightened wisdom; and the characteristics of buddhahood. Though relying strictly on classical Indian sources, the Karmapa's texts are not mere scholarly documents. Their topics and styles bear great significance for practicing the Sutrayana and the Vajrayana as understood in the Kagy tradition to the present day, thus making what is described in these texts a living experience.

Luminous Heart: Essential Writings of Rangjung Dorje, the Third Karmapa (Nitartha Institute)

The Third Karmapa

Kadam: Stages of the Path, Mind Training, and Esoteric Practice, Part One: Essential Teachings of the Eight Practice Lineages of Tibet, Volume 3 (The Treasury of Precious Instructions)

This translation of a fundamental Tantric text reveals the richness and profundity of the intellectual and contemplative traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. The text describes the Four Foundation Practices that all practitioners of Vajrayana Buddhism must complete. The nature of impermanence, the effects of karma, the development of an enlightened attitude, and devotion to the guru are among the subjects treated in this book. Three eminent contemporary Tibetan Buddhist masters—Kalu Rinpoche, Deshung Rinpoche, and Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche—explain the significance of The Torch of Certainty for modern-day students and practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism.

The Torch of Certainty

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Kongtrul Lodro Taye, Jamgon. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Kongtrul Lodro Taye, Jamgon