Books that really spell out sadhana practice

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dharmafootsteps
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Books that really spell out sadhana practice

Post by dharmafootsteps »

I've read two books recently that have been of huge benefit to me in allowing my wooden headed, former atheist brain to get a much more heartfelt appreciation of vajrayana practices. One was Turning Confusion into Clarity by Mingyur Rinpoche, which allowed me to see ngöndro as a beautiful, transformative practice I could happily incorporate for the rest of my life, instead of a bunch of mechanical numbers to get through.

The other was Dzogchen Deity Practice which includes teachings by Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, and, as it says on the tin, has given me a much better understanding of deity practice from an atiyoga perspective.

They helped so much as they really spelled out not just what to do in these practices, but how to do it, and why, in a way this clunky, mechanical Western brain can appreciate.

The other reason they got through to me, is that they helped me to understand the big picture from a Dzogchen perspective. Everything is always brought back to how you recognise, and sustain the recognition of the nature of mind. My main teachers are the sons of Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche and ChNN, so I find that immensely helpful. If there's such a thing as a book with detailed practice instructions on a sadhana from a lower yana but that still relates it to Dzogchen/Mahamudra, in the way Turning Confusion into Clarity does with ngöndro, that would be ideal.

Does anyone have any suggestions?
passel
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Re: Books that really spell out sadhana practice

Post by passel »

Creation and Completion, Sarah Harding translation of Jamgon Kongtrul.

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passel
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Re: Books that really spell out sadhana practice

Post by passel »

Also, you might want to change the title of your post to add "from a Dzogchen perspective" or you will get all kinds of answers that might contain some third-hand blessings, but might not be super-helpful. It's all good, but life is short, right! Why not get to the point.
"I have made a heap of all that I have met"- Svetonious
amanitamusc
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Re: Books that really spell out sadhana practice

Post by amanitamusc »

Powerful Transformation
dharmafootsteps
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Re: Books that really spell out sadhana practice

Post by dharmafootsteps »

passel wrote: Sun Aug 19, 2018 7:19 am Creation and Completion, Sarah Harding translation of Jamgon Kongtrul.

We are dharma relations! Your teachers are also my teachers. Peace!
Oh perfect, thank you! I see the commentary is by Thrangu Rinpoche, who I was lucky enough to receive Dzogchen teachings from a few months ago. Was hugely impressed by him so this looks ideal. Thanks Dharma brother/sister!
passel wrote: Sun Aug 19, 2018 7:21 am Also, you might want to change the title of your post to add "from a Dzogchen perspective" or you will get all kinds of answers that might contain some third-hand blessings, but might not be super-helpful. It's all good, but life is short, right! Why not get to the point.
Probably a good idea, but I don't seem to be able to edit the title anymore. There must be a time limit.
dharmafootsteps
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Re: Books that really spell out sadhana practice

Post by dharmafootsteps »

amanitamusc wrote: Sun Aug 19, 2018 9:03 am Powerful Transformation
This looks great too, particularly as I will be receiving a Vajrakilaya empowerment from Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche in about a week, that may well be this very practice. Extremely fortuitous, thank you.
passel
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Re: Books that really spell out sadhana practice

Post by passel »

If you got dzogchen teachings from Thrangu Rinpoche a few months ago you're lucky indeed. I had one chance to seem him and missed it, now I'm far from his haunts. I did get Maitreya teachings from Khenpo Tsultrim, then got puke sick the next time I went to see him so had to dip out, all a year or two before he retired to the nunnery. Strong connection but I guess not strong enough.
"I have made a heap of all that I have met"- Svetonious
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heart
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Re: Books that really spell out sadhana practice

Post by heart »

dharmafootsteps wrote: Sun Aug 19, 2018 9:30 am
amanitamusc wrote: Sun Aug 19, 2018 9:03 am Powerful Transformation
This looks great too, particularly as I will be receiving a Vajrakilaya empowerment from Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche in about a week, that may well be this very practice. Extremely fortuitous, thank you.
"Powerful transformation" contains teachings on Sangtik Dorsem and Sangtik Phurba, which is the empowerment you will receive in a week, very good book.

Other good books on this subject: "A practice of Padmasambhava", "Vajra Wisdom" and "Gathering of the Vidyadharas"

/magnus
"We are all here to help each other go through this thing, whatever it is."
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"The principal practice is Guruyoga. But we need to understand that any secondary practice combined with Guruyoga becomes a principal practice." ChNNR (Teachings on Thun and Ganapuja)
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conebeckham
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Re: Books that really spell out sadhana practice

Post by conebeckham »

Light of Wisdom Volume II is a very detailed look at a specific Sadhana, but it's generally applicable to all Mahayoga.

I second Creation and Completion, which encompassses Sarma and Nyingma views, and is not merely about deity yoga, though that is it's primary focus.
དམ་པའི་དོན་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ཆེ་བ་དང་།
རྟོག་གེའི་ཡུལ་མིན་བླ་མའི་བྱིན་རླབས་དང་།
སྐལ་ལྡན་ལས་འཕྲོ་ཅན་གྱིས་རྟོགས་པ་སྟེ།
དེ་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ལ་ནི་ལོ་རྟོག་སེལ།།


"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,
It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.
Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."
- (Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche, from his summary of "The Ocean of Definitive Meaning")
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明安 Myoan
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Re: Books that really spell out sadhana practice

Post by 明安 Myoan »

Chenrezig, Lord of Love: Principles and Methods of Deity Meditation, by Bokar Rinpoche.
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Re: Books that really spell out sadhana practice

Post by Natan »

Longchenpa: Dispelling the Darkness of the Ten Directions
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Sonam Wangchug
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Re: Books that really spell out sadhana practice

Post by Sonam Wangchug »

Creation and completion

Deity, mantra, and wisdom
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Terma
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Re: Books that really spell out sadhana practice

Post by Terma »

Sonam Wangchug wrote: Sun Aug 19, 2018 10:58 pm Deity, mantra, and wisdom
This is one of my favorites. Especially useful for a Nyingma perspective.
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conebeckham
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Re: Books that really spell out sadhana practice

Post by conebeckham »

Sonam Wangchug wrote: Sun Aug 19, 2018 10:58 pm Creation and completion

Deity, mantra, and wisdom
and Vajra Wisdom: Deity Practice in Tibetan Buddhism.
དམ་པའི་དོན་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ཆེ་བ་དང་།
རྟོག་གེའི་ཡུལ་མིན་བླ་མའི་བྱིན་རླབས་དང་།
སྐལ་ལྡན་ལས་འཕྲོ་ཅན་གྱིས་རྟོགས་པ་སྟེ།
དེ་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ལ་ནི་ལོ་རྟོག་སེལ།།


"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,
It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.
Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."
- (Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche, from his summary of "The Ocean of Definitive Meaning")
jet.urgyen
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Re: Books that really spell out sadhana practice

Post by jet.urgyen »

dharmafootsteps wrote: Sun Aug 19, 2018 6:56 am I've read two books recently that have been of huge benefit to me in allowing my wooden headed, former atheist brain to get a much more heartfelt appreciation of vajrayana practices. One was Turning Confusion into Clarity by Mingyur Rinpoche, which allowed me to see ngöndro as a beautiful, transformative practice I could happily incorporate for the rest of my life, instead of a bunch of mechanical numbers to get through.

The other was Dzogchen Deity Practice which includes teachings by Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, and, as it says on the tin, has given me a much better understanding of deity practice from an atiyoga perspective.

They helped so much as they really spelled out not just what to do in these practices, but how to do it, and why, in a way this clunky, mechanical Western brain can appreciate.

The other reason they got through to me, is that they helped me to understand the big picture from a Dzogchen perspective. Everything is always brought back to how you recognise, and sustain the recognition of the nature of mind. My main teachers are the sons of Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche and ChNN, so I find that immensely helpful. If there's such a thing as a book with detailed practice instructions on a sadhana from a lower yana but that still relates it to Dzogchen/Mahamudra, in the way Turning Confusion into Clarity does with ngöndro, that would be ideal.

Does anyone have any suggestions?
For me, GP's "a garland of views" is the best book to understand and answer the "why?" of many things in tibetan buddhism.

it's a concise description of the 9-10 yanas in the old tradition.

a similar work vould be useful if you are following the new tradition.

the view is very important, just as the meditation and conduct.
true dharma is inexpressible.

The bodhisattva nourishes from bodhicitta, through whatever method the Buddha has given him. Oh joy.
Kris
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Re: Books that really spell out sadhana practice

Post by Kris »

dharmafootsteps wrote: Sun Aug 19, 2018 6:56 am I've read two books recently that have been of huge benefit to me in allowing my wooden headed, former atheist brain to get a much more heartfelt appreciation of vajrayana practices. One was Turning Confusion into Clarity by Mingyur Rinpoche, which allowed me to see ngöndro as a beautiful, transformative practice I could happily incorporate for the rest of my life, instead of a bunch of mechanical numbers to get through.

The other was Dzogchen Deity Practice which includes teachings by Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, and, as it says on the tin, has given me a much better understanding of deity practice from an atiyoga perspective.

They helped so much as they really spelled out not just what to do in these practices, but how to do it, and why, in a way this clunky, mechanical Western brain can appreciate.

The other reason they got through to me, is that they helped me to understand the big picture from a Dzogchen perspective. Everything is always brought back to how you recognise, and sustain the recognition of the nature of mind. My main teachers are the sons of Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche and ChNN, so I find that immensely helpful. If there's such a thing as a book with detailed practice instructions on a sadhana from a lower yana but that still relates it to Dzogchen/Mahamudra, in the way Turning Confusion into Clarity does with ngöndro, that would be ideal.

Does anyone have any suggestions?
Along with the great texts recommended for study; what I have found helpful is to go over the longest available versions of the sadhana as well.
The profound path of the master.
-- Virūpa, Vajra Lines
dharmafootsteps
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Re: Books that really spell out sadhana practice

Post by dharmafootsteps »

heart wrote: Sun Aug 19, 2018 2:16 pm
dharmafootsteps wrote: Sun Aug 19, 2018 9:30 am
amanitamusc wrote: Sun Aug 19, 2018 9:03 am Powerful Transformation
This looks great too, particularly as I will be receiving a Vajrakilaya empowerment from Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche in about a week, that may well be this very practice. Extremely fortuitous, thank you.
"Powerful transformation" contains teachings on Sangtik Dorsem and Sangtik Phurba, which is the empowerment you will receive in a week, very good book.

Other good books on this subject: "A practice of Padmasambhava", "Vajra Wisdom" and "Gathering of the Vidyadharas"

/magnus
Great, that's good to know, thanks. I thought that was probably it, but the website just says 'Vajrakilaya empowerment', so I wasn't entirely sure.

Thanks for the other suggestions, they look good.
dharmafootsteps
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Re: Books that really spell out sadhana practice

Post by dharmafootsteps »

Terma wrote: Sun Aug 19, 2018 11:26 pm
Sonam Wangchug wrote: Sun Aug 19, 2018 10:58 pm Deity, mantra, and wisdom
This is one of my favorites. Especially useful for a Nyingma perspective.
I've noticed this book a few times in shops and had it on my 'to read' list for a while. I'll check it out.
dharmafootsteps
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Re: Books that really spell out sadhana practice

Post by dharmafootsteps »

Sennin wrote: Mon Aug 20, 2018 2:08 am Along with the great texts recommended for study; what I have found helpful is to go over the longest available versions of the sadhana as well.
Good advice, that's something I realised recently myself, it was definitely helpful though.
dharmafootsteps
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Re: Books that really spell out sadhana practice

Post by dharmafootsteps »

javier.espinoza.t wrote: Mon Aug 20, 2018 12:17 am For me, GP's "a garland of views" is the best book to understand and answer the "why?" of many things in tibetan buddhism.

it's a concise description of the 9-10 yanas in the old tradition.

a similar work vould be useful if you are following the new tradition.

the view is very important, just as the meditation and conduct.
I was digging into "A Garland of Views" along with a few other tenet system texts recently for a translation class. It was helpful, but I definitely still need to work more here, thanks for the reminder.
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