Category:
Tibetan Buddhism
£85.00
From his early childhood in East Tibet, the boy who would later come to be known as Yongdzin Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche wanted nothing more than to devote his life to meditation and spiritual discovery, and to learn the ancient wisdom of Bon from Tibet’s greatest masters. His life changed when, as a young apprentice, he accompanied a team of mural painters to Central Tibet for a commission at a famous Bonpo monastery. When the team left, he remained behind, took monastic vows and soon rose to become the senior teacher (lopön) of Menri Monastery. However, the quiet life of the monastery was soon shattered by political upheavals and the persecution of all religious institutions by the new Communist regime. Lopön Tenzin Namdak was shot and arrested, but made a dramatic escape to Nepal, from where he continued on to India. The challenge that he now faced was nothing less than ensuring the survival of the Bon religion itself. Through an exemplary life of hard work, teaching, meditating and writing, Lopön Tenzin Namdak provided the inspiration for fellow-lamas, disciples and well-wishers to join the quest to establish Bon on a firm footing in exile. The religion now has a growing following in many countries, and is once again flourishing in its Tibetan homeland.
This work is a compilation of different accounts of the life of Yongdzin Lopön Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche. The core is a Tibetan language account based on Yongdzin Rinpoche’s own diaries and on interviews with numerous people, composed by a committee of his disciples under the direction of Khenpo Tenpa Yungdrung Rinpoche, the abbot of Triten Norbutse Monastery in Nepal. That short work of six chapters was published in 2005 to mark Yongdzin Rinpoche’s 80th birthday. An English translation of the Tibetan text was later made in Dharamsala by Dhondup Tsering in 2007. The present work is an expanded account based on the original biography and supplemented with material from extensive interviews conducted with Yongdzin Rinpoche, as well a record of his activities in the years following the publication of the original work. The biography is followed by a glossary of Tibetan terms and the names of places, people and teachings that appear in the work.
£120.00
Out of print hardback edition.
Condition: Fine - As New.
In Kurukulla: Goddess of Bewitchment – A Devotional Path to the Red Enchantress of Uddiyana, author Verónica Rivas combines academic research with personal experience to offer a theoretical-practical study of Kurukulla, the goddess in Hinduism related to desire, lust, magic, and witchcraft.
Many of these aspects were left aside, however, as her importance and popularity within Tantric Buddhism continued to grow. In Kurukulla, we have a goddess of tribal origins, initially venerated as a protector by various nomadic clans who related her to fertility and material affairs, yet also considered her dangerous and fearsome. Progressively, the goddess was incorporated into the Buddhist pantheon, and during this process, Kurukulla acquired different roles and lost others. Many practices were developed related to issues such as protection against animals and certain diseases, obtaining influential positions in society, love affairs, and even getting rid of one’s enemies.
Kurukulla: Goddess of Bewitchment offers a tantric perspective on a deity considered the goddess of eroticism, the mistress of enchantments and bewitchment, who uses desire as a weapon for transcendence. Practicing with Kurukulla allows us to reach our true nature by making our daily life, our fears and weaknesses, the very source of liberation.
The goddess of the red body represents the pure manifestation of intrinsic wisdom, the primordial energy that nourishes all realms of existence, as well as life and death as complementary opposites.
The rituals and devotionals presented in this book are intended to openly and freely establish a deep connection with the deity. They are shared in a simple and understandable way that will allow practitioners to integrate them into their life easily and completely.
£85.00
There is no better illustration of the radical transformative power of the ancient Tibetan contemplative teachings of Dzogchen than the extraordinary phenomenon of bodily disappearance or “rainbow body”, which is considered its ultimate fruit. In this groundbreaking study of rainbow body in the Bön tradition, which is the first of its kind in a western language, the neophyte reader is guided into the profound insights of Dzogchen, while all the components required to understand this most mysterious and enigmatic of phenomena are laid out gently and methodically.
Illustrated by unique thangkas commissioned especially for this study, the book’s emphasis is on clarity of exposition. Simple enough for the layman, but detailed enough to do justice to these ancient and subtle traditions, Rainbow Body serves both as an introduction to Bön Dzogchen, and also as a pioneering study of Tibetan textual sources related to the phenomenon of rainbow body. It is offered to the public in the hope that as many people as possible may benefit from the profundity of this ancient wisdom. For as Loel Guinness states in his preface, “Dzogchen is not just for monks. It is as suitable for the businessman, the academic, the adventurer, or the practitioner. The insights of Dzogchen are relevant for all”.
The 2021 edition is updated and revised in a smaller, more accessible format, of the 2018 edition.
£34.99
Bѳ and Bön: Ancient Shamanic Traditions of Siberia and Tibet in their Relation to the Teachings of a Central Asian Buddha.
Hailed as a fascinating and unique book, this is the first in-depth study of its kind comparing the ancient Bon religion with the Siberian shamanic tradition of Lake Baikal. Combining scholarly research with spiritual insight and with over 200 illustrations, maps and diagrams, the information is presented in a clear and lively way, enabling the reader to navigate easily through the various topics dealt with and to follow the threads of the intricate tapestry which is woven as the parallels between the ancient shamanic traditions of Tibet and Siberia unfold.