Penetrating Wisdom: The Aspiration of Samantabhadra - Hardcover

Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1559392665 ISBN 13: 9781559392662

Publisher: Snow Lion, 2006

Synopsis

The reason we rely on the Vajra master is that we have already tried many different methods to wake ourselves up, but none of them really worked. We set our alarm clock for the next morning and then in the morning it beeps with a very unconfident beep. When this feeble beep happens, our great samsaric command is to move a hand with tremendous habitual power and press the snooze button. Then we go back to our comfortable samsaric sleep. We go back again to the dreams and nightmares to which we are attached. Fifteen minutes later, the alarm clock beeps again. Again we press the snooze button. We don't have this faith, this confidence, in the inconceivable truth that can wake us up. This goes on for ages. That's why the Hinayana and Mahayana journeys take so long. With deep compassion, sharp observations, and arresting metaphors, the Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche explicates The Aspiration of Samantabhadra for both new and experienced practitioners. This Dzogchen prayer explores the different manifestations of rigpa, our basic awareness in daily life, and constitutes a set of instructions for refining the path of practice. Given as a series of talks in Germany and the United States, Penetrating Wisdom includes the text of the prayer, Rinpoche's always-lively commentary, and lucid answers to questions posed by his students.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Penetrating Wisdom is a book of teachings on the Buddhist paths of Dzogchen and Tantra by an innovative Tibetan master who is both authoritative and modern. Basing himself on The Aspiration of Samantabhadra, a proclamation in the Buddhist tantras of the Buddha Samantabhadra, Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche illuminates the philosophy and meditation practices of Dzogchen, the highest and most profound teaching of all of Tibetan Buddhism. With precision that does not intimidate the uninitiated, Rinpoche explains the basic nature of our very own mind--complete enlightenment--and how we may go about making this nature of mind manifest through making profound aspirations and through relying on the skillful methods of the Vajrayana, Tibetan Buddhism's "indestructible" path of insight.

While the author is a traditionally trained master in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, he has won great appreciation in the West for his humor, familiarity with Western culture, and his unique talent for using examples that are drawn directly from Western metropolitan lifestyles. The readers are served with the most profound ancient wisdom of the highest order at the same time that they are entertained and intrigued by the humor and colloquial street smarts of a master who, in every sentence, brings together the best of East and West. Since these teachings were originally given in English, the book gives an intimate connection to the feeling the author evokes in person.

"One of the most brilliant Tibetan Buddhist Teachers of his generation."--Sogyal Rinpoche

About the Author:

Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, born in 1965 in northeast India, was trained in the meditative and intellectual disciplines of Indian and Tibetan Buddhism under the guidance of many of the greatest masters from Tibet’s pre-exile generation. He is a widely celebrated teacher, known for his skill in making the full richness of Buddhist wisdom accessible to modern minds, and devotes much of his energy to developing a vision of a genuine Western Buddhism. For more information, go to www.rebelbuddha.com.

About this edition

• Publisher: Snow Lion
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 1559392665
• ISBN 13: 9781559392662
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 192