Herbert V. Guenther, Treasures on the Tibetan Middle Way (A Newly Revised Edition of Tibetan Buddhism Without Mystification) (The Clear Light Series) (Boulder, CO: Shambhala, 1976) ("It has become customary to see man as a link in the chain of living things, one among many, and to concentrate on the question of his origin, which has resulted in a mass of far-fetched hypotheses with but few isolated facts. However, absorbing the speculations maybe they lead away from man and avoid facing the immediately present fact of his uniqueness which cannot be derived from something else and which is at the base of his humanity, in comparison to which every other form of life seems to be degeneration from man. Buddhism recognizes six forms of life: denizens of hell, spirits, and animals as its negative features, and men, demons, and gods as its positive ones. Even if we are reluctant to accept such a conception of life, because apart from men and animals the other forms are not physically true, they are nevertheless psychologically so, and whether we still believe in heaven and hell, man himself remains the abiding centre of interest. It is man who at any moment may degenerate into unadulterated brutishness, create hells for himself an others, and lead a shadowy existence of spiritual starvation, or may overreach himself into a state of godhood and the demoniac." "To concentrate on man in the concrete is therefore to see him in his body as he expresses himself through it." Id. at 4. "Buddhism has always favoured a tripe classification which has been developed on the basis of knowledge born of the desire to cultivate and refine the personality and to achieve deliverance and spiritual freedom. ... [I]ts fundamental merit lies in the fact that it recognizes three main types as distinct, if not extreme, features of a continuous variable. It therefore takes into account the rich variability and uniqueness of the human personality. Each man has an inferior, mediocre or superior nature, and each subsequent development or change from an inferior to a higher nature is evolved in the course of systematic training. 'Three types of man' is thus a term emphasising the variability of the human individual." Id. at 12. "At the lowest level we find the man whose sol aim is to emphasize his own happiness. Although he many adopt a sort of 'fleetng-hour' plan, in the back of his mind he is motivated by hedonistic ideas and action patterns designed to ensure great and strong happiness for the major part of his life as opposed to long years of boredom and frustration." Id. at 13. Would it be a gross injustice to suggest that twentieth-century and early twenty-first-century Americans, with their emphasis on self-interest, consumption, social status, escape into their gadgets, etc., are, for the most part, of this mediocre type of man? "Compassion, and especially 'Great Compassion', which is conspicuous by its absence in most of us who nevertheless would like to be considered superior types of man, has 'as its special cause and antecedent the practice of loving-kindness throughout many aeons, as its actuality,--(in other words) one feels the plight of any sentient being as acutely as if one's leg were hit by a sharp weapon. As its effect it has the capacity of developing the noble intention of always being ready (to help) others.' This compassion extends to all six kinds of beings...." Id. at 37.).
Herbert V. Guenther & Chogyam Trungpa, The Dawn of Tantra (Shambhala Dragon Edition), edited by Michael Kohn, and illustrated by Glen Eddy & Terris Temple (Boston & London: Shambhala, 1975 2001) ("According to Buddhism there are three basic emotional complexes: passion-lust, aversion-hatred, and infatuation-bewilderment. These are named in terms of their ordinary or samsaric manifestations but they have latent possibilities of transformation. They are related to each other in a particular way. Bewilderment concerning the nature of what is going on can exist without entailing the extremes of passion or aversion. Passion or aversion, however, cannot come into play without the presence of basic bewilderment. Passion and aversion are emotional energies that have been distorted by an absence of precision which is this basic bewilderment." "Now in order to understand the nature o compassion, we can ask ourselves to which of these three basic emotional complexes compassion belongs. The usual response would be passion, since one ordinarily thinks that passion is related to love and love is not so different from compassion. But the Buddhist texts say the opposite: compassion belongs to hatred. The connection can be seen in the process that sometimes takes place when through enmity one person cuts another down and renders him helpless; then the one who has the power can aid the helpless one and feel himself a good person. This is the usual version of compassion and philanthropy." Id. at 31-32. "The second abhisheka, the secret or mystery empowerment, has to do with speech and language--our mode of communication. It has to do with communication not only externally (with others), but also with communication in our own inner world. We scarcely realize that mentally we are constantly acting out to ourselves our particular melodrama, our version of what is happening to us. And we actually talk to ourselves about it. So there are certain predispositions and neurotic patterns in our way of communicating. On the level of the second empowerment we work with this material. We have to come to another, a more wholesome level of communication. Talk can go on endlessly without communicating anything. Many people talk and talk and talk and never have anything to say. In fact, the general run of our mental life is on this level of empty chatter. We use words as tacks to pin things down and lose the open dimension of communication. Our use of words in this way kills the very thing that makes life worthwhile. And it reflects back on the physical level and reinforces our limited way of being on that level." Id. at 57.).
Lama Thubten Yeshe, Introduction to Tantra: The Transformation of Desire, Revised Edition, edited by Jonathan Landlaw, with a Foreword by Philip Glass (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1987, 2001) ("We are living in a realm of desire. . . ." "Our desires are not limited to the things we can see, hear, smell, taste, and touch. Our mind itself runs after ideas as greedily as out tongue hungers for tastes. Abstractions such a knowledge, reputation, security, and contentment are pursued with as much vigor as if they were things that could be held in the hand and seen by the eye. Desire is so pervasive, in fact, that it doubtful where there is anything that we do that is not motivated by it. . . ." "Behind all of our desires is the wish to be happy. . . ." "Yet in spite of all our wishes to have nothing but happiness our life is full of pain and dissatisfaction. . . " Id. at 7-8. One of the biggest obstacles to true spiritual development is arrogance. This danger is particularly great in relation to the practice of tantra. We may feel that since tantra is advertised as a way of utilizing desire, all we have to do is indulge our uncontrolled appetites or increase the number of desires we already have and we will be following the path of a true practitioner. Some people do have this attitude, but it is completely mistaken. We should never forget that if wallowing in desire were the same as practicing tantra, we would all be highly evolved tantric yogis and yoginis by now! Although our life has been filled with unquenchable desires for this or that, the only thing we have gained from these desires so far is more and more dissatisfaction." Id. at 21. "What the development of true renunciation implies is that we no longer rely on sensory pleasures for our ultimate happiness, we see the futility of expecting deep satisfaction from such limited, transitory phenomena. It is important to understand this point clearly. Renunciation is not the same as giving up pleasure or denying ourselves happiness. It means giving up our unreal expectations about ordinary pleasures. These expectations themselves are what turn pleasure into pain. It cannot be said too often that there is nothing wrong with pleasure. It is our grasping, exaggerating, distorting, and polluting attitude toward pleasure that must be abandoned." Id. at 40-41. "There are so many tantric deities . . . into whose practice you can be initiated; there are so many deities you can meditate upon. But what are all these deities for? What is the purpose of all these practices? It is nothing other than developing and expanding the dedicated heart of bodhichitta. There is really no other reason for all these deities. In fact, all tantric meditations without exception are for the sole purpose of developing strong bodhichitta." Id. at 54-55. "bodhichitta (Skt.): the altruistic motive of a bodhisattva; the wish to attain enlightenment in order to benefit others; the fully open and dedicated heart." Id. at 143. "[W]e should never be so carried away by our pursuit of bliss that we forget the motivation behind the entire practice of tantra. The ultimate aim of the Buddhist path, of both sutra and tantra, is to be of maximum benefit to others. If we become so caught up in striving for the experience of bliss that we neglect dedicating ourselves to the welfare of others, there is absolutely no way we can ever be successful in our practices. All we will be doing is creating the causes for yet more unhappiness and frustration." Id. at 133-134.).
Lama Thubten Yeshe, The Bliss of the Inner Fire: Heart Practice of the Six Yogas of Naropa: A Commentary on Je Tsongkhapa's Having the Three Convictions: A Guide to the Stages of the Profound Path of the Six Yogas of Naropa, edited by Robin Courtin & Ailsa Cameron, with an Introduction by Jonathan Landlaw (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1998) ("Now I will talk a little about the exercises, and then I will explain the meditations on the channels, chakras, and syllables. After these preparation, we come to the inner fire meditations themselves, and finally to the experience of the four joys and simultaneously born great blissful wisdom." "These exercises are called The Six Magical Wheels, but I prefer to call them hatha yoga. Tsongkhapa states that there are many kinds of hatha yoga exercises associated with the Six Yogas of Naropa, but that the six recommended by Pagmo Drupa are sufficient. These exercises help us achieve better results from inner fire meditation." Id. at 97. "Some people mistakenly think that it is most important to meditate and to take care of the mind, but that the body is not very important. In tantra, however, the body is as important as the mind because the body has the resources of kundalini energy, and this kundalini-uranium can be harnessed to produce power realizations. This is why we have a tantric vow not to criticize or neglect the body. Tantra say that you should take care of your body, keeping it healthy and giving it good food, because you need to have tremendous energy. Giving your body more protein, for example, increases the blissful kundalini power. Respect your body. Don't think that it is just a source of problems. Difficulties come from the mind not from the body." "When you do your exercises, feel that your negative thoughts and energy blockages are eliminated with each movement and that you feel blissful energy wherever you touch. You can almost see this blissful kundalini energy running through the channels and throughout your entire body of radiant rainbow light. There is no place in your nervous system for pain." Id. at 99-100.).
Lama Thubten Yeshe, Becoming Vajrasattva: The Tantric Path of Purification, edited by Nicholas Ribush, with a Foreword by Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2004) ("If you are not sensitive, if you do not observe your mind, you will never notice what it is doing. This is how dogs behave. A dog's mind is up and down a thousand times a day, but in the evening there is no way for him to analyze his day's experiences. He cannot remember. A dog has no idea whether his mind is developing or degenerating, and neither do you. You should not like that. While you are preoccupied with your ego's illusory projections, your life is running out." Id. at 64.).
Lama Thubten Yeshe, Becoming the Compassion Buddha: Tantric Mahamudra for Everyday Life: A Commentary on the Guru Yoga Practice Called The Inseparability of the Spiritual Master and Avalokiteshvara: A Source of All Powerful Attainments, Written by His Holiness the Dalai Lama at the Age of Nineteen, Forword by Geshe Lhundub Sopa, edited by Robina Courtin (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2003) ("yoga (Skt.). Literally, to yoke. The spiritual discipline to which one yokes oneself in order to achieve enlightenment." Id. at 186. "action tantra. In Sanskrit, kriyatantra. The first and most basic of the four classes of tantra, emphasizing external yoga and ritual purity. The practice described in this belongs to action tantra." Id. at 175. "tantra (Skt.) A discourse or text of Buddha's esoteric teachings. Also a synonym for Tantrayana." Id. at 185. "When you contemplate the right view, the hallucination, the fantasy of the self-existent object that your conceptual mind believes in, automatically disappears. When this happens, your wisdom experiences what we call right view: emptiness, voidness, or in Sanskrit, shunyata." Id. at 25. "Let me ask you a question. What is reality? Is your vision of desirable chocolate reality? When you have problems and conflicts and see people as miserable, is that reality or not? I tell you, everything that you consider good or bad, the entire sensory world, is your own psychological invention. Your mind makes it up. Nothing that exists in this world is absolutely, automatically good or bad. That is impossible." Id. at 39. "Another example: Each man chooses the woman he likes according to his own particular point of view. And according to their own view of good and bad, women make their choices of men. If you think about it, how can you make someone beautiful or ugly? It's all made up by the mind. You check up. You like or dislike someone not because they are good or bad by nature but because you have a fixed idea, a preconception, of how they should be. You respond automatically: 'good' of 'bad.'" Id. at 40. "Tantrayana is sometimes also called Mantrayana. Generally, we understand mantra to be something we count or recite, but mantra is not necessarily just counting the sound. There is relative mantra and there is absolute mantra. Counting mantras such as Om mani padme hum, the mantra of Avalokiteshvara, is relative mantra. Absolute mantra is not this; it is the yoga tantra method, the tantric path of liberation. In other words, the path itself is mantra." Id. at 44. "Buddhism is simply looking at the world, observing the actions of human beings, and understanding what is going on. That's true, isn't it? You look, and you analyze: 'That man is doing that, thinking this.... These people are doing this and that; they are ambitious and violent, but what they are doing will lead them nowhere.' We all do this, don't we? It is good to understand the human mind. And it is also good to know in what direction you yourself are going; otherwise, you won't know whether you are right or wrong and you'll remain in confusion." "Equality comes from the mind. From a mind that's free, equality comes automatically. It is impossible to create equality by force." Id. at 68. "In Buddhist terms, a teacher is someone who shows you reality. If we have both wisdom and method, all our experiences become our teacher; they show us reality. Learning does not come only from books. The wind, the water, the growing flowers--the growing beard!--everything can be our teacher; everything can talk to us. Our limited minds think knowledge is in the library. But for the person who really understands the graduated path to enlightenment, even the energy of a supermarket can be a teacher. Wherever you go, everything you see shows you reality." Id. at 125.).
Lama Yeshe & Lana Zopa Rinpoche, Wisdom Energy: Basic Buddhist Teachings (A Wisdom Basic Book--Orange Series), edited by Jonathan Landaw with Alexander Berzin (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1982) ("Many times it is said, 'Don't discriminate! Discrimination is the source of all problems.' You must realize, however, that this word has two very different meanings. False discriminations arise when the painted illusory world of your projections is confused with reality and you compulsively think, 'I like this,' 'I hate that,' 'He's right,' 'She's wrong,' and so forth. These reactions have absolutely nothing to do with the nature of reality and therefore such discriminations are totally deluded." "But there's a correct discrimination which is the very essence of wisdom-knowledge. It sees what things really are and helps your mind function in a clean and clear manner. Otherwise things would appear confused and jumbled together. Even on the mundane level it is very important to have this type of discriminating mind or you would not even be able to prepare your lunch. If you were to think, 'I am free of all discriminations, so I'll just lump everything together in this pot, ' your meal would turn out to be a disaster, wouldn't it?" Id. at 41-42. "Physical problems arise from mental ones. Yet we do not usually consider such things as jealously or desire to be forms of suffering. Only obvious afflictions such as bodily diseases are thought to be painful. However, it is precisely by this criterion of pain that all such mental negativities should be seen as suffering itself." "Consider the delusion of pride. Under its influence we are far from happy, but rather are quite ill at ease. We feel pumped up life an overinflated balloon. If we investigate, we shall see that this is quite an unpleasant sensation and that among its many consequences are hysterical nervousness and mental confusion. If we accept the fact that dis-ease is suffering, then surely we much include pride in this category." "It is very easy to see that anger too is a form of suffering...." "The most difficult delusion to recognize as painful is greed...." "In a similar fashion all the various mental afflictions and the actions they motivate are painful. The fact that someone might not recognize these negativities as a disease does not prove he or she is healthy...." Id. at 84-85. "Dharma wisdom is nobody's culture. It is not America's and never will become so. Nor is it the samsaric Tibetan culture either. This is not what we are teaching. Both the Tibetan and the American cultures are samsaric, so we are certainly not interested in showing you how to exchange one for the other. The dharma teaches ways to gain inner understanding beneath the superficial level of any one nation's illusions." Id. at 123.).
John Blofeld, The Tantric Mysticism of Tibet (Shambhala Dragon Edition) (Boston: Shambhala, 1987) ("Even those who escape great physical distress in the form of disease, hunger, want or back-breaking toil find happiness elusive. True, in the more advanced countries, crushing poverty is becoming rare; few women die in childbirth or needlessly lose their babies for want of care; unshod waifs are no longer seen upon the streets; no hordes of children grow up sickly for lack of nourishment; no corpses lie by the wayside to be devoured by dogs and flies; musicians no longer cough away their lives in icy garrets; no children singe their flesh against the bricks of soot-filled chimney or drag heavy loads up forbidding flights of stairs. Yet, even if we dare ignore the three-quarters of the human race who still toil like buffaloes for the means of bare subsistence, who can say that life brings more joy than discontent? Whereas hunger is always hunger, cold always cold and pain always pain, pleasures diminish with repetition; real satisfaction is less familiar to the gourmet than is pain to the human donkey sweating away his life in an Eastern sugar mill. Moreover it now appears that, where wealth abounds, want and insecurity have been replaced not by happiness but by mounting boredom and frustration. Blindly accepting the views of Darwin and his heirs, including Marx, we have reposed all our faith in material progress. With what result?" 'That the need for a radical readjustment of our aims is desperate can be deduced from the unprecedented rise in the incidence of nervous maladies, from the motiveless crimes perpetrated by well-fed, well-educated children, from the hideous examples of mass cruelty carried out by civilized nations on a scale worthy of Attila or Genghis Khan, and from the terrifying speed with which we are rushing towards the abyss of world destruction." Id. at 27.).
Daniel Cozort, Highest Yoga Tantra: An Introduction to the Esoteric Buddhism of Tibet (Ithaca, NY, & Boulder, CO: Snow Lion Publications, 1986, 2005) ("'Yoga' is derived from the Sanskrit root yuj, to join; it is cognate with the English word 'yoke'. In general, yoga means to control the mind, to join one's mind to a fact. In the context of Highest Yoga Tantra, yoga also refers to the union, in one consciousness, of the sublime and the profound--a sublime feeling of bliss combined with the profound realization that persons and other phenomena lack inherent existence. The generation of this consciousness, in which the feeling of bliss is mixed with emptiness such that they seem to be undifferentiable, is the greatest achievement of tantric practice. With a powerful, subtle composite of bliss and the realization of emptiness it is possible to overcome the obstructions barring the way to Buddhahood in as little as one lifetime, whereas no nontantric practice enables the accomplishment of this goal in less than three periods of countless great aeons." "Yogas of the stages of Highest Yoga Tantra induce path consciousness--minds comprising the five paths of accumulation, preparation, seeing, meditation, and no more learning, the stages of progression towards Buddhahood.... Practitioners on the first four paths are called 'learners', for they strive towards but have not yet reached the level of Buddhahood, the 'path of no more learning." Id. at 41.).
Jeffrey Hopkins, The Tantric Distinction: A Buddhist's Reflection on Compassion and Emptiness, Revised Edition, edited by Anne C. Klein (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1984, 1999) ("If you watch your own mind when you hear about misfortune, you may discover that a mechanism sets in immediately to block out whatever strong feelings may be ready to come forth. You may find yourself laughing at others; difficulties in order to be distracted from your innate sense o compassion. Why are we unwilling to face great suffering? We are busy concocting a goody-goody personality that is so out of touch with such facts that even bringing them to mind threatens the image we have of ourselves. Yet, if we learn to face these horrors without passing out ... our minds can become strong; powerful compassion is then truly possible. We become capable of acting and directing our present lives with conscious knowledge of the sufferings to which we can be subjected. We can understand and come to terms with karma--the cause and effect of actions--because we have the mental ability to face the dreadful situations that certain activities will inevitably induce in this life or in future lives." "When you are able to face your own situation, you can relate to the suffering of others. You are open to the possibility of extending love and compassion to all the beings who abide wherever space exists. If you can do this, you will not be tricked out of practice by external circumstances...." Id.at at 18-19. "Another antidote to pride is an understanding of the nature of oneself, of emptiness. A bodhisattva who has realized emptiness understands fully that if she searches analytically for a self, she will not find it and thus makes an effort to remain in this understanding continuously. She knows that nominally existent people and phenomena appear and function, but she also knows that no one of them would bear analysis. How can she be proud?" Id. at 38.).
Anne C. Klein, Knowledge and Liberation: Tibetan Buddhist Epistemology in Support of Transformative Religious Experience (Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion, 1998).
Vicki Mackenzie, Reincarnation: the Boy Lama (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1988, 1996).
Tsongkhapa, The Fulfillment of All Hopes: Guru Devotion in Tibetan Buddhism: A Commentary on Asvaghosa's Gurupancasika, translated with an introduction by Gareth Sparham, with a foreword by Jeffrey Hopkins (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2005).
Tsongkhapa, Tantric Ethics: An Explanation of the Precepts for Buddhist Vajrauana Practice, translated by Gareth Sparham, with a foreword by Jeffrey Hopkins (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2005) (From the backcover: "Central to the Buddhism of Tibet are the esoteric techniques of the tantric, or Vajrayana, tradition. These practices involve recitation of mantras and complex visualizations and are passed from teacher to student during sacred initiation ceremonies. Tantra constitutes the fabric of a Tibetan Buddhist's daily practice, but it cannot be successful without adherence to the tantric precepts, the code of ethical behavior for aspirants on the Vajrayana path. The tantric vows are the highest of three complementary sets of vows in Tibetan Buddhism, for the Pratimoksa (monastic) and Mahayana vows." "The scholar and tantric adept Tsongkhapa (1357-14119), one of the greatest philosophers produced by Tibet's Buddhist culture, composed works on every aspect of Buddhist philosophy and practice. This book contains a translation of his Fruit Clusters of Siddhis, an explanation of the tantric vows, and provides a clear explanation of the nature of each vow and the criteria for determining when a downfall has occurred.").
B. Alan Wallace & Steven Wilhelm, Tibetan Buddhism From the Ground Up: A Practical Approach for Modern Life (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1993) ("If there were nothing that could be done to alter the nature of one's death and any post-death experience, we would have to accept it as inescapable. However, while the fact of death cannot be altered, the nature of our experience of death and what follows can be transformed. The experience may be miserable and barren, or it may be blissful and fulfilling. The Buddhist view is simple: nonvirtuous behavior leads to misery; virtuous behavior lead to joy." "There is a saying in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition: It is better to fear death now and die fearlessly, than to avoid fear of death now and die with terror. Particularly if we are aware that it is possible to lead a meaningful life in Dharma and yet fail to do so our own death is bound to be encountered with remorse. In the final moments we will realize our life has been a series of meaningless activities, leading nowhere but to suffering, with the opportunity to transform it lost." Id. at 15.).
Alex Wayman, The Buddhist Tantras: Light on Indo-Tibetan Esotericism (London & New York: Kegan Paul International, 1973, 1995) ("I close with the Tibetan expression of good wishes, /Om bde legs su gyur cir / Om. May there be happiness and good fortune!" Id at 163.).
