Tharpa Publications is delighted to announce The Oral Instructions of Mahamudra Second Edition. In this special edition, Venerable Geshe-la has made numerous revisions and clarifications to guide the reader ever more confidently through the profound and world-transforming practice of Mahamudra – the very essence of Buddha’s teachings of Sutra and Tantra. This precious book reveals the uncommon practice of Tantric Mahamudra of the Ganden Oral Lineage, which the author received directly from his Spiritual Guide, Vajradhara Trijang Rinpoche. It explains clearly and concisely the entire spiritual path from the initial preliminary practices to the final completion stages of Highest Yoga Tantra that enable us to attain full enlightenment in this life.

Mahamudra is the union of great bliss and emptiness--the very subtle mind that experiences great bliss and realizes ultimate truth. By enabling us to go within to uncover the deepest level of our mind and then to use the very subtle mind to meditate on ultimate truth, Mahamudra practice destroys all our delusions at their very root and thus propels us quickly to the state of full enlightenment. "Mahamudra Tantra" begins by explaining the basic correct view and intention needed for successful Mahamudra meditation, as well as the meaning of Tantra and the two stages of Highest Yoga Tantra practice, and then explains the preliminaries and stages of training in this profound practice.

The Library Of Tibetan Classics is a special series being developed by The Institute of Tibetan Classics to make key classical Tibetan texts part of the global literary and intellectual heritage. Eventually comprising thirty-two large volumes, the collection will contain over two hundred distinct texts by more than a hundred of the best-known Tibetan authors. These texts have been selected in consultation with the preeminent lineage holders of all the schools and other senior Tibetan scholars to represent the Tibetan literary tradition as a whole. Peter Alan Roberts was born in Wales and lives in Hollywood, California. He obtained a B.A. in Sanskrit and Pali and a Ph.D. in Tibetan Studies from Oxford University. For more than thirty years he has been working as an interpreter for lamas and as a translator of Tibetan texts. He specializes in the literature of the Kagyii and Nyingma traditions with a focus on tantric practices, and he is the author of The Biographies of Rechungpa. Thupten Jinpa holds a Geshe Lharam degree from Ganden monastic university and a Ph.D. in religious studies from Cambridge University. The translator and editor of numerous books, he has been the principal English-language translator for His Holiness the Dalai Lama for over two decades, and he is the author of Self Reality and Reason in Tibetan Philosophy. He lives in Montreal with his wife and two daughters.

Relish these direct, experiential meditation instructions from the author of the bestselling Introduction to Tantra. Lama Yeshe tells us that mahamudra is “the universal reality of emptiness, of nonduality” and its unique characteristic is its emphasis on meditation: “With mahamudra meditation there is no doctrine, no theology, no philosophy, no God, no Buddha. Mahamudra is only experience.” He relies on the First Panchen Lama’s well-known Root Text of Genden Mahamudra, which in a few short pages provides the pith instructions for, first, overcoming distraction and resting in meditative stillness on the clarity of one’s own mind, and then by using a subtle wisdom, penetrating its ultimate nature, its emptiness. As always, Lama Yeshe’s words are direct, funny, and incredibly encouraging. He gets us to go beyond ego’s addiction to a limited sense of self and to taste the lightness and expansiveness of our own true nature.

Clear light of Bliss is a unique and highly acclaimed explanation of the advanced practices of Vajrayana Buddhism - the supreme path to enlightenment taught by Buddha. The book provides a detailed and practical explanation of the complection stage practices of Tantric Mahamudra, from the initial meditation on our subtle body, through the stages of inner fire meditation and the four joys, to the final attainment. Geshe kelsang also gives extraordinarily clear explanations of the nature of the mind, how to develop meditative concentration, and how to meditate on emptiness, the ultimate nature of reality. This book will be an invaluable guide to those travelling the Tantric swift path to full enlightenment.