Customer Reviews

Echoes of Voidness (Wisdom Intermediate Book - White Series)

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This small book (143 pages) provides some of the clearest and most helpful presentations of emptiness that can be found in English translation, both in terms of theory and practice. Part One contains the text of the classic Heart Sutra with an excellent commentary by Geshe Rabten. Part Two contains a translation of "A Guide to the Middle Way," which is a 6th century commentary by Chandrakirti to Nagarjuna's famous "Fundamental Stanzas on the Middle Way," a key text in the development of Mahayana Buddhist thought. Part Three contains Geshe Rabten's teachings on the "Root Text for the Gelugpa Oral Tradition of Mahamudra," by the first Panchen Lama, Lobsang Chokyi Gyaltsen. This is the main text upon which the Gelugpa tradition of Mahamudra is based, and it provides clear and practical instructions for developing calm abiding meditation by taking the mind itself as the object, and then gaining a direct experiential realization of emptiness.

I loved this book and highly recommend it to beginners and experts alike. I read it over a year ago and felt compelled to write this out of gratitude. The first section on the heart sutra (prajnaparamitra) was the clearest I have ever read (or heard) on the subject. The second section on Madhyamika I didn't spend much time on - lazy student that I am I find Tibetan logic tedious, despite its thoroughness & accuracy. The third section on Mahamudra was exceptional for the technical lucidity and clear practical guidance of an accomplished master. It was an inspiration to practice.