40 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Treasure for Heruka Practitioners, May 4, 2004
This book is essentially a commentary on the sadhana (liturgy) for doing the Tantric practices of the Heruka Body Mandala, practices originally laid out by the Indian master Ghantapa in ancient times. Heruka is the Tantric manifestation of the enlightened compassion of all the Buddhas. Tantric practices are designed to quickly lead one to enlightenment in one lifetime by transforming ordinary appearances and ordinary conceptions into pure ones. Tantric practices have two stages, generation stage and completion stage, which are beyond the scope of this review to explain. This book seems to focus primarily on the generation stage practices, but further study will reveal a wealth of completion stage teachings as well. At the back of the book it also contains the sadhana, as well as other surrounding practices, such that one can understand and practice these amazing teachings merely with the purchase of this book. Tharpa publications also publishes the sadhana separately, as well as a CD of the sadhana so you can learn the melodies, pronunciation, etc.. But, you really must have the empowerment and oral transmission of the teachings for them to have any effect, so the readership for whom this book may prove useful (rather than merely interesting) may be fairly limited. I don't know of any teacher except the author who gives this particular empowerment and transmission to Westerners. And even if some do, this author is in such ill-favor in the lama community (over the silly Dorje Shugdan controversy) that I doubt any other teacher will be recommending this author's books to students for any practice, even though Geshe Kelsang's books are consistently the best in class.
After years of practicing various Heruka practices, I can attest to their power and speed. I have heard that this is the practice responsible for the incredible power of many of the spiritual heavy hitters in recent Tibetan history, such as Je Phabongkhapa, as well as such Indian masters as Nagarjuna. Unfortunately for us Westerners, few of our parents gave us to monasteries at age six as was expected for all second sons in Tibet, so we did not spend our whole life in monasteries and retreat caves with enough time to really do these practices justice. The Heruka Body Mandala practices are long and complicated, and to do a long retreat, or to do them three times a day, or even once a day, or even to do the short form once a day is much more than many working stiffs like me can do. But there are very short forms of Ghantapa's other Heruka practices, the Heruka Five Deities practices, that you can do daily, and, personally, I found that Heruka was more than willing to work with me amidst my hectic and full life, and over time he taught me even shorter but very powerful ways to fold his practices into the other practices I do have time to do. Fortunately, Heruka's practices, unlike those of other Tantric deities, become ever more powerful as times become more degenerate, and, certainly, to paraphrase Madonna, we are living in a degenerate time, and I am a degenerate guy!
Since I seldom do the full, formal practices as they are laid out in the book these days, I have not really read this book for a long time. Indeed, although I knew and studied with Geshe-la while he was writing this book and for a few years after it came out, I have not been a student of his for a few years now. But, on a recent retreat I had wanted to see how to integrate some esoteric teachings from another tradition with my Heruka underpinnings, (easy and powerful to do, BTW!), so I brought this book along and gave it another reading. I had recalled only the book's emphasis on generation stage, since that is ostensibly what the book and practices are about, and I was no longer emphasizing generation stage, so I just thought I'd read it as background to Geshe-la's books on completion stage practices (Tantric Grounds and Paths, and Clear Light of Bliss). During the re-reading I was amazed how good it was, especially the way Geshe-la weaves penetrating completion stage teachings and practices in at every opportunity. And, as with one other of Geshe-la's books, the words seemed somehow not to be written on mere paper, but appeared to float in a clear sky! I left the retreat with great renewed affection for this book and its author, and I thought I'd write a review to reflect that.
As for the book itself, it is flawlessly written and published, as are all Geshe-la's books. The language and presentation are clear and precise, and specifically suited to Westerners. As they state, "Tharpa Publications is a publisher of Buddhist books that provide the most complete and integrated presentation of the Buddhist path to enlightenment available in any western language, from basic introductions to Buddhism and meditation to detailed and lucid expositions of the highest Buddhist philosophy and Tantric practice". Most true. And to underscore the timeless quality of the whole enterprise we find, "Set in Palatino by Tharpa Publications. Printed on acid-free 250-year longlife paper and bound by Butler and Tanner, Frome, Somerset, England". Indeed.
Once again, this is probably not a book for very many people. Only someone drawn to Heruka and his practices is really likely to get much out of this book, and only then if they have received the empowerment and oral transmission of the teachings from Geshe-la. And most Tantric practitioners who have received Heruka empowerments from Geshe-la or anyone else seem to practice the related and much easier Vajrayogini practices these days, so we Heruka practitioners are probably a fairly rare breed. But if you are drawn to Heruka (it is probably true that "you don't choose Heruka, Heruka chooses you!") get the book, the empowerment and the oral transmission of the practices, and enjoy!
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The blue path to enlightenment, September 28, 2008
This review is from: Essence of Vajrayana: The Highest Yoga Tantra Practice of Heruka Body Mandala (Paperback)
For those drawn to the Chakrasambara (Heruka) Tantra, Geshe Kelsang finally revealed all the essential practices after many years of offering only Vajrayogini training. However, you will also need his definitive Vajrayogini book, "Guide to Dakini Land", because apart from the sadhanas and the completion stage meditations the two practices are substantially the same 11-Yoga system, so he hasn't duplicated the yogas held in common between the two.
For the Heruka practitioner this book is the fundamental guide to Dharma practice from the day you open it until the end of your life, by which time you will hopefully have become a Buddha.
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