Customer Reviews

Guide to Dakini Land: The Highest Yoga Tantra Practice Buddha Vajrayogini

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Geshe Kelsang Gyatso has written the first complete explanation of the Highest Yoga Tantra practice of Vajrayogini, the female Buddha of wisdom. These precious instructions are the most profound teachings of Highest Yoga Tantra and are the supreme method for purifying our environment, body, and mind.

Geshe Kelsang gives detailed instructions on the eleven yogas of generation stage, which provide us with a special method for transforming all our daily activities into the spiritual path. In Guide to Dakini Land he also clearly explains the completion stage practices of Vajrayogini practice, which lead us to full enlightenment.

There is no other book out there that describes the visualizations, practices, and methods with such clarity and depth. This book contains everything a Vajrayogini practioner needs to embark upon and complete the path to enlightenment. I feel so fortunate to have this book as a resource. I recommend it to all Vajrayogini practitioners who have the wish to deepen their experience of generation stage and completion stage. Geshe Kelsang Gyatso also provides a wealth of information on how to do a qualified Tantric retreat and how to build a strong foundation based upon Buddha's Sutra teachings, so our minds are well-prepared for Tantric initiations and subsequent practice.

If you are a serious student of this teaching, you simply have to own this book. It has everything you need, including theory and details for the daily practices.

This book is well worth reading and studying for those with an interest in the Tibetan Buddhist perpective on Tantra and the higher tantra practices.

This highly specialised book would be of no benefit to browsers merely curious about Tibetan Tantra. It is an invaluable source for one already initiated into the highest yoga tantra of Vajra Yogini, particularly any novice seeking an extra commentary. It is clearly written, incisive and extensive. It deals sequentially with the yogas, retreats and rites associated with the principal sadhana of Pabongka and has informative relevant information on ritual objects and gestures as well as clear line drawings of traditional figures.

As most of the previous reviewers have pointed out, this is for practitioners who have received the Vajrayogni empowerment. How do you get that? You join the author's sect (NKT) and after spending hundreds of dollars on "warm-up" teachings, eventually you can spend even more to get the empowerment at one of his pricey festivals.

The money charged at the teachings and fetivals does not go to charity or to any good causes, unless you think building more NKT resorts, NKT golf courses and NKT World Peace Cafes is charity. Everything goes to building Gyatso's world financial empire or to fund his unseemly and on-going political wars with other Buddhist traditions.

If you are easily influenced and have an inclination to believe in magic, the book (and the reviews for this volume) may be tempting with the usual Gyatso promise of "easy enlightment" (as if it came in a bottle), however, no one in the author's New Kadampa Tradition have ever done so, so the carrot they dangle in front of potential newcomers has no flavor.

UPDATE 1

Dr. Dean: Your comment requires accepting your word as indisputable. Since you provide no actual facts to support any of your comments (i.e.: "As far as no one has ever done so rest assured they have"), readers should disregard them as merely hearsay or wishful thinking. I certainly do not "rest assured" NKT members have been enlightened simply because Dr. Dean says they have.

UPDATE 2

A second comment comes from someone who stalks my reviews all around the world... bitterly complaining about them. On the one hand, she states Buddhists should not say anything critical about other Buddhists. On the other, she also admits to demonstrating against the Dalai Lama in another of her angry comments left for one of my reviews on Amazon.co.uk). The hypocrisy is astounding. I do not claim to be a superior Buddhist, however my Karma must be good enough to have given me the wisdom to leave NKT. Otherwise I would have ended up like my critics: "Do as I say, not what I do" ...but who can blame her? She is emulating her living god, Gyatso. Poor, angry self-righteous pseudo-Buddhists... I genuinely feel bad for them.

This is a must 'do' practice resource manual for followers of Vajrayogini. Clearly written but only fully received when one delves deeply into the practice ~ head readers only will soon tire of this book. Wonderfully detailed yogas of the 11 stages are broken into detailed Rituals that can be worked at one's own pace. Gyatso, no doubt, with this book has singlehandedly exploded out previously secret Tibetan esoteric knowledge in an accessible format for many grateful western readers.

This marvelous book describes the tantra of Vajrayogini, classified as anuttara tantra in the "new" tibetan classification. This books describes precisely the developpement phase corresponding to the mahayoga of the "ancient" classification, but this is not the only one book on that. It is very precious in the fact that it contains also the practice of the body mandala which corresponds to the completion phase of anuyoga of the ancient classification, and this is very rare in public diffusion. Geshé Guelsang Gyatso has made with this book the highest gift: the gift of the Dharma. And this is the first paramita.

This completion phase is precisely described with the chanels and chakras, and with the moving of white and red wind wirepools comming from the crown and root chakras and merging in the heart chakra. This is similar to practices of other non buddhist esoteric yogas and as such very interesting. Except from the fact that on a religious point of view it is advised not to do that, on a technical point of view you can do these yogas just by reading this part of the book. I have received the transmission in a long retreat of an other lineage, but it was more confusing than this book. Sorry for the integrists.

This book is progressive, with the history of the transmission, the preliminary practices, and is written with such devotion that I was very moved when reading it. And I read it many times. I practiced according to the book because my notes at the retreat where unusable and the sadhana booklet ignored the completion phase and replaced it by boring prayers. After some months of practice, I had a sign which increased my buddhist faith. Buddha told us to experiment by ourselves and reject what is not suitable for us, be it advised by brahamins or masters. You can try with this book.