Customer Reviews

Meditation Differently: Phenomenological-Psychological Aspects of Tibetan Buddhist (Mahamudra and Snying-Thig Practices from Original Tibetan Source)

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This book includes the by far most revealing passage on the deepest Dzogchen practice of Tögal (Togel, Thödgal) found in any non-restricted book. The passage is pp. 134-172 and is a translation of a very esoteric text by the highly accomplished 17th century Tibetan master Tsele Natsok Rangdröl. Guenther translates the title of the work as 'The Sun's Life-Giving Force' even though it is better known as 'The Circle of the Sun'.

In addition, earlier in the book (pages 49-72), Guenther openly discusses the so-called four empowerments, including highly esoteric material in translation.

Guenther has fashioned his own terminology in translating Tibetan texts, and this makes for very difficult reading. However, it is a rewarding read because nowhere else can one read about these practices - except in restricted books (see e.g. http://www.rangjung.com/rootfiles/restricted.htm).

The book is highly recommended for scholars and for very serious practitioners of Dzogchen. I cannot recommend it to readers not very familiar with the Dzogchen tradition as it will most likely be incomprehensible due to the highly technical language.

This material from the innermost reaches of the esoteric wisdom/practice traditions of Tibetan Buddhism is usually kept at a private ("ear-whispered", master to disciple) level of transmission and is often said to be self secret (in that it doesn't mean much until you're ripe to understand it). This commentary on this deeper, more real, level of meditation by the renowned scholar Herbert Guenther is self secret in a more literal way - it ain't easy to understand! And this is both from his unique and technical style of translation and his deep, uncompromising and no nonsense mental process (I get the feeling this is what intuitive-leaping genius is like, this is what the dzogchen masters thought like, this is how quantum physicists talk in mathematical code/jargon amongst themselves...).

Such as, the simple;

"The uninterrupted flow of (the unity of) the composure and post-composure ('states') is (according to sGam-po-pa) the no-more-model-building (bsgom-med) tuning-in phase....When through imaginatively attending to this (tuning-in phase) it persists for a long time the single-piquancy of the multiple (ro-gcig) tuning-in phase arises from within (one's psyche)." (pg. 3)

The inscrutable;

"The gestalt(ism) of Being's contextualized horizon of meaning' comes as Being's autopresencing in which the experiencer by virtue of being co-constituted with the experiencing process is fully engaged." (pg. 40)

And the pithy;

"To sum up, the vitalizing core intensity of the barrier-free approach (to Being in its beingness) is the preservation of what ever comes-to-presence in its being the nakedness of Being's ecstatic intensity that can only individually be experienced, without introducing (notions of) good and evil and acceptance and rejection...." (pg. 122)

I haven't finished reading this book yet, but I'm excited and challenged by it. (It includes translations of and commentary on bits of Gampopa's and Padma Karpo's Mahamudra teachings, and the more detailed Dzogchen teachings of Lonchenpa Rabjam and Tsele Natsok Rangdröl.) It is probably of no interest or benefit for someone unfamiliar with these practice traditions, but for someone who is traveling this peculiar and particular path and has received the oral instructions this will perhaps be stimulating - leading to new opportunities to cut through and encouragement to leap over.

I feel like I'm reading poetry, technical and disjointed, but brilliant and immediately relevant (I don't even bother looking up the peculiar English words, letting them just wash over my mind's shore...)- a direct connection to my heart of knowing, through my mind of confusion - a bit like seeing a terma unfolding from the pages...

Dr. Guenther's translation technique is puzzling, as if he were unable to speak plainly. For example, he translated "ka-dag" as diaphaneity. This is actually meaningful to someone familiar with the method of trekcho. But "ka-dag" can easily be translated directly from the Tibetan as "purity"; so it is almost as if Dr. Guenther felt he had to make his readership work for what they got. I don't necessarily disagree, but I'm not sure how valuable it is to frustrate readers.

Happily, we have the Internet and excellent access to on-line Tibetan dictionaries (Dr. Guenther consistently includes the Tibetan for which he has rendered his translation), so at least some of the difficulties can be overcome with work and a little less frustration.

One of my favourite quotes from this text is (page 105) "...a 'solipsistic ipseity low-level intensity' as the very cause factor (in the ensuing evolution of the (human) system ...)".

If you do not have a teacher, but are a sincere seeker, then the work required is inconsequential to the personal accomplishment from studying this text. If you can accomplish the method of trekcho, then it will be as if the Buddhadharma/Buddhadhamma unfolds for you in ways you were previously never able to imagine, let alone comprehend.