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Secret Buddhism: Vajrayana Practices

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This is the English translation of a compilation of edited transcriptions of recordings of various teachings given by the much-missed great Shangpa and Karma Kagyu master around the world. It appeared first in French and it contains some unfortunate and misleading errors (ignored for did not know, etc.) that give the impression that it was somewhat rushed into print, but no wonder. It is a true treasure. It is the third in a set: Excellent Buddhism concerning this master's own life and experiences, and Profound Buddhism about the general Hinayana-to-Mahayana approach are the other two. It is salted with many traditional accounts of the efficacy of the tantric (yoga) approach to the Dharma while placing it firmly within orthodox Buddhism. There is an explanation of the various classes of tantra, details of the preliminary (preparatory) practices and many other topics. Here is what you always wanted to know about the radical approach that is the Vajrayana taught in a straightforward and sensitive fashion.

This collection of topically arranged excerpts from various speeches is mostly pretty basic, but it does provide some interesting points on empowerments (see Tsele Natsok Rangdrol's Empowerment), Menla practices (see Thrangu Rinpoche's Medicine Buddha Teachings), Lojong mind training (see Pema Chödrön's Start Where You Are), chöd (see Jerome Edou's Machik Labdron & the Foundations of Chöd), & the Bardos (see Sogyal Rinpoche's The Tibetan Book of Living & Dying & Rangdrol's Mirror of Mindfulness). The collection as a whole is somewhat similar to Rangdrol's Heart of the Matter & Tulku Urgyen's Vajra Speech though they are a bit more advanced IMHO. It includes a number of line drawings (my favorite is the dancing skeletons), very concise & well-arranged excerpts, & a great many entertaining legends & teaching stories (including Shariputra's mother in hell saying the Mani automatically & the famous Buddha's/dog's tooth story). It also includes an exposition of the Shangpa/Karma Kagyu lineages including his disciple Bokar Rinpoche (Meditation Advice for Beginners & Opening the Door to Certainty) & a chapter on Tibetan medicine. His statement on the deities is quite interesting: p. 86: "The manifestation of peaceful & wrathful deities is not an external phenomenon, but the expression of the very dynamics of the pure nature of our mind, the tathagatagarbha. During our life, these deities are located in our body--the 42 peaceful deities are in the heart-the 58 wrathful deities are...at the summit of the head." He seems to provide a bridge between ancient mythology & elements of faith (e.g. Tibetan medicine addressing 3 humors & spirit possession) on the one hand; & modern science, psychology & scholarship on the other: thus, metaphysically: p. 132: "The universe is not absolute reality, but a projection of the mind of beings;" psychologically, p. 141: "Chöd is a profound practice using special methods to uproot the ego" & p. 170: "If its destiny is to take rebirth as a man it feels attraction for the future mother & aversion for the future father. If its destiny is to be reborn as a woman, it feels, on the contrary, attraction for the future father & aversion for the future mother" -highly reminiscent of Freud's Oedipus complex; historically, p. 181: "The sutras-the texts recording the teaching of the Hinayana & Mahayana-have their origin in Shakyamuni Buddha, the historical Buddha. Tantras-the texts containing the Vajrayana teachings-have been revealed by the Buddha Vajradhara (Tibetan, Dorje Chang) as an expression of the Dharmakaya." But, despite these gems, the book mostly contains standard information about Tibetan beliefs, has poor punctuation, & is mostly descriptive.