Customer Reviews

A Spacious Path to Freedom: Practical Instructions on the Union of Mahamudra and Atiyoga

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this book is solid. great translator of a great text with a great teacher giving a great commentary. this level of instruction is usually reserved for a more direct teaching situation, and without that you may find much of it uselessly vague, abstract or confusing. maybe not. but for those who do have some experience in this realm, it should give you a wealth of helpful information. especially those interested in the gaps and bridges between mahamudra and dzogchen. for a more abbreviated version of this same teaching, by the same author (karma chagmed) see chokyi nyima rinpoche's "union of mahamudra and dzogchen," incidentally done by my favorite translator!

This book is the second part of Gyatrul Rinpoche's commentary on a portion of Karma Chagme's 17th century text, "The Union of Mahamudra and Dzogchen." The 1st volume is called, "Naked Awareness." A related text (all 3 are translated by B. Alan Wallace) is entitled, "Natural Liberation" and is attributed to Padmasambhava. However, even the 3 together do not completely communicate the original text. Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche also wrote a small commentary on the original text entitled: "The Union of Mahamudra and Dzogchen." All 4 of these books are well worth reading. They are among the clearest and pithiest of currently available English translations of Mahamudra and Dzogchen texts and help one to not only understand their relationships, but more importantly to understand the underlying truths within them. Mahamudra is contended to be the highest teaching within the Kagyu tradition (among the 4 Tibetan Buddhist traditions). Dzogchen is similarly regarded for the Nyingma tradition. Thus, the original work can be said to address the very highest Vajrayana (Tibetan Buddhist) teachings. It is obvious (even in translation) that Karma Chagme was a great, enlightened master. While I don't believe that this is the best of the 4 volumes cited above, it contains a wealth of advanced material including and fits nicely into the series. I suggest all 4 be read as a unit.

This book contains numerous quotes from famous personalities and sutras. The commentaries / explanation is in plain English. The layout is such that similar ideas (or at least in some areas) are group and presented together before an explanation is presented.

To me, reading this book is like having a glimpse of key ideas in many other well-known Buddhism texts. Many thanks to those who have made this book available.

This manual of Tibetan meditation simply and thoroughly presents the profound Dzogchen and Mahamudra systems of practice. Karma Chagme sets forth the stages of meditation practice including the cultivation of meditative quiescence and insight, the experiential identification of awareness, and the highest steps of Mahamudra and Atiyoga leading to perfect enlightenment in one lifetime. Drawing from his enormous textual erudition and mastery of Tibetan oral tradition, he shows how these two meditative systems can be unified into a single , integrated approach to realizing the ultimate nature of consciousness. Karma Chagme was a major lineage-holder of the Karma Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, and his writings have also become central to the Payul Nyingma order, making him an ideal figure to integrate two of the great meditation systems of Tibet: Mahamudra and Atiyoga.

Translated into English by B. Alan Wallace, a Buddhist monk for fourteen years, A Spacious Path to Freedom is a classic manual of Tibetan meditation, offering the Dzogchen and the Mahamudra systems of practice. Chapters explain the stages of meditation, and author Karma Chagma applies his extensive experience and familiarity with Tibetan oral traditions to reveal how these two meditative systems can be integrated into a single approach. Commentary by Gyatrul Rinpoche enhances this core addition to advanced Buddhist Studies shelves.