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The Words of My Perfect Teacher: A Complete Translation of a Classic Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism (Sacred Literature Series)
 
 
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The Words of My Perfect Teacher: A Complete Translation of a Classic Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism (Sacred Literature Series) [Paperback]

Patrul Rinpoche (Author), Padmakara Translation Group (Translator)
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)


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Book Description

January 14, 1998
A favorite of Tibetans and recommended by the Dalai Lama and other senior Buddhist teachers, this practical guide to inner transformation introduces the fundamental spiritual practices common to all Tibetan Buddhist traditions.The Words of My Perfect Teacher is the classic commentary on the preliminary practices of the Longchen Nyingtig--one of the best-known cycles of teachings and a spiritual treasure of the Nyingmapa school--the oldest Tibetan Buddhist tradition.
Patrul Rinpoche makes the technicalities of his subject accessible through a wealth of stories, quotations, and references to everyday life. His style of mixing broad colloquialisms, stringent irony, and poetry has all the life and atmosphere of an oral teaching. Great care has been taken by the translators to render the precise meaning of the text in English while still reflecting the vigor and insight of the original Tibetan.
A preface by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, insightful introductory essays, explanatory notes, and classic illustrations enhance this quintessential introduction to Tibetan Buddhist practice. This new edition includes translations of a postface to the text written a century ago (for the first printed edition in Tibetan) by the first Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche, and a new preface by the late Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. The notes, glossary and bibliography have been expanded and updated, Sanskrit names and terminology have been given their proper transliterated form, and the illustrations have been improved in quality and supplemented with new material.


Editorial Reviews

Review

"For all teachings on all practices, whether preliminaries or main, this text is indispensable."—Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, author of Heart Treasure of the Enlightened Ones and The Wish Fulfilling Jewel --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Tibetan --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 485 pages
  • Publisher: Altamira Press; Revised Edition edition (January 14, 1998)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0761990275
  • ISBN-13: 978-0761990277
  • Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #482,834 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

22 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.8 out of 5 stars (22 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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54 of 54 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Kindness, kindness, kindness, kindness, kindness, kindness, August 31, 2004
And some more kindness. Kindness is the theme of The Words of My Perfect Teacher.

I find the teaching presented here to be of great help in dealing with people and situations I'd rather not be involved with, but have no choice. It's very practical (but yes, some passages do include very involved visualizations) and very effective in a rubber-meets-the-road kind of way. This book is a generous helping of good advice, and I think the world would be a much safer and saner place if more of is took such advice directly to heart and put it into practice. Kindness, remember?

Here's a representative quotation: "Always take the lowest place. Wear simple clothes. Help other beings as much as you can. In everything you do, simply work at developing love and compassion until they have become a fundamental part of you" (p. 207). The secret is that they're already a fundamental part of you, even if it seems otherwise.

A reviewer elsewhere has raised the concern that The Words of My Perfect Teacher is a Nyingma ngondro. Yes. Good. Nyingma does not mean "cooties." It's just the name of a particular tradition of Tibetan Buddhism that traces its history to the great teacher Padmasambhava, or Guru Rinpoche. (Gurdjieff called him Saint Lama.) Nyingma represents a legitimate body of teachings which has a lot to offer the world. And The Words of My Perfect Teacher may be the best place to start looking into it and not just taking my word for it, or rejecting it out of hand for no good reason.
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54 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars don't miss the point, August 3, 2000
this is one of my all-time favorite books in the universe. i recommend it to all of my friends (even though most have read it!) and would love for everyone interested in tibetan buddhism as a real-life practice to own and read this book. and reread it. it starts at the beginning and goes all the way to the end. if i may offer a primer: in tibet there were (are?) four main schools. the oldest of them is called "nyingma," or "old ones." within the nyingma's thousands of sub-lineages by far one of the most widely practiced is that begun by a man named jigmed lingpa. his student's student's student (i believe i have that right) wrote this text as a record of his master's oral instructions on the so-called "preliminary practices" (tib. ngondro). however, as many lamas will tell you, the use of the word "preliminary" must be taken with a grain of salt. these practices embody the essence of the dharma, and the joy of this book is that it helps to bring that truth to light. the translation was done by a committee of tibetan language scholars and lineage-holding masters. so intent were they to provide a true translation, a few years after the first edition they republished it with the adjustments they had developed as the text was being used and studied. and it is precisely this use and study that is the point of this text. what more could you ask for?
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30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Essential text for those interested in Tibetan Buddhism, January 8, 2000
Patrul Rinpoche's classic and powerful text contains essential instructions and expositions for those already familiar with, and may be practicing, Tibetan Buddhism. It cuts at the root of our misunderstandings and misery. What more can we ask for? For Buddhists of other lineage traditions, the text still contains many valuable insights and meditations. For newcomers to Tibetan Buddhism, however, other introductory texts would be more appropriate (e.g. selected works by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Kalu Rinpoche, Dudjom Rinpoche, Sogyal Rinpoche, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Thubten Chodron, Alan Wallace, Robert Thurman).
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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
five crimes with immediate retribution, three supreme methods, arousing bodhicitta, eight ordinary concerns, good kalpa, perfection phases, six transcendent perfections, dark kalpa, inner preliminaries, mandala base, superior transference, three sweet foods, conceptual obscurations, ephemeral hells, ten negative actions, tantric samayas, ten positive actions, peerless teacher, refuge deities, obstacle makers, expedient meaning, transcendent concentration, ripened effect, worthless chatter, mind lineage
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Jetsun Mila, Guru Yoga, Secret Mantra, Great Perfection, Padampa Sangye, Great Vehicle, Mount Meru, Dagpo Rinpoche, Garab Dorje, Bodhisattva Dharmodgata, Heaven of the Thirty-three, King Trisong Detsen, Langri Thangpa, Peerless Teacher, Rigdzin Jigme Lingpa, Guru Rinpoche, Jewel Crest, Lama Ngokpa, Lord Buddha, Jowo Rinpoche, Precious Qualities, Yeshe Tsogyal, Bodh Gaya, Jowo Atisa, Land of Snows
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