The Practice of Tranquility & Insight: A Guide to Tibetan Buddhist Mediation (Paperback)

~ Khenchen Trangu Rinpoche (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"With masterful scholarship and the ability to make subtle ideas easy to understand and apply in practice, Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche explains this unified system of meditation for students both beginning and advanced." --The Indian International Journal of Buddhist Studies

Product Description

This is a practical manual to the two types of mediation that form the core of Buddhist spiritual practice.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 170 pages
• Publisher: Snow Lion Publications; 2 edition (September 25, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559391065
• ISBN-13: 978-1559391061
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #381,277 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How to meditate, August 16, 2000

By	Anders Nygaard (Denmark) - See all my reviews

Thrangu Rinpoche, who is one of the most outstanding living teachers of the Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, elaborate here on a text on basic meditation by Jamgon Kongtrul the Great. The book gives a detailed explanation on tranquility meditation (shamatha) and insight meditation (vipasyana). The book is very detailed and accesible, and is useful for all meditators, no matter what level they are on, as it deals with all levels in meditation and also on how to deal with different experiences that may arise. I can't recommend it enough!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A practical guide to the two types of Buddhist meditation, November 15, 2004

By	Peacock Eye - See all my reviews

The very essence of a true path according to Tibetan Buddhism, is precious bodhichitta, or the mind that seeks awakening for the sake of all beings. Bodhichitta can be understood as having two aspects, ultimate and relative. It is the basis of both samsara (endless cyclic existence) and nirvana (peace).

All of the Buddha's teachings can be subsumed under the two categories of shamatha (tranquil abiding) and vipasyana (direct, spontaneous insight in the nature of reality). Therefore, in all vehicles of Tibetan Buddhism, these two categories appear.
On the one hand they are experienced "mixed" together; while on the other hand they appear as relative separate stages in practice, which may be stressed, the one or the other:

First-turning (sutra hinayana) teachings: "renunciation" and insight in "karmic causality";
Second-turning (sutra mahayana) teachings: "emptiness" and insight through transformative "compassion";
Third-turning (tantrayana) teachings: "generation stage" (cultivating intrinsic purity) and "completion stage" (dissolution towards intrinsic perfection);
Mahamudra (Great Seal) teachings: "luminous emptiness" and "pure bliss";
Dzogchen (Great Completion) teachings: "trekcho" (cutting through all distractions and obscurations) and "togal" (the "leap-over" of spontaneous presence).

[I read this in the Preface of "Medicine Buddha Teachings" by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, ISBN 1877294152].

This book is a practical guide to the two types of meditation that form the core of Buddhist spiritual practice, particularly from the Sutra perspective. These teachings, meant for students both beginning and advanced, are based on the eighth chapter of the "Treasury of Knowledge" by Jamgon Kongtrul the Great.
All books with Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche's commentaries are very clear and accessible, and very worthwhile to read and study.