Mahamudra: A Practical Guide

"In his first major book, His Eminence Zurmang Gharwang Rinpoche, the head of the Zurmang Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, unpacks the marrow of a crucial teaching. The Ocean of Definitive Meaning by the 9th Karmapa is considered to be the most definitive Mahamudra text ever written. Bokar Rinpoche, a close student of Kalu Rinpoche and the chief retreat master for the Karma Kagyu lineage under the 16th Karmapa, wrote a remarkable distillation of the 9th Karmapa's detailed and comprehensive book: A Concise Commentary on the Ocean of Definitive Meaning: Easy-to-Implement Root Verses for Unlocking the Door to the Definitive Meaning. This essentialized text is the go-to manual for advanced Mahamudra practitioners; the 16th Karmapa recommended that experienced students use it while in retreat. Now, His Eminence Zurmang Gharwang Rinpoche offers illuminating commentary on Bokar Rinpoche's pithy teaching, expanding and unlocking it for the reader, showing us the way to understand the very nature of our own minds"--
Essential instructions on Mahamudra from one of today&;s greatest Mahamudra masters.In his first major book, His Eminence the Twelfth Zurmang Gharwang Rinpoche, the head of the Zurmang Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, elucidates the essence of a fundamental mahamudra teaching. At the heart of this book are Rinpoche&;s practical instructions on how to settle the mind and meditate in a way that directly works with the mind, with the aim of discovering and becoming familiar with the nature of the mind. These instructions are given as commentary to a short text written by Bokar Rinpoche, which is itself a concise commentary on the Ninth Gyalwa Karmapa Wangchuk Dorjé&;s Ocean of Definitive Meaning, which is considered to be one of the most authoritative and exhaustive treatises on mahamudra. The book covers topics such as the preliminary practices, the practice of samatha and vipasyana according to the mahamudra tradition, and advice for overcoming obstacles and making progress along the path. His Eminence Zurmang Gharwang Rinpoche offers revealing commentary on Bokar Rinpoche&;s pithy teaching, illuminating and unlocking it for contemporary readers, showing us the way to understand the very nature of our own minds.