The Dalai Lamas on Tantra by Glenn H. Mullin

Description

Glenn H. Mullin is an internationally renowned Tibetologist, author, and expert on Buddhist meditation. Glenn lived in Dharamsala, India, the home of the Dalai Lama, for many years, where he studied Tibetan language, literature, and yoga. Interest in Tantric Buddhism has grown tremendously in recent years, but authentic translations from classical sources remain difficult to find. The great popularity achieved by the early Dalai Lamas was due in part to the clarity and power of their tantric writings. Glenn Mullin's translations present this rich resource to a wider audience, offering a wealth of tantric materials, the most extensive such collection available in print. Over the past five hundred years the Dalai Lamas have contributed works of vital importance to the library of tantric literature. Glenn Mullin, a translator and scholar of Tibetan texts and an acknowledged authority on the Dalai Lamas, has collected many of these writings here for the first time. His introduction situates the tantric tradition within overall Buddhist practice. The sweeping survey by the Thirteenth Dalai Lama which follows treats all the principal Tibetan Buddhist tantric systems found in all four categories of tantras. The wonderful texts that follow include works on the powerful and profound systems of Avalokiteshvara, Kalachakra, Chakrasamvara, Hayagriva and Yamantaka, as well as other less widely-known practices such as the Six Yogas of Niguma and living on the essence of flowers. For the reader wishing to encounter Tantric Buddhism through authentic sources, this book is a must.