East Meets West: Tibetan & Hindu Teachings
	The Tibetan Book of the Dead : Or, the After-Death Experiences on the Bardo Plane According to Lama Kazi Dawa-Samdup's English Rendering by Karma-Glin-Pa, W. Y. Evans-Wentz (Editor), Donald S., Jr. Lopez The after-death experiences on the Bardo plane, according to Lama Kazi Dawa-Samdup' English rendering. It is used in Tibet as a breviary, and read or recited on the occasion of death, it was originally conceived to serve as a guide not only for the dying and the dead, but for the living as well. Especially readable due to the introductions written by the Lama and Carl Jung. About the Author W.Y. Evans-Wentz, an anthropologist, had deep interest in exploring the religious experience of mankind. He authored several other famous books on Tibet.--This text refers to the Paperback edition. Product Description: 1927. The after death experiences on the Bardo plane, according to Lama Kazi Dawa-Samdup's English rendering. This book is meant to teach the reader the art of living life so that death is a fulfillment and not the end. It is a book about rebirth from death; how the soul travels through life, then from one life to another, that there really is no true death. This volume give sage advice on how to learn from mistakes in previous lives and how to make one's destiny perfect.--This text refers to the Paperback edition. This particular edition has wonderful intorductory sections. I keep extras of this edition on my shelves to give to friends. Jessika
	Dancing With Siva: Hinduism's Contemporary Catechism by Subramuniya, Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami Publisher: Himalayan Academy Pubns; 5th edition (November 1997) This almost encyclopedic "sourcebook" of Hinduism presents Hinduism, particularly Saivite Hinduism, from the point of view of contemporary Hindus. It uses the traditional four-line presentation, followed by 21-line commentary, to explain 155 points of history, doctrine, ritual, and practice. These explanations are supplemented by verses of scripture, extensive illustrations, a Hindu timeline, a children's primer, and charts. More than triple the length of the preceding edition, this work is accessible to non-Hindus. Subramuniya initiated Father Paul Blighton the founder of the Holy Order of MANS(HOOM). This book has several portions that remind one of the order and some of its teachings. In the early years of the order, members of the HOOM of M.Timothy Harris' era meditated with the students of Subramuniya at their Ashram when it was located in S.F. Jessika
	Secret Buddhism : Vajrayana Practices by Kalu Rinpoche About the Author Kalou Rinpoche, a lama of the Kagyu Shangpa Lineage, was born in Eastern Tibet in 1904. One of the first Tibetan masters to teach in the West, he passed away in 1989. Excerpted from Secret Buddhism : Vajrayana Practices by Kalu Rinpoche. Copyright © 1995. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved 1 - Foundations of the Vajrayana From Hinayana to Vajrayana Hinayana The Small Vehicle (Sanskrit, Hinayana) can be condensed into two great principles: - observance of an ethic that avoids all that can harm others - understanding of the emptiness of the subject, also called the "non-I of the individual" In this way, all conflicting emotions desire, aversion, jealousy, pride, and so on cease, and the mind remains totally absorbed in emptiness. The state reached is called that of an arhat, that is to say, "conqueror of the enemy." The term "enemy" refers to conflicting emotions. It is, to a certain degree, liberation, but not ultimate Awakening. Although one can dwell there for an extremely long time, up to several kalpas, the state of an arhat is not definitive. A day comes when the body of a Buddha emits a ray of light that touches the arhat, and awakens the motivation to engage in the Great Vehicle. From then on, the arhat follows this path and continues on to perfect Awakening. The Small Vehicle is reduced to these two great principles. It does not envision the possibility of becoming a Buddha by the grace of the Buddha, nor does it envision the existence of the Pure Lands, which are concepts developed in the Great Vehicle. Mahayana The Great Vehicle (Sanskrit, Mahayana) also takes into account the two foundations of the Small Vehicle, but going further, it opens onto a vaster domain: - to the observance of ethics that avoids harming, it adds the will to do everything for the benefit of others - to the understanding of the emptiness of the subject, it adds understanding of emptiness of the object, or the "nonself of phenomena" The Great Vehicle teaches that all external phenomena grasped by the senses as truly existing objects such as form, sound, smell, taste, or contact are, in fact, lacking a reality. They are engendered by the mind. The mind being empty, they are also necessarily empty. The conclusion is then reached that mind is empty internally, and that phenomena are externally empty also. Dualistic grasping of a subject and an object is illusory. Furthermore, practitioners of the Great Vehicle never consider their own happiness a sufficient end in itself. Believing that all beings were once their father and mother, they want all beings to obtain the happiness of Awakening. The motivation of practitioners is extremely vast. Seeing that beings do not understand emptiness, and that they conceive a "me" and "other" where there is no me and no other and that they wander in the cycle of existence, Mahayana practitioners develop an infinite compassion toward them. This compassion motivates the Mahayana practitioners to take on themselves the suffering and veils of all beings and to give them some of their own happiness and positive karmic potential. Relying on the union of emptiness and compassion, they practice the six paramitas: giving, ethics, patience, diligence, concentration, and wisdom. Mahayana practitioners exert themselves for many kalpas, purifying themselves, and accumulating merit and wisdom, until they ultimately reach full Awakening or Buddhahood. Taichung, April 13, 1986 and Taipei, April 30, 1986 Vajrayana The Vajrayana, or Diamond Vehicle, retains the foundations of the Small Vehicle and the Great Vehicle: not harming others and helping them, and the emptiness of subject and object. It is based on the use of particularly efficient methods of realization, called the two phases of meditation: creation and completion. The phase of creation, using skillful means, is comparable to a bow. The phase of completion, using wisdom, is comparable to an arrow. The bow speeds the arrow toward the target. Awakening can be reached in a single lifetime. To use another comparison, when one wants to cross the country from one end to the other, one can go on foot which is very long trip or with a car in less time, or one can take a plane, which is very fast. Traveling on foot corresponds to the Small Vehicle, traveling by car to the Great Vehicle, and taking a plane to the Vajrayana. The Vajrayana considers that everything is fundamentally pure. The state of an ordinary being is only nonrealization of this purity. Likewise, the six classes of beings, if their purity is realized, appear as the six Buddhas' lands. When the mind is impure, all appearances are samsara. When it is pure, they are nirvana. The purpose of the methods of the Vajrayana is to produce the transformation of impure into pure. Taipei, April 30, 1986 Product Description: Secret Buddhism reveals the essentials of Vajrayana, mantras, empowerments, the six yogas of Naropa, Chod, Pure Land, and the six bardos. A history of the Kagyupa and Shangpa Lineages and some explanation of the principles of Tibetan medicine complete this survey of Tibetan Buddhism.
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