The Garland Of Mahamudra Practices by Khenchen Kongchog Gyaltshen Rinpoche (found of the Tibetan Meditation Center, Frederick, Maryland) is a practical text of instructions and guidance for students who seek to follow the path of Mahamudra, or the Great Seal, a means of personal, spiritual enlightenment as taught by the Buddha and passed down among exemplary disciples Tilopa, Naropa, Marpa, Milarepa, and Gampopa to create a five-fold path encompassing enlightened motivation, deity yoga, guru yoga, mahamudra and proper dedication. Expertly translated into English by Katherine Rogers, The Garland Of Mahamudra Practices is a text of wisdom transcending generations, and a very highly recommended addition to Buddhist studies supplemental reading lists and academic reference collections.

I am not an academic or one who professes any profound intellectual knowledge of Buddhism. I am a practising yogi with only experience of the teachings to convey. In seeking enlightenment I must say this commentary was most profound in both my experience and understanding of life.

I received a large taste of emptiness and the self by reading and rereading the "seventy Stanza's". It cleared up the confusion about relative and absolute truths and paved the way for me to see life in a clearer view. This book also opens the way for further studies of the nature of mind in a most detailed way.

This is not an easy reading and if one believes it is, then one doesn't understand. It is easy to fool oneself and believe they understand but once that happens, life becomes a series of challenges that dare you to understand what you think you "know".

Taking the mind to it's limit of understanding and opening another realm of knowledge also encompasses the heart and this is where one can become befuddled. Living and knowing emptiness on a moment to moment basis is empowering in alleviating all suffering. for oneself and others.It isn't an intellectual exercise that one masters today, it ust be kept in one's conscious, so periodic rereading is required. Each reintroduction is more revealing and if my words annoy or bother your intellectual abilities, then you haven't understood.

It is one of the most important books I've read about Buddhism, and I've read a lot of them. I was pleasantly surprised at the ability of Geshe Sonam in explaining the six perfections and how they apply to daily life. Generosity, Ethics, Patience, Concentration, Wisdom and Effort are the six virtues which are most important for developing happinness and inner peace. This book is a must for the spiritual seeker, both experienced or begginner.

THIS BOOK MAKE SIMPLE TRUTHS THAT HAD BEING SAID FOR PHILOSOPHERS THROUGH MANY AGES SPECIALLY BUDDHIST BUT ALSO GREEKS AND GERMAN.IS WONDERFULL

The Madhyamika philosophy is the most profound view of reality formulated within the Buddhist tradition. It was first articulated clearly two thousand years ago by the Indian saint Nagarjuna, and later elaborated upon by his disciple Aryadeva and the famous Chandrakirti. The works of these three masters formed the philosophical bedrock for the Buddhism that later flourished in Tibet, and most of their writings which are currently available in English have come to us through Tibet. This book is part of that tradition. The book contains Aryadeva's famous Four Hundred Verses on the Yogic Deeds of Bodhisattvas, as well as a commentary by the 14th century Tibetan master Gyel-tsap. These are then further elaborated upon in this volume by Geshe Sonam Rinchen.

The book, is divided into two parts. The first deals with more "conventional" Buddhist truths which address renunciation from worldly attachments, abandonment of delusions and disturbing emotions such as pride and anger, cultivation of compassion and so forth. It is here that this book is at its most compelling and most enjoyable to read. The second part deals with "ultimate" Buddhist truth, arguments in favor of the Madhyamika philosophy that all phenomena, although they appear, are empty of inherent existence. This philosophy is extremely profound and subtle. Only a few books in English really do it justice, and this, unfortunately, isn't one of them. I am not sure if the fault is Aryadeva's, Gyel-tsap's, Geshe Sonam Rinchen's or the translator's, but readers sincerely interested in plumbing the depths of the Madyamika would do better in my opinion to study some of the currently available translations and commentaries of Nagarjuna's and Chandrakirti's works. Unfortunately, there are no other English translations and commentaries on this work by Aryadeva which are in print at this time.

Whoever experienced Geshe Sonam Rinchen La's humourous wisdom, meeting him in person, will be eager to prolong the inspiration, that grew out of his words.

In the " 400 stanzas", Aryadeva, an ancient indian saint, famous scholar of Nagarjuna, explains, how to regard life out of Buddhist insight. His compressed verses show a radical wit, provoking the readers' contradiction, making them think about the actual meaning.

To unfold the contents of Aryadeva's mental seeds, comments and explaining stories have been added by following Indian and Tibetan Buddhist personalities, which are a pleasure to read, due to their poetical, funny and colourful descriptions of how to consider apparently common situations in a refreshing new way.

Geshe Rinchen La rounds up each chapter, summarizing the essentials, clearing them from the narrative ornaments to emphasize their advice for the present time.

'Though dealing with highly complex philosophical subjects, this book is earth-bound as life itself. It fascinates in combining a thousand years of Buddhist spirit, serving to improve human life through changing ones own mental influence on it.

The most basic texts of the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition, "lamrim" texts, cover all the stages of the path to enlightenment. They all trace their origin to this text by Atisha. I have long been attracted to the lamrim tradition, and have read a number of modern renditions. I purchased and read this book hoping to glean something extra or some special insight from a translation and commentary on the original source text of this whole tradition. I was disappointed. I doubt it is Atisha's lack of clarity that makes this book, and even his own verses, so uninspiring, so humdrum actually. Perhaps later exponents like Je Tsongkhapa and Je Pabongkhapa really did improve upon the original, and having read their works this one seems superfluous, but that has not typically been my experience in this field. I think that the authors, while they have done a great service in bringing this work to the English language, have not translated nor commented upon this work in a way that makes for compelling or even interesting reading. By its very history alone, this should be a book I refer to frequently, but I have never looked again at it even once since I read it a year ago, and that seems sad to me.

This book by Atisha, or commentary, is the prototype of all other forthcoming Tibetan lam.rim (stages of the path to enlightenment) literature by Je Tsongkhapa (Lamrim chenmo), Pahbonka Rinpoche, and others. Actually, Je Tsongkhapa requested for blessings from Atisha to compose his Lamrim Chenmo.

Maybe the translation or the style is not applicable for some readers, but it's important to notice that without Atisha's text, the whole lam.rim literature from Tibet would most likely not have happened in the big scale as it did. --Kent

Rinchen Dolma Taring's book is a potentially remarkable narrative of the almost gut-wrenching speed with which most Tibetans were thrust into the harsh realities of the 20th century. It is a pity therefore that the naivete of the story-telling does not mature as the author does. She remains in the telling, a wide-eyed voyeur with superficial comprehension of the tumultous events that devastated the country and displays little empathy with the ordinary men and women who accompanied her into exile. This, whilst reflective of her class in the old city of Lhasa is irritating in the context of Tibet in the 21st century. Not a truly serious read, it is probably best appreciated by readers graduating from Enid Blyton to PG Wodehouse.

Daughter of Tibet provides a rare glimpse into the Tibetan culture prior to the Chinese takeover in the 1950s, courtesy of Mary-la, Rinchen Dolma Taring, whom I had the pleasure to meet in the early 1970s in Mussoorie, India. For those with the ability to temporarily discard the trappings of Western culture, Taring guides the way to learning about everyday Tibetan life, Tibetan politics and that which permeates everything Tibetan, Buddhism. The reader is transported to that magical "Land of the Snows" where, amid the harsh environment, a cheerful, hospitable, learned and deeply religious people flourished. A must-read for anyone interested in Tibet and its current sorrow.