Practiced by all four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, White Tara has been the main deity practice of many well-known Buddhist scholars and siddhas in both India and Tibet, foremost among whom were Nagarjuna and Atisha. White Tara's special function is to promote long life, both for the practitioner and for others. Ultimately, she is the very nature of the dharmakaya, and her practice is a means for attaining realization and accomplishing liberation.

In this book Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche has given a complete and detailed guide to the practice of White Tara based on the commentary of the great nineteenth-century master, Jamgon Kongtrul the Great. Presenting the various stages of the practice in a warm and straightforward style, he makes this profound practice accessible through a wealth of detailed explanations, poignant anecdotes, and down-to-earth examples. Rinpoche makes it very clear that, if done with sincerity and devotion, this practice "can lead to the experience of perfect awakening.”

This book contains two complete practice texts, one by the 8th Tai Situ Rinpoche, the other by Jamgon Kongtrul the Great, both these are in English, Tibetan and transliteration. Also included are many photos displaying the mudras that accompany this practice and a commentary on torma offering.

Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche is among the few remaining senior Tibetan lamas who were fully trained in retreat practice, ritual, and philosophical studies in Tibet before the Chinese invasion. Rinpoche was sent to the United States in 1976 by His Holiness the sixteenth Gyalwa Karmapa to establish Karma Triyana Dharmachakra (KTD) Monastery in Woodstock, New York, as the main seat of the Karma Kagyu tradition of Buddhism in the Western Hemisphere. As the abbot of KTD, he has taught Buddhism extensively at KTD and at the more than thirty affiliated centers established over the years under his guidance.

General Buddhism