It consists of four major traditions, of which the Kagyu tradition traces its origins particularly to the teachings of the great Indian Buddhist masters, Tilopa and Naropa. The transmission of these teachings in Tibet goes back to the great translator Marpa, his renowned disciple, the great yogi Milarepa, and his disciple, the teacher Gampopa. The tradition is characterised particularly by the teaching and practice of the Great Seal (Mahamudra) and the Six Yogas of Naropa.

This book contains the core of teachings characteristic of the tradition. The original text translated here from Tibetan, is the Ninth Karmapa Wangchuk Dorje’s Pointing Out the Dharmakaya. Karmapa Wangchuk Dorje is remembered particularly for his three texts on the Great Seal or Mahamudra, of which this is the most concise. In addition to giving teachings, he restored and established temples and monasteries wherever he went, particularly in Southern Tibet. Indeed it was he who initiated the foundation of Rumtek monastery in Sikkim that has become the seat of the Karmapas in exile.

Mahamudra, an advanced practice whose focus is the nature of the mind, is the principal topic here. Yet, it would be wrong to think that it is enough simply to meditate on Mahamudra without the necessary foundational practices. As the text shows, its successful practice cannot be separated from cultivating the basic qualities of love, compassion and the awakening mind of bodhichitta. These are what endow our practice with determination and mental strength. If we cultivate such qualities, then, with repeated practice and the passage of time, our tough and unruly minds can be transformed into marvellous states.

The Ninth Karmapa’s fundamental text is accompanied here by an explanation given by the contemporary Kagyu master scholar, Khenpo Thrangu Rinpoche, who is one of the most learned and experienced of the senior Karma Kagyu teachers living today. Indeed, he is the Tutor of the present Seventeenth Karmapa, Urgyen Trinley Dorje.

Readers who are interested in discovering the nature of the mind will find much here in this clear and thorough guide to delight and inspire them.

June 7, 2002