Shamatha meditation is fundamental to Buddhist practice because before we can understand why we are living in conditioned existence, or samsara, with all its unhappiness and conflicts we must learn to deal with our thoughts and feelings. This process of learning to relax the mind so that it does not constantly go from one thought to the next is shamatha meditation. This book is a teaching given by Thrangu Rinpoche on how to practice shamatha and insight meditation. Since Rinpoche is from the Kagyu lineage of Buddhism, he presents meditation from the vajrayana perspective. This style of meditation is extremely effective and has produced thousands of enlightened individuals over the centuries.