Yoga Tantra: Paths to Magical Feats - Softcover

INTRODUCTION, EXPOSITION, AND SUPPLEMENT Dzong-ka-ba’s presentation of Yoga Tantra is introduced by His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, in the first part of this book. This introduction is drawn mainly from his lectures on ‚ Dzong-ka-ba’s text given in Dharmsala, India, in 1979, but also from lectures given in the summer of 2002 and from private discussions. The Dalai Lama’s commentaries included in the first two books in this series were translated and edited from private teachings in Dharmsala in 1974. Dzong-ka-ba’s exposition of Yoga Tantra comprises the second part of this book. The third part is a supplement on the central practices of the five manifest enlightenments and the four seals, written by ‚ Dzong-ka-ba’s student Ke-drup-ge-lek-bel-sang. The fourth and final part is my brief formulation of the steps of Yoga Tantra practice, drawn from the Dalai Lama’s, Dzong-ka-ba’s and Ke-drup-ge-lek-bel-sang’s explanations. The First Pachen Lama’s a depiction of the five manifest enlightenments is given in an Appendix.

The Dalai Lama opens the door to the topic of Yoga Tantra with an extraordinarily detailed teaching on a classic text. Rarely in the Dalai Lama's lifetime has he given teachings of such a nature on this topic, about which so little is understood. There follows a translation of Dzong-ka-ba's The Great Exposition of Secret Mantra: Yoga Tantra, one of his most important works and a monument of Tibetan Buddhist literature, and the basis for the Dalai Lama's teaching. This is an invaluable book for anyone who is practicing or interested in Buddhist tantra in general.