Moonbeams of Mahamudra [Hardcover]

A new translation of Tibet's most important manual for Mahāmudrā view and meditation

This classic Buddhist work, written in the sixteenth century, comprehensively presents the entire scope of the Tibetan Kagyu Mahāmudrā tradition. These profound yet accessible instructions focus on becoming familiar with the nature of one’s mind as the primary means to realize ultimate reality and thus attain buddhahood. Dakpo Tashi Namgyal’s manual for the view and practice of Mahāmudrā is widely considered the single most important work on the subject, systematically introducing the view and associated meditation techniques in a progressive manner.

Moonbeams of Mahāmudrā, along with the Ninth Karmapa Wangchuk Dorje’s Dispelling the Darkness of Ignorance, are to this day some of the most studied texts on Mahāmudrā in the Kagyu monasteries throughout Tibet and the Himalayas. Elizabeth M. Callahan, a renowned translator of classical Kagyu literature, has provided new translations of these two texts along with ancillary materials and annotations, making this a genuine resource for both scholars and students of Tibetan Buddhism. This historic contribution therefore offers the necessary tools to properly study and apply the Mahāmudrā teachings in a modern context.“This remarkable text, Moonbeams of Mahāmudrā, contains the essence of the entire Buddhist tradition as it has come to us from India and Tibet. The author, Dakpo Tashi Namgyal, clearly lays out the profound path of Mahāmudrā with both the analytical style of a scholar and the experiential style of a meditator. This unique approach is, at the same time, profound, practical, and completely accessible. It is my sincere wish that this new translation will inspire and benefit al³'