WISDOM ECCENTRICS
Ngakpa Chögyam
A rare account of remarkable Lamas in the final years of a lost era. The author finds himself the first Western disciple of Kunzang Dorje Rinpoche, a highly reclusive master known for mercurial wrath and facility with Dzogchen. The author receives direct introduction to the nature of Mind through ruthless interrogation on the meaning of stories from the lives of Lineage Lamas. Later, during a 13-year separation from his Lama, the author studies with Chhi’med Rig’dzin Rinpoche, giving rise to further stories of startling scenarios. The account is genuinely heartwarming, hilarious and humane whilst retaining its power as an alarmingly insightful odyssey into the world of Vajrayana Buddhism and the transformative relationship between Lama and disciple. $30.00
ROARING SILENCE
Discovering the Mind of Dzogchen
Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen
According to the Vajrayana Buddhist tradition, Dzogchen is the direct experience of enlightenment. In Roaring Silence, Vajrayana teachers Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen walk the reader through the meditation techniques that ‘enable us to side-step the bureaucracy of intellectual processes and experience ourselves directly’ - to discover this direct experience of enlightenment that is the mind of Dzogchen. Surprisingly, the approach is very pragmatic. Offering an investigation of the necessary steps, the authors begin with how to prepare for the journey: the Lama is essential; as are a sense of humor, inspiration, and determination. They continue by describing the path of Dzogchen from sitting meditation to the direct perception of reality. Published by Shambhala Publications. $16.95
DANGEROUS FRIEND
The Teacher-Student Relationship in Vajrayana Buddhism
Ngala Rig’dzin Dorje
Although Tibetan Buddhism continues to grow in popularity, the crucial relationship between teacher and student remains largely misunderstood. Dangerous Friend offers an in-depth exploration of this mysterious and complex bond, a relationship of paramount importance in Tibetan Buddhist practice. According to Tibetan Buddhist tradition, the student must have complete trust in the teacher (the ‘dangerous friend’) if he or she is to achieve any understanding. It is the teacher’s responsibility to uphold the integrity of the tradition, the basis of which is compassion for all beings, by transmitting it properly to an appropriate student. Likewise, it is the student’s responsibility to meet the challenge of carrying on the lineage of teachings. By entering such a relationship, both teacher and student accept the burden of protecting those teachings by understanding them completely and correctly, practicing them fully and faultlessly, and transmitting them without omission. Published by Shambhala Publications. $15.95
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SPECTRUM of ECSTASY
Embracing the Five Wisdom Emotions of Vajrayana Buddhism
Ngakpa Chögyam with Khandro Déchen
Ngakpa Chögyam (Ngak’chang Rinpoche) and Khandro Déchen explore what it means to be utterly emotionally alive. Written in contemporary, nonacademic language, this book is a radical challenge to the misconception that inner Vajrayana is primarily an esoteric system of ritual and liturgy. The authors teach that emotions can be embraced as a rich and profound opportunity for realization. This fiercely compassionate battle cry rallies all who are audacious enough to appreciate emotions for their supreme potential as vehicles for awakening. Published by Shambhala Publications. $18.95
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Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen
The authors explore vajra-romance as the living application and dynamism of the Nyi-da Mélong – a Dzogchen tantra from the cycle of visionary teachings of the enigmatic Nyingma ‘treasure discoverer’ Khyungchen Aro Lingma. The Nyi-da Mélong opens the door to those who are inspired to integrate every aspect of human life with spiritual practice and puts to rest the myth that celibacy holds any demonstrable spiritual advantage. Sexuality is portrayed as the pervasive stratum of the senses and sense-fields – and as such, the lifeblood of the creative arts. Although this teaching is common in its essential form to all Vajrayana traditions, it has never before been extrapolated in such detail with regard to how it is lived within romantic relationships. Here we find a vivid presentation of the practice of the Nyida Mélong, characteristic of the milieu of the mahasiddhas. The authors discuss in profound depth the spiritual vivacity of falling in love, perceptual intimacy, vajra-romance, non-dual passion, liberated lust, and the poignant possibility of remaining in love forever. $30.00
E-MAILING The LAMAS From AFAR
Heart Advice from Two Buddhist Teachers to their Students
Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen
Two contemporary teachers reply to the e-mail questions of their students, questions which concern the full range of the students’ lives, from the fine points of Buddhist teachings to the nitty-gritty details of relationship, work, family life, and interpersonal conflict. They demonstrate, through concrete examples, the unconditional applicability of Vajrayana Buddhist teachings and practice to all realms of experience. This book carries into the 21st century the teachings of an ancient spiritual tradition—non-monastic Vajrayana Buddhism, the vehicle of transformation and of direct essential understanding of the nature of mind, within the activities and circumstances of ordinary human life. $25.00
Ngakpa Chögyam
As both a painter and a musician, this anthology is painted with the cadences of language. Ngakpa Chögyam marvels at existence whilst lampooning sociopathic spirituality. As semantic Jazz, linguistic density jives with space, taking readers into realms where linear logic is simply another vector among many. Comedy and tragedy dance, provoking a cascade of ecstatic, surrealistic impressionism that transcends with each reading. Rock & Roll lyrics sung by sky-dancers erupt in counterpoint to the paradoxical hymns and Blues-badinage of an English Lama who describes himself as a convivial vicar of vajrayana. The poet is an enigmatic trans-Atlantic, transcultural, trans-gestalt, trans-milieu, transient; a mild-mannered maniac who raves tongue-in-cheek, on the nature of reality and the contrapuntalism of realization and delusion. An experimental book and initial volume in a contemporary genre defined as "Critical Mass Poetics" by Ngakpa Chögyam (Ngak'chang Rinpoche). $33.00
WEARING the BODY of VISIONS
Ngakpa Chögyam
Ngak’chang Rinpoche’s third book describes the practice of Vajrayana in creative contemporary language. It is a direct revelation of the visionary transformation from the radical perspective of Dzogchen. Ngak’chang Rinpoche illuminates the practice of visualisation (envisionment); the three spheres of being; and the dance of spacious passion and passionate space. He explores the dramatic paradigm of vajra relationship with the Lama and the vibrant nature of transmission and empowerment. $30.00
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