Radiant Aspiration offers a clear introduction to the Tibetan Buddhist understanding of the nature of existence, exploring how to free ourselves from all that limits us. It provides a translation of a beautiful prayer which employs the symbolism of the ritual offering of butterlamps, where light is seen as the basis of the nonduality of all experience. The book contains the full ritual text so that readers can engage in its practice if they so choose. There is an extensive commentary focusing on the development of wisdom and compassion making the traditional text fully relevant to the modern reader.

Radiant Aspiration - The Butterlamp Prayer

Religion & Spirituality

Low, James

Rigdzin Rinpoche, Chimed

Buddhism

Simply Being

C. R. Lama, also known as Chimed Rigdzin Rinpoche and as Zilnon Lingpa (1922-2002), was an important lama in the Khordong and Changter lineages of the Nyingmapa School of Tibetan Buddhism. A scholar and also a yogi, he combined these two streams in his work as Reader in Indo-Tibetan Studies at Visva Bharati University at Santiniketan, West Bengal, India. He was a family man who was actively engaged in the world around him. This book gathers together Rinpoche's writings on a wide range of topics including Nyingma Buddhist Philosophy, Tibetan cultural practices, his life in Khordong Monastery in Tibet and his advice for Dharma practitioners. Tulku Thondup writes, "James Low studied under the Ven. Chimed Rigdzin Rinpoche for years with incredible dedication in austere conditions to accumulate vast knowledge of Rinpoche's teachings. This volume is filled with those precious teachings, most of which have remained unpublished until now."

Collected Works of C. R. Lama

Lama, Chimed Rigdzin

Sparks is the 8th book by this popular author. It is an accessible collection of short writings and poems arising from his experience of practising and teaching Buddhism for many years. In simple and beautiful language it is an expression of the profound non-dual view of Dzogchen, which illuminates the enlivening Buddha potential present in all of us.This pithy collection of prose and poems can be entered at any point, enjoyed and reflected upon since each 'spark' or 'snippet' is complete in itself. The topic is profound, yet it is condensed and expressed in simple language using examples and metaphors from everydaylife and the living world around us.James Low's books have been and are being translated into Estonian, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish.James Low has now retired  from his post as a Consultant Psychotherapist in the National Health Service. He maintains a small private psychotherapy practice in London and has taught in many psychotherapy institutes, mostly in the UK. 

Sparks: Flashes of insight from the Buddha's fire

Literature & Fiction

Poetry

Funken (German Edition)

Each section of the book leads into the next, showing how, by peeling away our habitual assumptions and projections, we can directly encounter the intrinsic purity of our own mind. "This is it", Dzogchen, the great completion.\nThe first facet, One Thing Leads to Another, offers sutra texts on dependent origination. The second, Increased Transparency, includes the Heart Sutra and indicates that all phenomena, whether seemingly outer or inner, subject or object, are empty and devoid of inherent existence. This leads onto the third facet Encountering the Other, the story of how the Buddha Chakrasamvara manifested in order to deal with cruelty and malicious behaviour. The fourth Facet, Getting Lost Invites Trouble, offers two accounts of how pride and self-confidence can lead a person astray so that their provocations lead to a display the Buddhas' wrathful power, enforcing transformation and the abrupt end to the careers of heartless bullies.\nNext, in the fifth facet, we see how transformation can be elective rather than imposed. Cutting Free begins with the story of Machig Labdron, her struggle to free herself from social constraints so that she could pursue a life in dharma. There is a short guru yoga practice and her Chöd practice, The Dakinis' Laughter. Finally in facet six, Just This is The Cuckoo Cry, the foundational text of the dzogchen mind series. In just three couplets it sets out the view, meditation and activity which are the inseparability of primordial purity and instant presence.

This is it: revealing the great completion

Politics & Social Sciences

Philosophy

According to Buddhism it is helpful to follow a path because of the universal tendency to get lost. However when a teacher explains the path to us we need to make sure that we understand properly what we are being taught and how to put it into practice.\nThis illustrated book tells the story of a student's misunderstanding that fed into his overweening ambition and many disasters that ensued on an epic and cosmic scale.\nMe First! is an ancient Tibetan Buddhist account of how a teacher's liberating instructions on the path to freedom were misunderstood by one of his disciples. The proud young student called Masterful goes to a Buddhist teacher called Resolute who points out to him that since his mind is always and already intrinsically free, there is therefore no need for him to involve himself in meditations and other practices to improve what is already perfect.\nMasterful, however, hears this as a permission to be uncontrolled and do whatever he likes. Instead of awakening to the simple purity of his own awareness he feeds his egotistical ambition and sets out to take whatever he wants without limit, exploiting others without any concern for their capacity and welfare. This leads to universal devastation until finally the accumulated negative karma leads to Masterful manifesting as a demon, and known as Rudra. In this form he creates havoc until after many outrages the peaceful Buddhas gather together and decide that they need to adopt a new tactic.\nManifesting their powerful controlling energy, all the Buddhas transform the teacher Resolute into an all-conquering force of virtue. After many intense adventures the demonic force of Masterful is bound into the service of the true path of freedom, cleansed of his bad karma and bound into the service of the dharma, with the new name, Mahakala, Great Black One. The people return in peace to the land.\nThis story points to the dangers of unconstrained power and the associated temptation to follow the path of dictatorship. It highlights how important is the creative collaboration among the forces of good in order to constrain the power of delinquent self-assertion.\nThe illustrations bring the key points of this story to dramatic life and invite the reader to share in the excitements of this heroic engagement.\nThe text is based on the Padma bKa'-Thang by Padmasambhava which was revealed by the terton, Urgyen gLing-Pa. 
For James Low's full translation of the original Tibetan text see Facet 4 (Getting Lost Invites Trouble), in This is it: revealing the great completion. James Low. (Simply Being, UK, 2020) ISBN: 978-0956923974.

Me first!: an account of the rise of the Wrathful Buddhas

This attractively illustrated book invites children to see how the sea and the sun and the clouds are all collaborating together to make our bright and variegated world. They all need each other and so the key theme is that none of us is alone and we all get along better with friendly and appreciative participation. The idea is that adults read the book aloud and talk about the images and themes with the child.\nAs the text on the back cover highlights, 
Proud Little Cloud felt very happy to be bright and shining in the vast blue sky: "There is no one like me." she thought proudly. "I'm so special!" However the eclipse of the sun came as a big surprise to her: "Oh, so it is not my own light that makes me bright! I need the sun so I can shine and children need my rain so they have puddles to splash in. I'm part of everything. Now I feel like an even more proud little cloud!"\nEach illustration has many fascinating details for children to explore.

Proud Little Cloud: letting in the light

Children's Books

The ten teachings in this book provide a buddhist account of the formation of attachment and anxiety and show how we can release ourselves from involvement in their deluding intensity. By understanding the unborn and ungraspable nature of our own mind, we can release ourselves from our habitual tendency to see the world in terms of self and other. This frees us from the urge to judge what occurs in terms of what is pleasing or displeasing to our ego-self and thereby allows us to rest in clarity and equanimity.

Easy does it: Buddhist teachings on letting go of anxiety and attachment (Simply Being Buddhism)

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Alternative Medicine

Longing for Limitless Light offers a sequential series of key texts in the Mahayana tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. These prayers and aspirations form part of the daily practice for many in the various Tibetan Buddhist traditions. They include prayers, aspirations, rituals and descriptions of a path to enlightenment. The loving heart of Buddha Amitabha Limitless Light invites all beings into his pure realm of Happiness known as Dewachen or Sukhavati where, say the texts, awakening is easy. Relying on the warm presence of the Enlightened Ones, our lonely struggles can be left behind as we relax into the ever-inclusive ground of our being. These practices are an effective antidote to the sense of alienation and isolation which is so pervasive at this time. The practice texts in this book offer tried and trusted ways to connect with the Buddhas whose welcome already awaits us. They include the prayers and full ritual for Taking Refuge and for Taking the Bodhisattva Vow and prayers and practices such as the Dechen Monlam for Taking Birth in Dewachen. They provide a coherent support for developing faith and confidence in this Mahayana method that unites wisdom and compassion. The individual texts describe the many ways in which the Buddhist teachings invite us to a profound encounter with our own potential. Through developing our own qualities of generosity, loving kindness and genuine availability we connect with the ever-present welcome offered by all the Buddhas. To connect with the Buddhas is to connect with our own heart and through this to connect with all sentient beings. Each text was translated from Tibetan by C R Lama and James Low together many years ago in India. James Low has recently revised them and written an introduction.

Longing for Limitless Light: Letting in the light of Buddha Amitabha's love

This book focuses on Padmasambhava, the Lotus Born Guru who awakens us to our own lotus source. Padmasambhava brought tantric Buddhism to Tibet and his power and blessing continues to guide and inspire meditators in the Himalayan regions and worldwide to this day. 
All Buddhist practice is concerned with awakening from the illusions which bind us. The lotus represents this awakening and for the intrinsic purity which is the source of both awakened Buddhas and deluded sentient beings. Forgetfulness of our lotus source has given rise to our experience of being someone real somewhere in a real world. 
The wide range of prayers and practices translated and explained in this book provide guidance on how to live in a clear and ethical way. These practices ease the process of dying and guide us to Padmasambhava in his pure realm of Lotus Light, also known as Zangdopalri, the Copper Coloured Mountain. 
Texts translated by C. R. Lama and James Low.

Lotus Source: Becoming Lotus Born

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