Embracing the Spiritual Path According to the Great Perfection

Compiled and edited by Marcia Binder Schmidt
Companion volume to Dzogchen Essentials

BUDDHA SHAKYAMUNI
CHÖGYAM TRUNGPA RINPOCHE
CHOKYI NYIMA RINPOCHE
MILAREPA
PADMASAMBHAVA
PALTRUL RINPOCHE
SHANTIDEVA
THINLEY NORBU RINPOCHE
THRANGU RINPOCHE
TSOKNYI RINPOCHE
TULKU THONDUP
TULKU URGYEN RINPOCHE

Dzogchen is a time-honored set of teachings kept alive in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. The word Dzogchen means the Great Perfection and its principle is to bring the state of enlightenment into your present experience. To bridge this gap between our ordinary state of mind and the awakened state of all buddhas, a realistic approach is necessary. The Dzogchen Primer is a joyful access to this tradition. It is a sourcebook on how to study, contemplate, and meditate in a supportive environment abundant in rich material and practices. Here is a definitive map showing where practitioners of Dzogchen are going and how to get there. The Primer includes the basics for proper understanding and practice--a source anyone on this path can turn to for guidance.

Marcia Binder Schmidt has gathered here the most accessible, down-to-earth writings published on this subject in English and organized it as a study guide for the serious beginner on the Dzogchen path. This collection includes writings from well-known and venerable masters Padmasambhava, Milarepa, Shantideva, Chogyam Trungpa, and Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, among others.

Complete with short, tutorial notes for each subtopic, intended to assist both independent students and teachers leading workshops, along with two introductions from living Dzogchen masters, this primer presents an inclusive collection of study and practice that allows it to be understood and assimilated.

Marcia Binder Schmidt has been an editor and publisher of books on Vajrayana Buddhism for over fifteen years. With her husband, author and translator Erik Pema Kunsang, she founded and currently runs Rangjung Yeshe Publications, an independent publisher of Buddhist texts in English.

Description of the Book

This Dzogchen Primer offers a joyful way to access the traditional as well as the most profound principles of Tibetan Buddhism. It is a guidebook on how to study, contemplate and meditate in a supportive and abundant environment of rich material and practices. Here is a definitive, knowledgeable map for where practitioners of this path are going and how to get there. As a primer, it includes the basics for proper understanding and practice -- a source anyone on this path can turn to for guidance.
The Dzogchen Primer combines study and practice in a program that is easy to do and comprehend. It is based on the distinctive style of Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, widely known for its unique directness in introducing students to the nature of mind in a way that allows immediate experience. The Primer draws on the teachings of some of the greatest masters of Dzogchen and Mahamudra and is replete with pieces that are simple, direct and profound. It offers a way to acquire the correct ‘grounding’, as well as the confidence that we can become enlightened.
Both teachers and students alike can use the Dzogchen Primer. Teachers can use it as virtual textbook for their students. Students will be able to find, in a single source, a complete outline of the entire path as well as in-depth explanations of each part of that path, along with ways to apply these teachings to their own practice. Wherever appropriate, facilitator guidelines are inserted to support group discussions of chapters. The book adapts the presentation of the Dzogchen path for the modern student, while using traditional principles; among key topics, are renunciation, compassion, devotion and recognizing mind nature.
--Marcia Binder Schmidt

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