Luminous Emptiness (eBook)

Preface

Understandinglittle of my guru's teaching,
Eventhat littlenotput into practice,
Howcan I write as though ithasentered my heart,
Likea dewdrop dreaming itcanhold the sun?
Pleasegrant your blessing so that beings such as I
Maydrink the nectar of the Ocean of Dharma.

Thetrue fount of inspiration behind the writing of this book is ChgyamTrungpa Rinpoche. It was he who introduced me to the TibetanBook of the Dead andestablished my lifelong connection with it by asking me to translate it withhim. It is he who is the source of whatever understanding I may have of it. Tomy deep regret, I was unable to fulfill his expectations and intentions for mewhile he was alive. This book is my offering to him. With it, I hope to sharesome of the riches I received from him and carry out at least a small part ofhis wishes.

TrungpaRinpoche was probably born in 1940 and was recognized at an early age as areincarnation in the lineage of the Trungpa Tulkus. He was the eleventh in aline of highly realized teachers and abbot of the Surmang group of monasteriesin eastern Tibet. Tulkumeans'emanation body,' which we usually call an incarnation, Trungpaisthe name of his lineage, meaning literally 'one who is in thepresence', Chgyamisan abbreviation of one of the many names he received during his training,meaning 'Ocean of Dharma', and Rinpocheisa title meaning 'precious jewel,' generally used for all respectedteachers.

Followingthe invasion of Tibet by China, he escaped to India in 1959 and came to Englandin 1963. While living in Oxford, he began teaching a few students, and thenmoved to Scotland where he founded Samye Ling, the first Tibetan Buddhistcenter in the United Kingdom. In 1970, he was invited to North America, wherehis teaching attracted a tremendous response. The United States and Canadaremained the bases of his teaching activities until his death in 1987.

TheTrungpa lineage belongs to the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, but many ofRinpoche's teachers were from the Nyingma school. In his own life and teaching,he combined the characteristic qualities of both traditions. However, forpractical purposes, there are significant differences between the methods ofthe two schools. With his first students in England, he taught primarily fromthe Nyingma perspective, but after his move to America, he emphasized the Kagyustyle of practice. In later years, he developed his own unique presentation,known as the Shambhala teachings, whose basic principles he discovered as'mind treasures' (gongter).TheShambhala teachings are drawn from ancient Tibetan and other Asian wisdomtraditions, as well as Buddhism, they bring the sacred vision of the tantrasinto everyday life without the need for any religious affiliation or the use ofspecifically Buddhist terminology. Thus, three great rivers of his inspirationand blessings have flowed out to the world from the Ocean of Dharma.

Ifirst met Trungpa Rinpoche in the spring of 1969. At the time, I was engaged inresearch for my doctoral thesis on the CuhyasamajaTantra atthe School of Oriental and African Studies in London. Feeling discouraged bydifficulties with the text, I hoped that he might be able to help. I had begunstudying Sanskrit in the early 1960s because of my love of Indian civilizationand philosophy, and soon came across works on tantra in the university library.I felt an immediate attraction to it as a spiritual path that relied on directexperience rather than belief and that gave...