Creation and Completion

Creation and Completion
Author: Jamgon Kongtrul
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 210
Release: 2014-05-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0861718208

Creation and Completion represents some of the most profound teachings of Jamgon Kongtrul (1813-99), one of the true spiritual and literary giants of Tibetan history. Though brief, it offers a lifetime of advice for all who wish to engage in-and deepen-the practice of tantric Buddhist meditation. The original text, beautifully translated and introduced by Sara Harding, is further brought to life by an in-depth commentary by the contemporary master Thrangu Rinpoche. Key Tibetan Buddhist fundamentals are quickly made clear, so that the reader may confidently enter into tantra's oft-misunderstood "creation" and "completion" stages. In the creation stage, practitioners visualize themselves in the form of buddhas and other enlightened beings in order to break down their ordinary concepts of themselves and the world around them. This meditation practice prepares the mind for engaging in the completion stage, where one has a direct encounter with the ultimate nature of mind and reality.

The Essence of Creation and Completion

The Essence of Creation and Completion
Author: Koṅ-sprul Blo-gros-mthaʼ-yas
Publisher:
Total Pages: 163
Release: 2001
Genre: Meditation
ISBN: 9781877294105

Every Vajrayana practice has two phases to it: the creation stage in which one creates the visualization and the completion stage in which one dissolves the visualization. Jamgon Kongtrul wrote an important text describing these two processes and Thrangu Rinpoche gives a detailed commentary on this root text. The book includes a translation of the root text as well as Rinpoche's commentary. The entire practice, starting from the very beginning of the generation stage of the deity and culminating with the dissolution or withdrawal of the deity and mandala into the clear light, corresponds to all the events of one life. The very beginning of the generation corresponds to the entrance of the consciousness into the womb, for example, in the case of a human life. As the practice goes on there are specific elements that correspond to the birth, to all the experiences of this life, and finally in the withdrawal phase, to death.

The Plan Outline

The Plan Outline
Author: Jeff Swanson
Publisher:
Total Pages: 66
Release: 2012-07-01
Genre:
ISBN: 9780983084419

The Plan is the first chronology of God's Word, arranged verse by verse beginning with the creation of all things, and ending with prophesied events yet to come. The Plan Outline is a world history outline that provides the framework including all 440 biblical dates and 870 world history dates. It seamlessly integrates biblical history and world history into one picture. This easy reference tool is useful for verifying biblical authority of any historical event.

Pure Appearance

Pure Appearance
Author: Dilgo Khyentse
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
Total Pages: 46
Release: 2016-07-26
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0834840286

A complex topic is here made crystal clear through the heartfelt teaching of one of the great Tibetan Buddhist masters of the twentieth century. With Pure Appearance Dilgo Khyenste Rinpoche offers an overview of Tibetan tantric practice that explains its concepts, clarifies its terminology, and shows how its myriad pieces fit together, including an extensive teaching on the bardos, or "between states"—essential for those new to the topic and a source of illumination for longtime students. Vajrayana methods for realizing the true nature of the mind take the resultant state of buddhahood as the path, or what is to be practiced. Pure Appearance focuses on the generation and completion stages of tantra that work with the pure form aspect of enlightenment. In this short but densely packed teaching Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche explains the structure of the tantric path and how its stages are put into practice, in terms that apply generally across the spectrum of deity practices. He emphasizes the distinctive features of the Nyingma approach but frequently correlates them with their counterparts in the New Translation traditions.

Creation

Creation
Author: J. F. Rutherford
Publisher:
Total Pages: 380
Release: 2013-10
Genre:
ISBN: 9781494098650

This is a new release of the original 1927 edition.

The Book of Divine Works

The Book of Divine Works
Author: St. Hildegard of Bingen
Publisher: Catholic University of America Press
Total Pages: 568
Release: 2018-10-16
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0813231299

Completed in 1173, The Book of Divine Works (Liber Divinorum Operum) is the culmination of the Visionary’s Doctor’s theological project, offered here for the first time in a complete and scholarly English translation. The first part explores the intricate physical and spiritual relationships between the cosmos and the human person, with the famous image of the universal Man standing astride the cosmic spheres. The second part examines the rewards for virtue and the punishments for vice, mapped onto a geography of purgatory, hellmouth, and the road to the heavenly city. At the end of each Hildegard writes extensive commentaries on the Prologue to John’s Gospel (Part 1) and the first chapter of Genesis (Part 2)—the only premodern woman to have done so. Finally, the third part tells the history of salvation, imagined as the City of God standing next to the mountain of God’s foreknowledge, with Divine Love reigning over all.

The Magnum Opus

The Magnum Opus
Author: Christopher Kezelos
Publisher: Zealous Creative
Total Pages: 212
Release: 2016-12-13
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 0998462837

The Magnum Opus is inspired by the multi-award-winning short film, The Maker. Watch it here: http://bit.ly/WatchTheMaker Synopsis: In a time and world long ago forgotten, there existed an enchanted workshop. Within its walls, a magical creature called a 'Maker' busily created the next of his kin. Upon completion, the creator was whisked away to join the rest of the Maker community. Meanwhile, their progeny was left alone to create the next Maker in a never-ending cycle of creation. That was, until the day an offbeat Maker named Ario was unable to complete 'The Making' and broke their sacred chain of existence. Wracked with guilt, Ario embarked on a quest to right his wrong, but what he discovered was far more monstrous and miraculous than anyone ever imagined. Awards: Distinguished Favorite - Independent Publisher Book Awards Honorable Mention - Los Angeles Book Festival Self-Published Cover Award - New York Book Show

Ocean of Attainments

Ocean of Attainments
Author: Yael Bentor
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 835
Release: 2024-04-16
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1614298300

This commentary on Guhyasamaja tantra is the seminal guide to deity yoga and tantric visualization for the Geluk school of Tibetan Buddhism. The Guhyasamaja Tantra, called the king of all tantras, is revered in Tibet, especially by the Geluk school. Ocean of Attainments, a commentary on Guhyasamaja practice, was composed by Khedrup Jé Gelek Palsang (1385–1438), a key disciple of the Geluk school founder, Tsongkhapa Losang Drakpa. It explores the creation stage, a quintessential Buddhist tantric meditation that together with the completion stage comprises the path of unexcelled tantra. In the creation stage, meditators visualize themselves as buddhas at the center of the celestial mandala, surrounded in all directions by male and female buddhas, bodhisattvas, and other enlightened beings. Yet creation-stage practice is not merely visualization but deity yoga—indivisibly uniting the meditation on emptiness with the visualization of the mandala. The creation stage uses the conceptualization in visualization to overcome conceptualization, thereby creating a nonconceptual and nonerroneous direct perception. Such a mind, profound and vast, can bring about a transformation that stops samsaric suffering. How can visions generated as mental constructs not be erroneous? To the awakened eye, the buddhas and other beings who dwell in the mandala are “reality,” and in a sense they are more than real. While the previously published Essence of the Ocean of Attainments is a concise exposition on the practice of the Guhyasamaja sadhana, Ocean of Attainments is far more detailed, providing extensive scriptural citations, clear explanation of the body maanala, arguments on points of contention, reference to other tantric systems, and critiques of misinterpretations. With its extensive and clear introduction, this volume is a vital contribution to the growing body of scholarship on Guhyasamaja and on Buddhist tantra in general.

LIFE AND TEACHINGS OF TSONG KHAPA

LIFE AND TEACHINGS OF TSONG KHAPA
Author: Prof. Robert Thurman
Publisher: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2006-01-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 8186470441

Je Tsong Khapa (1357-1419) is revered as one of the most significant Tibetan Buddhist teacher whose eclectic and analytic studies and meditations in all the major schools of Tibetan Buddhism resulted in the founding of the Gelugpa system of the Tibetan Buddhist heritage. The Life and Teachings of Tsong Khapa brings together for the first time a number of extremey important and useful works by and on Tsong Khapa touching transcendental aspects of Sutra, Tantra and Insight Meditation, including mystic conver sations with great Bodhisattvas and deeply spiritual songs in praises of Manjushri and Maitreya etc. The anthology concludes with a number of intensely moving songs in praise of Tsong Khapa and his immeasurable contribution to Tibetan Buddhism by such realised and remarkable Tibetan Buddhist personalities like the Seventh Dalai Lama, Eighth Karmapa, Dulnagpa Palden and Khaydrub Je etc. Ably translated by a number of Western Buddhist translators in association with Tibetan Buddhist scholars, The Life and Teachings of Tsong Khapa edited by Professor Robert Thurman, fulfils a long standing need of the contemporary Dharma community of both the East and the West.

Building a Second Brain

Building a Second Brain
Author: Tiago Forte
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2022-06-14
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1982167408

“One of my favorite books of the year. It completely reshaped how I think about information and how and why I take notes.” —Daniel Pink, bestselling author of Drive A revolutionary approach to enhancing productivity, creating flow, and vastly increasing your ability to capture, remember, and benefit from the unprecedented amount of information all around us. For the first time in history, we have instantaneous access to the world’s knowledge. There has never been a better time to learn, to contribute, and to improve ourselves. Yet, rather than feeling empowered, we are often left feeling overwhelmed by this constant influx of information. The very knowledge that was supposed to set us free has instead led to the paralyzing stress of believing we’ll never know or remember enough. Now, this eye-opening and accessible guide shows how you can easily create your own personal system for knowledge management, otherwise known as a Second Brain. As a trusted and organized digital repository of your most valued ideas, notes, and creative work synced across all your devices and platforms, a Second Brain gives you the confidence to tackle your most important projects and ambitious goals. Discover the full potential of your ideas and translate what you know into more powerful, more meaningful improvements in your work and life by Building a Second Brain.