Dakini's Warm Breath

Dakini's Warm Breath

Author: Judith Simmer-Brown

Publisher: Shambhala Publications

Published: 2002-12-10

Total Pages: 427

ISBN-13: 157062920X

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A fresh interpretation of the dakini—a Tibetan Buddhist symbol of the feminine—that will appeal to practitioners interested in goddess worship, female spirituality, and Tantric Buddhism The primary emblem of the feminine in Tibetan Buddhism is the dakini, or “sky-dancer,” a semi-wrathful spirit-woman who manifests in visions, dreams, and meditation experiences. Western scholars and interpreters of the dakini, influenced by Jungian psychology and feminist goddess theology, have shaped a contemporary critique of Tibetan Buddhism in which the dakini is seen as a psychological “shadow,” a feminine savior, or an objectified product of patriarchal fantasy. According to Judith Simmer-Brown—who writes from the point of view of an experienced practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism—such interpretations are inadequate. In the spiritual journey of the meditator, Simmer-Brown demonstrates, the dakini symbolizes levels of personal realization: the sacredness of the body, both female and male; the profound meeting point of body and mind in meditation; the visionary realm of ritual practice; and the empty, spacious qualities of mind itself. When the meditator encounters the dakini, living spiritual experience is activated in a nonconceptual manner by her direct gaze, her radiant body, and her compassionate revelation of reality. Grounded in the author's personal encounter with the dakini, this unique study will appeal to both male and female spiritual seekers interested in goddess worship, women's spirituality, and the tantric tradition.


Book Synopsis Dakini's Warm Breath by : Judith Simmer-Brown

Download or read book Dakini's Warm Breath written by Judith Simmer-Brown and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 2002-12-10 with total page 427 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fresh interpretation of the dakini—a Tibetan Buddhist symbol of the feminine—that will appeal to practitioners interested in goddess worship, female spirituality, and Tantric Buddhism The primary emblem of the feminine in Tibetan Buddhism is the dakini, or “sky-dancer,” a semi-wrathful spirit-woman who manifests in visions, dreams, and meditation experiences. Western scholars and interpreters of the dakini, influenced by Jungian psychology and feminist goddess theology, have shaped a contemporary critique of Tibetan Buddhism in which the dakini is seen as a psychological “shadow,” a feminine savior, or an objectified product of patriarchal fantasy. According to Judith Simmer-Brown—who writes from the point of view of an experienced practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism—such interpretations are inadequate. In the spiritual journey of the meditator, Simmer-Brown demonstrates, the dakini symbolizes levels of personal realization: the sacredness of the body, both female and male; the profound meeting point of body and mind in meditation; the visionary realm of ritual practice; and the empty, spacious qualities of mind itself. When the meditator encounters the dakini, living spiritual experience is activated in a nonconceptual manner by her direct gaze, her radiant body, and her compassionate revelation of reality. Grounded in the author's personal encounter with the dakini, this unique study will appeal to both male and female spiritual seekers interested in goddess worship, women's spirituality, and the tantric tradition.

Dakini Power

Dakini Power

Author: Michaela Haas

Publisher: Shambhala Publications

Published: 2013-04-09

Total Pages: 344

ISBN-13: 0834828375

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What drives a young London librarian to board a ship to India, meditate in a remote cave by herself for twelve years, and then build a flourishing nunnery in the Himalayas? How does a surfer girl from Malibu become the head of the main international organization for Buddhist women? Why does the daughter of a music executive in Santa Monica dream so vividly of peacocks one night that she chases these images to Nepal, where she finds the love of her life in an unconventional young Tibetan master? The women featured in Dakini Power—contemporary teachers of Tibetan Buddhism, both Asians and Westerners, who teach in the West—have been universally recognized as accomplished practitioners and brilliant teachers whose life stories demonstrate their immense determination and bravery. Meeting them in this book, readers will be inspired to let go of old fears, explore new paths, and lead the lives they envision. Featured here are: • Jetsun Khandro Rinpoche (This Precious Life) • Dagmola Sakya (Princess in the Land of Snows) • Jetsun Tenzin Palmo (Diane Perry) (Into the Heart of Life) • Pema Chödrön (Deirdre Blomfield-Brown) (When Things Fall Apart; Start Where You Are) • Khandro Tsering Chödron (most familiar to readers as the late aunt of Sogyal Rinpoche, author of The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying) • Thubten Chodron (Cherry Greene) (Buddhism for Beginners; Taming the Mind) • Karma Lekshe Tsomo (Patricia Zenn) (Buddhism Through American Women’s Eyes) • Chagdud Khadro (Jane Dedman) (P’howa Commentary; Life in Relation to Death) • Sangye Khandro (Nanci Gay Gustafson) (Meditation, Transformation, and Dream Yoga) • Roshi Joan Halifax (Being with Dying) • Lama Tsultrim Allione (Joan Rousmanière Ewing) (Women of Wisdom; Feeding Your Demons) • Elizabeth Mattis-Namgyel (The Power of an Open Question)


Book Synopsis Dakini Power by : Michaela Haas

Download or read book Dakini Power written by Michaela Haas and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 2013-04-09 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What drives a young London librarian to board a ship to India, meditate in a remote cave by herself for twelve years, and then build a flourishing nunnery in the Himalayas? How does a surfer girl from Malibu become the head of the main international organization for Buddhist women? Why does the daughter of a music executive in Santa Monica dream so vividly of peacocks one night that she chases these images to Nepal, where she finds the love of her life in an unconventional young Tibetan master? The women featured in Dakini Power—contemporary teachers of Tibetan Buddhism, both Asians and Westerners, who teach in the West—have been universally recognized as accomplished practitioners and brilliant teachers whose life stories demonstrate their immense determination and bravery. Meeting them in this book, readers will be inspired to let go of old fears, explore new paths, and lead the lives they envision. Featured here are: • Jetsun Khandro Rinpoche (This Precious Life) • Dagmola Sakya (Princess in the Land of Snows) • Jetsun Tenzin Palmo (Diane Perry) (Into the Heart of Life) • Pema Chödrön (Deirdre Blomfield-Brown) (When Things Fall Apart; Start Where You Are) • Khandro Tsering Chödron (most familiar to readers as the late aunt of Sogyal Rinpoche, author of The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying) • Thubten Chodron (Cherry Greene) (Buddhism for Beginners; Taming the Mind) • Karma Lekshe Tsomo (Patricia Zenn) (Buddhism Through American Women’s Eyes) • Chagdud Khadro (Jane Dedman) (P’howa Commentary; Life in Relation to Death) • Sangye Khandro (Nanci Gay Gustafson) (Meditation, Transformation, and Dream Yoga) • Roshi Joan Halifax (Being with Dying) • Lama Tsultrim Allione (Joan Rousmanière Ewing) (Women of Wisdom; Feeding Your Demons) • Elizabeth Mattis-Namgyel (The Power of an Open Question)

Machik's Complete Explanation

Machik's Complete Explanation

Author: Sarah Harding

Publisher: Shambhala Publications

Published: 2013-05-14

Total Pages: 416

ISBN-13: 0834829088

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Fear, anger, and negativity are states that each of us have to contend with. Machik's Complete Explanation, the most famous book of the teachings of Machik Lapdrön, the great female saint and yogini of eleventh- to twelfth-century Tibet, addresses these issues in a practical, direct way. Machik developed a system, the Mahamudra Chöd, that takes the Buddha's teachings as a basis and applies them to the immediate experiences of negative mind states and malignant forces. Her unique feminine approach is to invoke and nurture the very "demons" that we fear and hate, transforming those reactive emotions into love. It is the tantric version of developing compassion and fearlessness, a radical method of cutting through ego-fixation. This expanded edition includes Machik Lapdrön's earliest known teaching, the original source text for the tradition, The Great Bundle of Precepts on Severance (Chöd). This pithy set of instructions reveals that the teachings of the perfection of wisdom are the true inspiration for Chöd. It is beautifully clarified in a short commentary by Rangjung Dorje, the Third Karmapa.


Book Synopsis Machik's Complete Explanation by : Sarah Harding

Download or read book Machik's Complete Explanation written by Sarah Harding and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 2013-05-14 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fear, anger, and negativity are states that each of us have to contend with. Machik's Complete Explanation, the most famous book of the teachings of Machik Lapdrön, the great female saint and yogini of eleventh- to twelfth-century Tibet, addresses these issues in a practical, direct way. Machik developed a system, the Mahamudra Chöd, that takes the Buddha's teachings as a basis and applies them to the immediate experiences of negative mind states and malignant forces. Her unique feminine approach is to invoke and nurture the very "demons" that we fear and hate, transforming those reactive emotions into love. It is the tantric version of developing compassion and fearlessness, a radical method of cutting through ego-fixation. This expanded edition includes Machik Lapdrön's earliest known teaching, the original source text for the tradition, The Great Bundle of Precepts on Severance (Chöd). This pithy set of instructions reveals that the teachings of the perfection of wisdom are the true inspiration for Chöd. It is beautifully clarified in a short commentary by Rangjung Dorje, the Third Karmapa.

Kiss of the Yogini

Kiss of the Yogini

Author: David Gordon White

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2006-07-07

Total Pages: 393

ISBN-13: 022602783X

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For those who wonder what relation actual Tantric practices bear to the "Tantric sex" currently being marketed so successfully in the West, David Gordon White has a simple answer: there is none. Sweeping away centuries of misunderstandings and misrepresentations, White returns to original texts, images, and ritual practices to reconstruct the history of South Asian Tantra from the medieval period to the present day. Kiss of the Yogini focuses on what White identifies as the sole truly distinctive feature of South Asian Tantra: sexualized ritual practices, especially as expressed in the medieval Kaula rites. Such practices centered on the exchange of powerful, transformative sexual fluids between male practitioners and wild female bird and animal spirits known as Yoginis. It was only by "drinking" the sexual fluids of the Yoginis that men could enter the family of the supreme godhead and thereby obtain supernatural powers and transform themselves into gods. By focusing on sexual rituals, White resituates South Asian Tantra, in its precolonial form, at the center of religious, social, and political life, arguing that Tantra was the mainstream, and that in many ways it continues to influence contemporary Hinduism, even if reformist misunderstandings relegate it to a marginal position. Kiss of the Yogini contains White's own translations from over a dozen Tantras that have never before been translated into any European language. It will prove to be the definitive work for persons seeking to understand Tantra and the crucial role it has played in South Asian history, society, culture, and religion.


Book Synopsis Kiss of the Yogini by : David Gordon White

Download or read book Kiss of the Yogini written by David Gordon White and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2006-07-07 with total page 393 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For those who wonder what relation actual Tantric practices bear to the "Tantric sex" currently being marketed so successfully in the West, David Gordon White has a simple answer: there is none. Sweeping away centuries of misunderstandings and misrepresentations, White returns to original texts, images, and ritual practices to reconstruct the history of South Asian Tantra from the medieval period to the present day. Kiss of the Yogini focuses on what White identifies as the sole truly distinctive feature of South Asian Tantra: sexualized ritual practices, especially as expressed in the medieval Kaula rites. Such practices centered on the exchange of powerful, transformative sexual fluids between male practitioners and wild female bird and animal spirits known as Yoginis. It was only by "drinking" the sexual fluids of the Yoginis that men could enter the family of the supreme godhead and thereby obtain supernatural powers and transform themselves into gods. By focusing on sexual rituals, White resituates South Asian Tantra, in its precolonial form, at the center of religious, social, and political life, arguing that Tantra was the mainstream, and that in many ways it continues to influence contemporary Hinduism, even if reformist misunderstandings relegate it to a marginal position. Kiss of the Yogini contains White's own translations from over a dozen Tantras that have never before been translated into any European language. It will prove to be the definitive work for persons seeking to understand Tantra and the crucial role it has played in South Asian history, society, culture, and religion.

Dakini Teachings

Dakini Teachings

Author: Padmasambhava

Publisher: Rangjung Yeshe Publications

Published: 2004-06

Total Pages: 230

ISBN-13: 9789627341369

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The words of advice collected here are part of the ancient tradition of religious texts known as terma that were hidden in secret places during the first spread of Buddhism in Tibet in the ninth century.


Book Synopsis Dakini Teachings by : Padmasambhava

Download or read book Dakini Teachings written by Padmasambhava and published by Rangjung Yeshe Publications. This book was released on 2004-06 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The words of advice collected here are part of the ancient tradition of religious texts known as terma that were hidden in secret places during the first spread of Buddhism in Tibet in the ninth century.

Dakini Activity

Dakini Activity

Author: Padmasambhava

Publisher: Rangjung Yeshe Publications

Published: 2018-09-17

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 9780997716276

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Book Synopsis Dakini Activity by : Padmasambhava

Download or read book Dakini Activity written by Padmasambhava and published by Rangjung Yeshe Publications. This book was released on 2018-09-17 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

The Life and Visions of Yeshé Tsogyal

The Life and Visions of Yeshé Tsogyal

Author: Drime Kunga

Publisher: Shambhala Publications

Published: 2017-08-22

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 0834840928

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A new biography of Yeshé Tsogyal, the mother of Buddhism in Tibet, who is considered an enlightened being by millions throughout the Himalayan region as well as the West and remains a powerful female role model of spiritual accomplishment and perfection. The many layers of the heroic life of Yeshé Tsogyal, Tibet’s best-known dakini and female master, are revealed in this inspiring work. Translated here for the first time, this terma, or “hidden treasure,” presents an outer narrative of her birth, family, and struggles in a traditional male-dominated society; an inner account of her meetings with the great master Padmasambhava; and a secret chronicle of her retreat at Chimpu and her visionary journey to Oddiyana. This accomplished translation is enriched by the refreshing insights of six contemporary scholars and teachers of Tibetan Buddhism, making this invaluable guide to the life of Yeshé Tsogyal a treasure for practitioners, scholars, and anyone intent on the possibility of awakening.


Book Synopsis The Life and Visions of Yeshé Tsogyal by : Drime Kunga

Download or read book The Life and Visions of Yeshé Tsogyal written by Drime Kunga and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 2017-08-22 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new biography of Yeshé Tsogyal, the mother of Buddhism in Tibet, who is considered an enlightened being by millions throughout the Himalayan region as well as the West and remains a powerful female role model of spiritual accomplishment and perfection. The many layers of the heroic life of Yeshé Tsogyal, Tibet’s best-known dakini and female master, are revealed in this inspiring work. Translated here for the first time, this terma, or “hidden treasure,” presents an outer narrative of her birth, family, and struggles in a traditional male-dominated society; an inner account of her meetings with the great master Padmasambhava; and a secret chronicle of her retreat at Chimpu and her visionary journey to Oddiyana. This accomplished translation is enriched by the refreshing insights of six contemporary scholars and teachers of Tibetan Buddhism, making this invaluable guide to the life of Yeshé Tsogyal a treasure for practitioners, scholars, and anyone intent on the possibility of awakening.

Meeting the Great Bliss Queen

Meeting the Great Bliss Queen

Author: Anne C. Klein

Publisher: Beacon Press

Published: 1995

Total Pages: 340

ISBN-13: 9780807073070

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Buddhist practices such as mindfulness - in which calm centering and keen awareness of change coexist - and compassion - in which the self is recognized as both powerful in itself and interdependently connected with all others - can be important resources for contemporary Western women. Likewise, feminism can expand the traditional horizons of Buddhist concerns to include social, historical, and psychological issues.


Book Synopsis Meeting the Great Bliss Queen by : Anne C. Klein

Download or read book Meeting the Great Bliss Queen written by Anne C. Klein and published by Beacon Press. This book was released on 1995 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Buddhist practices such as mindfulness - in which calm centering and keen awareness of change coexist - and compassion - in which the self is recognized as both powerful in itself and interdependently connected with all others - can be important resources for contemporary Western women. Likewise, feminism can expand the traditional horizons of Buddhist concerns to include social, historical, and psychological issues.

Cave In The Snow

Cave In The Snow

Author: Vicki Mackenzie

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2008-12-26

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13: 1596918500

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This is the incredible story of Tenzin Palmo, a remarkable woman who spent 12 years alone in a cave 13,000 feet up in the Himalayas. At the age of 20, Diane Perry, looking to fill a void in her life, entered a monastery in India--the only woman amongst hundreds of monks---and began her battle against the prejudice that had excluded women from enlightenment for thousands of years. Thirteen years later, Diane Perry a.k.a. Tenzin Palmo secluded herself in a remote cave 13,000 feet up in the Himalayas, where she stayed for twelve years. In her mountain retreat, she face unimaginable cold, wild animals, floods, snow and rockfalls, grew her own food and slept in a traditional wooden meditation box, three feet square. She never lay down. Tenzin emerged from the cave with a determination to build a convent in northern India to revive the Togdenma lineage, a long-forgotten female spiritual elite. She has traveled around the world to find support for her cause, meeting with spiritual leaders from the Pope to Desmond Tutu. She agreed to tell her story only to Vicky Mackenzie and a portion of the royalties from this book will help towards the completion of her convent.


Book Synopsis Cave In The Snow by : Vicki Mackenzie

Download or read book Cave In The Snow written by Vicki Mackenzie and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2008-12-26 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the incredible story of Tenzin Palmo, a remarkable woman who spent 12 years alone in a cave 13,000 feet up in the Himalayas. At the age of 20, Diane Perry, looking to fill a void in her life, entered a monastery in India--the only woman amongst hundreds of monks---and began her battle against the prejudice that had excluded women from enlightenment for thousands of years. Thirteen years later, Diane Perry a.k.a. Tenzin Palmo secluded herself in a remote cave 13,000 feet up in the Himalayas, where she stayed for twelve years. In her mountain retreat, she face unimaginable cold, wild animals, floods, snow and rockfalls, grew her own food and slept in a traditional wooden meditation box, three feet square. She never lay down. Tenzin emerged from the cave with a determination to build a convent in northern India to revive the Togdenma lineage, a long-forgotten female spiritual elite. She has traveled around the world to find support for her cause, meeting with spiritual leaders from the Pope to Desmond Tutu. She agreed to tell her story only to Vicky Mackenzie and a portion of the royalties from this book will help towards the completion of her convent.

Traveller in Space

Traveller in Space

Author: June Campbell

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2018-05-31

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 1350093440

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In this revised edition of June Campbell's ground-breaking and ambitious work, many of the key issues concerning gender, identity and Tibetan Buddhism, are now broadened and further clarified in order to create a better understanding of the historical importance of gender symbolisation in the very construction of religious belief and philosophy. With its cross-cultural stance, the book concerns itself with the unusual task of creating links between the symbolic representations of gender in the philosophy of Tibetan Buddhism, and contemporary western thinking in relation to identity politics and intersubjectivity. A wide range of sources are drawn upon in order to build up arguments concerning the complexities of individual gender roles in Tibetan society, alongside the symbolic spaces allocated to the male and female within its cultural forms, including its sacred institutions, its representations and in the enactment of ritual. And in the light of Tibetan Buddhisms popularity in the west, timely questions are raised concerning gender and the potential uses and abuses of power and secrecy in Tibetan Tantra, which, with its unique emphasis on guru-devotion and sexual ritual, is now being disseminated worldwide. What is made clear in this new edition, however, is that Campbell's ultimate aim is to elucidate, through the use of a psychoanalytical perspective, something of the dynamic inter-relationship between the inner lives of individuals, their gender identities in society, and the belief systems which they create in order to provide cohesion, continuity and meaning, whether it be in the east or the west.


Book Synopsis Traveller in Space by : June Campbell

Download or read book Traveller in Space written by June Campbell and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2018-05-31 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this revised edition of June Campbell's ground-breaking and ambitious work, many of the key issues concerning gender, identity and Tibetan Buddhism, are now broadened and further clarified in order to create a better understanding of the historical importance of gender symbolisation in the very construction of religious belief and philosophy. With its cross-cultural stance, the book concerns itself with the unusual task of creating links between the symbolic representations of gender in the philosophy of Tibetan Buddhism, and contemporary western thinking in relation to identity politics and intersubjectivity. A wide range of sources are drawn upon in order to build up arguments concerning the complexities of individual gender roles in Tibetan society, alongside the symbolic spaces allocated to the male and female within its cultural forms, including its sacred institutions, its representations and in the enactment of ritual. And in the light of Tibetan Buddhisms popularity in the west, timely questions are raised concerning gender and the potential uses and abuses of power and secrecy in Tibetan Tantra, which, with its unique emphasis on guru-devotion and sexual ritual, is now being disseminated worldwide. What is made clear in this new edition, however, is that Campbell's ultimate aim is to elucidate, through the use of a psychoanalytical perspective, something of the dynamic inter-relationship between the inner lives of individuals, their gender identities in society, and the belief systems which they create in order to provide cohesion, continuity and meaning, whether it be in the east or the west.