Keith Dowman - 2006 - Old Man Basking in the Sun - Longchenpa's Treasury of Natural Perfection (337p).pdf

Keith Dowman - 2006 - Old Man Basking in the Sun - Longchenpa's Treasury of Natural Perfection (337p).pdf

Paperback: 303 pages
Publisher: Vajra Bookshop (March 19, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9994664492
ISBN-13: 978-9994664498

Dzogchen is the apotheosis of Tibetan Buddhism and Longchenpa is the pre-eminent master of Dzogchen and one of Tibet's greatest mystical poets. The verses of his Treasury of Natural Perfection (Gnas lugs mdzod) written in the fourteenth century encompass and epitomize the radical precepts of Dzogchen while his auto-commentary elaborates their meaning through a concise prose paraphrase and with illustrative quotations from the Collection of Tantras of the Ancients (Rnying ma rgyud 'bum). Transcending the Tibetan context, Longchenpa delivers a manual of wisdom for all people at all times and shows why the western world has turned to Tibet for its mystical inspiration during the last half century. This transmission of timeless wisdom of the Ancients of Tibet should take its place amongst the world's religious classics. Through the precept 'nonaction' - which is savoured like 'an old man basking in the sun' - Dzogchen teaches the natural perfection of all our experience, and all our lives, just as it is, without need of any alteration. This discipline provides the key not only to our inner enlightenment but to the health and survival of our planet.

About the Author
Keith Dowman (born 1945) is an English Dzogchen teacher and translator of Tibetan Buddhist texts.

Dowman travelled to India and Nepal in 1966 where he practiced Sanatam Dharm with Ganesh Baba (Shri Mahant Ganesh Giriji Maharaj) and Vipassana meditation with the Indian Theravadin teacher Anagarika Munindra. After connecting with Tibetan Buddhism he met and trained under many Tibetan masters, including his root Gurus Dudjom Rinpoche Jigdral Yeshe Dorje and Kanjur Rinpoche Longchen Yeshe Dorje. He lived near these masters in Darjeeling, West Bengal, for many years. He studied the Tibetan language at Queens College, Sanskrit University, in Varanasi, India, under Lama Jamspal. In 1973, at the Nyingma Institute in Berkeley, California, his translations were first published under the auspices of Tarthang Tulku, while he taught on Tibetan language at Sonoma State College. Dowman has written books and translations focusing on various aspects of Tibetan Buddhism and Tibetan culture including travel literature in particular on Buddhist Tantra and Dzogchen. In his later writings he has focused increasingly on Dzogchen and in particular on the works of the 14th Century Nyingma master scholar Longchenpa.