Keith Dowman - 2010 - Natural Perfection - Longchenpa's Radical Dzogchen (reprint of Old Man Basking) (325p).pdf

Keith Dowman - 2010 - Natural Perfection - Longchenpa's Radical Dzogchen (reprint of Old Man Basking) (325p).pdf

Paperback: 300 pages
Publisher: Wisdom Publications (April 20, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 086171640X
ISBN-13: 978-0861716401

This seems to be an unaltered reprint of "Old Man Basking in the Sun"

Dzogchen, or the "Great Perfection," is considered by many to be the apex of Tibetan Buddhism, and Longchen Rabjam is the most celebrated of all the saints of this remarkable tradition. Natural Perfection presents the radical precepts of Dzogchen, pointing the way to absolute liberation from conceptual fetters and leading the practitioner to a state of pure, natural integration into one's true being.

Transcending the Tibetan context or even the confines of Buddhist tradition, Longchen Rabjam delivers a manual full of practical wisdom. Natural Perfection is a shining example of why people have continued to turn to the traditions of Tibet for spiritual and personal transformation and realization. Keith Dowman's illuminating translation of this remarkable work of wisdom provides clear accessibility to the profound path of Dzogchen in the here-and-now.

After forty years of experience translating Dzogchen texts by the side of exceptional scholars in Tibet and Nepal, Keith Dowman has developed a rich vocabulary with an exquisite style which is a powerful and refined tool for the expression of the nonduality of the Great Perfection. He was the first of the new wave of Dzogchen translators to come out of the sixties, and the first to be published (Ornaments of Illumination, Kalimpong, 1969) and he set a standard which has not yet been overtaken. In this translation of one of the most demanding Dzogchen expositions of Longchen Rabjampa (Natural Perfection, a re-edition of Old Man Basking in the Sun, Vajra Publishing, Kathmandu, Nepal), with evocative poetry Keith Dowman creates a consummate link between the wisdom of the Himalayas and that of the western world, presenting a work which proves to be a faithful and powerful transmission of Longchenpa's teaching and at the same time accessible to readers who have not been exposed to the Tibetan language. Old Man Basking in the Sun invites us to read it over and over again and I think we should definitely consider it a headpiece book. I'm grateful for this particular English version of such an important pillar of the Dzogchen teaching and I look forward with pleasure to the next work of this author.

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.