The Kalacakra, or "wheel of time," tantra likely entered Indian Mahayana Buddhism around the tenth century. In expounding the root tantra, the Indian master Pundarika one of the legendary Kalki kings of the land of Shambhala, wrote his influential Stainless Light. Ornament of Stainless Light is an authoritative Tibetan exposition of this important text, composed in the fifteenth century by Khedrup Norsang Gyatso, tutor to the second Dalai Lama.
One of the central projects of Kalacakra literature is a detailed correlation between the human body and the external universe. In working our this complex correspondence, the Kalacakra texts present an amazingly detailed theory of cosmology and astronomy, especially about the movements of the various celestial bodies. The Kalacakra tantra is also a highly complex system of Buddhist theory and practice that employs vital bodily energies, deep meditative mental states, and a penetrative focus on subtle points within the body's key energy conduits known as channels. Ornament of Stainless Light addresses all these topics, elaborating on the external universe, the inner world of the individual, the Kalacakra initiation rites, and the tantric stages of generation and completion, all in a highly readable English translation.
The Kalachakra (literally, "Wheel of Time") tantra, a core practice of Tibetan Buddhism, is a method for transforming the universe by working with the body and mind. This first volume of the Library of Tibetan Classics series was hand-picked by the Dalai Lama ? who recognized it as the finest possible explication of this practice.
The Kalachakra (literally, "Wheel of Time") tantra, a core practice of Tibetan Buddhism, is a method for transforming the universe by working with the body and mind. This first volume of the Library of Tibetan Classics series was hand-picked by the Dalai Lama who recognized it as the finest explication of this practice and overseen by Thupten Jinpa, whose work has been indispensable to Tibetan Buddhism, both in the West and on the whole. Gavin Kilty's fluid translation makes this volume a pleasure to read.
Like its classical Indian predecessor, Stainless Light or Vimalaprabha by Pundarika, Norsang Gyatso's commentary is divided into five sections: (1) the outer world, including the unique Kalachakra cosmology, (2) the inner world of the individual and the subtle nervous system, (3) the Kalachakra initiation rite, (4) the sadhana and generation-stage practices, and (5) the completion-stage practices, including pranayama. Ten appendixes plus a glossary, notes, and bibliography make this an indispensable reference volume on the Kalachakra tantra.
The premiere volume of Thupten Jinpa's thirty-two-volume
Library of Tibetan Classics series, inaugurated to coincide with the Dalai Lama's conferral of the initiation rite of Kalacakra in Toronto in April 2004.
The Kalacakra, or "wheel of time," tantra likely entered Indian Mahayana Buddhism around the tenth century. In expounding the root tantra, the Indian master Pundarika, one of the legendary Kalki kings of the land of Shambhala, wrote his influential Stainless Light.
Ornament of Stainless Light is an authoritative Tibetan exposition of this important text, composed in the fifteenth century by Khedrup Norsang Gyatso, tutor to the Second Dalai Lama.
One of the central projects of Kalacakra literature is a detailed correlation between the human body and the external universe. In working out this complex correspondence, the Kalacakra texts present an amazingly detailed theory of cosmology and astronomy, especially about the movements of the various celestial bodies. The Kalacakra tantra is also a highly complex system of Buddhist theory and practice that employs vital bodily energies, deep meditative mental states, and a penetrative focus on subtle points within the body's key energy conduits known as channels.
Ornament of Stainless Light addresses all these topics, elaborating on the external universe, the inner world of the individual, the Kalacakra initiation rites, and the tantric stages of generation and completion, all in a highly readable English translation.
