Tibetan Buddhist Poems of Insight & Awakening
Here is the first major anthology of Tibetan spiritual poetry available in the West. Songs of Spiritual Experience offers newly translated works from all the traditions and schools of Tibetan Buddhism, spanning from the eleventh to the twentieth century. Compiled and translated by Thupten Jinpa, one of the Dalai Lama's principal translators, and Jas Elsner, Songs of Spiritual Experience serves both as an introductionto Tibetan poetry and to Tibetan Buddhist philosophy.
In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, poetry has long been one of the primary means of expressing spiritual insight with grace and precision. The themes of the collection include impermanence, solitude, mystic consciousness, the apth of awakening, and devotion to the guru.
Songs of Spiritual Experience offers orginal translations of fifty-two poems, a thorough introduction exploring the role of poetry in the Tibetan Buddhism, and a helpful glossary that includes notes on the poems. This remarkable collection of Tibetan religious verse will be of interest to students of any spiritual tradition.


Songs of Spiritual Experience, Thupten Jinpa & Jas Elsner, Shambhala Publications, Hardcover, 239pp, $25.00