The literature of the Great Perfection, the Dzogchen or Atiyoga, has been divided into three groups or sections: The Mind Section, the Space Section, and the Upadesa Instruction Section.

The Tantras of the Astounding have been preserved among the works of the Mind Section in the Nyingma Gyubum, the Hundred Thousand Tantras of the Ancients, having been preserved by the Tibetans for over a thousand two hundred years. These works were translated into Tibetan from Indian languages during the Eighth Century of our era. Without the diligent work of constant preservation by the Tibetans and Bhutanese these works would certainly have been lost to mankind. These Tantras are indeed Astounding. You will not find anything like them. These Tantras do not hold back on using language that forces us to reevaluate our every presupposition about what Buddhism is and what our own enlightenment is.

Astounding: Five Tantras of the Mind Section, Christopher Wilkinson, Paperback, 369 pp, $32.00

Christopher Wilkinson began his career in Buddhist literature in 1972 at the age of fifteen, taking refuge vows from his guru Dezhung Rinpoche. In that same year he began formal study of Tibetan language at the University of Washington under Geshe Ngawang Nornang and Turrell Wylie. He then received many instructions from Kalu Rinpoche, completing the traditional practice of five hundred thousand Mahamudra preliminaries. He became a Buddhist monk at the age of eighteen, living in the home of Dezhung Rinpoche while he continued his studies at the University of Washington. He graduated in 1980 with a B.A. degree in Asian Languages and Literature and another B.A. degree in Comparative Religion (College Honors, Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa). After a two year tour of Buddhist pilgrimage sites throughout Asia he worked for five years in refugee resettlement in Seattle, Washington, then proceeded to the University of Calgary for an M.A. in Buddhist Studies where he wrote a groundbreaking thesis on the Yangti transmission of the Great Perfection tradition titled "Clear Meaning: Studies on a Thirteenth Century rDzog chen Tantra." He proceeded to work on a critical edition of the Sanskrit text of the 20,000 line Perfection of Wisdom in Berkeley, California, followed by an intensive study of Burmese language in Hawaii. In 1990 he began three years' service as a visiting professor in English Literature in Sulawesi, Indonesia, exploring the remnants of the ancient Sri Vijaya Empire there. He worked as a research fellow for the Shelly and Donald Rubin Foundation for several years, playing a part in the early development of the famous Rubin Museum of Art. In the years that followed he became a Research Fellow at the Centre de Recherches sur les Civilisations de l'Asie Orientale, Collge de France, and taught at the University of Calgary as an Adjunct Professor for five years. He is currently completing his doctoral dissertation, a study of the Yoginitantra first translated into Tibetan during the Eighth century of our era, at the University of Leiden's Institute for Area Studies.