Our perspective on enlightenment is seen in two ways in Buddhist thought: There is the gradual view, which has us getting ready for enlightenment or on our way to enlightenment, and there is the sudden view, which claims that we are already enlightened and that we suddenly recognize this. The Tantras of the Great Perfection, or Dzogchen, espouse the sudden view. The Great Perfection contends that it is the summit of a Buddhist practice that begins with the outer teachings, which were for Auditors, Private Victors, and Bodhisattvas, the inner teachings, which were for yogins practicing the Kriya, Upa, and Yoga yogas, and the secret teachings, which were for practitioners of the Mahayoga, the Anuyoga, and at the summit the Atiyoga. The Ati Yoga looks down on the lower vehicles just like a garuda soaring though space looks down on our world. The teachings of the Atiyoga are in turn divided into three categories or sections: The Mind Section, the Space Section, and the Upadesa Instruction Section. The Mind Section explores the primacy of mind in all things. The Space Section explores the expansiveness of reality in the fullness of its manifestation. The Upadesa Instruction Section offers us direct advice into how we can make these teachings real in our lives. The Atiyoga is also supplemented with higher teachings on its refined essence in its presentation of the Yang Ti and Universal Ti transmissions. The Tantra on Great Wealth belongs to the Yang Ti class of Great Perfection literature.

Over the last twelve years I have released forty-nine volumes of published translations. I have translated major works from every branch of the Dzogchen library. I felt that the Yang Ti tradition deserved more attention for my next book, and I was right. This Yang Ti is not just the usual Ati with a few shifts in the names. There are points of substantial import in Great Wealth that make it stand out from the other works. According to the Yang Ti, awareness is not sentient and our minds are nothing but the cause of all our problems. The Yang Ti makes a radical rejection of the Mind Only school in particular. Great Wealth is written in a style that makes a profound topic simple. It points out that most Dharma practitioners are actually like little monkeys, for example. Readers will find many fascinating insights into the transmission of wisdom as it had come to be in India during the Eighth Century of our era, which is the time that its translators Vimalamitra and Dranpa Yeshe lived. This Tantra is preserved in the manuscript collection called the Nyingma Gyubum, The Hundred Thousand Tantras of the Ancient Ones. I have translated it based on the witness in the mTshams Brag Manuscript, and have included photographic images of the pages for your convenience and to help in the preservation of this tradition.

The teachings in Great Wealth were specifically written down for the sake of gods and humans in the future, and it was prophesied that they would arise and become well known to a few during the period of the last days of the teachings. Our world is currently moving into a new age, and we are in fact the people of the future, from the point of view of the writers of this Tantra. We are now in a time where things are changing fast. We have to decide what to keep and what to leave behind. In translating these works of ancient wisdom, I hope to offer the people of today the real reward of having these books available around the world for us today and for the people of our future to enjoy in their time. Thank you.

Great Wealth: The Sure Intent of the Great Perfection, Christopher Wilkinson, Paperback, 406 pages, $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.