The Third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje (1284-1339), propounded a unique synthesis of Yogacara, Madhyamaka, and the classical teachings on buddha nature. His work occupies an important position between its Indian predecessors and the later, often highly charged, debates in Tibet about rangtong ("self-emptiness") and shentong ("other-emptiness"). The Third Karmapa is widely renowned as one of the major proponents of the Tibetan shentong tradition. This book contains a collection of some of his main writings on buddha nature; the transition of ordinary deluded consciousness to enlightened wisdom; and the characteristics of buddhahood.

Though relying strictly on classical Indian sources, the Karmapa's texts are not mere scholarly documents. Their topics and styles bear great significance for practicing the sutrayana and the vajrayana as understood in the Kagyu tradition to the present day, thus making what is described in these texts a living experience.

Luminous Heart, Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje, Snow Lion Publications, Hardcover, 2009, 484 Pages, $39.95

Karl Brunnholzl was trained as a physician and presently works as a Tibetan translator and Buddhist teacher. He studied Tibetology, Buddhology, and Sanskrit at Hamburg University and Buddhist philosophy and practice at the Marpa Institute for Translators in Kathmandu. Currently he works as a translator for the Tsadra Foundation, Nalandabodhi, and Nitartha Institute. He is the author and translator of The Center of the Sunlit Sky (2004), the first in-depth study of the Kagyu interpretation of Madhyamaka in a Western language; Straight from the Heart (2007), an anthology of Buddhist pith instructions and poetry; and Nagarjuna's In Praise of Dharmadhatu (2008) with commentary by the third Karmapa.

	Contents: Luminous Heart: The Third Karmapa on Consciousness, Wisdom, and Buddha Nature
	Abbreviations	vii
	An Aspiration by H.H. the Seventeenth Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje	ix
	Foreword by H.H. the Seventeenth Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje	xi
	Foreword by The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche	xiii
	Preface	xv
	Introduction	1
	The Indian Yogacara Background	79
	The Third Karmapa's View	85
	Translations	127
	The Autocommentary on The Profound Inner Reality	129
	The Ornament That Explains the Dharmadharmatavibhaga	171
	Four Poems by the Third Karmapa	193
	Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye's Commentary on The Treatise on Pointing Out the Tathagata Heart	203
	Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye's Commentary on The Treatise on the Distinction betwwen Consciousness and Wisdom	257
	Karma Trinlepa's Explanation of the Sugata Heart	313
	Appendix I: Pawo Tsugla Trengwa's Presentation of Kayas, Wisdoms, and Enlightened Activity	325
	Appendix II: The Treatise on Pointing Out the Tathagata Heart	353
	Appendix III: The Treatise on the Distinction betwwen Consciousness and Wisdom	361
	Appendix IV: Outline of NTC	367
	Appendix V: Outline of NYC	371
	Appendix VI: The Change of State of the Eight Consciousnesses into the Four (Five) Wisdoms and the Three (Four) Kayas	373
	Glossary: English-Sanskrit-Tibetan	375
	Glossary: Tibetan-Sanskrit-English	379
	Selected Bibliography	383
	Endnotes	401
	Index	475