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In The Mirror of Mindfulness, seventeenth-century master Tsele Natsok Rangdrol teaches that there is an identical essence intrinsic to the heart, mind, and spirit in every human being. The realization of this essential oneness in humanity, he said, makes any man or woman a Buddha. The book focuses on how to reach this understanding through a system of training of timeless, universal value that has been developed in Tibet. According to editor Erik Pema Kunsang Schmidt, the truth such training conveys is as meaningful for a modern meditation practitioner as it was centuries ago for Buddhists in India and Tibet.
The Mirror of Mindfulness addresses the experiences of passing through the bardos into the next life. While relatively brief, the book fully expresses the depth of the spiritual lineage it springs from: a system of training that offers the possibility of enlightenment in a single lifetime. Newly designed, this book is the foundation for the often-cited commentary Bardo Guidebook by contemporary teacher Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche and is widely seen as indispensable for the serious study of Tibetan Buddhism. Included are contextualizing introductions, a foreword, preface, prologue, epilogue, appendix, and glossary.
Mirror of Mindfulness, Tsele Natsok Rangdrol, Rangjung Yeshe Publications, Paperback, 176 pages, $15.95
The most learned master Tsele Pema Legdrub Natsok Rangdrol was prophesied as the body-emanation of the great translator Vairochana. Renowned as the reincarnation of the incomparable Tendzin Dorje, he was invited to the Thangdruk Monastery, established by his previous reincarnation. Attending numerous learned and acomplished masters, including Gangra Lochen, he fully comprehended the philosophical scriptures and oral instructions of sutra and tantra., according to the new and old schools. Being extremely disciplined, even the liqour in his feast offerings was prepared from water with molasses. Besides this his tongue never touched a drop of alcohol.
In the later part of his life he stayed in Palri Gotsang, the cave of Desek Tse in the south, and other places where he perfected the realization of mahamudra and dzogchen. Among his disciples are included Gampopa Sangpo Dorje, Bomting Choje Miphampa, Tau Pema Lodro, and others.
Composed by His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse, who extracted this autobiographical information from the inner life story of Jamgon Kongtrul the Great.
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