The literature of the Great Perfection, the Dzogchen or Atiyoga, is generally divided into three sections: The Mind Section, the Space Section, and the Upadesa Instruction Section. The five Tantras presented in this volume are from the Space Section. The earliest translation in this set is the Tantra on the All Good One that Brings Together the Roots of the Magnificent Sky. Its colophon informs us that it was translated by Vairochana and Sri Singha in the presence of Prahe Vajra (Tib. Garab Dorje). This establishes that the Tibetan translator Vairochana had met with Prahe Vajra personally, and places the Tantra in the Eighth Century. The Origin of Life Tantra was translated into Tibetan by an Indian preceptor named Kumara Kalasa Pada (Tib. Zhonu Bumbay Zhab) who was active in the Twelfth Century. The other three Tantras have no colophons, but we may safely place them between the Eighth and Twelfth centuries of our era, as they have been carefully preserved in the canonical collection known as the Hundred Thousand Tantras of the Ancients (Nyingma Gyubum). These Tantras are here translated into a modern language for the first time.


Natural Bliss: Five Tantras of the Space Section, Christopher Wilkinson, Independently published, 361 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 Yangtik 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 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, College de France, and taught at the University of Calgary as an Adjunct Professor for five years. He has published many volumes of translations, and continues at this effort.