In this new book, Khenchen Thrangu provides an exhaustive commentary on the longest and most comprehensive of the three classic treatises on Mahamudra composed by the sixteenth-century scholar Wangchuk Dorje, the Ninth Karmapa.
Khenchen Thrangu's teachings encompass the entire path of Mahamudra, including the preliminaries, the main practice, removing obstacles, and attaining the result of buddhahoodùwith detailed instruction in tranquility and insight meditation. This is the only available volume that presents Khenchen Thrangu's detailed commentary on this entire text.


An Ocean of the Ultimate Meaning, Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, Shambhala Publications, Paperback, 206 pages, $24.95

Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche is a renowned Tibetan Buddhist master known for his deep compassion and the clarity of his teachings. He was selected by His Holiness the Dalai Lama to serve as the principal tutor to His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, Oryen Trinley Dorje. Thrangu Rinpoche is a full holder and teacher of the Kagyu Vajrayana lineages. He founded the Namo Buddha retreat center in Nepal, has established two shedras (monastic universities) in Nepal and India, and serves as Abbot of Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia. He also built Tara Abbey, where nuns receive a full dharma education qualifying them to become khenpos or teachers. Thrangu Rinpoche teaches extensively throughout Asia, Europe and the United States. He has centers in Maine and California, and is building the Vajra Vidya Retreat Center in Crestone, Colorado.

	Contents: An Ocean of the Ultimate Meaning - Teachings on Mahamudra
	Translators Preface	ix
	Acknowledgments	xiv
	Introduction	xv
	Part One
	THE PRELIMINARIES
1.	The Particular Preliminaries	3
	The Causal Condition: An Aspiration for the Dharma	5
	The Primary Condition: The Teacher	6
	The Objective Condition: Recognizing the True Nature	9
	The Immediate Condition: Looking at Mind as It Is	9
	Part Two
	THE MAIN PRACTICE
	Shamatha
2.	Essential Points of the Main Meditation	13
	Essential Points of the Body: Posture	14
	Essential Points of the Mind: The Eight Consciousnesses	16
3.	Settling the Unsettled Mind	25
	The General Instructions: Resting the Mind	27
	Methods of Meditation	30
	Focusing on an Impure Object	30
	Focusing on a Pure Object	32
	Focusing Internally	33
	Focusing without an Object	34
	Focusing on the Breath	34
	Stages of Mental Stability	38
4.	Stabilizing the Settled Mind	41
	Eliminating Dullness: Binding Above	41
	Eliminating Agitation: Binding Below	42
	Cutting through Thoughts	44
	Nine Methods for Stabilizing the Mind	45
5.	Enhancing Stability in Meditation	54
	Focusing on Sensory Perceptions	54
	Focusing on Thoughts	55
	Tightening and Loosening	58
	Eliminating Errors in Meditation	59
6.	Understanding Emptiness: The Three Turning of the Dharma Wheel	63
	The First Turning: The Selflessness of the Individual	65
	The Second Turning: The Selflessness of Phenomena	67
	The Third Turning: Buddha Nature	69
	Vipashyana
7.	Ascertaining the Mind's Nature	73
	Looking at the Mind at Rest	76
	Looking at the Mind in Movement	80
8.	Cutting through the Root	83
	Eleven Activities of Vipashyana	87
9.	Developing Certainty in the Union of Emptiness and Awareness	92
	Pointing Out the Nature of Mind through Movement	99
	Pointing Out the Nature of Mind through Appearances	105
	Philosophical Explanations of Appearances as Mind	105
	The Hinayana Views	106
	The Mind Only View	108
	Recognition through Direct Experience	110
	Pointing Out That Appearances Are Mind	110
	Pointing Out That Mind is Empty	115
	Pointing Out That Emptiness is Natural Presence	117
	Pointing Out That Natural Presence Is Self-Liberated	118
	Part Three
	THE CONCLUDING TOPICS
10.	Enhancing the Result	123
	Eliminating the Five Misconceptions	123
	Developing the Three Skills	129
	Avoiding the Four Deviations	133
	Passing through the Three Dangerous Pathways	138
11.	Eliminating Obstacles	145
	The Obstacle of Illness	145
	The Obstacle of Demons	148
	The Obstacles to Meditation	149
12.	Proceeding along the Path: The Four Yogas of Mahamudra	152
13.	Attaining the Result	161
	Part Four
	THE SUPPLEMENTARY TEACHINGS
14.	Further Explanations of Mahamudra	167
	The Nature of Mahamudra	167
	Categories of Mahamudra	169
	Ground Mahamudra	169
	Path Mahamudra	169
	Result Mahamudra	171
	The Meaning of the Word	174
	Joining with Coemergence	176
	Gaining the Ultimate Result	176
	Afterword	178
	Notes	182
	Glossary	187
	Index	201
	About the Author	205