"Peacock in the Poison Grove" is one of the finest books ever published on the Kadam tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, whose basic program of "mind training" (lojong) was adopted or adapted by every other Tibetan order. The two long poems translated here, attributed to Atisa's guru, Dharmaraksita, are among the oldest and most dramatic of the mind training texts, woven as they are of startling imagery and a quintessentially Tibetan admixture of sutra and tantra practices, as well as conventional and ultimate perspectives on the world. "Peacock in the Poison Grove" provides lucid translations of the texts, and a humane and learned commentary revealing why Geshe Sopa has long been regarded as one of the greatest living scholars of Tibetan Buddhism. Sweet and Zwilling's historical and thematic introduction is a model of textual detective work and lucid contextualization which helps us understand the world in which these poems arose and why they continue to speak to us today. "Peacock in the Poison Grove" belongs on the shelf- and a readily accessible one at that!- of every scholar and every practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism.

Peacock in the Poison Grove, Geshe Lhundub Sopa, Wisdom Publications, 311 pages, $16.95

Geshe Lhundub Sopa is one of the few remaining Tibetan masters to have been trained in his homeland of Tibet prior to the Chinese occupation. He gained a reputation early on as a dedicated and brillant scholar and was chosen as one of the Dalai Lama's debate examiners during the annual Prayer Festival in 1959. Shortly thereafter, he joined the exodus of Tibetans to India, and in 1962 moved to New Jersey. In 1967, he was invited to teach in the recently formed Buddhist Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he is now Professor Emeritus. He is the founder of Deer Park Buddhist Center in Oregon, Wisconsin.

Preface	vii
Historical and Thematic Introduction	1
Notes to Historical Introduction	24
Introduction to Mind-Training Practice	35
The Wheel-Weapon Mind Training	57
Commentary by Geshe Lhundub Sopa	123
The Poison-Destroying Peacock Mind Training	187
Commentary by Geshe Lhundub Sopa	237
Index	305