Kirti Tsenshap Rinpoche was a renowned teacher of Tibetan Buddhism with students worldwide. Revered as a teacher by even the Dalai Lama, he was known especially as a master of Buddhist tantra, the powerful esoteric methods for attaining enlightenment swiftly. The teachings in this book are a singular record of his deep learning in that field. Originally delivered in California to a group of Western students, the teachings comment on a classic introduction to tantra by the nineteenth-century Mongolian lama Choje Ngawang Palden. The work, Illumination of the Tantric Tradition: The Principles of the Grounds and Paths of the Four Great Secret Classes of Tantra, is a staple even today of the curriculum for training young monastics.

Kirti Tsenshap Rinpoche explains the distinctive features of the four classes of tantra--action tantra, performance tantra, yoga tantra, and highest yoga tantra--by describing the way to progress through the tantric paths and grounds (sa lam). He illuminates key issues in tantric practice that are still a matter for debate within the tradition. Finally, he gives a special treatment of the unique methods of Kalacakra tantra, which is regularly taught around the globe by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Principles of Buddhist Tantra, Kirti Tsenshap Rinpoche, Wisdom Publications, Paperback, 480 pages, $28.95

Kirti Tsenshap Rinpoche was born in the province of Amdo in eastern Tibet in 1926. A monk from age nine, he trained at Kirti Monastery and at Drepung Monastery in Lhasa. He escaped to India in 1959, and in 1972 embarked on a fifteen-year retreat in the mountains above Dharamsala. In the decades before his death in 2006, Rinpoche taught extensively at Buddhist centers throughout the world.

Ian Coghlan (Jampa Ignyen) was a monk in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition for twenty years and completed his geshe studies at Sera Je Monastery in 1995. He holds a PhD in Asian studies from La Trobe University and is currently a translator for the Institute of Tibetan Classics and an adjunct research fellow at Monash Asia Institute, Melbourne.

Voula Zarpani holds a double master's degree from the Agricultural University of Athens and graduated from the first Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo Translator Program in Dharamsala, India, in 1995. She became translator for Kirti Tsenshap Rinpoche in 2000 and continues to translate for various Tibetan Lamas.

	Contents: Principles of BUDDHIST TANTRA
	Translator's Introduction	1
	ILLUMINATION OF THE TANTRIC TRADITION: The Principles of the Grounds and Paths of the Four Great Secret Classes of Tantra
	Introduction	13
	PART 1. THE THREE LOWER TANTRAS
1.	Action Tantra	21
2.	Performance Tantra	45
3.	Yoga Tantra	61
4.	Grounds and Paths	79
	PART 2. MAINSTREAM HIGHEST YOGA TANTRA
5.	The Generation Stage	95
6.	The Completion Stage	131
7.	Physical Isolation	151
8.	Verbal Isolation	175
9.	Mental Isolation	195
10.	Relative Illusory Body	221
11.	Ultimate Clear Light	247
12.	Learner's Union	261
13.	Alternate Systems of Highest Yoga Tantra	273
14.	Enhancing and Manifesting Results	285
	PART 3. KALACAKRA TRANTRA
15.	Practitioners	301
16.	Vows	315
17.	The Generation Stage	327
18.	The Vajra Body of the Completion Stage	333
19.	The Six Branches of Practice of the Completion Stage	347
20.	Manifesting Results	379
	Appendix: Tables	387
	Notes	393
	Glossary	439
	Bibliography	453
	Index	467
	About the Contributors	481