There was a raging debate going on in Tibet during the Eighth Century of our era. Everyone was trying to decide whether we attain enlightenment suddenly or gradually. A huge debate was staged pitting the Indian Pandit Kamalashila against the Chinese Hvashang Mahayana. Many believe that gradualism was the Indian position while sudden enlightenment was the Chinese position. These accounts ignore the very substantial body of literature from India representing the Instantaneous view: the literature of the Great Perfection. Could it be that the Indian side was more inclusive of Buddhism as a whole, having both gradual and sudden viewpoints, while the Chinese were represented only by the sudden view? We may wonder if the King was unaware of the Great Perfection literature, due to its secrecy. It is therefore of great consequence that we find preserved in the Nyingma Gyubum, The Hundred Thousand Tantras of the Ancients, three Great Perfection Tantras of the Mind Section that were translated by Vimalamitra and gNyags Jnanakumara specifically for presentation to King Trisong Detsen, who ruled from 755 to 804 C.E. When we read these Tantras, we are granted a window into what the Great Perfection meant to those at court and to those who were the policy makers. This translation empowers English speakers of today's world to reach our own understanding of these Tantras that were meant for a King.

Royal Ambrosia: Three Great Perfection Tantras for the King, Christopher Wilkinson, Paperback, 395 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.