For those who aspire to the total enlightenment of a buddha, the contemplative practices of samatha and vipasyana play a crucial role from the beginning of the path to its culmination. Designed to free one first from the five obscurations that hinder the natural clarity and balance of the mind--and eventually from the ignorance that is the root of suffering--these practices, when imbued with bodhicitta, enable one to reach a pivotal stage within the Mahayana path of accumulation. This is the stage at which one gains irreversible, gold-like bodhicitta, after which one is assured of being a bodhisattva in all one's future lifetimes until enlightenment.

The instructions gathered here are like a string of pearls spanning from the eleventh century to the present day. They include teachings from great Indian masters as well as renowned lamas of the past and present from the four major orders of Tibetan Buddhism, and many of the texts translated here stem from visionary teachings revealed by Manjusri, Vajrapani, Avalokitesvara, and Padmasambhava. Introductions rich in biographical detail accompany each group of translated entries, providing historical context and drawing connections between complementary lineages. The concluding pith instructions from Lama Alan Wallace bring the anthology directly into the domain of contemporary practice, and a collection of links to a rich array of recorded oral teachings by eminent lamas, including His Holiness the Dalai Lama's first teachings in the West, make this volume a treasure trove for the practitioner and scholar alike.

Samatha and Vipasyana: An Anthology of Pith Instructions, Alan Wallace and Eva Natanya, Wisdom Publications, Hardcover, 392 pages, $39.95

B. Alan Wallace is president of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies. He trained for many years as a monk in Buddhist monasteries in India and Switzerland. He has taught Buddhist theory and practice in Europe and America since 1976 and has served as interpreter for numerous Tibetan scholars and contemplatives, including H. H. the Dalai Lama. After graduating summa cum laude from Amherst College, where he studied physics and the philosophy of science, he earned his MA and PhD in religious studies at Stanford University. He has edited, translated, authored, and contributed to more than forty books on Tibetan Buddhism, medicine, language, and culture, and the interface between science and religion.

Alan is also the founder of the Center for Contemplative Research (CCR), which now has retreat center locations in Crestone, Colorado, and in Castellina Marittima, Italy. A new center is also being established in New Zealand. The CCR is dedicated to researching the role and methods of the ancient contemplative practices of Shamatha and Vipashyana, and their involvement in mental health and wellbeing, as well as their role in fathoming the nature and origins of human consciousness.

The CCR vision builds on the results of the Shamatha Project. It is guided by a Scientific Advisory Board that includes the Nobel Prize-winning physicist and biologist Steven Chu (Stanford University), neuroscientist and clinical psychologist David Presti (UC Berkeley), theoretical physicist Marcelo Gleiser (Director of the Institute for Cross-Disciplinary Engagement at Dartmouth College), and philosopher Michel Bitbol (Director of Research at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique). Cognitive scientists at the University of Pisa, the University of Trent, and the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Pisa are committed to conducting research in collaboration with the CCR.