The material in this book is restricted. This book may be read only by those who have received a highest-yoga-tantra empowerment.

The Eighteen Steps of Vajrabhairava is an important collection of texts for the practice of solitary-hero and thirteen-deity Yamantaka, composed by the Fifth Ling Rinpoche, Losang Lungtok Tenzin Trinle (1856-1902).

This volume contains unique instructions that were originally transmitted orally and later compiled during Ling Rinpoche's three-year retreat on Yamantaka--the wrathful form of Manjusri, also known as Vajrabhairava. Following this retreat, the Fifth Ling Rinpoche went on to serve as a tutor to His Holiness the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, Thupten Gyatso.

While certain portions of these teachings, such as the sadhanas and fire pujas for the solitary-hero and thirteen-deity Vajrabhairava, were previously available only to qualified practitioners, the complete collection remained sealed and required special permission to access.

In a significant and historic development, His Holiness the Dalai Lama has now granted permission for this text to be translated and published in English. For the first time, these profound teachings are made accessible to English-speaking practitioners.

The Eighteen Steps of Vajrabhairava, The Fifth Ling Rinpoche, Voula Zarpani, Wisdom Publications, Hardcover, 640 pages, $108.00

The Fifth Ling Rinpoche (1856 - 1902) Losang Lungtog Tenzin Trinle composed his renowned commentary on Solitary Hero Yamantaka when he was twenty-five years old while engaged in a three-year retreat of Yamantaka. After his retreat in 1895 he became a tutor to Thupten Gyatso, the Thirteenth Dalai Lama. The Fifth Ling Rinpoche had a vision of his prior lives and depictions of these past incarnations were painted on the wall of his Garpa hermitage near Lhasa.

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.