Synopses & Reviews
Although the Dzogchen teachings are principally familiar to Westerners through the teachings of the Nyingma school, they also survive in the ancient Bön Religion of Tibet. Wonders of the Natural Mind presents Dzogchen as taught in the Zhang Zhung Nyan Gyud, the fundamental Bön text. The book summarizes the main points of Dzogchen and its relation to the various systems of Bön teaching. In offering these teachings, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche provides the reader with a vivid and engaging portrait of Bön culture as he interweaves the teachings with his personal story and reflections on the practice of Dzogchen in the West.
Synopsis
Wonders of the Natural Mind is a presentation of Dzogchen as taught in the Tibetan Bon tradition. Dzogchen has begun to be familiar to Westerners principally through the teachings of the Nyingmapa school, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and other Tibetan teachers residing and teaching in Western countries. In Wonders of the Natural Mind, the author presents the Dzogchen teachings based on the Zhang Zhung Nyan Gyud, the fundamental Bon text, and also gives his personal reflections on the practice of Dzogchen in the West.
Synopsis
Wonders of the Natural Mind is a survey of the Bon tradition which familiarizes one with the basic terms and concepts of this system of meditation. Bon is the indigenous religion of Tibet, predating Buddhism. He introduces ways of training the mind and continues to discuss the manipulation of subtle energies within the body. He also discusses Dzogchen within the practice of Bon, a system which has been introduced to the West mainly in a Buddhist context.
About the Author
Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, a lama in the Bön tradition of Tibet, presently resides in Charlottesville, Virginia. He is the founder and director of Ligmincha Institute, an organization dedicated to the study and practice of the teachings of the Bön tradition. He was born in Amritsar, India, after his parents fled the Chinese invasion of Tibet and received training from both Buddhist and Bön teachers, attaining the degree of Geshe, the highest academic degree of traditional Tibetan culture. He has been in the United States since 1991 and has taught widely in Europe and America.