“For serious meditators wishing to realize Buddhahood through the path of Dzogchen, this great treasure is an invaluable handbook. The enlightening voices of many superb masters of the Dzogchen lineage reverberate throughout this beautiful and powerful book.” —Tulku Thondup rinpoche,author of The Healing Power of Mind and Enlightened Living “Dzogchen, also known as The Great perfection, is arguably the heart of Tibetan Buddhist meditation, and in this impressive collection Schmidt pulls together writings from historic and contemporary masters to facilitate study for serious, committed beginners and longtime practitioners. This sequential manual is designed to aid individuals as well as Sangha or workshop leaders, and offers facilitator guidelines, a glossary, author profiles and a bibliography. This (Dzogchen) Primer can help students without a teacher or meditation center. Not a collection of academic ruminations, this important work also stresses application.” —Publishers Weekly Dzogchen Essentials offers an exciting, diverse selection of material, both new and traditional, for study and practice in the Dzogchen tradition. These teachings are principally about clarifying confusion, the mistaken ways we normally relate to our perceptions of environment, body, and senses. Rather than continue the habits of insisting on a solid reality, we are given skillful alternatives and practices and the method to integrate them with the view of the Great Perfection. Dzogchen Essentials is for the dedicated Vajrayana student. Carrying on from The Dzogchen Primer, it contains a wide range of selections upholding the style of the simple meditator, including pieces by Padmasambhava, Tulku Thondup, Dilgo Khyentse, Dudjom, Tulku Urgyen, Sogyal, and Chgyam Trungpa, Rinpoches. Additional sources and facilitator’s guidelines enrich study groups and nurture the lone practitioner. Marcia Binder Schmidt has been an editor and publisher of Vajrayana Buddhist literature for over eighteen years. She and her husband, Erik Pema Kunsang, author and translator, have produced many Buddhist books and translations in English.
