The Yoga of Tibet: The Great Exposition of Secret Mantra – 2 and 3 by Tsong Khapa

Introduced by His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lam translated & edited by Jeffrey Hopkins

Yoga of Tibet describes the profound process of meditation in Action and Performance Tantra. It is an invaluable book for anyone who is practising or interested in Buddhist tantra. It consists of three parts:

Heart of Mantra by the Dalai Lama is a lucid exposition of the meditative rites of deity yoga—the distinctly tantric process in which yogis visualize themselves in the form of a Buddha’s divine body as a manifestation of compassionate wisdom.

The Great Exposition of Secret Mantra— part 2 & 3 by Tsong-ka-pa, details the practices of Action and Performance Tantra. Special deity yoga techniques for the development of the heart, mind and physical form of a Buddha are presented in a coherent series ö yogic exercises. The mudras (hand gestures) that accompany tile meditations are clearly illustrated.

A Supplement by Jeffrey Hopkins outlines in detail the structure of Action Tantra practices as well as the need for development of special yogic powers.

Homage to Vajradhara
This book is a continuation of Tantra in Tibet. Centred on the second and third parts of Tsong-ka-pa’s Great Exposition of Secret Mantra, it presents the profound process of meditation in Action and Performance Tantra. This explanation of the main features of the Action and Performance systems should clear away misconceptions about the tantric path and lay the groundwork for those who wish to cultivate these tantras upon receiving initiation from a qualified lama.

Part I is an introduction by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, whose commentary on Tsong-ka-pa’s text was received in 1974 and subsequently translated and edited. His lucid exposition of the meditative rites of deity yoga — the distinctly tantric process in which a yogi cultivates appearance in a Buddha’s divine body — affords an accessibility to Part II, Tsong-ka-pa’s text itself. Part III is a short supplement primarily on the structure of the path in Action Tantra. It is drawn from Na-wang-bel-den’s Presentation of the Grounds and Paths of Mantra as well as the oral teachings of Lati Rinbochay and Denma Locho Rinbochay, both philosophy masters and tantric lamas, the former being abbot of the Shar-dzay College of Gan-den and the latter, abbot of the Tibetan Monastery at Kulu.

Part II was orally retranslated into Tibetan for Lati Rinbochay for the sake of correction and verification, and a complete commentary on the same was received from Denma Locho Rinbochay. Elizabeth Napper, a doctoral candidate in Buddhist Studies at the University of Virginia, provided crucial help in editing the entire manuscript.

A guide to Tsong-ka-pa’s text, following his own mode of division of the contents, is given in tabular form in an appendix. The chapter divisions and their titles in the Dalai Lama’s commentary and in Tsong-ka-pa’s text were added to facilitate understanding. The transliteration scheme for Sanskrit names and titles is aimed at easy pronunciation, using sh, sh, and ch rather than. s, and c. With the first occurrence of each Indian title, the Sanskrit is given, if available. Often Tsong-ka-pa refers only to the title or the author of a work, whereas both are given in translation to obviate the need for checking back and forth. The full Sanskrit and Tibetan titles are to be found in the bibliography, which is arranged alphabetically according to the English titles of sutras and tantras and according to the authors of other works. The Tibetan originals of key terms have been given in a glossary at the end. Photographs of the thirty-eight seals or hand signs (mudra) are given in the middle of the text; the formation of several of these is speculative since a full- fledged transmission of their practice has not been found among the refugee lamas in India.