Words of My Perfect Teacher, Revised Edition

And some more kindness. Kindness is the theme of The Words of My Perfect Teacher. I find the teaching presented here to be of great help in dealing with people and situations I'd rather not be involved with, but have no choice. It's very practical (but yes, some passages do include very involved visualizations) and very effective in a rubber-meets-the-road kind of way. This book is a generous helping of good advice, and I think the world would be a much safer and saner place if more of is took such advice directly to heart and put it into practice. Kindness, remember? Here's a representative quotation: "Always take the lowest place. Wear simple clothes. Help other beings as much as you can. In everything you do, simply work at developing love and compassion until they have become a fundamental part of you" (p. 207). The secret is that they're already a fundamental part of you, even if it seems otherwise. A reviewer elsewhere has raised the concern that The Words of My Perfect Teacher is a Nyingma ngondro. Yes. Good. Nyingma does not mean "cooties." It's just the name of a particular tradition of Tibetan Buddhism that traces its history to the great teacher Padmasambhava, or Guru Rinpoche. (Gurdjieff called him Saint Lama.) Nyingma represents a legitimate body of teachings which has a lot to offer the world. And The Words of My Perfect Teacher may be the best place to start looking into it and not just taking my word for it, or rejecting it out of hand for no good reason.

Wonderful Patrul Rinpoche has written a good book which no doubt has stood the test of time. The book covers the general and specific premliminaries of Vajrayana, spiced up with lovely stories and anecdotes. Patrul Rinpoches straightfoward and sometimes blunt way of expressing things is very releiving and inspiring. Some of what he writes may be provoking to modern (western) readers. He is striking towards hipocracy in all directions. There are detailed explanations on the Four Mind Changings, Refuge and Bodhicitta, Vajrasattva practice, Mandala offering, Guru Yoga and many other thigs.The book is a great read from cover to cover as well as a good reference book with its good index. Reading this book will certainly dispel lots of ignorance and doubt regarding the buddhist path. So read it, again and again!

this is one of my all-time favorite books in the universe. i recommend it to all of my friends (even though most have read it!) and would love for everyone interested in tibetan buddhism as a real-life practice to own and read this book. and reread it. it starts at the beginning and goes all the way to the end. if i may offer a primer: in tibet there were (are?) four main schools. the oldest of them is called "nyingma," or "old ones." within the nyingma's thousands of sub-lineages by far one of the most widely practiced is that begun by a man named jigmed lingpa. his student's student's student (i believe i have that right) wrote this text as a record of his master's oral instructions on the so-called "preliminary practices" (tib. ngondro). however, as many lamas will tell you, the use of the word "preliminary" must be taken with a grain of salt. these practices embody the essence of the dharma, and the joy of this book is that it helps to bring that truth to light. the translation was done by a committee of tibetan language scholars and lineage-holding masters. so intent were they to provide a true translation, a few years after the first edition they republished it with the adjustments they had developed as the text was being used and studied. and it is precisely this use and study that is the point of this text. what more could you ask for?

Patrul Rinpoche's classic and powerful text contains essential instructions and expositions for those already familiar with, and may be practicing, Tibetan Buddhism. It cuts at the root of our misunderstandings and misery. What more can we ask for? For Buddhists of other lineage traditions, the text still contains many valuable insights and meditations. For newcomers to Tibetan Buddhism, however, other introductory texts would be more appropriate (e.g. selected works by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Kalu Rinpoche, Dudjom Rinpoche, Sogyal Rinpoche, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Thubten Chodron, Alan Wallace, Robert Thurman).