The Dawn of Tantra
By Herbert V. Guenther and Chögyam Trungpa
The Dawn of Tantra is the record of a seminar given by the
authors at a time when accurate accounts of Buddhist Tantra in English were sorely lacking. Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche was one of the first and greatest Buddhist Lamas to
teach in the West; Guenther was the first Western philosopher to study
Buddhist Tantra in depth and to write about it on the basis of
practice.
In the book the authors take alternate chapters. Professor Guenther
provides the theoretical framework of Tantra and Trungpa Rinpoche
provides the Mahasiddha application of the teachings and practices
as life. The Dawn of Tantra covers topics such as the mandala principle (kyil’khor); shunyata (emptiness);
the Lama-student relationship; visualisation;
and empowerment.
The book is devoid of the three main faults which are found so
often in books which address Tantra: the sterile academic approach;
the ‘Western Buddhist’ approach which over-simplifies
– distorting Tantra by muddling it with comfortable Western
concepts; and the historical traditionalist approach which obfuscates
Tantra in elaborate medieval pietism. It is invaluable for anyone
wishing to explore Tantra in greater depth.
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