Vivid Awareness The Mind Instructions of Khenpo Gangshar

The instructions in this book are a distillation of the essential points of the esoteric Tibetan Buddhist practices of Mahamudra and Dzogchen. Intended to help people to face lifers"s difficulties, they include essentials of Buddhist philosophy, contemplations on the ephemeral nature of both joy and suffering, meditations for resting the mind, and guidance for maintaining equanimity in real-life circumstances. Khenchen Thrangu, a modern meditation master, describes in this book his studies with a teacher of great renown who remained in Tibet after the Chinese invasion. The deceased elder master, known as Khenpo Gangshar, is still renowned as a dynamic, unconventional teacher, widely respected for his spiritual achievement. He foresaw the difficulties coming in Tibet and realized that he had to give people some straightforward instructions that would be easy to remember and to use, because the country would soon be engulfed in turmoil and be in need of spiritual help.

Khenchen Thrangu was born in Tibet in 1933. He has founded numerous monasteries and nunneries, school for Tibetan children, and medial clinics. He conducts yearly Dharma seminars in the United States, Canada, and Europe. He was appointed by the Dalai Lama to be the personal tutor for the Seventeenth Karmapa.