The Dzogchen Primer An Anthology of Writings by Masters of the Great Perfection

The Tibetan Buddhist meditation practice known asDzogchen(pronounced ZOG-chen) is a practical method for accessing the pristine, clear awareness that lies beneath the chatter and confusion of our daily thoughts.The Dzogchen Primerprovides the keys for understanding Dzogchen and putting it into practice. Marcia Schmidt, a long-time Buddhist practitioner, has gathered here the most accessible, down-to-earth writings published on this subject and has organized them into a study guide for the serious beginner on the Buddhist path. The collection includes writings from such well-known and venerable masters as Milarepa, Padmasambhava, Shantideva, Chouml;gyam Trungpa, and Tulku Urgyen. The concept of Dzogchen is said to lie beyond the confines of our beliefs, our intellectual constructs, our ordinary understanding. A Dzogchen master writes, "We need to dismantle our fixation on the permanence of what we experience. A normal person clings to his experiences as being 'real,' concrete, and permanent. But if we look closely at what happens, experience is simply experience, and it is not made out of anything. It has no form, no sound, no color, no taste, no texture; it is simply empty cognizance."The Dzogchen Primerincludes an informative editor's preface as well as two forewords by prominent Tibetan masters that provide fundamental background information that will be helpful to readers new to this subject. The book also includes short, descriptive guiding notes intended to assist both independent students and teachers leading workshops.

Marcia Binder Schmidt has been an editor and publisher of books on Vajrayana Buddhism for over fifteen years. With her husband, author and translator Erik Pema Kungsang, she founded and currently runs Rangjung Yeshe Publications, an independent publisher of Buddhist texts in English.