Gesar Tantric Practices of the Tibetan Warrior King

A selection of 52 short prayers and practices devoted to Tibet’s cultural hero Gesar of Ling as an enlightened tantric deity to generate positive circumstances and increase one’s experiences and realization in Buddhist practice.

Gesar of Ling is widely known as the hero of Tibet’s national oral epic, considered the longest epic in the world. But he is also the focus of Buddhist practices in which his enlightened form, known as King Gesar the Jewel, becomes one of the numerous spiritual methods offered by Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism to progress toward buddhahood. This work contains the complete selection of practice texts compiled by the early modern Tibetan polymath Jamgon Mipham and included in his Collected Works.   

Gesar personifies the ideal of the spiritual warrior, who tames negative forces which obstruct the Buddhist path. The practices presented here detail poetic imagery of offerings and their recipients, including Gesar, his court, and the spirits who dwell in his personal belongings. Vajrayana practices such as these are considered mind treasures, meaning rather than being composed, they appeared fully formed as a transmission with the mind of a Vajrayana master.

JAMGON MIPHAM (1846–1912) was one of the great luminaries of Tibetan Buddhism in modern times. Monk, mystic, and brilliant philosopher, he shaped the trajectory of Tibetan Buddhism’s Nyingma school and reinvigorated the Nyingma monastic university tradition. A prolific writer, he is well known for his lengthy composition, The Epic of Gesar of Ling, which arose out of Tibet's oral tradition and is said to be equivalent to the Greek Iliad or the Odyssey. 

GYURME AVERTIN is a France-based translator with the Rigpa Sangha. He began his study of the Tibetan language in 1997. He spent two years following the Tibetan program at Langues’O University in Paris, then studied at the Rangjung Yeshe Institute in Nepal and the Dzongsar shedra in India. He is the translator of The Gathering of Vidyadharas: Text and Commentaries on the Rigdzin Düpa (Snow Lion, 2017).