Dharma Paths

Since its initial publication, Dharma Paths has quietly gained a reputation as one of the most useful introductory texts on Tibetan Buddhism. Assuming no prior background or knowledge of Buddhist terminology, Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche presents Buddhist ways of working with anxiety and frustration, the nature and development of love and compassion, and the profound methods of the vajrayana. The Four Noble Truths, taking refuge, and the Stages of the Path are concisely explained, and clear instructions for shamatha ("calm abiding") meditation are provided. Question-and-answer sections follow each chapter, anticipating common problems and addressing them in a direct, accessible style.

Khenpo Karthar, born in 1922 in eastern Tibet, entered Thrangu Monastery at the age of twelve, where he underwent many years of training, long retreats, pilgrimages, and philosophical studies. After the Chinese takeover of Tibet in 1959, Rinpoche escaped to India, where he taught for some years at Buxa and later at Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim. He served as abbot of Tashi Choling Monastery in Bhutan, and then at Tilokpur Nunnery in northern India. In 1978, the Sixteenth Karmapa sent Rinpoche to the United States to teach dharma and to serve as his chief representative in this country. Today Rinpoche is the abbot of Karma Triyana Dharmachakra Monastery in Woodstock, New York, and retreat master of the Karme Ling Three-Year Retreat Center.