How to Realize Emptiness

Description

Realizing emptiness or grasping the true nature of reality lies at the heart of the Buddhist path. In this book, Gen Lamrimpa offers practical instruction on Madhyamaka, insight meditation aimed at realizing emptiness. Drawing on his theoretical training as well as his extensive meditative experience, he explains how to use Madhyamaka reasoning to experience the way in which all things exist as dependently related events.

Gen Lamrimpa, born in Tibet in 1934, spent most of his life in meditative retreat in Dharamsala, India. He is the author of Calming the Mind, one of the clearest books in English on shamatha meditation.

"Written by a genuine Buddhist master, How to Realize Emptiness gives accurate directions to explore the nature of reality and come to the correct view of the Middle Way."-Ven. Thubten Chodron, author of Buddhism for Beginners "Not quite emptiness made easy-an impossibility-but it is at least emptiness made comprehensible."-Dharma Life "An important commentary clarifying the Madhyamika view and synthesizing venerated scriptural references, enhancing understanding of the view of emptiness. Ven. Gen Lamrimpa's elucidation reflects his remarkable practice and life."-Tenzin Kacho, resident teacher of Thubten Shedrup Ling and Buddhist Chaplain with the United States Air Force Academy "The teachings are profound and clearly guide one toward realizing the nature of emptiness. . . . Each chapter is a gem detailing in clear language the apparent nature of ignorance and its dependence on the individual for its existence."-Inner Directions "Gen Lamrimpa has a down-to-earth approach to this difficult subject which is immediately accessible to beginning students, further clarified by B. Alan Wallace's translation. . . . Gen Lamrimpa's teachings, which combine analysis with practical exercises, are redolent with compassion and insight."-Mandala Magazine "Some of the material is rather technical and merits several readings, but it is effort that pays off. In less than one hundred pages, Gen Lamrimpa manages to give the reader . . . a practical presentation of the reasoning commonly employed in Tibetan Buddhism to experience the way in which all things exist as dependently related events. In addition to the scholarly presentation of emptiness, this book also contains a brief but illuminating biography of Gen Lamrimpa and two appendixes; one on Dzogchen and the other on Madhyamaka and Dzogchen. That a traditionally trained Gelugpa scholar monk should take time out to discuss Dzogchen is refreshing and shows that Gelugpas are not necessarily in disagreement with the approach of Dzogchen. Perhaps it is not so surprising when one considers that Gen Lamrimpa is not just a scholar monk but a meditator with decades of experience much of it in retreat."-Buddhism Now