Always Present: The Luminous Wisdom of Jigme Phuntsok

Description

Personal and heartfelt teachings on the Buddhist path by one of the most influential Tibetan lamas of the twentieth century, compiled and edited by an acclaimed Tibetan scholar and leader of a key center of Buddhist learning. Jigme Phuntsok presents the core of the Tibetan Buddhist path in this series of dharma talks collected by his student Khenpo Sodargye. Oriented toward the ultimate well-being of students, his teachings are inviting, intimate, and direct, revealing profound insights on the way of right practice and steering the reader clear of the pitfalls they will inevitably face along the way. Taken together, these talks offer a concise handbook for Buddhist practice that readers will want to return to again and again for encouragement and guidance.

H.H. JIGME PHUNTSOK (1933-2004) was a prominent teacher in the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism who was recognized as a terton (treasure revealer) and renowned for his mastery of Dzogchen. Unlike many Tibetan masters who fled to India and the West, Jigme Phuntsok remained in China throughout the Cultural Revolution and played a major role in maintaining and reviving Buddhism in the region. He established a nonsectarian Buddhist community called Larung Gar near the town of Sertar in China's Sichuan Province, where he taught thousands of students, many of Han Chinese ethnicity. KHENPO SODARGYE is one of the primary leaders of the Buddhist academy at Larung Gar and was H.H. Jigme Phuntsok's chief translator. He has traveled extensively to the United States, Canada, Germany, France, Holland, the United Kingdom, and throughout Asia to offer teachings, and he continues to teach widely at schools and universities in China and abroad. He is also the founder of numerous Chinese schools and charitable organizations.

"Jigme Phuntsok Rinpoche was a truly incredible and inspirational master. Through his visionary activity, Rinpoche created one of the largest monastic settlements the world has ever seen-a vibrant center that has contributed enormously to the recent resurgence of Buddhism in Tibet and China. Now that this wonderfully pithy collection of his teachings has been made available through the efforts of his extraordinary spiritual heir, Khenpo Sodargye, I have no hesitation in wholeheartedly recommending it to all seekers of truth and sincere followers of the Buddhadharma."-Sogyal Rinpoche, author of The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying