In all religions, sacred texts and objects have appeared miraculously. Among the most remarkable of these revelatory traditions is the terma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Termas herald a fresh opportunity for the renewal of spiritual practice. Here Tulku Thondup tells the story of the terma treasure tradition initiated by Padmasambhava, the ninth-century saint who established Buddhism in Tibet.
About the Author
Tulku Thondup Rinpoche was born in Golok, Eastern Tibet, and recognized as a reincarnate lama at age five. He left Tibet as a political refugee in 1958 and taught at Lucknow University and Visva Bharati University in India before coming to the United States as a visiting scholar at Harvard University in 1980. Since then, he has lived and worked in Cambridge, Massachusetts, engaged in translation and writing projects on Tibetan Buddhism, focused particularly on the teachings of the Nyingma school. He is the author of numerous books on history, literature, mind, and meditation.
Praise For…
"A marvelously lucid work on... this little understood tradition of Buddhist yoga." — Yoga World
"[A] superb outline of the secret Terma tradition... [It is] erudite, comprehensive, and full of scholarship and insight, yet at the same time is approachable and offers a good overview of Vajrayana as well as specific information on the Termas. It is well-presented and illustrated, and is a title you will read more than once. This is a lot of wisdom packed within its 300 pages..." — Media Resources
"The tradition of terma should be of more than passing interest to Western students of the Tibetan Buddhist traditions: a great many of us practice at least some such teachings, and sometimes our practice is entirely based upon them. Despite the proliferation of teachings derived from termas, however, there has been an almost total lack of information concerning the genre of terma itself. This book helps to fill that void." — Professor Matthew Kapstein, translator of The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism
