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Addendum to 'Maya Yoga'

[Note: Also see 'The Yeshe Lama: Jigme Lingpa's Dzogchen Atiyoga Manual' by Keith Dowman and
'The Fearless Lion's Roar: Profound Instructions on Dzogchen, the Great Perfection' by Nyoshul Khenpo, David Christensen, 2015]
. 'Finding Comfort and Ease in Enchantment, published under the title Maya Yoga, is the third volume' in his Trilogy of Finding
Comfort and Ease.
The first volume is 'Finding Comfort and Ease in the Nature of Mind' and
the second 'Finding Comfort and Ease in Meditation'.' - [Dowman,Maya yoga,b9R]
. 'This [Maya Yoga] is the concluding book of Longchenpa's classic Trilogy of Finding Comfort and Easy - originally translated by
Herbert Guenther (with his trade-mark thoroughly detailed arcane convolutions), and published as Kindly Bent to Ease Us:
Wonderment (Part 3) (v. 3), by Dharma in 1980,
while the second volume was published by Wisdom in 2000 as Mind in Comfort and Ease: The Vision of Enlightenment in the Great
Perfection, from teachings by the 14th Dalai Lama (with his trade-mark thoroughly detailed comparative and logical approach).' [Applewood, 'Maya Yoga' customer review, Amazon]]
Addendum: Longchenpa
Spaciousness: The Radical Dzogchen of the Vajra-Heart: Longchenpa's Treasury of the Dharmadhatu -- Dowman, 2014
|The Precious Treasury of the Basic Space of Phenomena (Chying Dzd) -- Longchen Rabjam, Richard Barron, 2001 +
[Note: 'The Chying Dzd concerns the spiritual approach known as trekcho (cutting through solidity), which brings spiritual
practitioners of the highest acumen to freedom effortlessly.
The Chying Dzd consists of two texts:
. this book, a set of source verses entitled The Precious Treasury of the Basic Space of Phenomena,
. and Longchenpa's own commentary on those verses, A Treasure Trove of Scriptural Transmission.' - [Amazon]]
'This is Richard Barron's translation of one of Longchenpa's famous Seven Treasuries--perhaps the greatest set of Dzogchen works.
It's the 2nd translation in the series. []
Immediately after publishing this work, Barron published Longchen Rabjam's self-commentary on it A Treasure Trove of Scriptural
Transmission: A Commentary on the Precious Treasure of the Basic Space of Phenomena which embeds the basic text ("The Basic
Space of Phenomena").' - [neil pollock,customer review,amazon]]
|A Treasure Trove of Scriptural Transmission: A Commentary on the Precious Treasure of the Basic Space of Phenomena -Longchen Rabjam, Richard Barron, Susanne Fairclough (Editor), 2001
[Note: 'The Chying Dzd concerns the spiritual approach known as trekcho (cutting through solidity), which brings spiritual
practitioners of the highest acumen to freedom effortlessly.
The Chying Dzd consists of two texts:
. a set of source verses entitled The Precious Treasury of the Basic Space of Phenomena
. and Longchenpa's own commentary on those verses, A Treasure Trove of Scriptural Transmission.
Each of these has been published separately. This book, A Treasure Trove of Scriptural Transmission, contains commentary with
source verses interspersed.' - [amazon]
'This is Richard Barron's translation of Longchenpa's self-commentary on his The Precious Treasury of the Basic Space of
Phenomena. []
The "Basic Space of Phenomena" is awesome itself & the commentary adds many excerpts mostly from numerous Tantras, esp. The
All-Creating Monarch, which has been published as The Supreme Source: The Fundamental Tantra of the Dzogchen Semde . This book addresses p.
54: "Mind itself--naturally occurring timeless awareness--has no substance or characteristics." Thus, p. 55: "Naturally arising timeless awareness, being spontaneously present as the heart essence of Dharmakaya, is free of conceptual or descriptive elaboration." Further, p. 183: "Not dependent on causes,
incomparable timeless awareness gives rise to everything, & so there is no other source of phenomena." Regarding Samsara: p. 207: "You are not bound by sensory appearances, but by fixation on them & p. 232 "Sensory appearances & consciousness of them are of one taste in nondual unity." My favorite quotes

' - [neil pollock,cusatomer


review,amazon]
'The Scriptural Treasury-This is the Commentary on the First Chapter of "The Precious Treasury of Dharmadhaatu" was Schmidt's prior
translation of the text/self-commentary.' - [neil pollock,cusatomer review,amazon]]
The Scriptural Treasury-This is the Commentary on the First Chapter of "The Precious Treasury of Dharmadhaatu" (Spiralbound) -- Longchen Rabjam, Erik Schmidt (Tr.) & Lama Ugyen Shenpen (Tr.), 1990
are: p. 367 "Using metaphors provides only partial illustration--in no way does it provide a total comparison...such comparisons are only partially valid & p. 369: There is no contradiction in labeling it as anything or nothing."

Addendum: Longchenpa
The Precious Treasury of The Way of Abiding -- Longchen Rabjam, Richard Barron, 1998
[Note: 'This is the 1st of Longchenpa's 7 Treasuries (reputed to be the finest Dzogchen books ever written) translated by Richard
Barron. [] Interestingly, Dowman translated it also 8 years later as Old Man Basking in the Sun: Longchen Rabjampa's Treasury of
Natural Perfection. []
I like Barron's version better: IMHO less literal but more poetic and, perhaps, closer to the meaning. It's 1st 4 chapters address the
main themes of the Dzogchen view: Ineffability, Openness, Spontaneous Presence, & Oneness. The final chapter describes "The
Individuals to Whom These Teachings May Be Entrusted." - [neil pollock,customer review,amazon]
Natural Perfection: Longchenpa's Radical Dzogchen -- Lonchen Rabjam , Keith Dowman (Tr.), Chogyal N. Norbu (Fore.), 2010
[Note: 'Old Man Basking in the Sun: Longchen Rabjampa's Treasury of Natural Perfection [] is an earlier printing of this book. [] From
information available it appears to be simply a reprint without changes. This is a classic and profound text, and I love Dowman's
"radical dzogchen" translation style...) []
I prefer not to compare this to Padma Publishing/Richard Barron's translation (1st text of Longchenpa's Seven Treasures - Precious
Treasury of the Way of Abiding). I am familiar with several works of their Seven Treasures series which while always authoritative, are
also perhaps a bit stiff (and too careful).
This translation is anything but stiff, it is fluid and free, playful and evocative. It is a poetic text, poetically rendered.' - [Applewood,neil
pollock,customer review,amazon]
'In this translation of one of the most demanding Dzogchen expositions of Longchen Rabjampa (Natural Perfection, a re-edition of Old
Man Basking in the Sun, Vajra Publishing, Kathmandu, Nepal), with evocative poetry Keith Dowman creates a consummate link
between the wisdom of the Himalayas and that of the western world, presenting a work which proves to be a faithful and powerful
transmission of Longchenpa's teaching and at the same time accessible to readers who have not been exposed to the Tibetan
language. Old Man Basking in the Sun invites us to read it over and over again and I think we should definitely consider it a headpiece
book. I'm grateful for this particular English version of such an important pillar of the Dzogchen teaching and I look forward with

pleasure to the next work of this author.' - [carol verde,customer review,amazon]]


Old Man Basking in the Sun: Longchenpa's Treasury of Natural Perfection -- Keith Dowman, 2007
[Note: '"Old Man..." is Dowman's trans. of the same text as Barron's 1st volume, adding a little modern commentary. []
The text itself has 5 chapters: "absence, openness, spontaneity, unity, & advice to recipients." Barron calls them: "ineffability,
openness, spontaneous presence, oneness, & the individuals to whom these teachings may be entrusted." []
TRANSLATION: Dowman borrows heavily from Norbu's excellent The Supreme Source: The Fundamental Tantra of the Dzogchen
Semde & provides a source appendix & some word translations: p. 30: `Pure Mind' is Bodhichitta; `pure being' is Dharmakaya;
`spaciousness' or hyperspace' is the Dharmadhatu; & gnosis is Rigpa."
He translates Garab Dorje's p. 275: "cutting through time or the 3 times" as "synchronicity." Despite similarities, Garab Dorje did not
invent the term, Jung did. Overall, the terminology is obtuse, strange, annoying, unpoetic, pseudo-scientific, inelegant, & occasionally
contradictory. The sparse modern commentary might extensively use "glitch, matrix, gnosis, bind," but they're inappropriate to root
text/self-commentary. Use of "gnosis" was particularly annoying--Rigpa is better (esp. if a glossary were included). This is hardly an
introductory text. "Gnosis" has some commonality with "Rigpa"--but not equivalence. In short, there's so much Dowman in the
translation that a reader can't tell where Longchenpa ends & Dowman begins. I greatly prefer Barron's translation, though it's hardback
& more expensive.'] - [neil pollock,customer review,amazon]

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