Tilopa’s Wisdom: His Life and Teachings on the Ganges Mahamudra

Accessible and practical teachings on both the life of Tilopa, who founded the Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, and one of his most important texts on the practice of Mahamudra.

The lineage of the Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism begins with Tilopa, who is said to have received the teachings of Mahamudra directly from the buddha Vajradhara. Tilopa expressed his realization in the form of spiritual songs, pithy yet beautiful poems that he sang spontaneously. In this book, Khenchen Thrangu, a contemporary Karma Kagyu master, first tells the story of Tilopa’s life and explains the lessons we can learn from it. Then he provides verse-by-verse commentary on one of Tilopa’s songs, the Mahamudra Upadesha, also known as the Ganges Mahamudra, and explains its precious instructions for realizing Mahamudra, the pinnacle of the Buddhist path to enlightenment. This path focuses on the direct experience of the nature of one’s mind, which in this tradition is the primary means to realize ultimate reality and thus attain buddhahood. Thrangu Rinpoche speaks plainly, directly, and without using any technical jargon to Westerners eager to learn the fundamentals of Mahamudra from a recognized master. As Thrangu Rinpoche says, Mahamudra is a practice that can be done by anyone. It is an approach that engulfs any practitioner with tremendous blessings that make it very effective and easy to implement. This is especially true in our present time and especially true for Westerners because in the West there are very few obstacles in the practice of Mahamudra.