Secret Visions of the Fifth Dalai Lama: The Gold Manuscript in the Fournier Collection Musee Guimet, Paris

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful color plates
Review: Samten Karmay provides an extensive, insightful history of the life and times of the 5th Dalai Lama in the 17th century. Interestingly, there are contradictions with the history in Glenn Mullin's "Gems of Wisdom from the 7th Dalai Lama! If you like this type of history, you might also like Karmay's "The Great Perfection." In the present work, he provides a translation of the 5th's numerous Tantric visions as described in the secret work not included in the 5ths official bibliography (only given to a few close followers). This text is accompanied by dozens of colorful (sometimes beautiful) plates with black backgrounds (per the originals) from a rare manuscript in a French museum. Each plate has a line drawing with numbered identifications of the items on the plate. There is, of course, much duplication though there are some differences among the paraphrenalia used in the various Tantric rites. There's even one on Dzogchen. Some of the items are a bit grisly, however, such as dead bodies, skulls filled with blood, dead animals/birds, etc. The items remind one of a contemporary horror movie, but the ceremonies are not actually described though so they are open to one's imagination. They provide some insight into the tremendous dichotomy between ancient ritual and the high philosophy (e.g. Dzogchen) of Tibet.