Timeless Rapture: Inspired Verse of the Shangpa Masters

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Summary: Timeless rapture
Review: From the foreword: " "Timeless Rapture" now takes its honored place beside such books as the "The Hundred Thousand Songs", "Drinking the Mountain Stream" (both of Milarepa) and "The Rain of Wisdom: Vajra Songs of the Kagyu Gurus." Each of these texts shares the quality of inspiration described here, yet each offers its own distinct perspective on the vajra world."

"The Shangpa Kagyu lineage originated during the eleventh century with the learned and accomplished Kyungpo Naljor. (...) Exceptionally, the Shangpa Kagyu lineage remained for seven generations a one-to-one transmission, each master transmitting these instructions to a single disciple. (...) This lineage has managed to remain unobtrusive; most of the primary lineage holders have chosen to live as concealed yogis, to avoid institutional responsibilities, and to commit themselves to solitude and meditation."

From the translator's preface: "Lamas of every tradition - Gelug, Sakya, Nyingma, and Kagyu - have received and practice the Shangpa tradition. The lineage is extremely discreet but not elusive; it silently pervades the Himalayan region yet is centered nowhere. In this the Shangpa lineage resembles another lineage of tantric meditation begun by a woman: the Severance (Chö), established by Machig Lapdrön, a Tibetan reincarnation of one of the Shangpa lineage founders, Sukasiddhi. Her spiritual children as well have always preferred the freedom of homelessness, the exhilaration of total renunciation, and good-natured harmony with one and all. The Severance lineage often walked hand-in-hand with the Shangpa teachings through the walls of Tibet's religious institutions, whereas less ethereal traditions were often stopped at the gates."

The importance of the Shangpa lineage is expressed by the following quotation (on p.257 of the text): "Looking back over more than a thousand years of the Tibetan experience of Buddhism, Kongtrul felt that Kyungpo Naljor was the finest accomplished master Tibet had ever produced, bar none." And further: "No authoritative testimonial to the greatness of this master surpasses that of Jamgön Kongtrul, who expressed this opinion of Kyungpo Nalyor in "An Impartial History of the Sources of Spiritual Instruction". Jamgön Kongtrul, himself a Shangpa lineage holder, is the original compiler of this collection of "Timeless Rapture".

This book is a must-own for those interested.