Guru Pema Here and Now: The Mythology of the Lotus Born, by Keith Dowman
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Guru Pema Here and Now: The Mythology of the Lotus Born, by Keith Dowman
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Guru Pema is Padmasambhava, the wandering tantric yogin from Orgyen who became Tibet’s Great Guru. To his disciples he was the Lotus Born and, later, to his followers, he became Guru Rimpoche, the precious guru-buddha who resides in our heart center. Identical to the nature of mind, he emanates tulkus to demonstrate Dzogchen, the Great Perfection. In this ground-breaking work Keith Dowman brings the guru-myths and the means of invoking Guru Pema together with an analysis provides immediate contemporary meaning. Some readers will consider the mythic truths revealed in the lives of Guru Rimpoche described in the Zanglingma, a treasure-text of Nyangrel Nyima Wozer, as the core of the book. Others will look at The Seven Line Prayer as the essence because Mipham Namgyel’s commentary provides the secret means to personal attainment of union with Guru Rimpoche. In a similar way that Mipham elucidates the hidden meanings of The Seven Line Prayer, exposing the treasures that have lain hidden in a common prayer that everyone knows and hitherto has taken at face value, so the extensive introduction written in Keith Dowman’s inimitable style and perspective, brings Padmasambhava into the twenty-first century and actually verbalizes what we have hitherto only surmized. The guru-myths are presented as code describing the manner in which Guru Pema’s enlightenment works for us and how his activity works for the sake of others. The stories of the Guru’s life are thus paradigmatic, exemplary models, to be emulated by his yogin-followers and a source of inspiration and faith for his devotees. At the same time the narrative of the Zanglingma describes the events in Padmasambhava’s life that comprise the early history of Buddhist Tibet but this is secondary to the main theme – an exposition of Dzogchen vision, meditation and action. The book is illustrated by reproductions of the Eighth Khamtrul Rinpoche’s exceptional blockprints of the ‘Eight Names of the Guru’, extensive appendixes provide historical background, and glossaries and an annotated index serves instead of notes. Keith Dowman is now dedicated to the teaching and translation of Dzogchen. In the ‘sixties, however, as a genyen practitioner training under his principle teachers, Dudjom Rimpoche and Kanjur Rinpoche. In that sadhana the mythology of Guru Pema provided the inspiration and The Seven Line Prayer a skilful means to attainment of union with the Guru. This work is an acknowledgement of the importance of that early training. The original texts are unchanging; the interpretation changes according to the needs of the times and individuals. Keith Dowman’s translations are true to the Tibetan while his commentary seems to fit the moment. Bhakha Tulku Pema Rigdzin. The Precious Guru, the Lotus Born, rests at the vital heart of Tibetan Buddhism. Renowned translator Keith Dowman, in his uniquely fluid style, has gathered here a superb collection of key texts presenting the legends and inner significance of the Great Guru. For beginners, an exceptional introduction, and for the old hands who realize that they are still and will always be beginners, a volume to savor. Matthew Kapstein, Directeur d'études, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes; Numata Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies, The University of Chicago. "Keith Dowman, one of our treasured lotsawas, has prepared for us another feast of wisdom and delight with this beautiful version of the wondrous story of Guru Rinpoche, the buddha-emanation always ready to help us in our present age of degeneracy. I love this work, and heartily recommend it for everyone who loves life, loves Tibet, wants to share its culture to benefit all sensitive beings, and persists in the undying hope that things must work out well for all of us on this little planet lost in space among the stars. Bob Thurman, author, activist President of Tibet House US.
Guru Pema Here and Now: The Mythology of the Lotus Born, by Keith Dowman- Amazon Sales Rank: #544915 in Books
- Published on: 2015-10-30
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.50" h x .90" w x 5.50" l, 1.00 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 358 pages
About the Author Keith Dowman is a translator and teacher of Dzogchen. A student of the great Dzogchen lamas Dudjom Rinpoche and Kanjur Rinpoche, he lived in Banares, India, and Kathmandu, Nepal for 50 years. His translations include Longchenpa’s Natural Perfection, Spaciousness and Maya-Yoga. A cultural refugee from his native England, travelling overland Keith Dowman arrived in Banares, India, in 1966. Apart from an occasional foray back to the West, he has spent a lifetime in India and Nepal, not always in Tibetan refugee society, engaged in existential buddha dharma. He has lived as a yogin, monk, pilgrim, and then as a householder, and as a scholar and poet free from any institutional or political constriction. He now teaches Dzogchen, the quintessence of buddha-dharma, throughout the world. In India, in the ‘sixties, he was fortunate enough to encounter the grandfather-lama refugees arriving in India in the wake of the Chinese invasion of Tibet. In those heady years when the old lamas were totally receptive to the solicitation of western disciples seeking confirmation of the validity of their existential trajectories, he received initiation, empowerment, pith instruction and personal guidance from Dudjom Rinpoche Jigdral Yeshe Dorje and Kanjur Rinpoche Longchen Yeshe Dorje, who became his root gurus, Many other Nyingma lamas and lamas of other schools, notably the Eighth Khamtrul Rimpoche and the Sixteenth Karmapa Rikpai Dorje. As Chogyal Namkhai Norbu remarked "In communion with many great masters [Keith Dowman] has fortuitously absorbed the realization of Dzogchen." In the ‘eighties he translated various Vajrayana texts and when Tibet opened three years of seasonal trekking in central Tibet resulted in a pilgrims’ guide to Tibet. More recently, he has concentrated exclusively on the translation of Dzogchen texts, in particular, Natural Perfection and Spaciousness, two of the Treasuries of Longchenpa. Likewise, although he has taught Vajrayana since 1992, more recently he has focused entirely on Dzogchen. He lives a peripatetic lifestyle teaching the radical Dzogchen derived from the early Nyingma tantras that is free of the tendency toward the spiritual materialism so evident in western Buddhism, a dharma easily assimilable into Western culture.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful. Guru Pema - Here and Now By applewood 4+ - recommended for devotees of Padmasambhava.Dowman in his introduction to this collection of Tibetan texts about Padmasambhava/Guru Rinpoche assumes the reader's prior familiarity with Indian/Tibetan buddhist teachings and traditions, and comes across sounding a bit like the CliffsNotes to Tantric Buddhism 101 – succinct, kaleidoscopically discursive – dense with layers of symbolism, rich in existential meaning – and often highly evocative.The main point made however is these legends of Padmasambhava, besides being about the historical character of Tibet’s Great Guru, “… are better understood in terms of myth and archetypes that have universal and eternal significance….” (Besides being the founder of the Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism) “… of far greater import is his presence here and now as the pristine awareness of whatever arises in mind.” (p.19) In other words, these translations of the rather conventional traditional biography of Padmasambhava are being viewed here through the lens of Radical Dzogchen. As Dowman writes;"Thus, in the dzogchen dharma-reality taught by Guru Rimpoche, we are free of all specific identity. Floating on the surface or hovering weightlessly, the lotus-born adept is free of the mud at the bottom of the lake in the here and now. And we are all lotus-born - if only we would admit it; if only we could allow it. We are all free of all past rebirth, free of the traumatizing experience of womb, birth canal and infancy. We are free of everything that provides the root conditioning from which the ignorant must strive to liberate and exonerate themselves. When we recognize the nature of mind, the cumulative potentialities of experience that constitute karma are already transformed into the spontaneous compassionate responsiveness that is buddha." (p.52)The book consists of 35 pages of Dowman’s recent introductory essay to three texts he translated a few decades ago; The Copper Temple Matrix – Zanglingma – (a lengthy 12th century hagiography of Padmasambhava's life and teachings in 166 pages), The Epitome of the Lotus Precepts – Pema Katang Dueba - (an exoteric liturgical summary of Padmasmabhava’s life story from an extensive 14th century terma in 14 pages), and Ju Mipham’s 19th century White Lotus (a sublime commentary of the Seven Line Prayer in 23 pages), as well as 36 pages of appendixes on the Historical Time, Space and Word of these teachings, 35 pages of detailed glossaries and indexes, and eleven traditional line drawings of ten different aspects of Guru Rinpoche (unfortunately marred by less than perfect printing in my copy). The texts span a wide range of historical eras and teaching styles, and the translations themselves are clear, direct, succinct and sublime, with the longer Zanglingma flowing easily as a novel-like fable, and all three appearing to retain the authentic flavor of the original Tibetan.Then there is the cover illustration mentioned as unusual by another reviewer here. At first I assumed this gentle water-color was a painting of Saraha the notable 8th century buddhist mahasiddha, but then found out it is actually supposed to be of a Hindu siddha, which is very interesting considering the actual history of Padmasambhava and the roots of Tibetan Buddhism. Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism have only a tangential connection to the teachings of the historic Sakaymuni Buddha of 2,500 years ago. They are the result of further evolution, refinement and adaptation to the culture of Hindu India by both Buddhist and Hindu yogins and yoginis. The Vajrayana tradition especially is a direct offshoot of Kashmiri Shaivism – the great mahasiddhas of which are embodied by figures like Padmasambhava (who was the primary inspiration of the Old School of Tibetan Buddhism in the 8th century), as well as 11th century Indian masters who became the sources for the New School lineages in Tibet. So as a cover it makes the perfect intuitive nonverbal introduction to Padmasambhava (direct and to his roots instead of filtered through the later Tibetan traditions), and although Dowman touches on this in his introduction he doesn’t expand on it in much detail.Despite what safe and venerable place we might wish to afford the archetypal figure of Guru Rinpoche, it is clear that this is all very far out and heavy stuff, which makes him the perfect refuge when we are experiencing glimpses of these nether regions of our psyche, a personal protector that can grant both a timely succor and the timeless recognition of the nature of mind.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful. This is a beautiful book, full of surprises By Vera Mizumi This is a beautiful book, full of surprises! I would read it just for the introduction - he makes Guru Rinpoche so real. And then the translations – everything you ever wanted to know about Padmasambhava on every level in language that grips and enchants. I would buy it just for the cover pic, which does not really illustrate my idea of Guru Pema but is quite tantalizing, evoking him in quite another world. The fine line drawings of the Guru’s emanations that illutrate the book inside are more like my idea of Padmasambhava. A wonderful gift!
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. A beautifully poetic visionary biography of the founder of Tibetan Buddhism By Michael White Keith Dowman is one of the leading scholars and translators bringing the Dzog chen tradition into English. When Buddhism came to Tibet in the Eighth century there was a cadre of translators who traveled to India to obtain texts and bring them back and translate them into Tibetan. These translators are now considered cultural heroes to the people of Tibet. Keith Dowman has played much the same role in modern times for English speaking students of Dzog chen. His many books of translations and their extensive commentaries are among the very best guides modern readers can find to this esoteric tradition which still speaks directly to the heart in modern times. This book is a marvel of poetic language and is a hagiography or mystical/legendary biography of the great founder of Tibetan Buddhism Padmasambhava. It was the first of many visionary biographies of Padmasambhava produced over the centuries and stands out for its dramatic use of poetic language which is beautifully conveyed in the translation.
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