Unbounded Wholeness: Dzogchen, Bon, and the Logic of the Nonconceptual: Bon, Dzogchen, and the Logic of the Nonconceptual

Anne C. Klein; Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche; Tenzin Wangyal

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195178491 ISBN 13: 9780195178494

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2006

Dzogchen, meaning "great perfection" in Tibetan, is an advanced practice associated particularly with Bon, the native religion of Tibet, and Nynigma School of Tibetan Buddhism. Both these traditions describe their teaching as comprising nine Ways or paths of practice leading to enlightenment or realization, and in both classifications, Dzogchen is the ninth and highest Way. While its immediate associations are with these two traditions, Dzogchen is now taught in all Tibetan sects. In this book, Anne Klein, an American scholar of Buddhism, and Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, a native Tibetan who was the first to bring Dzogchen teachings to the west, provide a study and translation of the Authenticity of Open Awareness, a foundational text of the Bon Dzogchen tradition. This will be the first time any text from this tradition has been translated into any Western language, and as such will be a major contribution to the study of Tibetan religion and eastern thought more generally. Klein and Rinpoche also provide extensive introductory and explanatory material that situates the text in the context of Tibetan thought and makes it accessible to nonspecialists.

Review:

Unbounded Wholeness offers an original and compelling study of the Dzogchen contemplative traditions of Bon, the indigenous Tibetan religion. In this well-researched and beautifully written book, Anne Carolyn Klein and Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche chart new terrain, revealing in Bon a dynamic way of spiritual self-cultivation and thought. This is an outstanding contribution to our knowledge of Asian religions and philosophies. (Matthew Kapstein, author of The Tibetan Assimilation of Buddhism: Conversion, Contestation and Memory)

About the Author:

Anne Carolyn Klein is Professor of Religious Studies at Rice University and founding co-director of Dawn Mountain, a Tibetan Temple, community center and research institute. She is the author of several books, including Meeting the Great Bliss Queen: Buddhists, Feminists and the Art of the Self (1994). Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche is President of the Ligmincha Institute, which he founded in 1992 to preserve Tibetan Bon culture and teachings. His most recent book is Healing with Form, Energy, and Light: The Five Elements in Tibetan Shamanism, Tantra, and Dzogchen (2002).