The Royal Seal of Mahamudra

An unusually detailed, clear, and complete instruction manual for the meditation practice of Mahamudra, by a renowned eighteenth-century Tibetan master in the Drukpa Kagyu lineage.



This guidebook for cultivating the meditative practices of stability and insight--the first major work from the Drukpa Kagyu lineage to become available in English--stands out among works of its kind as one of the clearest and most comprehensive presentations of coemergence, or mahamudra. In it, the eighteenth-century Tibetan master Ngawang Kunga Tenzin, the Third Khamtrul Rinpoche, details a step-by-step program of spiritual exercises that bring the meditator directly to clear realization of the fully perfect, ever-present, nondual nature of mind. Beginning with the close relationship between phenomena and mind and the immense benefits of meditating on the nature of mind, the Third Khamtrul Rinpoche offers careful instructions on the four yogas of mahamudra together with advice on how to recognize genuine progress and how to remove obstacles that arise during meditation. Characteristic of the Drukpa Kagyu approach is that he presents explanations--even to those in the earliest stages of training--that are grounded in insight into the nature of mind, demonstrating how all experience, thoughts, and perceptions may be used as the path to enlightenment.