The first volume in the Trilogy by the thirteenth-century Nyingma master Longchenpa. The first section sets forth
the preparation, essential concepts, ethical basis, and the stages of the Bodhisattva Path necessary for approaching the
Vajrayana. Longchenpa then takes the reader through a series of profound meditations on the nature of mind and reality to
introduce Mind-as-Such, pure from the very beginning. Translated by H.V. Guenther with extensive notes. Clear descriptions
of the stages of the Vajrayana Path. Foundation in Mahayana views and practices for anyone interested in Vajrayana and
Dzogchen teachings. Used in 25 university courses. From the chapter "Being and Creative Imagination,": When you fully understand that thereness is but an apparition, there
comes the holistic experience of everything being like an apparition; and because the afflictions of the mind have
disappeared and the muddy turbulence (of the emotions) calmed down, there is the holistic experience of immaculateness like
the moon; and since all that is is no longer found (in its separateness) but is one (in) the vastness of sameness, there is
the holistic experience of unshroudedness like the sky. Hundreds and thousands, nay, countless such experiences are assured.
Through wider perspective things (and life's meaning) are properly understood, and through inner calm this wider perspective
is kept in focus; hence (the one as) spiritual sustenance and (the other as) holistic experience should be spontaneous in
