Illumination Guide to the Swift Path

8.5”x11” Printed on Recycled Paper
Spiral Bound with a Clear Protective Cover
134 pages
 

This Vajrayogini sadhana, Illuminating Guide to the Swift Path of the Supreme Great Secret: The Mandala Ritual of the Sadhana of the Glorious Coemergent Mother Vajrayogini, was composed by the 6th Karmapa Thongwa Dönden (1416-1453). It is one of the most important Vajrayogini sadhanas in the Kagyü tradition and is still widely practiced in three-year retreats around the world to this day. Thongwa Dönden weaves together Vajrayogini instructions from early Kagyü masters such as Tilopa, Naropa, Marpa, and others into this elaborate straightforward sadhana designed for retreats and group practice. It is included in Jamgön Kongtrül’s famous Treasury of the Kagyü Mantra. This, like other secret mantra materials, is traditionally studied and practiced after receiving the empowerment, reading transmission, and oral instructions.

On this sadhana, Thongwa Dönden wrote:

“Free from the conceptual domains of words, thoughts, and expressions,
Beyond the extremes of birth and the rest, Prajnaparamita,
Appearing as the goddess, the great mudra of illusion,
I prostrate to the meaning of examples, the sign of Varahi.

This sadhana of fine time, together with offerings,
The stages of the rituals, including bringing students into the mandala and the rest,
These were brought together clearly, to be easy to practice.
A group of students said, “If you arrange it, it will be very meaningful.”

Lungrig Mawa Sangye Gyaltshen,
Mödzin Paljor Dondrub Dragpai Ö,
Döndrub Zangpo and others expressed interest. Again and again they insisted.

To satisfy their minds, the one named Rangjung Dönden looked in the ten directions,
At the root texts, oral instructions, and practice tradition
And arranged these clearly in order.

By the merit of this,
May all wandering beings accomplish the form of the comemergent mother.”