KHENCHEN THRANGU RINPOCHE, MICHELE MARTIN, PETER O’HEARN : A SONG FOR THE KING Saraha on Mahamudra Meditation

Mahamudra is the basic meditation practice for many Tibetan Buddhists, particularly of the Kagyu tradition. It is particularly adaptable for modern people, since it involves no rituals and can be incorporated into all daily activities. Saraha’s “Song for the King” is a short verse text from classical India that is a basis for the tradition and is widely known in Tibetan Buddhist circles. It is often the basis for teachings given in the West, but there is only one outdated translation of it in print, first published in 1969. Michele Martin has produced a stellar new translation, which is accompanied by a commentary from the well-known teacher Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, who is uniquely skilled and concerned with making this method of meditation available to Westerners.

While pithy and accessible, the book easily stands up to academic scrutiny, and includes the original Tibetan as well—making it ideal for the popular, scholarly, and Tibetan audiences all at once.

• Paperback
• 192 pages, 6.00 x 9.00 inches
• ISBN 9780861715039

Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche is a senior scholar within the Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism and the author of many books and commentaries. He was born in Kham, Tibet, in 1933 and entered Thrangu Monastery at age seven. He serves as the main tutor to His Holiness the Seventeenth Karmapa and travels worldwide giving teachings and leading retreats. Based in Nepal and India, he is also abbot of Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia and founder of Vajra Vidya Retreat Center in Crestone, Colorado.

Other books by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche:
Creation and Completion
Essentials of Mahamudra

Michele Martin has been a Buddhist practitioner for over forty years and has spent the last thirty of those based in Nepal and India studying with Tibetan lamas and working as a translator of oral and written Tibetan. With two graduate degrees from Yale, she also had a long career in publishing and is a founding board member of the Tibetan Buddhist Research Center. Among numerous translations from Tibetan texts on philosophy, meditation, and history, her books include Music in the Sky: The Life, Art, and Teachings of the Seventeenth Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje (author and translator) and Gaining Certainty in the View (translator). In cooperation with others, she has edited and translated Song for the King: Saraha on Mahamudra Meditation; The Karmapas and Their Mahāmudrā Forefathers: An Illustrated Guide; The First Karmapa: The Life and Teachings of Dusum Khyenpa; and Traveling the Path of Compassion: A Commentary on the Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva.

Other books by Michele Martin:
The Karmapas and Their Mahamudra Forefathers

Peter O’Hearn (Lama Yeshe Gyamtso) has completed two three-year retreats under the guidance of Kalu Rinpoche and is one of the most respected translators of the Kagyü Lineage. He is a translator at Karma Triyana Dharmachakra, the seat of the Gyalwang Karmapa in the West, and travels widely as a translator for the main Kagyü lamas. Among his published works are The Instructions of Gampopa and Precious Essence. He lives with his wife and daughter in the Hudson Valley.