The foundation of all meditation practice are the two types of meditation that form the core of Buddhist spiritual practice: Tranquillity (Shamatha) meditation which aims at stilling the mind and Insight meditation (Vipasyana) meditation produces insight into the nature of all phenomena. Shamatha and Vipasyana in the Tibetan tradition is different from and more extensive than these meditations in the Hindu and Theravadin schools.

In this 170 page text Thrangu Rinpoche gives non-technical language an extensive descriptions of these two kinds of meditation. He includes a discussion of the purpose of these meditations, their different levels of practice, the obstacles and antidotes to these obstacles that can arise, and the accomplishments of each practice based on Rinpoche's own practice. As a result this book becomes a careful study of the mind from the point of view of actual meditation practice.

"With masterful scholarship and the ability to make subtle ideas easy to understand and apply in practice, Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche explains this unified system of meditation for students both beginning and advanced."--The Indian International Journal of Buddhist Studies
 

In this book, Rinpoche discusses the four common foundations, which are the four thoughts to contemplate before beginning a spiritual practice.

The first foundation, precious human birth, explains in detail why practice is important. The second foundation, impermanence, teaches us to find something meaningful in life.

The most difficult to understand foundation, karma, is lucidly explained by Thrangu Rinpoche. Because of karma, we can determine if we will have a fortunate or unfortunate future. Then, after we have practiced, we must return to conventional reality (samsara) and so the fourth reminder is a review of the characteristics of samsara.

This book also includes Khenpo Karpo's excellent survey of the points of meditation and practice to round out the four foundations.

This e-book is in the Kindle format (mobi) and can be read on many ebook readers.

The paperback book is available on the Book section of this website.