The lineage of the Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism begins with Tilopa, who is said to have received the teachings of Mahamudra directly from the buddha Vajradhara. Tilopa expressed his realization in the form of spiritual songs, pithy yet beautiful poems that he spontaneously sang.

In this book, Thrangu Rinpoche, first tells the story of Tilopa's life and explains the lessons we can learn from it. He then provides a verse-by-verse commentary on one of Tilopa's songs, the Mahamudra Upadesha, also known as the Ganges Mahamudra, and explains its instructions for realizing Mahamudra, the pinnacle of the Buddhist path to enlightenment. This path focuses on the direct experience of the nature of one's mind, which primary means the reaization of ultimate reality and thus attainment of buddhahood. Thrangu Rinpoche speaks plainly, directly, and without using any technical jargon for those who want to learn the fundamentals of Mahamudra from a recognized master.

As Thrangu Rinpoche says, "Mahamudra is a practice that can be done by anyone. It is an approach that engulfs any practitioner with tremendous blessings that make it very effective and easy to implement. This is especially true in our present time and especially true for Westerners because in the West there are very few obstacles in the practice of Mahamudra."

The first Mahamudra teaching that was written down was Saraha's spiritual songs given in India. Thrangu Rinpoche gives a commentary on this in his Song for the King available on this website in a Book of 183 pages and comes also in PDF form.

The next teaching major teaching on Mahamudra was by Tilopa, the founder of the Kagyu lineage in the teaching of the Ganges Mahamudra. This book of of 206 pages now has a special price of $ 9.95 and we offer a PDF which is an exact copy for our price of $ 1.25.

The other two books in the trilogy--Naropa's Wisdom and Milarepa's Wisdom--are also available for the special price of $ 9.95 with free postage and as a PDF which is an exact copy for $ 1.25.