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Ornament of Stainless Light

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The premiere volume of Thupten Jinpa’s thirty-two-volume Library of Tibetan Classics series, inaugurated to coincide with the Dalai Lama’s conferral of the initiation rite of Kālacakra in Toronto in April 2004.

The Kālacakra, or “wheel of time,” tantra likely entered Indian Mahayana Buddhism around the tenth century. In expounding the root tantra, the Indian master Puṇḍarīka, one of the legendary Kalkī kings of the land of Shambhala, wrote his influential Stainless Light. Ornament of Stainless Light is an authoritative Tibetan exposition of this important text, composed in the fifteenth century by Khedrup Norsang Gyatso, tutor to the Second Dalai Lama.

One of the central projects of Kālacakra literature is a detailed correlation between the human body and the external universe. In working out this complex correspondence, the Kālacakra texts present an amazingly detailed theory of cosmology and astronomy, especially about the movements of the various celestial bodies. The Kālacakra tantra is also a highly complex system of Buddhist theory and practice that employs vital bodily energies, deep meditative mental states, and a penetrative focus on subtle points within the body’s key energy conduits known as channels. Ornament of Stainless Light addresses all these topics, elaborating on the external universe, the inner world of the individual, the Kālacakra initiation rites, and the tantric stages of generation and completion, all in a highly readable English translation. (Source: Wisdom Publications)

Citation	Kilty, Gavin, trans. Ornament of Stainless Light: An Exposition of the Kālacakra Tantra. By Khedrup Norsang Gyatso (mkhas grub nor bzang rgya mtsho). Library of Tibetan Classics 14. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2004.

Manifesting the mind of clear light by the power of meditative concentration

Book Excerpt

Table of Contents About the Book Texts Translated Quotes

• General Editor's Prefacexiii
• Translator's Introduction1
• Technical Note19

ORNAMENT OF STAINLESS LIGHT An Exposition of the Outer, Inner, and Other Kālacakra

• Introduction
  • Compilation of the Root and Condensed Tantra25
  • The Primordial Mind and Body53
• Part 1. The External World
  • The Three Themes of Kālacakra Tantra75
  • The Formation of the External World and Its Dimensions79
  • The Inhabitants of This World91
  • The Stars and the Planets105
  • Resolving Contradictions between Kālacakra and Abhidharma Cosmology145
• Part 2. The Inner World of Sentient Beings
  • The Development of the Body161
  • Channels, Winds, and Drops177
  • Discrepancies between Kālacakra and Other Tantras195
• Part 3. Initiations
  • Qualifications of Master and Disciple211
  • Description of the Mandala225
  • The Initiations231
  • The Seven Childhood Initiations243
  • The Four Higher Initiations247
  • The Higher-than-High Initiations257
• Part 4. Sādhana: Methods of Accomplishment
  • The Two Stages271
  • The Generation Stage277
  • The Two Accumulations281
  • The Body Vajra285
  • Analysis of the Colors of the Lunar-Day Deities303
  • Resolving Doubts Concerning the Process of Generation317
  • The Speech Vajra341
  • The Mind Vajra369
  • The Gnosis Vajra375
• Part 5. Gnosis: The Completion Stage
  • The Six-Branched Yoga391
  • Withdrawal: Night Yoga411
  • Withdrawal: Day Yoga439
  • The Yoga of Meditative Absorption461
  • Prāṇāyāma: The Yoga of the Winds475
  • Vajra Recitation483
  • Vase Yoga495
  • The Yoga of Retention513
  • The Yoga of Recollection523
  • The Yoga of Meditative Concentration553
  • The Fruits of the Two Stages585

APPENDIXES

• • Table of Tibetan Transliteration595
  • Enumerations Mentioned in the Text598
  • Time Measurement602
  • Linear Measurement604
  • Kālacakra Word-Numerals605
  • Approximation and Accomplishment in the Six-Branched Yoga610
  • The Six Elements and the Inner World611
  • Diagram: The Kālacakra World Realm615
  • Diagram: The Sun's Path over the Earth and Water Mandalas616
• Notes617
• Glossary673
• Bibliography681
  • Works Cited by the Author681
  • Kangyur (Canonical Scriptures)681
  • Tengyur (Canonical Treatises)683
  • Tibetan Works688
  • Works Consulted by the Translator 691
• Index693
• About the Contributors709

One of the central projects of Kālacakra literature is a detailed correlation between the human body and the external universe. In working out this complex correspondence, the Kālacakra texts present an amazingly detailed theory of cosmology and astronomy, especially about the movements of the various celestial bodies. The Kālacakra tantra is also a highly complex system of Buddhist theory and practice that employs vital bodily energies, deep meditative mental states, and a penetrative focus on subtle points within the body’s key energy conduits known as channels. Ornament of Stainless Light addresses all these topics, elaborating on the external universe, the inner world of the individual, the Kālacakra initiation rites, and the tantric stages of generation and completion, all in a highly readable English translation. (Source: Wisdom Experience)

1. mkhas grub nor bzang rgya mtsho. dpal dus kyi 'khor lo'i phyi nang gzhan gsum gsal bar byed pa dri med 'od kyi rgyan. Delhi: topden tshering, 1975.