One thousand years ago, Gampopa, the illustrious heart son of Tibet's great
yogin Milarepa, essentialized the entire Buddhist path in a concise set of pith
instructions that became known as the Four Dharmas of Gampopa. Since
that time, this profound teaching has been used by many eminent masters as a vehicle
for imparting the key points of Buddhist practice, including, in the fourteenth
century, the incomparable Longchenpa, whose brilliant exposition of the Four Dharmas
illuminates the culmination of the path from a Dzogchen perspective. The Light
of the Sun presents a new translation of Longchenpa's Precious Mala of the Four Dharmas,
alongside the original Tibetan text, with the lucid, accessible, and relevant commentary
of contemporary Dzogchen master Choegyal Namkhai Norbu.
Born in eastern Tibet in 1938, Choegyal Namkhai Norbu is an internationally known
Dzogchen teacher and author as well as an eminent scholar of the history and culture
of Tibet. He studied with renowned masters of various Tibetan Buddhist traditions
at important monasteries and colleges, demonstrating exceptional capacity to
learn and receiving degrees in both philosophy and letters and traditional medicine.
In 1960, he emigrated to Italy as a professor of Tibetology, where about a decade
later he began to give instructions to a growing following of Western students, initially
on Yantra Yoga and subsequently on Dzogchen, the Total Perfection teachings
of the Tibetan spiritual traditions. He is the founder of the International Dzogchen
Community, created to encourage the teaching and practice of the Dzogchen point of
view and meditation methods, and travels worldwide giving teachings and speaking at
international conferences. A prolific author of books on Dzogchen, Yantra Yoga, and
Tibetan history, medicine, and culture, he also founded ASIA and the Shang Shung
Institute, two nonprofit organizations dedicated to supporting the Tibetan people
and preserving Tibetan culture.
