A Concise Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism [Paperback]

Lucid and economical, this introductory text delivers a brisk, fast-moving survey of Tibetan Buddhism. For many years Powers's nearly 600-pageIntroduction to Tibetan Buddhismhas served as the field's most authoritative and comprehensive overview of Tibet's distinctive Buddhist tradition.A Concise Introduction to Tibetan Buddhismexplains the core Buddhist doctrines and the practices of meditation and tantra and provides a survey of the four main schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Admirably unpacks the topic of tantra, that distinctive aspect of Tibetan Buddhist teaching. . . . Powers sketches with mastery one very complex system. The book logically selects material essential to a survey: history, key concepts, doctrines, and distinctions among various schools of thought. Particularly helpful is a survey of Tibetan Buddhist ideas about death and dying, which are distinctive to this form of Buddhism. Certain varieties of meditation are also distinctively Tibetan, and the author provides useful discriminations and context. . . . This concise book does yeoman work of explanation. —Publishers Weekly

Presents the wide spectrum of Tibetan Buddhism in clear, concise form with Western methodology and critical appreciation. This work beautifully elucidates the nature of the complex religious and philosophical disciplines of Tibet. —Lobsang Lhalungpa, translator ofThe Life of Milarepa

The vitality of Tibetan Buddhism in exile has exceeded anything anyone could have predicted; hence the need for a book that presents its history, doctrines, lineages, practices, and tantric essence in a comprehensive and cogent way. John Powers'sIntroduction to Tibetan Buddhismdoes this! —Huston Smith, author ofThe World's Religions: Our Great Wisdom Traditions

A comprehensive and eminently comprehensible overview. . . .  Powers' substantialIntroduction to Tibetan Buddhism. . . is able to discuss even the mosl3Q