Principal Yogacara Texts: Indo-Tibetan Sources of Dzogchen Mahamudra
The Yogācāra Doctrine teaches one fundamental truth, namely that all beings are Buddha--'sattva Buddha evaṃ'--or, in other words, all beings are aspects of one all-embracing absolute awareness, were they but to know it. This book sets a context for the study and meditation on ten pivotal texts of Yogācāra. The source texts, translated from a practice perspective, derive from the Indo-Tibetan mahāsiddha tradition and are presented with an ecumenical approach. Yoga is defined essentially as the exercise of a psychic faculty transcending intellect, whereby the individual may obtain conscious experience in the core of his or her being of mystical union with higher reality. Meditation is of  inestimable value as a way of getting to the Truth. In this sense the Yogācāra approach advocates a dynamic form of meditation that is neither suppressive nor lethargic. The guide to this attainment, the mechanism that sharpens the mind's penetrative and illuminative qualities, is metaphysical inquiry.As this collection of pithy Yogācāra works will readily prove to the reader, the ancient 'Practice Tradition of the Yogin' (rnal-bhyor-pa'i sgrub-brgyud) is based on a clearly active realization of the essential nature of mind and consciousness gained through years of intensive examination and reflection.