The Crystal and the Way of Light: Sutra, Tantra, and Dzogchen (Tibetan Buddhist Philosophy)
Within Tibetan Buddhism, there is a little-known discipline called Dzogchen, the turbo path to liberation. In some traditions, the path to liberation extends over lifetimes of diligent practice, but Dzogchen is an  accelerated way to achieve self-perfection. After many years of formal study,  Chogyal Namkhai Norbu was initiated into this less-formal practice, which is one  of the highest yet most accessible of Tibetan Buddhist teachings. Namkhai Norbu  eventually made his way to Italy to teach, where John Shane transcribed and  translated Namkhai Norbu's lectures, putting together what is now one of the  most popular books on Dzogchen. Namkhai Norbu makes it clear that these  teachings are not a handbook for practice but rather an overview of Dzogchen,  notably its three divisions: the base, the path, and the fruit. The ultimate and  immediate goal is to achieve the primordial state of non-dual awareness, the one  taste, and to maintain it. With colorful anecdotes from his own experience  (finding an ancient text manifested in a dream, for example, and visiting  eccentric cave yogis), Namkhai Norbu's teachings illustrate that Dzogchen is not  just theory but the way to a new, and almost incomprehensible, way of being.--Brian Bruya