Preparing For Tantra: Creating The Psychological Ground For Practice
"Western students of Buddhism—particularly those attempting to master the meditative techniques of Highest Yoga Tantra—face the daunting challenge of weaving these profound transformative practices into the fabric of their busy daily lives. InPreparing for Tantra, Rob Preece draws on his many years of experience as both a meditator and psychotherapist to demonstrate most eloquently how one's daily life and work, far from being a hindrance to one's spiritual practices, can serve as its ongoing foundation, fully integrated with the ngondro or traditional tantric preliminaries. Inspiring and highly recommended."—Jonathan Landaw, author ofImages of Enlightenment: Tibetan Art in Practice"Emphasizing the need for a psychological ground for tantric practice, the author reflects on anecdotes from his own experience and makes frequent reference to the insights of the psychologist Carl Jung. For instance, Preece elaborates on Jung's symbolism of medieval alchemy to make use of the metaphor of an 'alchemical vessel,' a secure space in which the transformative practice of the preliminaries takes place. Divided into three parts, the book discusses preparing the body and mind, the traditional preliminary practices that include bodhicitta prostrations and guru yoga, and a conclusion on the importance of psychotherapy alongside Buddhist practice."—Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Quarterly