Description

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A clear and comprehensive guide to practicing the foundational Buddhist teachings of the four noble truths—and how these truths can lead to the liberating insight of the “wisdom gone beyond.”

Written in a warm and accessible style by one of today’s most respected Tibetan Buddhist masters, Reality and Wisdom leads the reader on a journey of discovery beginning with the very first teachings of the Buddha and into the profound experience of emptiness.

The first section of the book explores the bedrock Buddhist teachings of the four noble truths—insights into freedom from suffering from craving—which underpin all schools of Buddhism. Lama Migmar presents and explores these foundational Buddhist truths with humor and insight, explaining how, from a Mahayana Buddhist perspective, these truths serve as crucial supports for cultivating the transformative wisdom of emptiness.

In the book’s second half, Lama Migmar illuminates the terse and enigmatic lines of the Heart Sutra, perhaps the most studied and revered of all Mahayana Buddhist scriptures. The Heart Sutra presents the reader with a vision of reality as it is perceived by a buddha, a vision underpinned by and infused with the radical flexibility and possibility of emptiness and the engagement and responsiveness of profound compassion.

The clarity, warmth, and vibrancy of Lama Migmar’s writing combined with the comprehensiveness and detail of his presentations of key Buddhist teachings make this book a valuable resource for a range of readers, from beginners to more advanced practitioners seeking to deepen their practice.

About the Author

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Lama Migmar Tseten has served as Buddhist chaplain at Harvard University since 1997. He received both a traditional and a contemporary education in India, graduating from the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies at Sanskrit University in Varanasi. He served as the head of the Sakya Center in Rajpur, India, and the Sakya Monastery in Puruwalla. Lama Migmar has supervised the editing and publication of more than fifty rare volumes of Sakya literature and is the author of many books, including Play of Mahamudra. As the founder of the Sakya Institute for Buddhist Studies in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Lama Migmar leads retreats throughout North America and Europe.

Praise For…

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“In Reality and Wisdom, Khenpo Migmar Tseten explains important sutras clearly for students who wish to understand them more deeply. Careful study and practice of these important teachings will bring great blessings in one's daily life and Dharma practice.”
— His Holiness the Sakya Trichen

"Lama Migmar Tseten’s new book is about what matters most—to see the truth, the way things really are. The Buddha’s first teaching of the four noble truths, and the view of emptiness presented in the Heart Sutra, are discussed here with admirable clarity. Reality and Wisdom is enjoyable to read, conversational in tone, and deeply informative."
— Cyrus Stearns, translator and author