Order Now: Heart Advice by Younge Khachab Rinpoche

For the past six years a team of generous students and myself have been working to put together a book from Rinpoche's teachings on the essence of the path of liberation. The result of much work is Rinpoche's first published book, Heart Advice: Essential Instructions on the Path of Liberation. In this book Younge Khachab Rinpoche explores the Buddha's teachings in a way that makes them practical and accessible to the modern Western practitioner. Rinpoche distills the very essence of the traditional textual tradition so that these teachings become meaningful to our own life and mind.

Heart Advice is for students who have explored the Buddha's teachings to some extent but want a firm foundation upon which they can build their own practice. It is for all practitioners of Buddhist tantra, Mahamudra and Dzogchen, to give an overview and context for understanding all of the Buddha's teachings.

Available to order now.











 Some of the topics in the book include:

• Understanding how the perception of the self gives rise to suffering in this life. 
• Examining the two truths and how they relate to our own mind.
• How to come to a correct understanding of the view of emptiness.
• How shamatha and vipasyana work together in meditation to actualize the view.
• Learn about the path of the bodhisattva and how to progress along the path.
• Understand the significance of the teachings on buddha nature.
• Explore how our innate buddha nature is obscured from the perspective of the different practice traditions.
• Learn how the Prajnaparamita, or perfection of wisdom sutras for the heart of all the Buddha's teachings.
• Explore the history of tantra and the significance of the ripening empowerment in the tantric path. 
• Understand the significance of the teacher in the Vajrayana.
• Explore the generation and completion stage yogas and how the wisdom of the tantric view gives rise to buddhahood in this very lifetime. 
• Explore the history of Mahamudra and some critical distinctions between Mahamudra and Dzogchen. 
• Learn about the Six Yogas of Naropa and their place in the realization of Mahamudra. 
• Understand how Mahamudra is realized through the four yogas. 
• Learn how to carry the essence of all practice instructions into one meditation session.

Rinpoche has a remarkable ability to see how all of the Buddha's teachings are connected in our own practice. In Heart Advice, he teaches us how to carry these various practice traditions onto our own path by understanding all of the Buddha's teachings as instructions for practice.

The teachings contained in this book have been of immense benefit in my own practice, and I find myself returning again and again to examine sections and to build connections to new material I am studying.

I hope that you will check it out.

Different traditions.

The tradition of study and contemplation that took place in Tibet and now modern day India and Nepal is quite different than our own tradition here in the West. Here in the West it is quite common to read a book over a month or two, make some notes, reflect on it and then move onto the next book.

We do cursory studies.

In Tibet, it was quite common to study a single text for months or years. There was an in depth attention and application of the text at hand. The purpose wasn't to get through the material, but to do an immersive study and internalize the work.

This immersive study took place under the guidance of a dependable teacher. They made the depth and breadth of the work accessible and practical. This was the very foundation upon which the classical studies of the Buddhist textual tradition was based.

If we are looking to transform our mind and our life, it doesn't happen overnight. We cannot expect to read a book or two and to discover what is meaningful. It takes effort over the long haul. It requires that we return again and again to the same teachings, coming at them from different angles and under different situations. Over time, we discover the essence and we are able to enjoy it for ourselves.

Have you read this?

A key aspect to the preservation and transmission of the Buddhas teachings lies in the way that they are passed on from generation to generation.  There are certain teachings that anyone can read or practice. 

Choose a book, read it, reflect on it, use it to support your practice.

There are other texts that traditionally require a lung (pronounced with long u).  Lung is the Tibetan for oral or reading transmission.  It is an authorization to study or practice a text, but also more than that.  In order to receive the lung for a text, you need to get it from someone who already has the lung.  So the lung is a living transmission from teacher to student from generation to generation.  The teachings are alive because the lung is intact. 

The key aspect of maintaining the living tradition of the Buddha's teachings is the teacher-student connection. 

This also goes much deeper.  There are hundreds of teachings of the Buddha and other great masters that no longer have a living lineage of transmission.  You could find one of these texts, have it translated and read it.  It might be an amazing teaching that profoundly impacts your life, but who do you talk to about it?  Have you ever read a book that makes a huge impact on your life or perspective?  You want to share it with someone, you want to talk about it, discuss challenging sections. 

The tradition of passing on the teachings through an oral tradition from teacher to student ensures that the student has someone to come back to with questions.  They have a network they can tap into if they need it.

If you could only read books if you received the oral transmission, what do you think you would receive?  If you gave out oral transmissions of books that made an impact in your life, which ones would you want to pass on (assuming you had received the lung to begin with!)? 

If we only read books due to connections we had with others, would you be advocating for giving as many lungs as possible?