Kunsang, E.

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Erik Pema Kunsang

Erik Pema Kunsang is one of the most highly regarded Tibetan translators and interpreters today. Erik has been the assistant and translator for Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche and his sons since the late 1970s. He has translated and edited over fifty volumes of Tibetan texts and oral teachings, and was one of the founding directors of Rangjung Yeshe Publications. (Source Accessed Jul 24, 2020)

Library Items

Book
Buddha Nature: Ten Teachings on the Uttaratantra Shastra
In this short book, a teaching given by Thrangu Rinpoche and translated by Erik Pema Kunsang, Thrangu Rinpoche uses the Uttaratantrashastra to outline ten points of focus, including the seven vajra points. Each chapter contains comments related to each point and a transcript of questions from the participants and answers from Thrangu Rinpoche.
Thrangu Rinpoche. Buddha Nature: Ten Teachings on the Uttara Tantra Shastra. Translated by Erik Pema Kunsang. Edited by S. Lhamo. Hong Kong: Rangjung Yeshe Publications, 1988. http://bodhitraining.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Buddha-Nature-Commentary-to-Uttaratantra-Shastra-by-Thrangu-Rinpoche.pdf.
Book
Carefree Dignity
In this book I will outline ground, path and fruition in the hope of helping you gain some understanding about your basic nature, your own mind. This nature of mind is always present, and it can be called different names: the natural state, the basic nature, the real condition, the enlightened essence, or buddha-nature. This basic nature is what is meant by ground.
      Path is a state of confusion which is not recognizing this ground, our basic state, to be as it is. Conceptual mind and time are both present during the path. But when your mind is pure, free of these, that is called fruition, and that is what is to be attained. To reiterate, confusion is called path. This confusion can be cleared up. There are three methods to clarify confusion: view, meditation and conduct. By means of the view, meditation and conduct we reveal what is already present. Slowly and gradually, we uncover more and more of the basic state. This process is what I will try to explain. (Tsoknyi Rinpoche, chapter 1, 20–21)
Tsoknyi Rinpoche. Carefree Dignity: Discourses on Training in the Nature of Mind by Drubwang Tsoknyi Rinpoche. Compiled and translated by Erik Pema Kunsang and Marcia Binder Schmidt. Edited by Kerry Moran. Hong Kong: Rangjung Yeshe Publications, 1998. https://archive.org/details/carefreedignitydiscoursesontraininginthenatureofmindbytsoknyirinpocheed.keerrymoranrupaco._107_f.
Book
Gateway to Knowledge Vol. III
The Gateway to Knowledge is a condensation of the Tripitaka and its accompanying commentaries.

Consolidating the intent of Buddha Shakyamuni’s teachings into a unified body of text books, it is the philosophical backbone of the living tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. This rich source book embodies the basics of Prajnaparamita and Madhyamika as well as the Abhidharma from both the Mahayana and Hinayana perspective. Every volume in this series includes the Tibetan text and the English translation on facing pages.

The student of The Gateway to Knowledge can begin to comprehend the meaning of the major works on Buddhist philosophy and of the traditional sciences. When you want to extract their meaning you need an “expert system,” a key. The Gateway to Knowledge is like that key, a magical key – it opens up the treasury of precious gemstones in the expansive collection of Buddhist scriptures. (Source: Rangjung Yeshe Publications)
Kunsang, Erik Pema, trans. Gateway to Knowledge: The Treatise Entitled The Gate for Entering the Way of a Pandita. Vol. 3. By Jamgön Mipham Rinpoche ('jam mgon mi pham rin po che). Hong Kong: Rangjung Yeshe Publications, 2002. http://promienie.net/images/dharma/books/mipham_gateway-to-knowledge-vol-3.pdf.
Book
Heart Lamp
Tsele Natsok Rangdröl is renowned in the Kagyü and Nyingma schools of Tibetan Buddhism for his brilliant scholarship, profound exposition, and meditative accomplishment. Comprised of two of his most important texts, this collection presents four essential Buddhist strands of philosophical viewpoint and meditation technique: the teachings of the Prajnaparamita (Perfection of Wisdom) body of literature; the philosophy of the Middle Way; Mahamudra meditation; and Dzogchen teachings and practice.The theme of these teachings is that in every person’s heart, mind, and spirit there is an identical essence that makes that person a living Buddha. The focus is on how to realize that essence through “effortless” training based on the four techniques. Since the training is unbound by cultural or temporal limitations, the truth the book conveys is as valuable today as it was in centuries past. This system has been applied by people from many walks of life, giving them a simple method to not only withstand life’s challenges but to transcend them. This redesigned edition of The Heart of the Matter and Lamp of Mahamudra features illuminating introductions and a new foreword, bringing Rangdröl’s timeless message to contemporary seekers. (Source Accessed Oct 12, 2021)
Kunsang, Erik Pema, trans. Heart Lamp: Lamp of Mahamudra & The Heart of the Matter. By Tsele Natsok Rangdröl (rtse le sna tshogs rang grol). Kathmandu: Rangjung Yeshe Publications, 2009.
Book
Lamp of Mahamudra (Rangjung Yeshe)
A timeless instruction on the heart of Buddhist practice. Lamp of Mahamudra is a meditation manual on one of the most advanced practices of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. This precise text distills the instructions of the practice lineage and describes the entire path of meditation leading to the ultimate fruition. The book includes advice from Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and Kyabje Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche. Lamp of Mahamudra was written by Tsele Natsok Rangdrol, a seventeenth-century master of both the Kagyi and Nyingma Schools. He was renowned as one of the most learned teachers of his era. His writing is inspiring in its lucid style and profundity. (Source Accessed Feb 12, 2020)
Kunsang, Erik Pema, trans. Lamp of Mahamudra: The Immaculate Lamp That Perfectly and Fully Illuminates the Meaning of Mahamudra, the Essence of All Phenomena. By Tsele Natsok Rangdröl (rtse le sna tshogs rang grol). Kathmandu: Rangjung Yeshe Publications, 1997.
Book
Lamp of Mahamudra (Shambhala)
A timeless instruction on the heart of Buddhist practice. Lamp of Mahamudra is a meditation manual on one of the most advanced practices of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. This precise text distills the instructions of the practice lineage and describes the entire path of meditation leading to the ultimate fruition. The book includes advice from Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and Kyabje Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche. Lamp of Mahamudra was written by Tsele Natsok Rangdrol, a seventeenth-century master of both the Kagyi and Nyingma Schools. He was renowned as one of the most learned teachers of his era. His writing is inspiring in its lucid style and profundity. (Source Accessed Feb 12, 2020)
Kunsang, Erik Pema, trans. Lamp of Mahamudra: The Immaculate Lamp That Perfectly and Fully Illuminates the Meaning of Mahamudra, the Essence of All Phenomena. By Tsele Natsok Rangdröl (rtse le sna tshogs rang grol). Boston: Shambhala Publications, 1989. http://promienie.net/images/dharma/books/mahamudra_lamp.pdf.
Book
Rainbow Painting
Saturated with direct, pithy instructions, Rainbow Painting presents the very quintessence of the Buddhist Spiritual approach through the authentic personal experience of one of the greatest living meditation masters.

Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche expresses what he himself has undergone, instructing us in a complete manner of training. To attain enlightenment we must experience our innate nature. The ultimate object of realization, the natural state of mind, unmistakenly and exactly as it is, need not be sought for elsewhere but is present within ourselves. Stability in this unexcelled state of unity is not achieved by separating what we know from what we do.

This book contains astute instructions that address these key points of spirituality. (Source: Rangjung Yeshe Publications)
Urgyen Rinpoche, Tulku. Rainbow Painting: A Collection of Miscellaneous Aspects of Development and Completion. Translated by Erik Pema Kunsang. Compiled by Marcia Binder Schmidt and edited with Kerry Moran. Hong Kong: Rangjung Yeshe Publications, 1995. https://archive.org/details/rainbowpaintingbytulkuurgyenrinpocheerikpemakunsang_400_l/mode/2up.
Book
Songs of Naropa
The main practice in the Kagyü teaching system is Mahamudra. The lineage of Mahamudra chiefly comes through Marpa Lotsawa's two root gurus, Naropa and Maitripa. The texts explained here — A Summary of Mahamudra and The View, Concisely Put — were spoken by Naropa.
      Naropa's songs are very important for practitioners of Mahamudra, pithy words, rich with meaning. This is why I chose to teach them during my courses. The songs and my explanations are now translated by lotsawa Erik. These teachings are about essential meditation training. I consider them very important for future students to pay attention to and study. Doing so will greatly benefit one's understanding of the key points of Mahamudra. (Thrangu Rinpoche, foreword, 7)
Thrangu Rinpoche. Songs of Naropa: Commentaries on Songs of Realization. Translated by Erik Pema Kunsang. Edited by Marcia Binder Schmidt with Kerry Moran. Hong Kong: Rangjung Yeshe Publications, 1997. https://archive.org/details/songsofnaropakhenchenthrangurinpochemarciabinderschmidtkerrymoran_755_F/mode/2up.
Book
The Heart of the Matter
The perfect Buddha Shakyamuni gave us, his disciples, boundless Dharma Wheels each in accordance with our various capacities and inclinations. The quintessence of all these teachings is the third turning of the Dharma Wheel, called the 'final set of teachings on the complete and total uncovering.' This is the Vajrayana approach to the definitive meaning that takes the fruition as the path, wherin the crucial points of how to apply its view and meditation training are shown. This know-how for bringing this definitive meaning into our experience is found in a text entitled The Unchanging Convergence, which here, in English, is called The Heart of the Matter.

The author, Tsele Natsok Randröl, was born in the snowy land of Tibet. It was through study and reflection that he first unraveled the key points of everything that there is to know. Having brought forth realization through meditation training, he became known as a great pandita and siddha, a learned and accomplished master.

Among his various instructions, The Heart of the Matter is both concise and comprehensible. Not only does it contain all the vital points of the Buddha's words but, in particular, it lucidly and precisely covers the definitive meaning of the view, meditation, conduct and fruition, in their entirety, so that their practice can take effect and mature in our minds. (Source: The Heart of the Matter, introduction, 7–8)
Kunsang, Erik Pema, trans. The Heart of the Matter. By Tsele Natsok Rangdröl (rtse le sna tshogs rang grol). Edited by Marcia Binder Schmidt and Michael Tweed. Buddhist Classics. Hong Kong: Rangjung Yeshe Publications, 1996.
Book
The Light of Wisdom, Vol. 1 (1999)
The Light of Wisdom Vol. 1 contains the root terma—hidden treasure text—of Padmasambhava, The Gradual Path of the Wisdom Essence and its commentary The Light of Wisdom by Jamgon Kongtrul the Great. Annotations on the commentary Entering the Path of Wisdom spoken by Jamyang Drakpa and recorded by Jokyab Rinpoche are included as well as clarifications from other masters. Volume I presents in-depth explanations of the Vajrayāna Buddhist perspective. It begins with the nature of the ground, the buddha nature present in all beings, continues with the teachings that are common to all vehicles, and concludes with the Mahāyāna and the link to Vajrayāna. (Source Accessed Feb 13, 2020)
Kunsang, Erik Pema, trans. The Light of Wisdom. Vol. 1. With the root text Lamrim Yeshe Nyingpo by Padmasambhava, the commentary The Light of Wisdom by Jamgön Kongtrül the First, and the notes Entering the Path of Wisdom by Jamyang Drakpa. Boudhanath, Kathmandu, Nepal: Rangjung Yeshe Publications, 1999.
Book
The Mirror of Mindfulness (2010)
The Mirror of Mindfulness is a presentation of Tibetan Buddhist teachings on the endless cycle of experience, the four bardos — life, death, after-death, and rebirth. It is aimed at inspiring and helping the practitioner achieve liberation from deluded existence and awaken to complete enlightenment for the benefit of others.

I considered that this explanation of the bardos would benefit everyone interested in the dharma. The words are clear and easy to understand, and lengthy scholarly expositions are not emphasized. This text, easy to comprehend and containing all the key points and very direct instructions, results from following the oral advice of a qualified master. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

The author, Tsele Natsok Rangdröl, was renowned as one of the most learned and accomplished masters of seventeenth-century Tibet. His other books include Heart Lamp and Empowerment. (Source: Rangjung Yeshe Publications)
Kunsang, Erik Pema, trans. The Mirror of Mindfulness: The Cycle of the Four Bardos. By Tsele Natsok Rangdrol (rtse le sna tshogs rang grol). Kathmandu: Rangjung Yeshe Publications, 2010.
Book
Vivid Awareness
In the summer of 1957, the revered Buddhist teacher and scholar Khenpo Gangshar foresaw the difficulties that would soon fall upon Tibet and began teaching in a startling new way that enabled all those who heard him to use the coming difficulties as the path of Dharma practice. The teaching consisted of the essential points of mahamudra and dzogchen, both view and practice, presented in a way that made them easy for anyone to use, even in the most difficult of circumstances. Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche was one of the grateful recipients of these teachings, which he regards as among the most important he has ever been given. He transmits them here, for the benefit of all of us who strive to practice in challenging times. They include contemplations on the ephemeral nature of both joy and suffering, meditations for resting the mind, and guidance for cultivating equanimity in any situation. (Source: Shambhala Publications)
Thrangu Rinpoche. Vivid Awareness: The Mind Instructions of Khenpo Gangshar. Translated and edited by David Karma Choephel. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2011.

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