Skillful Grace
Skillful Grace: Tara Practice for Our Times
Teachings by Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche & Trulshik Adeu Rinpoche
Translated and edited by Marcia Binder Schmidt & Erik Pema Kunsang, Rangjung Yeshe Publications
Tara is one of the most inspiring of Buddhist deities, embodying the most compelling and vital qualities of the feminine: beauty, grace, and the ability to nurture, care for, and protect. This complex goddess, whose practice transcends sect and class, is also a true warrior, vanquishing fear and ignorance-in a sense the earliest known incarnation of Buddhist feminism. Skillful Grace is an elegant introduction to practice and meditation techniques based on the Vajrayana path.
The book is divided into three main sections. The first contains the basic text of Tara practice, The Essential Instruction on the Threefold Excellence, which connects the seeker to the profound essence of Tara as revealed by Chokgyur Lingpa. The other two sections feature enlightening commentaries on the text by Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, Jamgon Kongtrul, and Adeu Rinpoche.
Skillful Grace includes all the preliminaries of Tara practice, as well as its main part and the subsequent yogas. Tara Bennett Goleman's foreword, Marcia Schmidt's introduction, and various appendixes and footnotes add useful context.
Original Source
- Includes translation of the terma root text dgongs gter sgrol ma'i zab tig las slob ma rjes su bzung ba phyi nang gsang ba'i sgrub thabs legs so gsum gyi don khrid rdo rje lung gi nges pa rdo rje srung ma'i mchod byang srung ma'i las tshogs zab mo bcas gter gzhung.
- Teachings on and a summary of dgongs gter sgrol ma'i zab tig las legs so gsum gyi don khrid gsal bar bkod pa grub gnyis thig le by Jamgon Kongtrul.