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Finding Rest in Illusion
A new translation of the Tibetan master Longchenpa’s famous work that systematically presents the path of yogic conduct according to the Dzogchen tradition
Finding Rest in Illusion is the third volume of the Trilogy of Rest, Longchenpa’s classic exposition of the Buddhist path. The purpose of these teachings is to introduce us to our most basic nature—the clear and pristine awareness that is the nature of the mind. According to the traditional Tibetan Buddhist formula of view, meditation, and action, this volume follows Finding Rest in the Nature of the Mind , which establishes the view of the Buddhist path generally, and specifically that of the teachings of the Great Perfection, and Finding Rest in Meditation , which outlines the main points of meditation, namely, where one should meditate, what qualities a practitioner should possess and develop, and what should be practiced.
The Padmakara Translation Group has provided us with a clear and fluid new translation of the final volume of the trilogy, Finding Rest in Illusion , along with its autocommentary, The Chariot of Excellence , both intended to elucidate the appropriate action of a Buddhist practitioner. Finding Rest in Illusion describes in detail the conduct of those who have stabilized their recognition of the nature of the mind and how to apply the Buddhist view when relating to ordinary appearances. Drawing extensively from classic Buddhist works, the author uses well-known examples of illusion found throughout Mahāyāna literature to illustrate the illusory nature of both saṃsāra and nirvāṇa, thus revealing their ultimate nondual nature. This is an invaluable manual for any genuine student of Buddhism who wishes to truly find rest through the path of the Great Perfection.
Finding Rest in Illusion is the third volume of the Trilogy of Rest, Longchenpa’s classic exposition of the Buddhist path. The purpose of these teachings is to introduce us to our most basic nature—the clear and pristine awareness that is the nature of the mind. According to the traditional Tibetan Buddhist formula of view, meditation, and action, this volume follows Finding Rest in the Nature of the Mind , which establishes the view of the Buddhist path generally, and specifically that of the teachings of the Great Perfection, and Finding Rest in Meditation , which outlines the main points of meditation, namely, where one should meditate, what qualities a practitioner should possess and develop, and what should be practiced.
The Padmakara Translation Group has provided us with a clear and fluid new translation of the final volume of the trilogy, Finding Rest in Illusion , along with its autocommentary, The Chariot of Excellence , both intended to elucidate the appropriate action of a Buddhist practitioner. Finding Rest in Illusion describes in detail the conduct of those who have stabilized their recognition of the nature of the mind and how to apply the Buddhist view when relating to ordinary appearances. Drawing extensively from classic Buddhist works, the author uses well-known examples of illusion found throughout Mahāyāna literature to illustrate the illusory nature of both saṃsāra and nirvāṇa, thus revealing their ultimate nondual nature. This is an invaluable manual for any genuine student of Buddhism who wishes to truly find rest through the path of the Great Perfection.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published May 25, 1976
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About the author
Longchenpa
29 books32 followersSame author as:
- Longchen Rabjam
- Kloṅ-chen-pa Dri-med-ʼod-zer
- Longchen Rabjam
- Kloṅ-chen-pa Dri-med-ʼod-zer
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 12, 2017
Keith Dowman is an excellent translator and does a fine job finding expressive and powerful language to bring across Longchenpa's beautiful manual of meditation "Finding Comfort and Ease," which presents the seminal insight of Dzogchen meditation in terms of eight short chapters analyzing eight stock examples of the illusion-like appearance of the phenomenal world. Phenomena are like dreams, mirages, apparitions, reflections in a drop of water, and so on. Each example is richly unpacked and the sense of the analogy elucidated, and each chapter is capped with relevant meditation instruction for advanced practitioners.
It's been said that there's only so long you can talk about emptiness for so long before you start to repeat yourself, and that has certainly been my experience of Longchenpa. Gorgeous and penetrating as this book is, the root text feels a bit repetitive even at 50 pages. There are only so many times you can read that the primal nature of reality is a bright unobstructed infinite expanse like space permeated and obscured by a shifting matrix of fabricated concepts before you kind of get that.
This short text is bolstered by a long introduction that I have little use for, and Dowman had the cheek to, mm, supplement Longchenpa's work with two imitative chapters of his own invention, extending the line of reason to the contemporary examples of a hologram and a motion picture. Rather bold for him to interpolate his own account into a text written by a person he calls "perhaps the greatest mystic poet" in the history of Tibet.
Dowman also takes a cheap and completely unnecessary potshot at Tsong Khapa at the end that for me simply diminishes my whole experience of this book.
Two books I would unreservedly recommend to any fan of this work: Hongzhi's "Cultivating the Empty Field," masterfully translated by Taigen Daniel Leighton, and "Tantric Poetry of Kukai" by Gibson and Murakami, which has a similar structure.
It's been said that there's only so long you can talk about emptiness for so long before you start to repeat yourself, and that has certainly been my experience of Longchenpa. Gorgeous and penetrating as this book is, the root text feels a bit repetitive even at 50 pages. There are only so many times you can read that the primal nature of reality is a bright unobstructed infinite expanse like space permeated and obscured by a shifting matrix of fabricated concepts before you kind of get that.
This short text is bolstered by a long introduction that I have little use for, and Dowman had the cheek to, mm, supplement Longchenpa's work with two imitative chapters of his own invention, extending the line of reason to the contemporary examples of a hologram and a motion picture. Rather bold for him to interpolate his own account into a text written by a person he calls "perhaps the greatest mystic poet" in the history of Tibet.
Dowman also takes a cheap and completely unnecessary potshot at Tsong Khapa at the end that for me simply diminishes my whole experience of this book.
Two books I would unreservedly recommend to any fan of this work: Hongzhi's "Cultivating the Empty Field," masterfully translated by Taigen Daniel Leighton, and "Tantric Poetry of Kukai" by Gibson and Murakami, which has a similar structure.
October 2, 2018
Garland of Clarity
This is a wonderful translation of Longchenpa’s seminal Dzogchen text:
Maya Yoga: Finding Comfort and Ease in Enchantment
For those who are Awakening this cooling transmission will remind you of the intrinsically non-problematic, essential effortlessness of Great Perfection. This is an exquisite blossom in the Garland of Blossoms left to us all through Longchenpa’s unobstructed transmissivity.
This gem is an antidote for scholarly polemics that only confuse our process of Awakening. It really is this simple, it really is this wonderful, it really is this Clear. Do not let any apparition tell you otherwise.
This is a wonderful translation of Longchenpa’s seminal Dzogchen text:
Maya Yoga: Finding Comfort and Ease in Enchantment
For those who are Awakening this cooling transmission will remind you of the intrinsically non-problematic, essential effortlessness of Great Perfection. This is an exquisite blossom in the Garland of Blossoms left to us all through Longchenpa’s unobstructed transmissivity.
This gem is an antidote for scholarly polemics that only confuse our process of Awakening. It really is this simple, it really is this wonderful, it really is this Clear. Do not let any apparition tell you otherwise.
September 16, 2014
In the Nyingmapa tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, this text is considered second to none in its power to evoke the nature of the non-dual reality of the Dzogchen view.
In this renowned atiyoga manual, we find the key to the natural mystical state that Dzogchen, the Great Perfection, constantly evokes.
In this renowned atiyoga manual, we find the key to the natural mystical state that Dzogchen, the Great Perfection, constantly evokes.
December 23, 2022
Longchenpa the Scholar
Of course Longchenpa is great, and the Padmakara Translation Group does an excellent job as always with the presentation, but increasingly I find this whole traditional and formal approach to dzogchen disappointing because it puts it on a pedestal (“at the pinnacle of the Buddhist paths”), instead of making it clear how immediate and accessible it actually is.
Rather than being a presentation of dzogchen that breaks through boundaries – conceptual and cultural - this third volume of Longchenpa’s trilogy reads as more of a continuation of the gradual path approach found in the first two (Finding Rest in the Nature of Mind). The problem I have here isn’t the accuracy or artistry of the translation and original composition, but that it makes the conditionless nature of mind into something approachable and coherent thus giving the intellect something tangible to grasp and hold. In truth dzogchen is all about the ineffable.
Overall, it’s a good book for what it is, especially since the bulk of it (p. 67-258) is made up of Longchenpa’s detailed autocommentary (probably unavailable elsewhere), and as a discussion of dzogchen is better than most since it is Longchenpa (well translated by the PTG), but for me at least, as an expression of the essence and intent of dzogchen (and not an important scholarly treatise) it’s really no comparison to the more pithy introduction and translation by Dowman in Maya Yoga.
In comparison here are the two different translations of the very first stanza of the root text;
"1. The ground's expanse beyond all change,
The vast sky of the nature of mind,
Is empty, luminous, and free from mind's elaboration.
Therein like the sun, the moon, and all the stars,
The pure, unstained phenomena of budddhahood
Are present themselves;
The threefold kaya never sundered
From the five primordial wisdoms,
And all the qualities of luminosity naturally complete.
This primal, fundamental, natural state
Is said to be the entirely pure illusion of the ground."
(PTG, Finding Rest in Illusion)
"In unchanging basic spaciousness, the vast sky of mind's nature,
a space of unobstructed brilliance and emptiness
flawless buddha-reality, shines like the stars
as spontaneity of inseparable being and awareness.
This intrinsic clear light, with its perfect responsive spontaneity,
this is our original, natural dispensation,
known as basic immaculate magical illusion."
(Dowman, Maya Yoga)
Of course Longchenpa is great, and the Padmakara Translation Group does an excellent job as always with the presentation, but increasingly I find this whole traditional and formal approach to dzogchen disappointing because it puts it on a pedestal (“at the pinnacle of the Buddhist paths”), instead of making it clear how immediate and accessible it actually is.
Rather than being a presentation of dzogchen that breaks through boundaries – conceptual and cultural - this third volume of Longchenpa’s trilogy reads as more of a continuation of the gradual path approach found in the first two (Finding Rest in the Nature of Mind). The problem I have here isn’t the accuracy or artistry of the translation and original composition, but that it makes the conditionless nature of mind into something approachable and coherent thus giving the intellect something tangible to grasp and hold. In truth dzogchen is all about the ineffable.
Overall, it’s a good book for what it is, especially since the bulk of it (p. 67-258) is made up of Longchenpa’s detailed autocommentary (probably unavailable elsewhere), and as a discussion of dzogchen is better than most since it is Longchenpa (well translated by the PTG), but for me at least, as an expression of the essence and intent of dzogchen (and not an important scholarly treatise) it’s really no comparison to the more pithy introduction and translation by Dowman in Maya Yoga.
In comparison here are the two different translations of the very first stanza of the root text;
"1. The ground's expanse beyond all change,
The vast sky of the nature of mind,
Is empty, luminous, and free from mind's elaboration.
Therein like the sun, the moon, and all the stars,
The pure, unstained phenomena of budddhahood
Are present themselves;
The threefold kaya never sundered
From the five primordial wisdoms,
And all the qualities of luminosity naturally complete.
This primal, fundamental, natural state
Is said to be the entirely pure illusion of the ground."
(PTG, Finding Rest in Illusion)
"In unchanging basic spaciousness, the vast sky of mind's nature,
a space of unobstructed brilliance and emptiness
flawless buddha-reality, shines like the stars
as spontaneity of inseparable being and awareness.
This intrinsic clear light, with its perfect responsive spontaneity,
this is our original, natural dispensation,
known as basic immaculate magical illusion."
(Dowman, Maya Yoga)
November 11, 2021
A wonderful book with something for everyone, and with poetry teaching Dzogchen. As always, however much you know about dzogchen, there is something here that will be helpful. The text underlines the fact that dzogchen is something to 'do' rather than something to talk about. And, read lots of books by different people about dzogchen and watch lots of videos by different people about dzogchen.
July 5, 2019
Exceptionally clear pith instructions on all aspects of practice.
May all beings benefit!
May all beings benefit!
May 22, 2023
Powerful!
I am a frequent reader of the work of Keith Dowman. I must say, he has yet to disappoint me. Really, really nice work!
I am a frequent reader of the work of Keith Dowman. I must say, he has yet to disappoint me. Really, really nice work!
December 16, 2024
head...heart... emptiness
here of this pinning is a pointing-out that may bring such unto deliberate unity... thereis wisdom that resonates of such reference... be here familiar
here of this pinning is a pointing-out that may bring such unto deliberate unity... thereis wisdom that resonates of such reference... be here familiar
June 8, 2025
This text and its commentary are both Dzogchen classics. Longchenpa's wisdom is unparalleled, and this book is perfect for students who are studying dream yoga.
"All appearing objects, empty of true being,
Are like castles in the clouds.
All mental states, by nature empty,
Are like castles in the clouds.
Both sense objects and mind are empty;
They're like castles in the clouds.
The slightest clinging or fixation--
Just leave it where it is!"
"All appearing objects, empty of true being,
Are like castles in the clouds.
All mental states, by nature empty,
Are like castles in the clouds.
Both sense objects and mind are empty;
They're like castles in the clouds.
The slightest clinging or fixation--
Just leave it where it is!"
July 18, 2017
Priceless information
My practice will be richly enhanced after reading this book, highly recommended for those in the path of Tibetan Dzogchen
My practice will be richly enhanced after reading this book, highly recommended for those in the path of Tibetan Dzogchen
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews