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Gesture of Great Love: Light of Liberation
You don’t need to suffer!
In Gesture of Great Love, Tarthang Tulku offers clear, direct advice and 24 exercises for uncovering the richness of our immediate experience. Often, we put up walls that block us from the joy and ease that are so readily available. This short, accessible book offers us fresh approaches to discover freedom within our daily experience of body, mind, and senses. Everything we need to get started on this path is already within us, and right now is the perfect time to begin.
Tarthang Tulku has lived and worked in America for over 50 years and this book is his kind gesture of support to the modern world.
In Gesture of Great Love, Tarthang Tulku offers clear, direct advice and 24 exercises for uncovering the richness of our immediate experience. Often, we put up walls that block us from the joy and ease that are so readily available. This short, accessible book offers us fresh approaches to discover freedom within our daily experience of body, mind, and senses. Everything we need to get started on this path is already within us, and right now is the perfect time to begin.
Tarthang Tulku has lived and worked in America for over 50 years and this book is his kind gesture of support to the modern world.
- GenresBuddhism
132 pages, Paperback
Published September 1, 2022
9 people are currently reading
2918 people want to read
About the author
Tarthang Tulku
166 books79 followersTarthang Tulku Rinpoche (དར་ཐན་སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ dar-than sprul-sku rin-po-che) is a Tibetan teacher ("lama") in the Nyingma ("old translation") tradition. Having received a complete Buddhist education in pre-diaspora Tibet, he taught philosophy at Sanskrit University in India from 1962 to 1968, and emigrated to America in 1969, where he settled in Berkeley, CA. He is often credited as having introduced the Tibetan medicine practice of Kum Nye (སྐུ་མཉེ sku mnye་, "subtle-body massage") to the West.
In 1963, he founded Dharma Publishing in Varanasi, India, moving it to California in 1971. The main purpose of the publishing house is to preserve and distribute Tibetan Buddhist teachings and to bring these teachings to the West.
Neither Rinpoche nor Tulku are surnames; the former is an honorific applied to respected teachers meaning "Precious One," while the latter is a title given to those who have be recognized an the reincarnation of a previous lama.
In 1963, he founded Dharma Publishing in Varanasi, India, moving it to California in 1971. The main purpose of the publishing house is to preserve and distribute Tibetan Buddhist teachings and to bring these teachings to the West.
Neither Rinpoche nor Tulku are surnames; the former is an honorific applied to respected teachers meaning "Precious One," while the latter is a title given to those who have be recognized an the reincarnation of a previous lama.
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September 26, 2022A masterpiece of completeness from the Brilliance that is the Mahasiddha, Tarthang Tulku.
The book opens with an invitation to time travel; to undertake an experiential investigation of human suffering – right back to the earliest hominids – “I invite you to reflect on the history of human suffering and to feel it deeply”.
Grounded in the truth of our situation, the rest of the book introduces a path which requires no time and distance. “Knowledge of the instant is the nectar that can transform all suffering”. But don’t, for an instant, assume you already know what that means.
Turning conventional religious ideas on their heads, each paragraph takes us into a deep contemplation, expanded and extended by the 24 exercises.
The author is supremely qualified to offer this ‘gesture of great love’. A lama extensively trained in all four schools of Tibetan Buddhism in the Old Tibet, and resident in California since the 1960s, his capacity to make deeply esoteric knowledge accessible to contemporary readers is unequalled.
Here is a complete path – from suffering to liberation – in one book.
This is the most important book I have ever read. The pared-down simplicity is beyond compare. It is a balm for fractured souls.
Please read it, too, and tell everyone you know about it.
The book opens with an invitation to time travel; to undertake an experiential investigation of human suffering – right back to the earliest hominids – “I invite you to reflect on the history of human suffering and to feel it deeply”.
Grounded in the truth of our situation, the rest of the book introduces a path which requires no time and distance. “Knowledge of the instant is the nectar that can transform all suffering”. But don’t, for an instant, assume you already know what that means.
Turning conventional religious ideas on their heads, each paragraph takes us into a deep contemplation, expanded and extended by the 24 exercises.
The author is supremely qualified to offer this ‘gesture of great love’. A lama extensively trained in all four schools of Tibetan Buddhism in the Old Tibet, and resident in California since the 1960s, his capacity to make deeply esoteric knowledge accessible to contemporary readers is unequalled.
Here is a complete path – from suffering to liberation – in one book.
This is the most important book I have ever read. The pared-down simplicity is beyond compare. It is a balm for fractured souls.
Please read it, too, and tell everyone you know about it.
October 14, 2022
In the words of the author, Tarthang Tulku, of Gesture of Great Love:
"Right here and now, in the middle of fears and worries, surrounded by the complexity of the modern world, you can open to a new way of living. ... The mind as it operates now, for almost everyone everywhere, undermines positive goals, saps confidence, and crushes the human spirit. It destroys positive feelings like a repressive dictator. Relying on concepts and language, mind uses words like right or wrong, good or bad, to criticize and judge. It flies from one emotional state to another like a small dust mote in a strong breeze. ... Unexamined and unchecked, mind’s regime highlights what is negative, emphasizes what is lacking, and ignores the natural ‘knowledge-ability’ we all have that can put an end to suffering and grant inner peace. ... Suffering results from misunderstanding, from not knowing the nature of mind and how it operates. ... But, however powerful it seems now, the regime of mind is not all there is. Mind can operate differently; it is possible to find freedom. ... We can transform ignorance into wisdom, but until we do, suffering in its many forms will manifest. This is simply a truth of the way things are.... The way to be free is to deepen understanding. Greater knowledge of how mind operates loosens the gatekeepers’ hold and allows you to choose a more easeful way of being. ... Nothing affects your life as intimately as your understanding—or lack of understanding—of who, or what, is operating mind. ... Whatever you understand in this moment, you can build on. Everything you need is already here. You can certainly benefit by studying what others have said, but what matters in the end is to investigate your own experience. ... What really matters is knowing itself—and this deeper knowing does not depend on identity.
"Joy is Essential: Joy is a natural response to being alive and to the wonders that life presents. As you begin your journey to a new way of being, allow yourself to appreciate each moment you are alive. ... The more you learn to appreciate each moment, seeing fresh sights, hearing new sounds, the more you will recognize that experience is not composed of fixed and solid entities, that it is better understood as a mirage, no less beautiful for being insubstantial. ... Welcome all that arises. This present moment, just as it is, is the teacher you have been looking for. ... You can start by appreciating the joy that comes with simply being. When you let appreciation grow in your heart, you will find that things are no longer serious in the same way. You can deal with whatever comes up, effortlessly. Nourish yourself, honor yourself, respect yourself—not in words or ideas, but in your very being, here and now.
"All of experience is a journey into magic: emotions, sensations, thoughts, and consciousness itself. Magic is the depth of knowing, the meaning of being. ... Mind itself is simple, unborn, yet its magic generates countless forms. ... The real mystery is not somewhere else. It’s right here in what we call reality, or truth, or daily life. It’s in confusion and loneliness and boredom, and in the thoughts and concepts, and in all the insects and lizards and fruit trees. That’s how it all manifests, but before it manifests, before conditions, there is a unity, a play of light.
"You have made contact with teachings that can totally transform your life, and you can choose from this moment forward to live differently. Let this inspire you. ... What a wonderful opportunity! Most human beings have never heard of such possibilities.
"Please understand: What I am offering here is not a philosophy of knowledge or a psychology of action. It is not brain science, or a self-help tool designed to make you more successful, or a sociological essay on how you can best adapt to the culture we live in today. It is not a set of instructions for entering heaven after you die, or moral advice. It is not advice at all. What I am talking about is how things really are for us, and not how they seem. The very stuff that makes up the texture of our lives typically goes unexamined: the nature of self and mind, perception, cognition, language, time, the momentum toward change that makes human experience possible, in all its richness.
"The message I want you to take away is this: You don’t have to suffer! You can be at ease. You can find joy in whatever is happening right now, in this instant, in the middle of your life. There is no need for instruction, or esoteric books, or special teachers to tell you what to do. You don’t have to withdraw, or escape. Escape is a fantasy anyway, so let it go.
"What I am talking about is love born in freedom. Beyond words, concepts, and sensations, unimaginable, with no borders. You do not go in search of such love, and you do not aim to teach it, not to yourself and not to others. Later, there may be interpretations and explanations, but the truth of love comes before all that.
"Stop looking for signs of progress or positive experiences. Those are all just ideas. If you set out to find a road or path, the very efforts you make will become an obstacle: nothing more than fixations and frictions. Let go of all that. Freedom from the regime of mind comes from within, and it is already available. So relax. Even the possibility of freedom can become an obstacle if you hold on to it tightly.
"You never need to be fooled again. When appearances arise, no matter what their shape or content, you don’t need to push them away, and you don’t need to engage them. Now you know them for what they are. You can embrace them, kiss them, and let them dissolve because you know they are inherently insubstantial. The nature of dreams is to disappear. Perhaps you have moments when this imperfectly expressed possibility makes sense. When they come, let them expand, and you will find that you are very close to what we might call ‘being’. So, give yourself hugs and kisses, and let joy and love expand."
"Right here and now, in the middle of fears and worries, surrounded by the complexity of the modern world, you can open to a new way of living. ... The mind as it operates now, for almost everyone everywhere, undermines positive goals, saps confidence, and crushes the human spirit. It destroys positive feelings like a repressive dictator. Relying on concepts and language, mind uses words like right or wrong, good or bad, to criticize and judge. It flies from one emotional state to another like a small dust mote in a strong breeze. ... Unexamined and unchecked, mind’s regime highlights what is negative, emphasizes what is lacking, and ignores the natural ‘knowledge-ability’ we all have that can put an end to suffering and grant inner peace. ... Suffering results from misunderstanding, from not knowing the nature of mind and how it operates. ... But, however powerful it seems now, the regime of mind is not all there is. Mind can operate differently; it is possible to find freedom. ... We can transform ignorance into wisdom, but until we do, suffering in its many forms will manifest. This is simply a truth of the way things are.... The way to be free is to deepen understanding. Greater knowledge of how mind operates loosens the gatekeepers’ hold and allows you to choose a more easeful way of being. ... Nothing affects your life as intimately as your understanding—or lack of understanding—of who, or what, is operating mind. ... Whatever you understand in this moment, you can build on. Everything you need is already here. You can certainly benefit by studying what others have said, but what matters in the end is to investigate your own experience. ... What really matters is knowing itself—and this deeper knowing does not depend on identity.
"Joy is Essential: Joy is a natural response to being alive and to the wonders that life presents. As you begin your journey to a new way of being, allow yourself to appreciate each moment you are alive. ... The more you learn to appreciate each moment, seeing fresh sights, hearing new sounds, the more you will recognize that experience is not composed of fixed and solid entities, that it is better understood as a mirage, no less beautiful for being insubstantial. ... Welcome all that arises. This present moment, just as it is, is the teacher you have been looking for. ... You can start by appreciating the joy that comes with simply being. When you let appreciation grow in your heart, you will find that things are no longer serious in the same way. You can deal with whatever comes up, effortlessly. Nourish yourself, honor yourself, respect yourself—not in words or ideas, but in your very being, here and now.
"All of experience is a journey into magic: emotions, sensations, thoughts, and consciousness itself. Magic is the depth of knowing, the meaning of being. ... Mind itself is simple, unborn, yet its magic generates countless forms. ... The real mystery is not somewhere else. It’s right here in what we call reality, or truth, or daily life. It’s in confusion and loneliness and boredom, and in the thoughts and concepts, and in all the insects and lizards and fruit trees. That’s how it all manifests, but before it manifests, before conditions, there is a unity, a play of light.
"You have made contact with teachings that can totally transform your life, and you can choose from this moment forward to live differently. Let this inspire you. ... What a wonderful opportunity! Most human beings have never heard of such possibilities.
"Please understand: What I am offering here is not a philosophy of knowledge or a psychology of action. It is not brain science, or a self-help tool designed to make you more successful, or a sociological essay on how you can best adapt to the culture we live in today. It is not a set of instructions for entering heaven after you die, or moral advice. It is not advice at all. What I am talking about is how things really are for us, and not how they seem. The very stuff that makes up the texture of our lives typically goes unexamined: the nature of self and mind, perception, cognition, language, time, the momentum toward change that makes human experience possible, in all its richness.
"The message I want you to take away is this: You don’t have to suffer! You can be at ease. You can find joy in whatever is happening right now, in this instant, in the middle of your life. There is no need for instruction, or esoteric books, or special teachers to tell you what to do. You don’t have to withdraw, or escape. Escape is a fantasy anyway, so let it go.
"What I am talking about is love born in freedom. Beyond words, concepts, and sensations, unimaginable, with no borders. You do not go in search of such love, and you do not aim to teach it, not to yourself and not to others. Later, there may be interpretations and explanations, but the truth of love comes before all that.
"Stop looking for signs of progress or positive experiences. Those are all just ideas. If you set out to find a road or path, the very efforts you make will become an obstacle: nothing more than fixations and frictions. Let go of all that. Freedom from the regime of mind comes from within, and it is already available. So relax. Even the possibility of freedom can become an obstacle if you hold on to it tightly.
"You never need to be fooled again. When appearances arise, no matter what their shape or content, you don’t need to push them away, and you don’t need to engage them. Now you know them for what they are. You can embrace them, kiss them, and let them dissolve because you know they are inherently insubstantial. The nature of dreams is to disappear. Perhaps you have moments when this imperfectly expressed possibility makes sense. When they come, let them expand, and you will find that you are very close to what we might call ‘being’. So, give yourself hugs and kisses, and let joy and love expand."
February 13, 2023
Wow! What an inspirational read! Love yourself- care for yourself- without that devotion toward your own care- you are not capable of loving and caring for others. Many great ideas were provided to be implemented in your daily living- things you already have, inside of you.
Powerful book! Thank you!
Powerful book! Thank you!
January 11, 2023
Insightful ideas for your everyday life. Good read. Always make sure to love yourself and care for yourself so that you can spread that joy unto others.
December 9, 2023
I received “Gesture of Great Love" by Tarthang Tulku from Goodreads giveaway. This book is about understanding the workings of the human mind. Tarthang Tulku's writing and teachings are deep as he goes beyond the surface of how the mind works. He also provides exercise for time to meditate and reflect on the chapters. Thank you, I appreciate the opportunity to read this book.
March 11, 2023
Another one I want to hang onto for future reference, this gave me hope and ways to share it with the world.
June 2, 2023
Interesting .
I really enjoyed this book. What a wonderful insight into viewing reality and life.
Great ideas shared .
Not at all pretentious.
I really enjoyed this book. What a wonderful insight into viewing reality and life.
Great ideas shared .
Not at all pretentious.
March 5, 2025
Class book! Short and sweet, probably life changing for someone out there. But I do think there were a few thought-provoking exercises.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews