Tantric Art : Jomo Pema ’ö-Zér Thangka

Jomo Pema ’ö-Zér Dri’mèd Yingma (Jo mo pad ma ’od zer dri ’med dByings ma – Lady Lotus Light Rays in Immaculate Space, 1839-1902) was an incarnation of Tashi Chhi’drèn (mon mo bKra shis khyi’dren). Jomo Pema ’ö-Zér’s sang-yab or spiritual consort was Rang-rig Togden, and together, they were the mother and father of Khyungchen Aro Lingma. Jomo Pema ’ö-Zér and Rang-rig Togden were therefore the grandparents of Aro Yeshé.

http://bit.ly/jomo-pema-ozer-thangka

Tantric Art : Jomo Menmo Thangka

Jomo Menmo was the incarnation of Ma-gCig Labdron. She was born in the male earth monkey year of 1248 and passed into the sky-dimension in 1283.

http://bit.ly/jomo-menmo-thangka

Tantric Art : Dorje Tröllö Thangka

Ngak’chang Rinpoche says of Dorje Tröllö:
"Dorje Tröllö is the master of crazy wisdom. Crazy Wisdom is Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche’s translation, and it has thus been taken up by most people as the most suitable rendition of the term. Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche expands this further by saying that it is ‘the wisdom gone wild’"

"Some people in recent times have misunderstood this term – confusing it for any mode of buffoonery that comes to mind. I would hazard the guess that this was far from Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche’s intention. The Tibetan phrase of which Crazy Wisdom is a translation is yeshé ’cholwa (ye shes ’hol ba) ‘Ye’ means ‘primordial’, and ‘shes’ means ‘knowing’ – therefore yeshé means primordial wisdom or uncreated knowingness."

http://bit.ly/dorje-trollo-thangka

Tantric Art : Aro Lingma Thangka

Aro Lingma (1886-1923) was born in the fire-dog year in Mar-Kham – the southern region of Kham in Eastern Tibet. She was named Yeshé Zértsal by her parents – Jomo Pema ’ö-Zér and Rang-rig Togden. Khyungchen Aro Lingma was the name she received from Yeshé Tsogyel as an aspect of the gTérma she received in pure vision in her early twenties.

http://bit.ly/aro-lingma-thangka

Book reviews & Thangka photographs

Aro Books worldwide now has 99 fans on Facebook - thank you for your support.

If you have the time and the inclination, please consider writing reviews of any of our books and publishing them on the Lulu site.  Please let us know if reviews can also be published on Facebook or the Blog.  If you've bought any posters and would like to send us photographs of them in situ we can create an album on Facebook.

At the moment we are waiting for the final proof copy of 'Rays of the Sun' before making it publicly available, hopefully in the next week or so,  and we will be producing more thangka images in the new year.

with best wishes,

Ngakpa 'ö-Dzin

Tantric Art : ’a-Shul Pema Legden & Khandro Yeshé Réma Thangka

This Aro history thangka depicts the meeting of Aro Lingma (as Khandro Yeshé Réma) with ’a-Shul Pema Legden. ’a-Shul Pema Legden is shown as Khalden Lingpa’s thangka painter – although this does not represent the manner of their meeting. Khalden Lingpa is shown in the sky above Khandro Yeshé Réma and ’a-Shul Pema Legden, because it was he who was active in precipitating their meeting.

http://bit.ly/ashul-pema-legden-khandro-yeshe-rema-thangka

the sphere of vision - the art of thangka midwifery in Vajrayana

"The parents of a thangka are always emptiness and form – wisdom and method. So the thangka painter is a visionary midwife. The mother of vision is creative space, so the thangka painter must be aligned with space and the thangka painted from the perspective of space rather than according to limited personal ideas. So I am a visionary midwife rather than an artist."


the sphere of vision - the art of thangka midwifery in Vajrayana - Khandro Déchen

Tantric Art : Aro Yeshe

The thangka of Aro Yeshe is now available as a postcard and greetings card as well as a poster.

http://bit.ly/aro-yeshe-thangka

Please also see Aro Encyclopaedia for an article on this image

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Publicity : Moving Being

We have created some publicity materials for Khandro Déchen's book 'Moving Being'.  We have a poster, postcard and business card design.  Although these have been created particularly for people who are looking to publicise 'Moving Being', anyone who would like a poster of the front cover is also welcome to order one.

http://bit.ly/moving-being-publicity

The book itself is available on Lulu

http://bit.ly/moving-being-7314807


Your thoughts about publicity would be most welcome.  Please feel free to leave comments.

Tantric Art : Padmasambhava

The thangka of Padmasambhava is now available as a postcard and greetings card as well as a poster.

http://bit.ly/padmasambhava-thangka

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Aro Books worldwide can be found via Blogspot Facebook Lulu Twitter Website and Zazzle

Ögyen Dzambhala : "Today's Best" Award

We've just received an email from Zazzle (where we have our Tantric Art Shop) to say that the Ögyen Dzambhala image has been selected as one of "Today's Best".  They say:

"Congratulations


Your product, Ögyen Dzambhala [card], has been selected as one of Today's Best on Zazzle!


This means it will appear on the Zazzle homepage for the rest of today and it will also be added to the Today's Best Awards Showcase. Keep up the great work!"

We're very happy that Ngakma Pema Zangmo's work has been recognised in this way.

Tantric Art : Yeshe Tsogyel

The thangka of Yeshé Tsogyel is now available as a postcard and greetings card as well as a poster.

http://bit.ly/yeshe-tsogyel-thangka

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Aro Books worldwide can be found via Blogspot Facebook Lulu Twitter Website and Zazzle

Tantric Art

We are pleased to announce the creation of an online shop selling tantric artwork.  At the moment we have a number of thangkas available for sale as posters.  We hope shortly to be able to offer these as postcards and greetings cards also.

The front door to the shop can be found on the Aro Books worldwide website, and if you follow the links from Tantric Arts you will eventually arrive at a page of thangka images . Clicking on any of these takes you through to the shop where they are available as cards and posters. You can also get there directly via the shop's own site at Zazzle.

Most of the images will print quite large. As part of the testing process we bought a 35" version of the Ögyen Dzambala Thangka which is quite magnificent.

Forthcoming: Rays of the Sun : Illustrating Reality

Rays of the Sun : Illustrating Reality by Ngakpa Chögyam is soon to be published by Aro Books worldwide.

From the cover:

The early days of Vajrayana in the West were exciting and fresh.  The vital spirit of questioning was a core concern for those who sought the few Tibetan Lamas who visited Britain. Eager students were often prepared to travel considerable distances to receive instruction from them.  Unusual then - for that time - that some should also seek out a young Englishman recently returned from the Himalayas. In the midst of a furore of seeking, inspired by the magic and mystery of Tibet - some were keen to penetrate the esoteric surface and come to terms with the lived meaning.

Accidental meetings with Ngak'chang Rinpoche, living incognito as a hidden yogi in Cardiff - Wales - led to lively questioning and informal answers.  The answers became talks - and the talks became weekend retreats.  Rinpoche's teachings were simple, direct, and experiential.  The four evening talks contained here deal with the themes studied by everyone who wished to explore Buddhism in depth: the four noble truths, eightfold path, refuge, compassion and causality.  Although this material is commonly available, it is rarely discussed in creative contemporary English - nor are they presented from a perspective informed by Dzogchen.

Rinpoche was first asked to teach by Gétsulma Tsültrim Zangmo, a Western nun ordained by the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa.  Rinpoche named her 'ö-Zér Nyima after she received Dzogchen sem-dé transmissions from him - and this book is dedicated to her memory. 'ö-Zér Nyima means Rays of the Sun - and exemplifies the lively, cheerful, unobstructed vision of an extraordinary English woman - and the nature of the teachings presented in this collection of talks.  They espress the strongly held non-sectarian viw that was the basis of Ngak'chang Rinpoche's friendship with Gétsulma Tsültrim Zangmo - 'ö-Zér Nyima - Rays of the Sun.

Moving Being

Khandro Déchen Tsédrüp Rolpa’i Yeshé is a Nyingma Lama who teaches in the Dzogchen lineage of Aro Lingma. Her clear, direct and detailed handbook of sKu-mNyé (also known as kum nye) enables those with determination to embark on an adventure into the otherwise hidden dimension of energy revealed through Dzogchen longdé – the series of space.

Thirty-five elemental exercises cover seven dynamic movements from each of the long-de series of symbolic animals: lion, vulture, tiger, eagle, and garuda.

Aro sKu-mNye can be practised by almost anyone, whatever their body type, because the forms range from simple to challenging - from mild to strongly aerobic.

The theoretical background to the exercises is explained in simple contemporary English. It is accessible to those with no experience of Vajrayana Buddhism – yet contains a wealth of footnotes which will be of be of value and interest to those who have practised intensively and studied the tradition in depth.

These excercises are finely illustrated by the artist Pauline Williams. A western life-drawing style has been chosen in order to portray real-life practitioners of Aro sKu-mNyé rather than the perfect iconographic bodies of yogis and yoginis depicted in Tibetan thangka painting.

Moving Being may be purchased as a print-on-demand publication from the Aro Books worldwide shop.

Tobacco: ‘the guide that leads the blind on a false path which ends in a precipice’

In his endless kindness to Vajrayana practitioners, Kyabjé Düd’jom Rinpoche quotes from the gTérmas of Chögyal Ratna Lingpa, Sang-gyé Lingpa, Rig’dzin Go’dem, Düd’dül Dorje, gTértön Longsel, Thugchog Dorje, Dro’dül Lingpa, and Ma-gÇig Labdrön, in order to explain the non-ordinary visionary history which illuminates the deleterious nature of tobacco. Warnings concerning tobacco have been revealed as gTérmas since the first spread of Buddhism in Tibet, and therefore authentic Nyingma practitioners cannot have association with tobacco. Düd’jom Rinpoche’s treatise deals with demonic intentionality as discussed in the gTérmas of the great gTértöns, and is thus mainly influential with those Vajrayana practitioners who have confidence in Padmasambhava and the
gTérma tradition. It should, however, be of interest to other Buddhists—and to people in general—that such warnings have existed for so long and that they are so vehement.

Available in English, French, German, Spanish and Swedish


http://aro-books-worldwide.org/shared/text/b/booklet_ph_01_tobacco_01_eng.php

http://stores.lulu.com/arobooksworldwide

Spacious Passion - 2009 Edition

2009 revised edition of Spacious Passion is now available.

A Buddhist book exploring the sutric teaching of ‘The Four Thoughts that turn the Mind to Practice’ as vividly relevant to our everyday lives: the extraordinarily precious opportunity to live as an honourable human being; the experience of impermanence that pervades our existence as an opportunity to awaken; the emotional and psychological patterning which dominates our lives (karma); and the seemingly endless cycle of dissatisfaction in which we imprison ourselves. Each chapter ends with a series of questions and answers which are both pragmatic and inspirational. Ngakma Nor'dzin has been a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism for more than twenty years. ISBN: 978-1-898185-07-9

More information:  http://bit.ly/nrpspx

Amazon.co.uk: http://bit.ly/nrpspxzuk

Amazon.com: http://bit.ly/nrpspxzus

Lulu: http://bit.ly/nrpspxlul

Aro Books worldwide

Aro Books worldwide is part of the Confederate Sanghas of Aro – a group of sibling charities and not-for-profit organisations around the globe. Aro Books worldwide exists in order to make available the teachings of the Aro Tradition of Nyingma Buddhism. Aro Books worldwide seeks to make teachings available to the broadest possible audience via: hard copy or download; books; journals; magazines; audio; and in visual format. Aro Books worldwide is committed to utilising whichever media and language will be of most benefit to a potential audience. Where appropriate Aro Books worldwide may also seek to make Buddhist teachings available through other publishing bodies. Any revenue that Aro Books worldwide generates will be used to make the Buddhist teachings of the Aro Tradition available around the world.


http://aro-books-worldwide.org/