Aro Books worldwide and Lulu Press, Inc.

Lulu Logo

Aro Books worldwide is the print on demand publisher for the Aro gTér Lineage of Vajrayana Buddhism.

We publish books by authors from the Lineage and books related to Buddhist practice. Our profits go to Sang-ngak-chö-dzong, the UK Charity of the Aro gTér Lineage, which supports work such as the Drala Jong retreat centre.

Print on demand means that our books are available direct from a printer and anyone can buy them whenever they wish. This keeps things simple for us as we don't hold any stock.  Books are printed when they are required.

In order to manage the print on demand process, we user Lulu Press, Inc., based in North Carolina, USA.  We have been using their services since February 2009.

Lulu gives us the ability to create and revise our books whenever we wish and they maintain a catalogue of our books for sale.  When a book is to be printed the order goes to a printer as close as possible to the delivery address.  Because of this, orders for the USA are printed in the USA and orders for the UK are printed in the UK.  This helps to minimise shipping distance and time.

Our current catalogue of books is on our Spotlight page (http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/arobooksworldwide). You can browse this page or search for specific titles or authors.

For example, if you wanted to see all the books on the series 'an odd boy', you could search for those words and see a smaller listing of books (http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/arobooksworldwide?searchTerms=an+odd+boy).

New titles are added from time to time.  This depends on our authors, proofreaders and people working on cover design and book layout.  In 2019 we published four books: Battlecry of Freedom by Ngakma Nor'dzin and The Legendary Rabbit of Death, volumes 3, 4 and 5 by Ræchel Togden.

We look forward to publishing more books with Lulu in 2020.

Drala Jong and Aro Books worldwide

Pant-y-Porthman Farm

Back in June I was fairly sure that retiring from Cardiff University would leave me with plenty of time to attend to Aro Books worldwide.  This was not to be the case because the Drala Jong project became rather busy and took all of my time.

On 13th June we discovered Pant-y-Porthman Farm (pictured), near Llandysul, on 21st we visited it and on the 23rd we offered the asking price.

The next few months were taken up with all manner of work to do with assessing and buying the property.  Eventually, On 11th September we exchanged contracts and on 4th October we completed the purchase.

So, after about 12 years of fundraising, we now have Drala Jong.  There will be much work over the coming years as we develop the place.  This has been a most exciting time for the lineage, the fulfillment of our aspirations to own a place and the beginning of the work required to convert a farmhouse and barns into a Buddhist Centre.

Over the years, Aro Books worldwide has contributed any profits to Sang-ngak-chö-dzong, the charity that now owns Drala Jong.  We recently looked at the revenue and it amounts to around £7,500.  It's a small amount in comparison to the cost of buying Drala Jong, but every penny is welcome.

Our current Top 10 Books are

1. Moving Being
2. Relaxing into Meditation
3. Rays of the Sun
4. an odd boy - volume one
5. Shock Amazement
6. Spacious Passion
7. an odd boy - volume two
8. Illusory Advice
9. The Legendary Rabbit of Death - volume one
10. an odd boy - volume three

We are most grateful for your support. Every book sold makes a little money and all profits go to Sang-ngak-chö-dzong which in turn supports Drala Jong.

With all good wishes,

Ngakpa 'ö-Dzin Tridral

Retiring to work

Aro Books worldwide has, to some extent been on 'autopilot' since about 2016. Although we have continued to publish books in that time there has been no time to engage with Facebook, Twitter or any other form of advertising.

Cardiff University

Apart from my work for Cardiff University, my time has been largely taken up with the Drala Jong appeal. The Aro gTér Lineage is looking to create a retreat centre in Wales. We are looking for property, fundraising and laying out a business plan. All of this is quite time-consuming and will continue until a property is bought - at which time life is likely to become even more busy.

Drala Jong - an impression

Fortunately I am now retired from Cardiff University so the 9-5, Monday-Friday time is now free, free to attend to Aro Books worldwide as well as to Drala Jong. I hope that this means that I can be more active in letting people know of the books that we are publishing and the progress of the Drala Jong appeal.

In the next few posts I shall review our activities over the last few years.

With all good wishes,

Ngakpa 'ö-Dzin Tridral

Illusory Advice: Gender becomes irrelevant

"It is not necessary to adopt a male stance to be reassured that one is regarded as male, or a female stance to be reassured that one is regarded as female. Discovering the internal qualities of femaleness for men and maleness for women overcomes the tendency to polarise experience and ignore one’s inner nature. Once the nonduality of inner and outer is experienced, gender becomes irrelevant."

p25, Illusory Advice, Ngakma Nor'dzin & Ngakpa 'ö-Dzin, Aro Books worldwide, 2016, 978-1-898185-37-6

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Please see the Aro Books worldwide website for more information about Illusory Advice.
Ngakma Nor'dzin and Ngakpa 'ö-Dzin are the primary teachers at Aro Ling Cardiff.

Illusory Advice: Total immersion

The purpose of apprenticeship is to taste a unique depth of experience and involvement in a Vajrayana tradition without taking lifelong commitments. You can leap, but with the lifebelt of your probationary apprentice status.

You cannot know whether you are going to really like a cake unless you taste it. If you look at it and feel uncertain, or smell it and think that it doesn’t seem so good, but never actually taste it – you will never know what it tastes like. Vajrayana has to be tasted. So we would encourage you to use the probationary period to taste Vajrayana through this Lineage as thoroughly as possible. Taste with an open heart and an open mind.

p22, Illusory Advice, Ngakma Nor'dzin & Ngakpa 'ö-Dzin, Aro Books worldwide, 2016, 978-1-898185-37-6

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Please see the Aro Books worldwide website for more information about Illusory Advice.

Ngakma Nor'dzin and Ngakpa 'ö-Dzin are the primary teachers at Aro Ling Cardiff.

Illusory Advice: Pure... impure?

"Tantra begins with the experience of emptiness – the pregnant space from which form arises. Form is simply that which arises – and does not need to be viewed in terms of pure or impure. Human bodies are as they are and are available for appreciation. Samsara is not a separate existence to nirvana. They are the same experience – it is view that changes."

p21, Illusory Advice, Ngakma Nor'dzin & Ngakpa 'ö-Dzin, Aro Books worldwide, 2016, 978-1-898185-37-6

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Please see the Aro Books worldwide website for more information about Illusory Advice.

Ngakma Nor'dzin and Ngakpa 'ö-Dzin are the primary teachers at Aro Ling Cardiff.

Illusory Advice: Are animals enlightened?

Q: Are animals more enlightened than us? They don’t seem to separate themselves from reality and so I wondered therefore whether they exist in a nondual state, reacting instantly with events as they occur?

A: The directness of interaction with their environment that you perceive in animals is instinctive rather than realised. It may be useful to draw a distinction here between living in the physical form of an animal and living in the animal-realm. Having a physical animal form does not necessarily mean that such a being always dwells in the animal-realm. We have met horses—for example—who certainly possess a sense of humour, which would usually be regarded as a human characteristic. We have heard of animals and birds who create and manipulate tools, and of others who display acts of selflessness and kindness. Such characteristics might suggest that these animals may in fact dwell in the human-realm – at least in part.

p10, Illusory Advice, Ngakma Nor'dzin & Ngakpa 'ö-Dzin, Aro Books worldwide, 2016, 978-1-898185-37-6

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Please see the Aro Books worldwide website for more information about Illusory Advice.

Ngakma Nor'dzin and Ngakpa 'ö-Dzin are the primary teachers at Aro Ling Cardiff.

Illusory Advice: Carping about the animal realm

"Confusion sometimes arises through thinking that teachings on the animal-realm of the six realms 11 refer specifically to the animals we see in the world, and because of the assumption that all human-looking beings live in the human-realm. There can also be a tendency to romanticise animals, as somehow innately spiritual. Animals can display human-realm characteristics of discrimination and humour, whilst humans can display animal-realm mentality of being humourless, trapped in a particular view, lacking awareness of others. Teachings on the realms of being are helpful in enabling you to become aware of your mind-set in any moment."

p18, Illusory Advice, Ngakma Nor'dzin & Ngakpa 'ö-Dzin, Aro Books worldwide, 2016, 978-1-898185-37-6

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Please see the Aro Books worldwide website for more information about Illusory Advice.

Ngakma Nor'dzin and Ngakpa 'ö-Dzin are the primary teachers at Aro Ling Cardiff.

Illusory Advice: Drinking with awareness

"Alcohol can open our ability to be receptive and decrease our tendency to prejudice and preconception. Alcohol can loosen the restraints of our conventional view. The essence of the practice is to drink with awareness. Awareness can be maintained even when one is experiencing the effect of becoming slightly tipsy. The amount of alcohol that can be drunk while retaining awareness will depend on the physical capacity and practice experience of the individual."

p17, Illusory Advice, Ngakma Nor'dzin & Ngakpa 'ö-Dzin, Aro Books worldwide, 2016, 978-1-898185-37-6

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Please see the Aro Books worldwide website for more information about Illusory Advice.