The Flight of the Garuda

Translator Keith Dowman gathers texts from Dzogchen, a tradition within the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. At the center is a song by Shabkar, an itinerant yogi ordained as a Gelug monk, who wandered Tibet and Nepal and was known for putting Dzogchen teaching into poetic, clear language. Alongside it Dowman translates other Dzogchen texts, among them the Wish-Granting Prayer of Kuntu Zangpo, Emptying the Depths of Hell and Secret Instruction in a Garland of Vision, with his own introduction. Dzogchen practice seeks to bring a meditator directly before the nature of experience, where samsara and nirvana are one within consciousness. The translations address Buddhists of every school, Zen and Vipassana practitioners included.

It is one of 12 books everyone should read in a selection by neuroscientist Sam Harris.