Dzokchen

“I am delighted that the esteemed Buddhist teacher B. Alan Wallace has translated Düdjom Rinpoché’s Illumination of Primordial Wisdom and composed a commentary on it for contemporary students. [This volume is] a valuable addition to the great library of translated texts for growing numbers of Nyingtik practitioners around the world. I highly recommend that those with a connection to the Dzokchen teachings acquire this book and rely upon it to enhance their confidence and growth as they progress along the Dzokchen path.”–Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche

B. Alan Wallace is president of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies. He trained for many years as a monk in Buddhist monasteries in India and Switzerland. He has taught Buddhist theory and practice in Europe and America since 1976 and has served as interpreter for numerous Tibetan scholars and contemplatives, including His Holiness the Dalai Lama. After graduating summa cum laude from Amherst College, where he studied physics and the philosophy of science, he earned his MA and PhD in religious studies at Stanford University. He has edited, translated, authored, and contributed to more than forty books on Tibetan Buddhism, medicine, language, and culture, and the interface between science and religion.

Alan is also the founder of the Center for Contemplative Research (CCR), which has retreat center locations in Crestone, Colorado, and Castellina Marittima, Italy as well as a center in New Zealand slated to open soon. The CCR is dedicated to researching the role and methods of the ancient contemplative practices of shamatha and vipashyana, and their involvement in mental health and wellbeing, as well as their role in fathoming the nature and origins of human consciousness.