Description
These two volumes, that in fact should always go together, comprise the official translation of the Root Tantra of the Dance of the Vajra and its commentary by Chögyal Namkhai Norbu, The Light of the Precious Lamp. In this commentary all the steps, mudras and movements of the three main Vajra Dances — The Dance of the Song of the Vajra, The Dance That Benefits Beings and the Dance of the Three Vajras — are described and explained in detail, with amazing precision.
Written by the Author on the basis of numerous dreams of clarity (all contained in the book) between 1990 and 1997, and edited by him in its final form in 2002, the Tibetan original of this extraordinary work was translated by Adriano Clemente in 2009-2010; subsequently the steps and movements, as described in the translation, were thoroughly studied by the main Teachers of the Dance of the Vajra who submitted any doubt to the Master, who kindly clarified them with infinite patience and compassion.
The Mandala Diagrams were originally included in the main book; however, for practical reasons, they are presented here in a separate volume, in full color. The original sketches drawn by hand by Chögyal Namkhai Norbu have been digitally redrawn with painstaking precision by Prima Mai, under the supervision of the Author. Some reproductions of the original drawings are contained in the book.
In the process of translating and editing this precious text many discoveries were inevitably made, also regarding the drawings of the Mandalas. Some imprecisions were found in the way the complete Mandala has been drawn so far; these imprecisions affected the center of the Mandala (this was actually made public and corrected several years ago) as well as the outer ring of the Universal Mandala, along with the tone of the color of its first ring. So we can say that, for the first time, the correct drawings of the three Mandalas are published here.
It is impossible to overstate the importance of this work, not only for the practitioners of the Vajra Dance, but for all the students of Chögyal Namkhai Norbu. The unique narration of the dreams will be familiar to the readers of the Longsal series, and contains invaluable instructions and insights that are precious for all Dzogchen practitioners.
For those who practice the Dance of the Vajra, this is of course a long-awaited and indispensable text. In the words of the Master himself:
“If you really know this book, then you know the Vajra Dance very well.”
(Chögyal Namkhai Norbu, Tsegyalgar 1992)
This first edition has been printed by offset on high quality paper, in a limited number of copies. We advise those who want to secure their copies to place their orders now.