Tibetan Songs of Realization: Echoes from a Seventeenth-Century Scholar and Siddha in Amdo (Brill's Tibetan Studies Library)

Amongst most other forms of Tibetan literature, the genre of "mgur" (songs of spiritual realization) stands out for their startingly and unusually sincere descriptions of inner thoughts, feelings and experiential knowledge. This book is the first commentary in Western literature on the collected "mgur" of one of the still largely unknown masters, the Tibetan scholar and siddha Skal ldan rgya mtsho (1606-1677). Dr. Sujata convincingly deals with Skal ldan rgya mtsho both as a distinctive figure in religious history and as an author, illustrating her points with numerous translations given alongside the original Tibetan of his "Mgur 'bum (Collected Songs of Spiritual Experience)." She also provides the reader with a comprehensive overview of his "Gsung 'bum (Collected Writings)," extensive bibliographies and a discography. With a unique CD containing the author s own recordings of his songs as they are still sung today."