Michael Erlewine

The Lama of Appearances: Learning Dharma Through Nature Michael Erlewine

"The Lama of Appearances" provides an introduction to an important Tibetan teaching that is little known here in the West, and that is that nature herself, the world of appearances, is a perfect reflection of the mind, and can be a trusted guide to learning and practicing dharma, in particular where there is no dharma teacher available. This full-color book contains 130 hi-res close-up photos of nature along with three dharma-related articles. The first, mentioned above, is an introduction to using the natural world for training in the dharma. The second article is the personal history of how the author went through preliminary and advanced practices in Tibetan Buddhism and achieved some preliminary recognition of the true nature of the mind. This is a personal story of learning meditation and other Tibetan practices, with all of their joys and trials. In particular, this story is about the author's adventures learning Mahamudra meditation, and how to practice it. And last, "The Seven Points of Mind Training," one of the key texts in Tibetan Buddhism, is presented, with all fifty-nine of its slogans, accompanied by full-page color photographs.