Garland of Jewels - Hardcover

This book is a translation of a collection of stories about the eight great bodhisattvas. These stories are all taken from sutras and tantras taught by the Buddha, such as the Avatamsaka and the Lotus Sutras. They were collected and edited by the great Buddhist teacher Mipham Namgyal (1846-1912). Mipham was one of the greatest teachers in Tibet of his time, and his writings remain the basis for much of the study conducted by his own tradition, the Nyingma school of Buddhism, and by other traditions such as the Karma Kagyu. In writing his book, Mipham combined edited extracts from his sources with his own writing about his subject. Although we typically think of Buddhist sutras as teachings accompanied by sparing narrative, we discover in this book that the great sutras of the mahayana are repositories of extraordinary accounts of miracles and great deeds performed by buddhas and bodhisattvas.

Jamgon Mipham (1846-1912) was one of the greatest teachers of his time, and is considered to have been an emanation of Manjushri. His writings remain the basis for much of the study conducted by the Nyingma school of Buddhism, and by other traditions such as the Karma Kagyu. Mipham embodied the nonsectarian movement of the nineteenth century, and studied with masters of all schools of Tibetan Buddhism. His root guru was the nonsectarian master Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo. His other teachers included Jamgon Lodro Thaye and Dza Paltrul Rinpoche.