A Symphony of Great Bliss (MP3 CD)

Description

Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche composed A Symphony of Great Bliss at the age of nineteen while he was fleeing from Tibet. In this provocative doha he presents Mahamudra as a girlfriend or lover. He thus explains the view, path and fruition of Mahamudra in a direct and intimate way. Thrangu Rinpoche’s commentary on this text provides insight into the circumstances surrounding this doha and teaches the meaning of it with clarity and precision. Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche was born in the province of Kham in eastern Tibet in 1939. When he was just thirteen months old, he was recognized as a major tulku, or incarnate teacher. At the age of eight, Trungpa Rinpoche received ordination as a novice monk. Following this, he engaged in intensive study and practice of the traditional monastic disciplines, including traditional Tibetan poetry and monastic dance. His primary teachers were Jamgön Kongtrül of Sechen and Khenpo Gangshar—leading teachers in the Nyingma and Kagyü lineages. In 1958, at the age of eighteen, Trungpa Rinpoche completed his studies, receiving the degrees of kyorpön (doctor of divinity) and khenpo (master of studies). He also received full monastic ordination. The late 1950s were a time of great upheaval in Tibet. As it became clear that the Chinese communists intended to take over the country by force, many people, both monastic and lay, fled the country. Trungpa Rinpoche spent many harrowing months trekking over the Himalayas (described in his book, Born in Tibet). After narrowly escaping capture by the Chinese, he at last reached India in 1959. Trungpa Rinpoche was a close dharma brother of Thrangu Rinpoche, and that long close friendship was the inspiration for Thrangu Rinpoche’s search for and teaching of this doha, lost in the archives since the 1960’s. This is a mainly English version. Translation by David Karma Choephel. 4 talks on 1 MP3 CD.

Features

Mainly English Edition Because Thrangu Rinpoche often speaks for long periods of time in Tibetan when he teaches, his long monologues have been curtailed on CD and MP3 CD recordings (audio) to preserve the continuity of the teaching and make listening easier. Thus the voice heard for the majority of the time is that of the translator. DVD video recordings include all of Rinpoche’s Tibetan.
MP3CD Recordings MP3CDs look like ordinary CDs, but contain compressed audio files. While a regular audio CD holds a maximum of only 80 minutes of recorded audio, an identical-looking MP3CD can easily hold the audio files from an entire weekend or even week-long teaching. MP3CDs can be played in a computer and/or the audio files can be downloaded into an iPod or similar device. MP3CDs may also be played on a portable MP3CD player. Most ordinary CD players, such as the CD player in most older cars (roughly 2005 and earlier), will not play MP3CDs. Many but not all cars 2006 or later do have MP3-capable CD players. Any car or home stereo CD player that is capable of playing an MP3CD will have “MP3” or “MP3-WMA” clearly marked on the front of it.
The MP3CDs available for sale on this web site are all clearly labeled and packaged in a clear case. The audio files on them have proper ID3 tag information, which means that on a computer, iPod or similar device the audio files will display (and can be searched by) Album (Title of teaching), Song (Talk number within a teaching) and Artist (Teacher).