Lama Anagarika Govinda’s Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism is pretty much the best book to read once you get the foundations down if you’re serious. This book will take you to new heights in your understanding of the philosophy, metaphysics, and mysticism of Tibetan Buddhism as a whole. The book is split into 5 parts which mirror the parts of the Om mani padme hum mantra (including the ending of ah).
This is the book which really helped me cross from wanting to practice Tibetan Buddhism to really practicing it. The writing is dense, but it includes many diagrams and explanations which make things make sense. This book is powerful in how it deals with philosophy and the metaphysical application of said philosophy. It also includes some various techniques for yogas like Tummo, though they’re (intentionally) less than complete.
Content
Each part of the mantra (Om Mani Padme Hum) constitutes a section of the book. Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism builds on each piece iteratively, follows with the whole mantra, and then caps the end off with Ah as “the path to action”. While this arrangement may sound a bit confusing at first, the structuring of the content makes it work for this book.
Om covers “the path of universality”. What is a mantra, why do they exist, why do they matter? These questions are all answered in the context of the philosophy which makes Vajrayana Buddhism unique.
Mani covers “the path of unification”. How do mind and matter collide? What is the nature of existence? How do you unify physics and metaphysics?
Padme covers “the path of creative vision”. What do visualizations do and what do they mean in Tibetan Buddhism? What is the meaning behind The Tibetan Book of the Dead? How is knowledge acquired and what are its implications? All of these questions are touched on in this section.
Hum covers “the path of integration”. What does yoga have to do with your understanding of the world? How does Tibetan Buddhism treat chakras? How do we reconcile the Indic elements with their application in Tibetan Buddhism?
“The Path of the Great Mantra” covers Maya among other concepts. The rest of the book builds so heavily on the previous section that I really can’t do justice to summarize the rest. This book just builds and builds on each concept and each idea to the point everything just makes holistic sense. I’m leaving Ah for you to read.
Om Mani Padme Hum
The Om Mani Padme Hum mantra is one of the most well known mantras in Tibetan Buddhism. Its power lies in its simplicity. It’s a transformational mantra. The true power of Om Mani Padme Hum isn’t necessarily what it means, but what it means in practice.
The words might as well be gibberish, but they really don’t matter. The symbolism behind the individual symbols inherent in each syllable is what grants this mantra its more mystic meaning. View it as a mnemonic or similar rather than a literal phrase become mantra.
One thing to note about this mantra is that the basic practice of chanting it isn’t really touched on in this work. This book covers some of the heavier parts of Tibetan Buddhism, but assumes you’ve had at least an introduction. This shouldn’t be your first read by any stretch. If you don’t know what Om Mani Padme Hum is before reading, you won’t know after.
Exploring Yoga
Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism introduces the basics of Tummo (Dummo, etc.). Chakras are explained, as are their usage. Yoga is explored as are the deeper parts of the Om Mani Padme Hum mantra and how they tie into the rest of Tibetan Buddhism. This book aims to cover the basics of the more mystic practices.
The inner fire yoga of Tummo is considered the fundamental first yoga in the 6 yogas of Naropa. The first steps required for these yogas would be covered by something like the The Complete Foundation. More background information to make sense of it all would be covered by something like Fundamentals of Tibetan Buddhism. This book doesn’t stand alone, but it isn’t made to.
Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism delves into what yoga is and what it means. The concept of the mantra Om Mani Padme Hum is not to focus on the mantra, but on what it means in practice across Tibetan Buddhism. Its foray into yoga is brief and limited, but the author rounds out what the philosophy behind Vajrayana Buddhism means in the context of practice. This book has probably taught me the most about Buddhism.
The Abstraction of a Mantra
Om Mani Padme Hum is one of the most fundamental mantras in Tibetan Buddhism, but what does it really mean? Is this mantra something about a jewel in a lotus or is there more? This book aims to answer this at length and answer questions you didn’t know you had. A few paragraphs really can’t even begin to do justice to the explanations in this book.
Why is tantra so different from mantra? What is the interconnectedness between the practice of mantra, tantra, and the mandala of existence? All of these points are essential to make the most out of your spiritual progress in Tibetan Buddhism or any of the more esoteric Buddhist schools. This mantra is more than just a simplification. It is an abstraction of the cosmos. It is a mandala of existence.
Each syllable corresponds to a realm of samsaric existence. Each syllable purifies one of the Six Perfections. The mantra is more than just some simple words and syllables, it is a spiritual purification process when used correctly. The main difference is the intention behind it.
Why This Book Is Amazing
This book digs deep into the philosophy and metaphysics behind Tibetan Buddhism. The fundamental mantra is expounded on and turned into something which means so much more. This book introduces an incredible amount of information and presents it well. No page is wasted, no paragraph is extraneous.
This book is so rich, I feel it really benefits from more than one read through. I found myself going back and rereading sections and feeling almost like I learned as much as my first read through. Like the mantra Om Mani Padme Hum, this book is heavily layered. You get more the more you reference it in comparison to where your spiritual practice is taking you.
This isn’t a book for the casually committed. Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism is a serious work for those who follow Tibetan Buddhism or at least acknowledge the general philosophy behind it. This book digs deep and assumes you are well versed on the general practices and beliefs. With a combination of diagrams and text, it manages to convey a massively complex topic in a relatively short space. None of it means much if you don’t understand what you’re reading though.
The author skillfully connects the various points of the more mystic practices and makes them all have a context under Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism. This book really kicked up a passion in me to understand more, but the bar for this book is higher than many similar works. The rewards are that much greater though. If you really want to see the more mystic side of Tibetan Buddhism, read this book.
Conclusion
Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism is an amazing book for the shelf of anyone more than curious about Tibetan Buddhism. It covers territory that many works don’t at a level that most works won’t. This is truly a philosophical and spiritual treasure for your bookshelf. This book helped me internalize many concepts that would have taken me much longer otherwise.
If you want to advance your understanding of the more mystic side of Tibetan Buddhism, get this book. If you are interested in esoteric Buddhism, get this book. It adds value if you are looking to study from a more internal standpoint, or if you are looking to really learn the practices. This book is just plain amazing.
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