The Tantric Mysticism of Tibet

John Blofeld

The Vajrayana or Adamantine Vehicle is the school of Mahayana Buddhism prevalent in Tibet and Mongolia.  A highly practical form of mysticism, it affords precise techniques for attaining that wisdom whereby man's ego is negated and he enters upon the bliss of his own divinity.

This book deals with the astonishingly picturesque and fruitful meditational methods of the Tibetan Buddhists.  The general Mahayana background is given together with details of the techniques, the purpose, and the underlying theory of the Tantric forms of meditation.  It is the first book of its kind in the English language; ninety per cent of the material in it is based on the first-hand experience of the author, who studied under Tibetan Lamas of both the "Yellow Hat" and "Red Hat" sects.  The subject is presented from two points of view -- that of people interested in pursuing Tantric meditation in its traditional Buddhist context and that of non-Buddhists who may wish to adapt a very powerful and effective type of meditation to their own religious practice. The author indicates why Vajrayana or Tantric techniques are better suited to certain kinds of temperament than those of Zen.  Also, the popular misconception that Tibetans are "polytheists" is explained as being due to an orthodox form of Buddhism that makes use of ancient supernatural forms to symbolize the various factors in the human personality.  Of particular interest is the author's attempt to show that Tantric meditation can often be practiced with great success by those who have failed to make such progress while using more familiar methods.