The Tantric Distinction

Book excerpt: After publishing over twenty books -- mostly translations of Buddhist texts -- Prof. Jeffrey Hopkins felt compelled to write a personal account of Buddhism and its practices. In The Tantric Distinction, the ideas, concepts and methods of Buddhism are "confronted and allowed to resonate with (his) own character." Hopkins has the ability to clarify complicated ideas and bring them to life. He cuts through the theories of Buddhism and brings them vividly into the realm of experience. Explaining emptiness, gurus, meditation, the cherishing of others, and the Bodhisattva ideal, Hopkins shows how the mind is addicted to the lies that the senses tell it, and describes the process of cutting through this craziness Buddhists call 'cyclic existence.'