Crystal Mirror 5: Lineage of Diamond Light Tapa blanda - 1992

Tarthang Tulku Rinpoche is a traditionally trained teacher and author in the Nyingma lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. Born in 1935 in eastern Tibet, Rinpoche studied with many of the greatest Tibetan Buddhist masters of the twentieth century. After leaving Tibet for exile in India, Tarthang Tulku taught from 1962 to 1968 at Sanskrit University in Varanasi, India, where he also established one of the first printing presses to print sacred Tibetan texts. The first lama of the Nyingma lineage to establish residence in the United States, Rinpoche established a mandala of organizations to actualize his long-range vision of preserving the ancient teachings of the Buddha and transmitting them to the modern world. He is the author of over two dozen books, including Gesture of Balance; Time, Space, and Knowledge-a New Vision of Reality; Kum Nye Tibetan Yoga; Skillful Means, Revelations of Mind, and Caring.

Lama Anagarika Govinda spent many years living and traveling in Tibet, where he received teachings related to all the schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Born in Germany in 1898, he helped to organize the Buddhist movement in Europe and founded the International Buddhist Union. As author and artist, Lama Govinda published numerous works that express his rich understanding of Buddhist teachings and their application in personal experience. His writings include The Psychological Attitude of Early Buddhist Philosophy, Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism, Psycho-cosmic Symbolism of the Buddhist Stupa, and The Way of the White Clouds. For many years the lama and his wife, Li Gotami, made their home in the foothills of the Himalayas, where he was the spiritual head of the Arya Maitreya Mandala, a Vajrayna order. He spent the last years of his life in Mill Valley, California, where he passed away in 1985.

Herbert V. Guenther, Ph.D., who passed away in 2006, was for many years head of the Department of Far Eastern Studies at the University of Saskatchewan. Eminently versed in the major Buddhist languages, philosophies and traditions, he has also held distinguished positions at two Indian universities. His books and translations have contributed greatly to the understanding and accessibility of Tibetan Buddhism in the West and are widely appreciated by scholars and practitioners alike. In association with Tarthang Tulku, Dr. Guenther has translated Longchenpa's Ngal-gso skor-gsum, published in three volumes as Kindly Bent to Ease Us, Parts I--III. (Berkeley: Dharma Publishing, 1975--76). Among his numerous translations and publications are Jewel Ornament of Liberation, The Life and Teaching of Naropa, Buddhist Philosophy in Theory and Practice, and Mind in Buddhist Psychology (with L. S. Kawamura).

Li Gotami Govinda, whose photographs of Tibet appear throughout Part Three, was an internationally recognized photographer/artist and a onetime Associate of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain. Born in India, Li Gotami was educated in England, France, and Germany. An artist and photographer, she traveled with Lama Govinda through central and western Tibet in 1947 and 1948, documenting in photographs, drawings and fresco tracings the rich treasury of Tibetan sacred art. A collection of her photographs of this pilgrimage was published in Tibet in Pictures(Berkeley: Dharma Publishing, 1979). After her husband's death, Li Gotami returned to India, where she passed away in 1988.