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Olmo Ling Publications
Founded in 2010 by Tempa Dukte Lama, Olmo Ling Publications is the first Bon publishing house. We publish translations of classic texts, practices, and commentaries from the various spiritual traditions of Tibet. Our mission is to embrace all spiritual traditions of Tibet and provide a broad range of publications, including translations, teachings, children’s books, and titles by practitioners and scholars that support the integration of spiritual practice in the Tibetan traditions in the West.
We particularly seek to preserve the ancient wisdom of the Bon teachings for future generations and make its teachings available in the West through translations, commentaries on essential Bon practices, and teachings of past and contemporary Bon teachers. There is little literature available in English to help practitioners learn about the teachings, history, and culture of Bon, establish a closer connection with the living Bon masters, and study advanced texts and practices in English. Our titles introduce Westerners to the traditions and practices of Bon and provide a connection between Western practitioners and the lamas who carry the Tibetan wisdom traditions. Along with making the spiritual teachings of Tibet available to the world community, we seek to preserve the vast knowledge of senior Bon and Buddhist Tibetan masters for present and future generations.
Resellers please contact the Olmo Ling office (bon@olmoling.org, tel. (412) 904 1112) for orders.For general orders, please visit the Olmo Ling Bookstore.
Support Olmo Ling Publications
Please consider supporting one of our current publication projects:
- We are working on publishing new Bon teachings and translations
- We have planned a reprint of Tempa Lama’s book Thrul Khor: Ancient Tibetan Bon Yoga for spring 2022
- We are preparing a reprint of Tempa Lama’s book Heartdrop of the Loving Mother for winter 2021/22
Your gift is vital in helping us expand the range of Bon publications available in the West. You can donate securely online below or by mailing a check (marked “Olmo Ling Publications) to Olmo Ling, 1101 Greenfield Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15217.
Thank you very much for your generosity!
Origin of the Medicine Buddha
Tempa Dukte Lama
In this first English rendition of the Tibetan Bön Medicine Buddha practice, Tempa Dukte Lama illuminates the history of how the Medicine Buddha was first taught. He offers a translation of the short Medicine Buddha practice composed by 14th century Bön master Nyamed Sherab Gyaltsen along with a detailed explanation of the liturgy, visualization, and altar preparation.
The Bön Medicine Buddha practice was first taught in the human realm eighteen thousand years ago by the Awakened One Tonpa Shenrab and his son, compassionate being Chebu Trishe, in response to a pandemic that threatened the ancient kingdom of Dawa Ruteng and caused widespread illness, conflicts, and famine. Tempa Lama retells the story of how this practice was first taught and how the Awakened One brought hope and healing to Dawa Ruteng. At that time, the king of Dawa Ruteng, Dragchen Khorlo, had become very ill due to his misguided karmic actions and was going through a deep personal crisis. His son prince Triten Khorlo invited the Awakened One to visit Dawa Ruteng with an assembly of compassionate beings. Tonpa Shenrab’s visit and profound teaching inspired and guided the king back to the light and to forgiveness and healing.
Order Origin of the Medicine Buddha from our online store here. Read an excerpt from Origin of the Medicine Buddha:
Thrul Khor is an ancient Tibetan practice that employs breathing, physical movement, visualization, and deep meditative awareness as a path of harmonizing the body, mind, and energy, and ultimately attaining awakening. In this first comprehensive English-language guide to Bon Thrul Khor, Tempa Dukte Lama offers step-by-step instructions for 85 practices according to the A Khrid, Ma Gyud (Mother Tantra), and Zhang Zhung Nyen Gyud cycles of Bon Thrul Khor, supported by 499 photographs. He also explains the benefits of the Thrul Khor practices for our spiritual path and for our physical health and wellbeing.
The pure energy of awareness appears in the five colors, the energetic expression of the Five Wisdoms: Wisdom of Emptiness, Mirror-like Wisdom, Wisdom of Equanimity, Wisdom of Discernment, and All-accomplishing Wisdom. The innate essence of the five elements manifests from these five colors. Within the body, the five elements are expressed as flesh, blood, metabolic heat, breath, and mind. When we purify these five aspects through Thrul Khor, we will experience the true essence of the elements, which is the innate luminosity or innate awareness. Ultimately, the rainbow body can be attained.
The book includes the Tsa Lung prayers in English and Tibetan as well as guidelines for an intensive 100-day Thrul Khor retreat. The book is printed with Layflat/Ota-Bind to allow it to remain open next to you as you do your Thrul Khor practice.
Order Thrul Khor from our store here.Read an excerpt from Thrul Khor:
In Heart Drop of the Loving Mother, Tempa Dukte Lama opens the door to the practice of embodying the Great Loving Mother, known in Tibetan Bön as Sherab Jamma, the female Buddha of love and wisdom. The Loving Mother is the mother of all. She is the source of our wisdom and wholesome aspiration. She is the ceaseless source of compassion, skillful means, and power. Through these qualities, the Loving Mother nurtures all beings without hindrance. She is clarity without obstacles. She is the awakened nature of all beings. She is love because she wants all beings to be happy. She is compassion because she wants all beings to be free from suffering. She is presence because she is always there, offering us strength, protection, and clarity.
The Heart Drop of the Loving Mother Practice helps us connect with our primordial capacity to love and care unconditionally for one another and for ourselves. If we take some time for this practice every day, it will deeply transform us. The true quality of the Loving Mother is within us from beginningless time, and it will be there forever. Practicing the Loving Mother means that we recognize this quality within ourselves. Based on this recognition we nurture it and finally use it as a skillful means of refuge and protection for the self and others.
Paperback 176pp, $16.95Order Heart Drop of the Loving Mother from our store here. Read an excerpt from Heart Drop of the Loving Mother:
Journey Into Buddhahood: The Five Paths and the Ten Stages of Compassionate Beings
Tempa Dukte LamaForeword by H.E. Menri Lopon
“In this present book, ‘Journey into Buddhahood’, Tempa Lama Rinpoche has explained in great depth the teaching of the Five Paths and Ten Stages based on the Sa Lam books by rDro mGon bLo Dros rGyal mTshan and by other ancient great Bon lineage masters. Particularly, Tempa Lama has explained the teaching of the Paths and Stages and its application in everyday life in a way that is simple and easy to understand.
This book is the first time that the Bon teachings on the Paths and Stages of compassionate beings are written in English or any other Western language. At this time people in the West take a deep interest in the practice and teachings of Bon and Buddhism. For those people, this book is like the rain coming at the right time and place. This book will be of great benefit to all those aspiring beings.”
- H.E. Menri Lopon Yangton Trinley Nyima Rinpoche
Order your copy of Journey into Buddhahood from our online store here.
Read an excerpt from Journey into Buddhahood:
By Tempa Dukte LamaForeword by Roshi Joan Halifax.
“This practice is the basis of all Bon teachings. A valuable book, of great benefit for all readers to bring them, and all beings, to peace and compassion” – Latri Nyima Dakpa Rinpoche, author of “Opening the Door to Bon”.
The Ten Perfections are keys that open the door to inexhaustible miracles in our life. They are heart practices of compassionate beings through which we perfect our actions of body, speech, and mind. The Ten Perfections are manifestations of compassion in our living experience.
The Ten Perfections are divided into two parts. The first five are the causal Perfections: the Perfections of generosity, wholesome conduct, patience, effort and concentration. The second five are the Perfections of fruition: The Perfections of power, aspirational prayers, skillful means, and discriminating awareness. As compassionate beings, we nurture our wholesome qualities through the causal Perfections. Once our practice bears fruit, the Perfections become a skillful means to help all beings. The qualities of the Ten Perfections and their expressions in our lives are infinite on the path to realizing our awakened nature.
Paperback, 137pp, $16.95.Order your copy of Inexhaustible Miracles from our store here.
Read an excerpt from Inexhaustible Miracles:
The Intimate Mind: Illuminating Emotion and Transformation
Tempa Dukte LamaForeword by H.H. 33rd Menri Trizin
Our recognition of our potential to awaken is the basis of the spiritual practice according to Bon. Through this knowledge we have the choice to either remain as we are or to transform our mind and our life. This thought that turns the mind toward its essence is the aspiration of the Intimate Mind. It allows us to approach whatever we encounter with genuine feelings of love, compassion, and care; a capacity that is calm and poised keeping us strong, stable, and clear, without fear, chaos or judgment.
Tempa Dukte Lama helps us remember our potential of innate goodness. Based on this recognition, he offers teachings from the three Bon paths of Sutra, Tantra, and Dzogchen that will guide us on the path of transformation.
“A guide to help those on the path of awakening to understand that intimacy means allowing for the possibility to become one with the object we engage with, and that in that oneness, there are no possibilities for distraction, attachment, chaos, fear, or judgment. This is where compassion resides.”
- His Holiness 33rd Menri Trizin
Read an excerpt from The Intimate Mind: