Golden Zephyr, Nagarjuna's Letter to a Friend, translated by Leslie Kawamura, presents the view, ethical foundations, and structure of the Mahayana path. It was published to provide students a traditional introduction to the Buddhist path by two great Mahayana masters, the Indian acarya Nagarjuna and the Nyingma scholar Lama Mipham. Writing to encourage a friend to practice the Dharma, Nagarjuna offers concise instructions on training oneself in ethics, meditation, and wisdom. Lama Mipham's commentary expands upon each point, providing students a clear, compassionate introduction to the foundations of the Mahayana path. Rich in terminology and study aids, and including the romanized Tibetan text, this book can be viewed as a concise manual to the structure of the path. Glossaries and line indexes enable students to use this teaching as a reader for learning Tibetan.

Includes an essay on the literature on the "Letter to a Friend," a line index in Tibetan transliteration, glossary of Tibetan terms, analyses by Lama Mipham and Sakya Pandita.