75 pp. [Restricted to Werma Sadhana practitioners]
This text, written in England by the Druk Sakyong Dorje Dradül in the
1960s, describes the creation of the world by the nine cosmic lhas and
the primordial lha, Shiwa Ökar (“Peaceful White Light”). It provides
rich history and imagery, full of energetic and vivid detail, for
practitioners of the Werma Sadhana.
Although The Golden Dot
is not considered to be a terma, it is based on a terma that the Dorje
Dradül received and then, unfortunately, lost during his escape from
Tibet: two volumes on Shambhala, its history, and its teachings. He
wrote down the text that we now have as a short version of what he could
remember of the original. He said that it was a tagdren, or “pure
remembrance”: something that he was able to “remember” in a “pure”
vision from previous lives.
In
1972, during his retreat in Charlemont, Massachusetts, the Dorje Dradül
dictated an English translation of the first sections of the text to
Sherab Chödzin. At the 1979 Vajradhatu Seminary, the Committee
translated the Tibetan text with the Dorje Dradül, and it was first
distributed at the 1979 Kalapa Assembly.
The first three chapters of The Golden Dot
describe the world of the cosmic mirror, the creation and manifestation
of the external world, as well as Shiwa Ökar taking his seat at the
center of this world, which is Shambhala. Although the Dorje Dradül
never wrote more than three chapters, he explained that The Letter of the Black Ashe, a later Shambhala terma, picked up the story where The Golden Dot left off.
This
deluxe, hardbound edition has Tibetan and English on facing pages. It
contains a significantly revised and improved translation, including a
final section not translated in the original publication.