A favorite of Tibetans—and of the Dalai Lama himself— The Words of My Perfect Teacher is a practical guide to the spiritual practices common to all Tibetan Buddhist traditions. It is the classic commentary on the preliminary practices of Longchen Nyingthig, a cycle of teachings of the Nyingmapa school. Patrul Rinpoche makes his subject accessible through a wealth of stories, quotations, and references to everyday life, giving the text all the life and atmosphere of a compelling oral teaching.

This second, revised edition (of the book originally published by HarperSanFrancisco in 1994) is the result of a detailed and painstaking comparison of the original Tibetan text with the English translation by the Padmakara Translation Group. The new edition also includes translations of a postface to the text written a century ago for the first printed Tibetan edition by the first Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche, and a new preface by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.