Machik's Complete Explanation is the most famous book of the teachings of Machik Labdron, the great female saint and yogini of 11-12th century Tibet, now finally translated in its entirety into English. Machik developed a system, the Mahamudra Chöd, that takes the Buddha's teachings as a basis and applies them to the immediate experiences of negative mind states and malignant forces. Machik's unique feminine approach was to invoke and nurture the very "demons" that we fear and hate, transforming those reactive emotions into love. It is the tantric version of developing compassion and fearlessness, a radical method of cutting through ego-fixation.

"Sarah Harding's masterful translation is a real gift to students of Chöd and this extraordinary woman teacher. It provides much new material including intimate question and answer sessions between Machik and her disciples. The translation has such a fresh living quality you almost feel you are receiving teachings directly from Machik Labdron herself." -- Tsultrim Allione, author of Women of Wisdom and founder of the Tara Mandala Retreat Center

"In this remarkable work Sarah Harding has combined her well-honed translation skills with her own practice experience to give us the most complete, detailed, lucid, and well-contextualized study to date of the meaning and practice of Machik's Chöd."--Jan Willis, author of Dreaming Me

"A clear translation of a standard Tibetan handbook on the history, practice, and theory of a striking meditation system that is unique to Tibetan religion. The book provides much else besides, not the least of which is an array of Tibetan cultural conceptions about the body, society, and divinity. The translation is complemented by a balanced introduction aimed at lay students and practitioners of meditation alike."-- Janet Gyatso, author of Apparitions of the Self

"An important contribution to an understanding of Tibet's most innovative female saint, revealing her vast diversity of teachings that place Chöd squarely in the mainstream of tantric Buddhist meditation. Harding's translation deftly reveals new and rare biographical, anatomical, philosophic, and meditative lore essential to understanding the tradition as a whole."--Judith Simmer-Brown, professor at Naropa University and author of Dakini's Warm Breath

"Sarah Harding's magnificent translation of this key work of Machik Labkyi Dronma, Tibet's most famous yogini, opens up for Western practitioners the startling world of Chöd practice: severing the devil of ego-fixation. This meditation manual explains how the rich symbology of tantric yoga can be used in a disturbingly effective way to transform one's life."-- Stephen Batchelor, author of Buddhism Without Beliefs

"It is a very welcome addition to the literature on Tibetan Buddhism in Western languages, opening up the inner world of a fascinating and significant mode of spiritual practice in a way that is respectful, humorous and true to the tradition it presents."-- Geoffrey Samuel, The Middle Way, Journal of the Buddhist Society

"To experienced practitioners, the Tsadra Foundation Series is more precious than gold dust."--Tricycle Magazine

Machik's Complete Explanation is part of The Tsadra Foundation Series published by Snow Lion Publications.

Sarah Harding is the translator of Creation and Completion. She teaches at Naropa University.