After years of practicing various Heruka practices, I can attest to their power and speed. I have heard that this is the practice responsible for the incredible power of many of the spiritual heavy hitters in recent Tibetan history, such as Je Phabongkhapa, as well as such Indian masters as Nagarjuna. Unfortunately for us Westerners, few of our parents gave us to monasteries at age six as was expected for all second sons in Tibet, so we did not spend our whole life in monasteries and retreat caves with enough time to really do these practices justice. The Heruka Body Mandala practices are long and complicated, and to do a long retreat, or to do them three times a day, or even once a day, or even to do the short form once a day is much more than many working stiffs like me can do. But there are very short forms of Ghantapa's other Heruka practices, the Heruka Five Deities practices, that you can do daily, and, personally, I found that Heruka was more than willing to work with me amidst my hectic and full life, and over time he taught me even shorter but very powerful ways to fold his practices into the other practices I do have time to do. Fortunately, Heruka's practices, unlike those of other Tantric deities, become ever more powerful as times become more degenerate, and, certainly, to paraphrase Madonna, we are living in a degenerate time, and I am a degenerate guy!
Since I seldom do the full, formal practices as they are laid out in the book these days, I have not really read this book for a long time. Indeed, although I knew and studied with Geshe-la while he was writing this book and for a few years after it came out, I have not been a student of his for a few years now. But, on a recent retreat I had wanted to see how to integrate some esoteric teachings from another tradition with my Heruka underpinnings, (easy and powerful to do, BTW!), so I brought this book along and gave it another reading. I had recalled only the book's emphasis on generation stage, since that is ostensibly what the book and practices are about, and I was no longer emphasizing generation stage, so I just thought I'd read it as background to Geshe-la's books on completion stage practices (Tantric Grounds and Paths, and Clear Light of Bliss). During the re-reading I was amazed how good it was, especially the way Geshe-la weaves penetrating completion stage teachings and practices in at every opportunity. And, as with one other of Geshe-la's books, the words seemed somehow not to be written on mere paper, but appeared to float in a clear sky! I left the retreat with great renewed affection for this book and its author, and I thought I'd write a review to reflect that.
As for the book itself, it is flawlessly written and published, as are all Geshe-la's books. The language and presentation are clear and precise, and specifically suited to Westerners. As they state, "Tharpa Publications is a publisher of Buddhist books that provide the most complete and integrated presentation of the Buddhist path to enlightenment available in any western language, from basic introductions to Buddhism and meditation to detailed and lucid expositions of the highest Buddhist philosophy and Tantric practice". Most true. And to underscore the timeless quality of the whole enterprise we find, "Set in Palatino by Tharpa Publications. Printed on acid-free 250-year longlife paper and bound by Butler and Tanner, Frome, Somerset, England". Indeed.
Once again, this is probably not a book for very many people. Only someone drawn to Heruka and his practices is really likely to get much out of this book, and only then if they have received the empowerment and oral transmission of the teachings from Geshe-la. And most Tantric practitioners who have received Heruka empowerments from Geshe-la or anyone else seem to practice the related and much easier Vajrayogini practices these days, so we Heruka practitioners are probably a fairly rare breed. But if you are drawn to Heruka (it is probably true that "you don't choose Heruka, Heruka chooses you!") get the book, the empowerment and the oral transmission of the practices, and enjoy!
