Pulling a Torch from the Sky: The Radical Dzogchen of Keith Dowman

This biography of KEITH DOWMAN portrays his life as an unorthodox master of Tibetan dharma. He began as a pilgrim, became a translator, then a peripatetic teacher recognized by the elder lineage holders in the Nyingma and Kagyu traditions. Keith's teachings, drawing on his many translations and his extensive reading of Dzogchen philosophy, show how the language of Radical Dzogchen reprograms the mind. Keith, like the legendary Drukpa Kunley, is an unconventional teacher who, with unwavering confidence in his view of Radical Dzogchen, appears as a traveler on the road, independent of institutions and ceremonial conventions. These divine madmen carry the dharma, freely and fiercely, traveling, teaching and writing. They are not the tulkus or the geshes; they are the wisdom holders who have, as Keith says, pulled a torch from the sky.