Jeffrey Hopkins focuses on how the conflict between appearance and reality is presented in the Mind-Only, or Yogic Practice, School. The Essence of Eloquence is so rich that over the past six centuries numerous Tibetan and Mongolian scholars have been drawn into a dynamic process of both finding and creating consistency in Dzong-ka-ba's often terse and cryptic tract. Hopkins has made extensive use of these commentaries to annotate the translation in such a way that the issues come alive.

Included are historical and doctrinal introductions, a critical edition of the text, and a lengthy synopsis to aid the general reader. Specialists and nonspecialists alike will find this book indispensable.