Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche established Padma Publishing to make the written works of the Vajrayana tradition of Tibetan Buddhism available in English. All approaches of Buddhist meditation training are subsumed within the Vajrayana, which is unparalleled in its swift revelation of mind's true nature. One of the four main Vajrayana schools is the Nyingma, culminating in the pinnacle teachings of Dzogchen, the Great Perfection. Padma translates and publishes traditional Nyingma practice liturgies and other texts, as well as the contemporary teachings of Chagdud Rinpoche and other Vajrayana lamas. Padma also published Finding Freedom: Writings from Death Row by Jarvis Masters (a student of Chagdud Rinpoche's), a memoir of spiritual transformation written from within the walls of San Quentin State Prison.
Currently in print are twelve titles as well as twenty-five liturgies in the Tibetan-style pecha format (unbound). Several of Padma's titles are also available in foreign language editions, including Italian, German, French, and Dutch. In addition, Rigdzin Editoria in Brazil has published many Padma Publishing texts and books in Portuguese.
Padma Publishing is also engaged in the long-term project of translating into English the revered Dzogchen texts known as the Seven Treasuries, by the fourteenth-century Nyingma master Longchen Rabjam (Longchenpa). In 1998 Padma published the Naylug Dzöd, which is translated in English as The Way of Abiding. In 2001 Padma published the Chöying Dzöd as two texts: The Basic Space of Phenomena and its companion volume A Treasure Trove of Scriptural Transmission. Richard Barron and the Padma Translation Committee translated these works under the direction of Chagdud Rinpoche.
