Consciousness

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Topic: Consciousness

Books

Book
Buddhist Philosophy and Meditation Practice
This publication presents the academic papers presented at the 2nd International Association of Buddhist Universities Conference which took place at Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University in Wang Noi, Ayutthaya, Thailand, in 2012. The theme of this large conference was "Buddhist Philosophy and Meditation Practice" and it brought together over 33 Buddhist studies scholars. Of particular relevance to the topic of buddha-nature is Tadeuz Skorupki's paper, "Consciousness and Luminosity in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism" (43–64).
Dhammasami, Khammai, Padmasiri de Silva, Sarah Shaw, Dion Peoples, Jamie Cresswell, and Toshiichi Endo, eds. Buddhist Philosophy and Meditation Practice: Academic Papers Presented at the 2nd IABU Conference, Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University, Main Campus, Wang Noi, Ayutthaya, Thailand. Ayutthaya, Thailand: Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University, 2012. http://btmar.org/files/pdf/buddhist_philosophy_and_meditation_practice.pdf.
Book
Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra: L'Explication des mystères (Lamotte 1935)
The present work is a valuable edition (in transcription) of the Tibetan text of an early Mahāyāna sūtra of which the original Sanskrit has perished. With this the Chinese versions have been compared and the variants quoted. A most useful feature of the work is the presentation of the Sanskrit equivalents of Tibetan phrases, in particular those with technical meaning. The Sanskritist may thus easily see what precise Sanskrit word corresponded to the Tibetan or to its French translation.

The earliest extant translation of part of the text into Chinese was by Guṇabhadra between A.D. 435 and 443. But, as the text was a source for Asaṅga whose works are known in Chinese in 413–421, a date second to third centuries A.D. is reasonably proposed (p. 24–5)

In his preface M. Lamotte has discussed the texts and commentaries, the title, the importance of the text by reason of its early date and position between the Prajñāpāramitā texts and those of the Vijñānavāda, and has given a detailed analysis of the contents. The author has p. 7 himself rightly recognized how little satisfactory literal renderings of Buddhish technical terms are. (H. W. Bailey, Review of Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra. L'Explication des Mystères. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 8 , no. 4 (1937): 1157.)
Lamotte, Étienne, ed. and trans. Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra: L'Explication des mystères. Leuven, Belgium: Presses universitaires de Louvain, 1935.
Book
Soûtra du dévoilement du sens profond
The Sūtra of the Unveiling of the Profound Meaning or Saṃdhinirmocana is one of the most important sūtras of the Great Vehicle. It is considered to be the founding text of one of the two main philosophical currents of the Indian Mahâyâna, the idealist current of "Mind-Only" which developed from the 4th century onwards under the influence of Asanga and Vasubandhu. The Sūtra of the Unveiling of the Profound Meaning emphasizes the role of consciousness in the genesis of illusion and a more moderate interpretation of emptiness. But it is presented above all as a meditation manual that will inspire many Indian, Chinese and Tibetan practitioners. The meditations of tranquility (shamatha) and eminent vision (vipashyanâ) are described here with precision, in their relation to the Ten Stages that bodhisattvas must go through to attain the ultimate awakening. The translation presented in this volume was made from the Tibetan version of the 8th century. (Source: Fayard)
Cornu, Philippe. Soûtra du dévoilement du sens profond. Paris: Fayard, 2005.
Book
Unraveling the Intent: Saṃdhinirmocana (Forgues, G.)
Translation of the Saṃdhinirmocana sutra
Forgues, Gregory, trans. Unraveling the Intent: Saṃdhinirmocana. v 1.0.0. 84000.co, 2020. https://read.84000.co/translation/toh106.html.

Articles

Article
Buddha Nature and the Omniscient Mind
Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche explained how we can attain the state of the omniscient mind at the 14th Kopan Course in 1981. This is an edited excerpt from Lecture 3, Section One of the course. Click here to read more.
Zopa, Thubten. "Buddha Nature and the Omniscient Mind." Lecture 3, Section One of the Fourteenth Kopan Course at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, 1981. Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive, 2020. https://www.lamayeshe.com/article/buddha-nature-and-omniscient-mind.
Article
Consciousness and Luminosity in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism
Dr. Tadeusz Skorupski in ‘Consciousness and Luminosity in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism’ invokes the juxtaposition of the phenomenal world of saṃsāra and the perfected state of nirvana, noting that they reflect and essentially correspond to the dynamic operating in the Buddhist analysis of consciousness and the propensities of the human mind: the mind produces the factors contributing to rebirth, but is also the primary vehicle in the attainment of salvation. He identifies several key features that permeate early Buddhist doctrine: the pre-eminence of mind, the notion of inherent radiance, the alien nature of the defilements that contaminate the mind, and the interplay of the image of purification and corruption. Starting with a close reading of Buddhaghosa's interpretations of the nature of luminosity, the author extends his discussion to include the Mahāsaṅgikas, who emphasize the inherent radiance of a mind obscured by adventitious defilements, and the Sarvāstivāda Vaibhāṣikas, who aver that an inherently radiant mind could not be obscured, for to them it has a propensity, rather than an innate disposition, to luminosity. Delineating various attributes of the description of consciousness according to different schools, the author moves from Pāli Abhidhamma to Mahāyana and Vajrayāna sources and Bodhicitta doctrine. Alighting on subsequent Indian Tantric theories that posit a fourfold luminosity of consciousness as four kinds of emptiness, he notes that such an understanding of consciousness and luminosity was applied in the Tibetan understanding of the processes occurring during death, as described in the work known as The Tibetan Book of the Dead. The author describes this account of death, as involving the transition through four kinds of luminosity, as unique to Tibet, in particular to the Nyingma and Kagyu traditions. He concludes that although varied schools often disagree in certain features, all concur in the possibility of and access to a purified mind. Tracing the continuity between early Abhidhamma through to the various Mahāyāna schools, the author avers, provides an insightful range of perspectives on luminosity and nature of the mind itself. (Editorial Committee, introduction, 10)
Skorupski, Tadeusz. "Consciousness and Luminosity in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism." In Buddhist Philosophy and Meditation Practice: Academic Papers Presented at the 2nd IABU Conference, Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University, Main Campus, Wang Noi, Ayutthaya, Thailand, edited by Khammai Dhammasami, Padmasiri de Silva, Sarah Shaw, Dion Peoples, Jamie Cresswell, and Toshiichi Endo, 43–64. Ayutthaya, Thailand: Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University, 2012.
Article
The Strange Death of Pema the Demon Tamer
[Matthew Kapstein] discusses Tibetan esoteric traditions in which experiences of light and obscuration play prominent roles. The focal point here is the Great Perfection (rdzogs-chen) tradition of meditation, above all its teaching that some adepts who achieve the highest realization attain a "rainbow body" at death. When this takes place, the adept's physical remains dissolve into light and so make manifest the thoroughgoing transformation of the person that had been catalyzed by prior spiritual discipline. (Kapstein, preface, xii)
Kapstein, Matthew T. "The Strange Death of Pema the Demon Tamer." In The Presence of Light: Divine Radiance and Religious Experience, edited by Matthew T. Kapstein, 119–156. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004.

Multimedia

Video
On the Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna by Venerable Dhammadipa
Venerable Dhammadipa discusses the significance of the text Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna, a text which he has translated into Czech.
Thero, Ven. Dhammadipa. "On the Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna." Interview by Marcus Perman. Salon Tibétain, Tsadra Foundation, Boulder, CO, Jan 30, 2019. Video, 15:45. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T31Tk_Pj_nI.
Video
On the Nature of Mind and Its Relationship to Buddha-Nature by Ringu Tulku
Ringu Tulku continues his discussion of buddha-nature by further distinguishing what Buddha nature means. He explains that buddha-nature is not something external or something that is in our bodies to be located. Rather, buddha nature describes the way we are. He explains that the consciousness of the Buddha, which is clear and luminous, is the same as every other consciousness, but we do not recognize this as such. We instead tend to react to our experiences with dualistic thinking, which leads to negative emotions and to saṃsāric experience. Given that our minds share the same capacity for enlightenment as the Buddha, the task is then to recognize this and transform our experience.
Ringu Tulku. “On the Nature of Mind and Its Relationship to Buddha-Nature.” Interview by Marcus Perman. Tsadra Foundation Research Department, October 10, 2019. Video, 7:46. https://youtu.be/0NKhxlJCelo.
Video
The Fourteenth Dalai Lama on Buddha-Nature
The Dalai Lama delivers an address entitled "Buddha-Nature" to members of the Theosophical Society in America at the Society's headquarters at Olcott (named for the founder of the Theosophical Society, Colonel Henry Steel Olcott), in Wheaton, Illinois, on July 21st, 1981. The Dalai Lama's comments on buddha-nature come after a series of preliminary remarks at 14 min, 23 secs.
Dalai Lama, 14th. "The Fourteenth Dalai Lama on Buddha-Nature." Produced by the Theosophical Society in America, Olcott, Wheaton, Illinois, July 21, 1981. Video, 29:03. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Tkf5cgX5ds.

prabhāsvaratā - In a general sense, that which clears away darkness, though it often appears in Buddhist literature in reference to the mind or its nature. It is a particularly salient feature of Tantric literature, especially in regard to the advanced meditation techniques of the completion-stage yogas. Skt. प्रभास्वर Tib. འོད་གསལ་ Ch. 光明

Cittamātra - Though it is sometimes used synonymously with Yogācāra, it is in fact one of the more prominent philosophical theories associated with this school. It asserts that the objects in the external world with which we interact are actually mentally created representations appearing as those objects. The character of these perceptions is predetermined by our own karmic conditioning that is stored in the ālayavijñāna. Skt. चित्तमात्र Tib. སེམས་ཙམ་

prabhāsvaratā - In a general sense, that which clears away darkness, though it often appears in Buddhist literature in reference to the mind or its nature. It is a particularly salient feature of Tantric literature, especially in regard to the advanced meditation techniques of the completion-stage yogas. Skt. प्रभास्वर Tib. འོད་གསལ་ Ch. 光明

bodhicitta - The altruistic thought to seek enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. It is said to have two aspects: compassion aimed at sentient beings and their problems and the wisdom of enlightenment as the solution. Skt. बोधिचित्त Tib. བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས། Ch. 菩提心

The Awakening of Faith is a key source text for buddha-nature theory in East Asian Buddhism.

The Awakening of Faith is a key source text for buddha-nature theory in East Asian Buddhism.

prabhāsvaratā - In a general sense, that which clears away darkness, though it often appears in Buddhist literature in reference to the mind or its nature. It is a particularly salient feature of Tantric literature, especially in regard to the advanced meditation techniques of the completion-stage yogas. Skt. प्रभास्वर Tib. འོད་གསལ་ Ch. 光明

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