Mipham's Beacon of Certainty

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ContentsSources

• Foreword by His Holiness Penor Rinpocheix
• Acknowledgmentsxi
• Source Abbreviationsxv
• Annotations, Diacritics, and Transcriptionxvii
  
  

• 1. INTRODUCTION1
• 1.1     Mipham Rinpoche and the Beacon of Certainty1
• 1.2     Outline2
• 1.3     The Beacon of Certainty: Context and Significance2
• 1.3.1   Dialectical Philosophy and the Great Perfection2
• 1.3.2   The Beacons Purpose5
• 1.3.3   The Beacons Comparative Method6
• 1.4     Methods and Sources7
• 1.4.1   Tibetan Language Sources8
• 1.4.1.1 Editions of the Beacon8
• 1.4.2   English Language Sources11
• 1.5     The Contributions of this Work14
  
  

• 2. THE LIFE AND WORKS OF MIPHAM RINPOCHE19
• 2.1 Accounts of Mipham’s Life22
• 2.2 The Essential Hagiography by mKhan chen Kun bzang dpal ldan23
  
  

• 3. INDO-TIBETAN BUDDHISM: AN OVERVIEW41
• 3.1 Historical and Philosophical Dimensions of Buddhism41
• 3.2 Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna42
• 3.3 Important Teachings of Mahāyāna Scriptures45
• 3.3.1 Prajñāpāramitā45
• 3.3.2 The Saṃdhinirmocana and the "Essence Sūtras"47
• 3.3.3 Sources for Buddhist Hermeneutics49
• 3.4 Traditions of Indian Madhyamaka51
• 3.4.1 Origins of Prāsaṅgika and Svātantrika Madhyamaka52
• 3.4.2 Yogācāra and the Yogācāra Madhyamaka Synthesis55
• 3.4.3 Madhyamaka and Pramāṇa57
• 3.5 Vajrayāna: Buddhist Tantra60
• 3.5.1 Indian Origins60
• 3.5.2 Philosophical Dimensions of Tantra62
• 3.5.3 Styles of Tantric Practice68
  
  

• 4. TIBETAN BUDDHIST TRADITIONS AND THE GREAT PERFECTION71
• 4.1 The Yarlung Empire and the Introduction of Buddhism72
• 4.2 Early Nyingma Teachers and Texts74
• 4.2.1 The Treasure Tradition76
• 4.2.2 The Great Perfection77
• 4.2.2.1 Origins77
• 4.2.2.2 The View of the Great Perfection77
• 4.2.2.3 The Three Classes of Great Perfection79
• 4.2.24 Great Perfection in Practice80
• 4.2.3 The Great Perfection in Comparative Philosophical Texts81
• 4.2.3.1 Ch’an and the Great Perfection in the bSam gtan mig sgron82
• 4.2.3.2 Other Early Doxographies84
• 4.3 The New Translation Period and the Nyingma Tradition86
• 4.3.1 Rong zom Paṇḍita88
• 4.3.2 The Rise of Scholasticism91
• 4.3.3 Klong chen rab 'byams92
• 4.3.4 Nyingma Monasticism and the Ecumenical Movement (ris med)97
• 4.3.5 A Nyingma Philosophy?98
  
  

• 5. PHILOSOPHICAL DISTINCTIONS OF MIPHAM'S THOUGHT101
• 5.1 The Gelug Philosophical Tradition101
• 5.2 Theory, Practice, and Ultimate Reality104
• 5.3 Valid Cognition and Philosophical Analysis107
• 5.4 The Philosophy of Extrinsic Emptiness111
• 5.5 Mipham’s Interpretation of Extrinsic Emptiness and Tathāgatagarbha114
• 5.6 Mipham’s Position on the Tathāgatagarbha117
  
  

• 6. The Beacon of Certainty125
• 6.1 Recapitulation of Earlier Discussions125
• 6.2 The Topics of the Beacon126
• 6.2.1 The Beacon and Tsongkhapa’s Eight Great Difficult Points128
• 6.2.2 Some Observations on Topics 5, 6, and 7130
• 6.3 View, Meditative Practice, and Ultimate Reality in the Beacon133
• 6.3.I Anupakṣas and Pūrvapakṣas: An Overview133
• 6.3.1.1 Essential Issues and Arguments in Topics 1, 3, and 4134
• 6.3.1.2 Go ram pa's Analysis of View and Meditation in the TSB136
• 6.3.1.2.1 Go ram pa on the Ultimate View137
• 6.3.1.2.2 Go ram pa on Meditative Practice 139
• 6.3.2 Topic 1: Philosophical View and Rational Negation141
• 6.3.2.1 Tsongkhapa on the Negandum and Its Substratum141
• 6.3.2.2 Mipham's Theory of Negation144
• 6.3.2.2.1 Negation and the Definition of the Ultimate144
• 6.3.2.2.2 Mipham's Analysis of Negation in the MAZL146
• 6.3.2.2.3 Mipham's Theory of the Ultimate: Gnosis and Coalescence151
• 6.3.3 Topics 3 and 4: Tsongkhapa and Mipham on Modal Apprehension and
  Analytical Reasoning157
• 6.3.3.1 Tsongkhapa on the Role of Conceptuality in Meditation157
• 6.3.3.1.1 Yon tan rgya mtsho on Modal Apprehension and Analysis160
  
  

• 7. ASCERTAINMENT (nges pa) AND CERTAINTY (nges shes):
  SOME CONCLUSIONS169
• 7.1 Mipham’s Place in Tibetan Philosophy182
• 7.2 Philosophical Texts and Human Relatedness184
  
  

• 8. THE TRANSLATION OF THE Beacon of Certainty187
• 8.1 Terminology and Syntax187
• 8.2 Technical Terms188
• 8.3 Proper Names192
• 8.4 On the Use and Disuse of Sanskrit Terms192
• 8.5 Outline of the Beacon and Khro shul 'jam rdor's Commentary193
• Abbreviations and Bibliography193
• Introduction194
• Topic 1196
• Topic 2199
• Topic 3203
• Topic 4208
• Topic 5214
• Topic 6219
• Topic 7227
• Conclusion237
  
  

• 9. STAINLESS LIGHT: A Commentary on the Beacon of Certainty241
• Topic 1251
• Topic 2271
• Topic 3291
• Topic 4306
• Topic 5329
• Topic 6345
• Topic 7371
• Conclusion404
  
  

• 10. The LION'S ROAR PROCLAIMING EXTRINSIC EMPTINESS415
  
  

• Appendix: Explanatory Diagrams and Tables
  
• Diagram 1: Conceptuality and True Existence According to Go ram pa and
  Mipham429
• Diagram 2: Conceptuality and True Existence According to Tsongkhapa430
• Table 1: Mipham's System of Four Pramāṇas431
• Table 2: Traditions, Two-truth Paradigms, and Their Sources432
• Table 3 Pramāṇas and Their Paradigms of Truth and Negation433
• Table 4: The Role of Ascertainment and Conceptuality According to Mipham
  and Gelug Philosophers434
• Notes to Tables435
• Glossary of Technical Terms439
• Notes461
• Bibliography of Works Consulted533
• Index557

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Hīnayāna - The mainstream teachings and the early schools of Buddhism which primarily taught individual liberation through practice-focused renunciation and monasticism, considered lesser than the later movement of the Greater Vehicle (Mahāyāna), which professed enlightenment for all sentient beings and promoted compassion. Skt. हीनयान Tib. ཐེག་དམན། Ch. 小乘

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Mahāyāna - Mahāyāna, or the Great Vehicle, refers to the system of Buddhist thought and practice which developed around the beginning of Common Era, focusing on the pursuit of the state of full enlightenment of the Buddha through the realization of the wisdom of emptiness and the cultivation of compassion. Skt. महायान Tib. ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ། Ch. 大乘

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Prajñāpāramitā - A class of Mahāyāna sūtras which represents some of the earliest known literature of this genre of Buddhism. There are around forty texts associated with this category, though the most widespread is the exceedingly brief Prajñāpāramitāhṛdayasūtra, popularly known as the Heart Sūtra. This class of literature is typically associated with the second turning of the dharma wheel and especially with the teachings on emptiness (śūnyatā). As such, these texts were the primary scriptural source for the philosophy of the Madhyamaka school. Skt. प्रज्ञापारमिता Tib. ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་,ཤེར་ཕྱིན་ Ch. 般若波羅蜜多

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Madhyamaka - Along with Yogācāra, it is one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Nāgārjuna around the second century CE, it is rooted in the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, though its initial exposition was presented in Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā. Skt. मध्यमक Tib. དབུ་མ་ Ch. 中觀見

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Yogācāra - Along with Madhyamaka, it was one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Asaṅga and Vasubandhu around the fourth century CE, many of its central tenets have roots in the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra and the so-called third turning of the dharma wheel (see tridharmacakrapravartana). Skt. योगाचार Tib. རྣལ་འབྱོར་སྤྱོད་པ་ Ch. 瑜伽行派

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pramāṇa - In the Buddhist literature on pramāṇa, it refers to cognition that correctly apprehends its object without any deception or mistake. Such correct cognition include direct perception and inferential cognition. Skt. प्रमान Tib. ཚད་མ། Ch. 量

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Vajrayāna - The esoteric Buddhist tradition which developed as a syncretic system involving deity worship, use of mantras, physical energy, and mystical practices. It is also known as the mantra tradition and the tantric school as a result of being based on texts known as tantras. Skt. वज्रयान Tib. རྡོ་རྗེ་ཐེག་པ། Ch. 金剛乘

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tantra - Tantra, when juxtaposed with Sūtra, generally refers to the scriptures and texts which discuss esoteric topics. While the term is used to refer to texts on other topics, it is mostly used to refer to the genre of scriptures and texts on themes and topics associated with Vajrayāna Buddhism. Skt. तन्त्र Tib. རྒྱུད། Ch. 密宗

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Nyingma - The Nyingma, which is often described as the oldest tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, traces its origin to Padmasambhava, who is said to have visited Tibet in the eighth century. Tib. རྙིང་མ་

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Geluk - The Geluk tradition traces its origin to Tsongkhapa, who propagated a modified version of the Kadampa lojong and lamrim teachings. It is the dominant tradition of Tibet, having established its control of the government under the figure of the Dalai Lama. Tib. དགེ་ལུགས་

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tathāgatagarbha - Buddha-nature, literally the "womb/essence of those who have gone (to suchness)." Skt. तथागतगर्भ Tib. དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་ Ch. 如来藏

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gzhan stong - The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature. Tib. གཞན་སྟོང་

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rang stong - The state of being empty of self, which references the lack of inherent existence in relative phenomena. Tib. རང་སྟོང་

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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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gotra - Disposition, lineage, or class; an individual's gotra determines the type of enlightenment one is destined to attain. Skt. गोत्र Tib. རིགས་ Ch. 鍾姓,種性

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