The Eighth Karmapa's Life and His Interpretation of the Great Seal (2017)

The Eighth Karmapa's Life and His Interpretation of the Great Seal (2017)

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This book investigates Mikyö Dorje’s biographies and carries out case studies of some of his mahāmudrā (Great Seal) teachings, Buddhist instructions for the acquisition of meditative insight. After surveying a variety of textual sources for the study of the Karmapa’s life and works, this book shows how he developed into one of the most productive scholars of his tradition, who, located within the shifting religious and political hegemonies of his time, managed to acquire a status of singular importance to his school. Rheingans then goes on to analyse Mikyö Dorje’s mahāmudrā teachings by examining selected texts that contain such instructions in historical and doctrinal context. This study contends that the Kagyüpa mahāmudrā constitutes less a static system than an independent key instruction to be adapted by the guru to different students’ requirements and are thus chiefly characterised by didactic pragmatism. (Source: Projekt Verlag)

Citation	Rheingans, Jim. The Eighth Karmapa's Life and His Interpretation of the Great Seal: A Religious Life and Instructional Texts in Historical and Doctrinal Contexts. Hamburg Buddhist Studies 7. Bochum, Germany: Projekt Verlag, 2017. https://www.buddhismuskunde.uni-hamburg.de/pdf/4-publikationen/hamburg-buddhist-studies/hamburgup-hbs07-rheingans.pdf.

Contents

• ForewordVI
• PrefaceIX
• Conventions UsedXV
• AbbreviationsXVI
  
  

• Chapter 1: Introduction1
  • 1.1 Aim and Scope of this Research4
  • 1.2 Methodologies Employed6
  • 1.3 Previous Research on the Life and Works of the Eighth Karmapa11
  • 1.4 Plan of this Book23
    
    

• Chapter 2: The Great Seal and 15th to 16th Century Tibet25
  • 2.1 The Great Seal25
    • 2.1.1 The bKa' brgyud pa Great Seal: A Brief Overview26
    • 2.1.2 sGam po pa, Early bKa' brgyud pa, and the First Karmapa29
    • 2.1.3 Sa skya Paṇḍita, Indian Great Seal, and Later Systematisations33
  • 2.2 Tibet from the Fifteenth to Sixteenth Centuries: Conflicts between dBus
          and gTsang36
    
    
• Chapter 3: Textual Sources for the Eighth Karmapa's Life and Great Seal43
  • 3.1 History of the Eighth Karmapa's Writings43
  • 3.2 The Collected Works of the Eighth Karmapa 2000–2004: Origins and
          Rubrics49
  • 3.3 Sources on the Eighth Karmapa's Great Seal54
  • 3.4 Spiritual Memoirs and Biographies of the Eighth Karmapa58
    
    
• Chapter 4: The Eighth Karmapa: Scholar, Monk, and Yogi71
  • 4.1 The Eighth Karmapa's Life71
    • 4.1.1 Birth and Early Childhood (1507–1511)72
    • 4.1.2 The Dispute about the Incarnation (1512–1513)75
    • 4.1.3 Early Exposition, Composition, and Travels (1513–1516)83
    • 4.1.4 Becoming a Scholar and Training the Great Seal (1516–1529)86
    • 4.1.5 Scholastic Contributions (1530–1550)100
    • 4.1.6 Travel to rTsa ri, Sickness, and Passing Away (1554)108
  • 4.2 The Eighth Karmapa: 'Learned and Accomplished One' of his Day110
  • 4.3 Spiritual Programme for Teaching Meditation115
    
    
• Chapter 5: Case Studies of the Eighth Karmapa's Great Seal123
  • 5.1 Case Studies: Concrete Examples of Teaching the Great Seal124
  • 5.2 Dialogues in A khu a khra's Spiritual Biography125
    • 5.2.1 Their Function in the Main Narrative125
    • 5.2.2 Dialogue with A khu a khra128
    • 5.2.3 Dialogue with rGya ston Nang so Seng ge ba133
    • 5.2.4 Dialogue with dGa' ldan dBon po Nam mkha' rgyal mtshan136
    • 5.2.5 Dialogue with Mi nyag sKya ging Bya bral ba139
    • 5.2.6 Conceptualisation and Dharmakāya142
  • 5.3 Answer to Gling drung pa's Query on the Great Seal143
    • 5.3.1 The Addressee and Other Contexts144
    • 5.3.2 The Content147
    • 5.3.3 The Story of sBas mchod: Pedagogy, History, and the Great Seal154
    • 5.3.4 Great Seal beyond Tantra157
  • 5.4 Identifying the Blessing: A Mantra Path159
    
    
• Chapter 6: Contextualising the Eighth Karmapa's Great Seal Instructions163
  • 6.1 Basic Distinctions of the Great Seal163
  • 6.2 Interpretations of Conceptualisation as Dharmakāya164
  • 6.3 Common Strands and Divergent Interpretations168
  • 6.4 The Guru as Origin and Example in Vajrayāna and Great Seal
          Traditions173
  • 6.5 The Guru as Means in the Eighth Karmapa's Great Seal Instructions176
    
    
• Chapter 7: Conclusions185
  
  
• Bibliography191
• Indian Buddhist Works191
• Primary Sources and Secondary Literature in Tibetan Language192
• Secondary Literature in Western Languages207
• Index237

Mahāmudrā - Mahāmudrā refers to an advanced meditation tradition in Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna forms of Into-Tibetan Buddhism that is focused on the realization of the empty and luminous nature of the mind. It also refers to the resultant state of buddhahood attained through such meditation practice. In Tibet, this tradition is particularly associated with the Kagyu school, although all other schools also profess this tradition. The term also appears as part of the four seals, alongside dharmamūdra, samayamudrā, and karmamudrā. Skt. महामुद्रा Tib. ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོ།

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dharmakāya - "Truth body" or "true being" — One of the three bodies of a buddha. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, it often refers to a kind of fundamental principle or the true nature of reality itself. Skt. धर्मकाय Tib. ཆོས་སྐུ་ Ch. 法身

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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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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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