Dargyay, Lobsang

Geshe Lobsang Dargyay(1935 - 1994)

The late Geshe Lobsang Dargyay was trained at Drepung Monastery in Tibet. He got his doctorate in Buddhist and Tibetan Studies from the Ludwig Maximilians Universität and held teaching and research positions in Vienna, Hamburg, and Calgary. Geshe-la was the first Tibetan to receive a doctorate from a Western university. He passed away in 1994. (Source Accessed Sept 23, 2020)

For a more complete biography, see "In Memoriam: Geshe Lobsang Dargyay (1935–94)" by Eva Neumaier, in Freedom from Extremes: Gorampa's "Distinguishing the Views" and the Polemics of Emptiness (Wisdom Publications, 2007), xi–xiv.

Library Items

Book

Freedom From Extremes

---

What is emptiness? This question at the heart of Buddhist philosophy has preoccupied the greatest minds of India and Tibet for two millennia, producing hundreds of volumes. Distinguishing the Views, by the fifteenth-century Sakya scholar Gorampa Sonam Senge, is one of the most important of those works, esteemed for its conciseness, lucidity, and profundity. Freedom from Extremes presents Gorampa's elegant philosophical case on the matter of emptiness here in a masterful translation by Geshe Lobsang Dargyay.

Gorampa's text is polemical, and his targets are two of Tibet's greatest thinkers: Tsongkhapa, founder of the Gelug school, and Dolpopa, a founding figure of the Jonang school. Distinguishing the Views argues that Dolpopa has fallen into an eternalistic extreme, whereas Tsongkhapa has fallen into nihilism, and that only the mainstream Sakya view—what Gorampa calls "freedom from extremes"—represents the true middle way, the correct view of emptiness. Suppressed for years in Tibet, this seminal work today is widely regarded and is studied in some of Tibet's greatest academic institutions.

Gorampa's treatise has been translated and annotated here by two leading scholars of Tibetan Buddhist philosophy, and a critical edition of the Tibetan text on facing pages gives students and scholars direct access to Gorampa's own words. José Cabezón's extended introduction provides a thorough overview of Tibetan polemical literature and contextualizes the life and work of Gorampa both historically and intellectually. Freedom from Extremes will be indispensable for serious students of Madhyamaka thought. (Source: Wisdom Publications)

Cabezón, José Ignacio, and Geshe Lobsang Dargyay, trans. Freedom From Extremes: Gorampa's "Distinguishing the Views" and the Polemics of Emptiness. Studies in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2007.

Cabezón, José Ignacio, and Geshe Lobsang Dargyay, trans. Freedom From Extremes: Gorampa's "Distinguishing the Views" and the Polemics of Emptiness. Studies in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2007.;Freedom From Extremes;Go rams pa bsod nams seng ge;Madhyamaka;Dol po pa;Tsong kha pa;José Ignacio Cabezón; Geshe Lobsang Dargyay;Gorampa Sönam Senge;གོ་རམས་པ་བསོད་ནམས་སེངྒེ་;go rams pa bsod nams seng+ge;go bo rab 'byams pa bsod nams seng+ge;ngor mkhan chen 06;གོ་བོ་རབ་འབྱམས་པ་བསོད་ནམས་སེངྒེ་;ངོར་མཁན་ཆེན་༠༦་;Ngor Khenchen, 6th;Freedom From Extremes: Gorampa's "Distinguishing the Views" and the Polemics of Emptiness;Go rams pa bsod nams seng ge