Kurtis Schaeffer at the 2019 Tathāgatagarbha Symposium
From Buddha-Nature
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Kurtis Schaeffer at the 2019 Tathāgatagarbha Symposium
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Description
Kurtis Schaeffer discusses Jikme Lingpa's view and attitude toward buddha-nature as found in his major philosophical work, the Treasury of Precious Qualities, and in various other writings. He shows how Jikme Lingpa maintained an antinomian approach to buddha-nature in the context of Great Perfection thought.
Abstract from the Author
Notes from the Cave: 'Jigs med gling pa on Buddha-Nature
'Jigs med gling pa (1730-1798) was a key figure in the development of late-period Great Perfection thought in Tibet. His major philosophical work, the Treasury of Precious Qualities (Yon tan rin po che'i mdzod), was much-studied in the years after its composition in 1789. The Treasury’s presentation of Great Perfection ontology is grounded (if you will) in buddha-nature. Perhaps more interestingly, much of 'Jigs med gling pa’s debate with interlocutors about Great Perfection revolves around buddha-nature rather than Great Perfection per se. 'Jigs med gling pa was also deeply skeptical about the possibility of expressing anything of value about buddha-nature, as opposed to the value of experiencing buddha-nature for oneself in meditation. “The best commentary on buddha-nature I’ve ever seen is the one I made in my cave!” he quips. This paper portrays 'Jigs med gling pa’s antinomian approach to buddha-nature in the context of Great Perfection thought, as well as his more ephemeral bits of commentary, conversation, and opinion about buddha-nature that can be found scattered throughout his life writings and occasional pieces.
Sources Mentioned
Jigme Lingpa: Rain of Joy, Treasury of Precious Qualities
This is the root text of The Treasury of Precious Qualities, a famous treatise by Jikmé Lingpa, in which he expounds the entire Buddhist path, from the śrāvakayāna teachings up to the Great Perfection. The text has thirteen chapters:
- The Difficulty of Gaining the Freedoms and Advantages
- Death and Impermanence
- Karma: Cause and Effect
- The Sufferings of Samsara
- The Four Wheels, which are the initial entry point for supreme beings
- Taking Refuge, the entrance to the Buddhist Path
- The Entrance to the Actual Mahayana (cultivating the four immeasurables)
- Arousing Bodhichitta
- The Bodhisattva Trainings
- The Pitaka of the Vidyadharas
- The Nature of the Ground
- The Extraordinary Path of the Natural Great Perfection
- The Kayas and Wisdoms of the Ultimate Fruition
Yon tan rin po che'i mdzod dga' ba'i char;Nyingma;Jigme Lingpa;འཇིགས་མེད་གླིང་པ་;'jigs med gling pa;mkhyen brtse 'od zer;མཁྱེན་བརྩེ་འོད་ཟེར་;Yon tan rin po che'i mdzod dga' ba'i char;ཡོན་ཏན་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་མཛོད་དགའ་བའི་ཆར།;Rain of Joy, Treasury of Precious Qualities;ཡོན་ཏན་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་མཛོད་དགའ་བའི་ཆར།
Secondary Publications Mentioned
Treasury of Precious Qualities: Book One (2010)
This book is a translation of the first part of Jigme Lingpa's Treasury of Precious Qualities, which in a slender volume of elegant verses sets out briefly but comprehensively the Buddhist path according to the Nyingma school. The concision of the root text and its use of elaborate poetic language, rich in metaphor, require extensive explanation, amply supplied here by the commentary of Kangyur Rinpoche.
The present volume lays out the teachings of the sutras in gradual stages according to the traditional three levels, or scopes, of spiritual endeavor. It begins with essential teachings on impermanence, karma, and ethics. Then, from the Hinayana standpoint, it describes the essential Buddhist teachings of the four noble truths and the twelve links of dependent arising. Moving on, finally, to the Mahayana perspective, it expounds fully the teachings on bodhichitta and the path of the six paramitas, and gives an unusually detailed exposition of Buddhist vows. (Source: Shambhala Publications)
Fletcher, Wulstan, and Helena Blankleder (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. Treasury of Precious Qualities: The Rain of Joy; Book One. By Jigme Lingpa ('jigs med gling pa). With The Quintessence of the Three Paths, a commentary by Longchen Yeshe Dorje, Kangyur Rinpoche (klong chen ye shes rdo rje, bka' 'gyur rin po che). Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2010.
Fletcher, Wulstan, and Helena Blankleder (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. Treasury of Precious Qualities: The Rain of Joy;Book One. By Jigme Lingpa ('jigs med gling pa). With The Quintessence of the Three Paths, a commentary by Longchen Yeshe Dorje, Kangyur Rinpoche (klong chen ye shes rdo rje, bka' 'gyur rin po che). Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2010.;Treasury of Precious Qualities: Book One (2010);Dzogchen;'jigs med gling pa;Yon tan rin po che'i mdzod dga' ba'i char;Jigme Lingpa;འཇིགས་མེད་གླིང་པ་;'jigs med gling pa;mkhyen brtse 'od zer;མཁྱེན་བརྩེ་འོད་ཟེར་; Longchen Yeshe Dorje;ཀློང་ཆེན་ཡེ་ཤེས་རྡོ་རྗེ་;klong chen ye shes rdo rje;bka' 'gyur rin po che;བཀའ་འགྱུར་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་;Kangyur Rinpoche;Wulstan Fletcher;Helena Blankleder;Treasury of Precious Qualities: The Rain of Joy;Book One;'jigs med gling pa
Treasury of Precious Qualities: Book Two
This second and concluding volume of Jigme Lingpa’s classic Treasury of Precious Qualities is presented together with a detailed commentary by Kangyur Rinpoche. Composed in the form of a lamrim, or presentation of the stages of the path, the first volume set out the teachings of the sutras. The present volume continues this same structure and is a general description of the tantra teachings followed by an exposition of the Great Perfection, which in the Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism is regarded as the summit of all vehicles and the final stage of the path of spiritual training. The section on the tantras is a compendious presentation of all important issues: lineage, empowerment, the generation and perfection stages, and samaya. The section on the Great Perfection is arranged according to the classification of Ground, Path, and Result and gives an extremely clear introduction to the doctrinal background that underpins the practice of this unique system. (Source Accessed Nov 9, 2020)
Fletcher, Wulstan, and Helena Blankleder (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. Treasury of Precious Qualities: The Rain of Joy; Book Two: Vajrayana and the Great Perfection. By Jigme Lingpa ('jigs med gling pa). With The Quintessence of the Three Paths, a commentary by Longchen Yeshe Dorje, Kangyur Rinpoche (klong chen ye shes rdo rje, bka' 'gyur rin po che). Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2013.
Fletcher, Wulstan, and Helena Blankleder (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. Treasury of Precious Qualities: The Rain of Joy;Book Two: Vajrayana and the Great Perfection. By Jigme Lingpa ('jigs med gling pa). With The Quintessence of the Three Paths, a commentary by Longchen Yeshe Dorje, Kangyur Rinpoche (klong chen ye shes rdo rje, bka' 'gyur rin po che). Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2013.;Treasury of Precious Qualities: Book Two;Dzogchen;'jigs med gling pa;Yon tan rin po che'i mdzod dga' ba'i char;Jigme Lingpa;འཇིགས་མེད་གླིང་པ་;'jigs med gling pa;mkhyen brtse 'od zer;མཁྱེན་བརྩེ་འོད་ཟེར་; Longchen Yeshe Dorje;ཀློང་ཆེན་ཡེ་ཤེས་རྡོ་རྗེ་;klong chen ye shes rdo rje;bka' 'gyur rin po che;བཀའ་འགྱུར་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་;Kangyur Rinpoche;Wulstan Fletcher;Helena Blankleder;Treasury of Precious Qualities: The Rain of Joy. Book Two: Vajrayana and the Great Perfection;'jigs med gling pa;klong chen ye shes rdo rje
People Mentioned
About the video
| Featuring | Kurtis Schaeffer |
|---|---|
| Creator | University of Vienna, Tsadra Foundation |
| Event | Tathāgatagarbha Across Asia (19 July 2019, University of Vienna, Austria) |
| Related Website | Buddha-Nature Project |
| Video Web Location | Tathāgatagarbha Across Asia |
| Creation Date | 19 July 2019 |
| Citation | Schaeffer, Kurtis. "Notes from the Cave: 'Jigs med gling pa on Buddha-Nature." Paper presented at the University of Vienna Symposium, Tathāgatagarbha Across Asia, Vienna, Austria, July 2019. Video, 37:04. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x32COWVlJ38. |
