Nges don gyi lta sgom nyams su len tshul ji lta bar ston pa rdo rje'i mdo 'dzin

From Buddha-Nature

LibraryCommentariesNges don gyi lta sgom nyams su len tshul ji lta bar ston pa rdo rje'i mdo 'dzin


ངེས་དོན་གྱི་ལྟ་སྒོམ་ཉམས་སུ་ལེན་ཚུལ་ཇི་ལྟ་བར་སྟོན་པ་རྡོ་རྗེའི་མདོ་འཛིན།
nges don gyi lta sgom nyams su len tshul ji lta bar ston pa rdo rje'i mdo 'dzin
The Vajra Convergence: A Teaching on How to Practice the View and Meditation of the Definitive Meaning
SOURCE TEXT

An overview of the views of Dzogchen, Mahāmudrā, and Madhyamaka and the methods of applying them in practice, with particular attention given to the ways in which these three converge.

Translations of This Text

Book
The Heart of the Matter
The perfect Buddha Shakyamuni gave us, his disciples, boundless Dharma Wheels each in accordance with our various capacities and inclinations. The quintessence of all these teachings is the third turning of the Dharma Wheel, called the 'final set of teachings on the complete and total uncovering.' This is the Vajrayana approach to the definitive meaning that takes the fruition as the path, wherin the crucial points of how to apply its view and meditation training are shown. This know-how for bringing this definitive meaning into our experience is found in a text entitled The Unchanging Convergence, which here, in English, is called The Heart of the Matter.

The author, Tsele Natsok Randröl, was born in the snowy land of Tibet. It was through study and reflection that he first unraveled the key points of everything that there is to know. Having brought forth realization through meditation training, he became known as a great pandita and siddha, a learned and accomplished master.

Among his various instructions, The Heart of the Matter is both concise and comprehensible. Not only does it contain all the vital points of the Buddha's words but, in particular, it lucidly and precisely covers the definitive meaning of the view, meditation, conduct and fruition, in their entirety, so that their practice can take effect and mature in our minds. (Source: The Heart of the Matter, introduction, 7–8)
Kunsang, Erik Pema, trans. The Heart of the Matter. By Tsele Natsok Rangdröl (rtse le sna tshogs rang grol). Edited by Marcia Binder Schmidt and Michael Tweed. Buddhist Classics. Hong Kong: Rangjung Yeshe Publications, 1996.

Recensions of This Text

Nges don gyi lta sgom nyams su len tshul ji lta bar ston pa rdo rje'i mdo 'dzin. (The Vajra Convergence: A Teaching on How to Practice the View and Meditation of the Definitive Meaning). Recension information:
Tibetan Rtse le sna tshogs rang grol. ངེས་དོན་གྱི་ལྟ་སྒོམ་ཉམས་སུ་ལེན་ཚུལ་ཇི་ལྟ་བར་སྟོན་པ་རྡོ་རྗེའི་མདོ་འཛིན།, (Nges don gyi lta sgom nyams su len tshul ji lta bar ston pa rdo rje'i mdo 'dzin).
  • In Gsung 'bum/ sna tshogs rang grol, Vol. 2: 89-137. New Delhi: Sanje Dorji, 1974. Buda by BDRC Logo.jpg
  • In Rtse le sna tshogs rang grol gyi bka' 'bum, Vol. 3: 493-546. Gangtok: Mgon po Tshe brtan, 1979. Buda by BDRC Logo.jpg
  • In Rtse le sna tshogs rang grol gyi gsung gdams zab phyogs bsgrigs. Kathmandu: Khenpo Shedup Tenzin and Lama Thinley Namgyal, 2007: 1-48. Buda by BDRC Logo.jpg

Philosophical positions of this text

Is buddha-nature considered definitive or provisional?
Definitive 
Does this text belong to definitive or provisional meaning?
Definitive 
Do all beings have buddha-nature?
Yes 
Is buddha-nature equated with emptiness or alayavijnana?
Madhyamaka 
Do buddha-nature teachings belong to the zhentong or rangtong view of emptiness?
Rangtong 
Are there one or three vehicles on the path to buddhahood?
1 
Do the author's writings belong to the analytic or meditative tradition of Uttaratantra exegesis?
Meditative Tradition 
What is Buddha-nature?
Tathāgatagarbha as the Unity of Emptiness and Luminosity 
Does the author advocate the Svatantrika or Prasangika view of emptiness?
Prāsaṅgika (ཐལ་འགྱུར་) 

Text Metadata

Text exists in ~ Tibetan
~ English

Dzogchen - Dzogchen is an advanced system of meditation techniques to reveal the innate state of perfection primarily, but not exclusively, espoused by the Nyingma Buddhist tradition and the Tibetan Bön tradition. Skt. महासन्धि Tib. རྫོགས་ཆེན།

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།

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

neyārtha - Refers to something that is taught for a specific reason, rather than because it is entirely true. Skt. नेयार्थ Tib. དྲང་དོན་

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་

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

śūnyatā - The state of being empty of an innate nature due to a lack of independently existing characteristics. Skt. शून्यता Tib. སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་ Ch. 空,空門

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

triyāna - Commonly seen in a Mahāyāna context, the three vehicles are the Śrāvakayāna, Pratyekabuddhayāna, and Bodhisattvayāna, which reference the three different types of Buddhist practitioners. However, these three vehicles can also reference the three types of Buddhist teachings of the Hīnayāna, Mahāyāna (or Pāramitāyāna), and the Vajrayāna. Skt. त्रियान Tib. ཐེག་པ་གསུམ་ Ch. 三乗

Tsen Tradition - Tsen Khawoche's "meditative tradition" of exegesis of the Uttaratantra; it is one of two major Tibetan traditions of exegesis, both stemming from students of Sajjana. Tib. བཙན་ལུགས་

Uttaratantra - The Ultimate Continuum, or Gyü Lama, is often used as a short title in the Tibetan tradition for the key source text of buddha-nature teachings called the Ratnagotravibhāga of Maitreya/Asaṅga, also known as the Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra. Skt. उत्तरतन्त्र Tib. རྒྱུད་བླ་མ་ Ch. 寶性論

These are the root verses of the Uttaratantra attributed to Maitreya by the Tibetan tradition.

Tsen Tradition - Tsen Khawoche's "meditative tradition" of exegesis of the Uttaratantra; it is one of two major Tibetan traditions of exegesis, both stemming from students of Sajjana. Tib. བཙན་ལུགས་

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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