Library/Commentaries

Commentaries

Here we will collect as many Buddhist commentaries on buddha-nature teachings as possible.

Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum of the Mahāyāna

ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་ཊཱི་ཀྐ།

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i ṭīkka

Commentary on the Uttaratantra by a preeminent Geluk scholar that was a chief disciple of the school's founder, Tsongkhapa, as well as the Sakya scholar Rendawa Zhönu Lodrö, an outspoken critic of the treatise.

Ornament of Precious Liberation: A Wish-Fulfilling Gem of Sublime Dharma

དམ་ཆོས་ཡིད་བཞིན་གྱི་ནོར་བུ་ཐར་པ་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་རྒྱན།

Dam chos yid bzhin gyi nor bu thar pa rin po che'i rgyan

One of Gampopa's most enduring works. It was one of the first "stages of the path" (lam rim) texts to be written by a Tibetan, after the genre was introduced by Atiśa through his famous composition Bodhipathapradīpa, The Stages of the Path to Enlightenment.

A Treasure Trove of Scripture: A Commentary on the Precious Treasury of Dharmadhātu

ཆོས་དབྱིངས་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་མཛོད་ཀྱི་འགྲེལ་པ་ལུང་གི་གཏེར་མཛོད།

Chos dbyings rin po che'i mdzod kyi 'grel pa lung gi gter mdzod

Longchenpa's autocommentary on the Precious Treasury of Dharmadhātu

Exegesis on the Ultimate Continuum Called the Ornament of Buddha-Nature

རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་རྣམ་བཤད་བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོའི་མཛེས་རྒྱན།

Rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi rnam bshad bde gshegs snying po'i mdzes rgyan

The Kālacakra Commentary, 'Stainless Light' (84000)

བསྡུས་པའི་རྒྱུད་ཀྱི་རྒྱལ་པོ་དུས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོའི་འགྲེལ་བཤད་རྩ་བའི་རྒྱུད་ཀྱི་རྗེས་སུ་འཇུག་པ་སྟོང་ཕྲག་བཅུ་གཉིས་པ་དྲི་མ་མེད་པའི་འོད

Vimalaprabhā

A crucial commentary to the Kālacakra Tantra purported to have been written by Kalkī Śrī Puṇḍarīka, the fabled Second King of Shambhala also known as Kulika Puṇḍarīka, though in the Tibetan tradition the work is sometimes attributed to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara whom Puṇḍarīka was considered to be an emanation of. In the Tibetan tradition it is counted among the Three Cycles of Bodhisattva Commentaries (Sems 'grel skor gsum), which are a trilogy of canonical commentaries attributed to the transcendent Bodhisattvas Vajrapaṇi, Vajragarbha, and Avalokiteśvara on the Cakrasamvara, Hevajra, and Kālacakra Tantras, respectively.

Distinguishing Phenomena and Their Nature (84000)

ཆོས་དང་ཆོས་ཉིད་རྣམ་པར་འབྱེད་པ།

Dharmadharmatāvibhāga

One of the Five Dharma Treatises of Maitreya (byams chos sde lnga). This work exists only in Tibetan translation, of which there are two versions: the Dharmadharmatāvibhāga (chos dang chos nyid rnam par 'byed pa) presented in prose, and the Dharmadharmatāvibhāgakārikā (chos dang chos nyid rnam par 'byed pa'i tshig le'ur byas pa) presented in verse.

"The text explains saṃsāra (= dharma) and the nirvāṇa (= dharmatā) attained by the śrāvaka, pratyekabuddha, and bodhisattva; like the Madhyāntavibhāga, it uses the three-nature (trisvabhāva) terminology to explain that, because there is no object or subject, the transcendent is beyond conceptualization. It presents the paths leading to transformation of the basis (aśrayaparāvṛtti), and enumerates ten types of tathatā (suchness)." (Source: The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, p. 244)

Treasury of Philosophical Tenets

ཐེག་པ་མཐའ་དག་གི་དོན་གསལ་བར་བྱེད་པ་གྲུབ་པའི་མཐའ་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་མཛོད།

Grub mtha' mdzod

This book is among the Seven Treasures Longchenpa composed. The Seven Treasures today represent the best Tibetan literary collection for the systemisation of the Dzogchen tradition. In his Treasury of Tenet Systems, Longchenpa carries a detailed exegesis of the buddha-nature in chapter 4 on the spiritual gene required for the practice of Mahāyāna path. He cites several sūtras and many critical verses from the Ultimate Continuum, on which he comments to make clear his interpretation of buddha-nature teachings. He considers buddhahood as being identical with buddha-nature latent in all sentient beings and argues that buddhahood is a result which is revealed rather than a fruit which is cultivated and produced. Thus, all qualities of the Buddha are primordially present in the nature of all sentient beings.

Rain of Joy, Treasury of Precious Qualities

ཡོན་ཏན་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་མཛོད་དགའ་བའི་ཆར།

Yon tan rin po che'i mdzod dga' ba'i char

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:

1. The Difficulty of Gaining the Freedoms and Advantages
2. Death and Impermanence
3. Karma: Cause and Effect
4. The Sufferings of Samsara
5. The Four Wheels, which are the initial entry point for supreme beings
6. Taking Refuge, the entrance to the Buddhist Path
7. The Entrance to the Actual Mahayana (cultivating the four immeasurables)
8. Arousing Bodhichitta
9. The Bodhisattva Trainings
10. The Pitaka of the Vidyadharas
11. The Nature of the Ground
12. The Extraordinary Path of the Natural Great Perfection
13. The Kayas and Wisdoms of the Ultimate Fruition

The first nine chapters comprise the sūtra section, and the last four comprise the mantra section. You can download an English translation of the root text by the Padmakara Translation Group by clicking here.

Dispelling the Darkness of Partiality: A Commentary on Illumination of the Topics of Tenet Systems by Omniscient Jonangpa

ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ཆེན་པོས་མཛད་པའི་གྲུབ་མཐའི་རྣམ་བཞག་དོན་གསལ་གྱི་འགྲེལ་བ་ཕྱོགས་ལྷུང་མུན་སེལ།

Kun mkhyen chen pos mdzad pa'i grub mtha'i rnam bzhag don gsal gyi 'grel ba phyogs lhung mun sel

This is a commentary by the Jonangpa scholar Ngawang Tsoknyi Gyatso on the treatise composed by Dolpopa entitled Illuminating the Topics of Tenet Systems. Dolpopa composed the treatise in verse for the Yuan emperor Toghon Temür, who invited Dolpopa to China but Dolpopa declined. Yet, he wrote the treatise for the emperor and he presents his theory of the Middle Way of Other-Emptiness. Ngawang Tsoknyi Gyatso provides a very clear and incisive commentary in prose for Dolpopa's verse text.

An Extensive Commentary on the Profound Sūtra Unraveling the Intent (84000)

འཕགས་པ་དགོངས་པ་ཟབ་མོ་ངེས་པར་འགྲེལ་པའི་མདོ་རྒྱ་ཆེར་འགྲེལ་པ།

'phags pa dgongs pa zab mo nges par 'grel pa'i mdo rgya cher 'grel pa

Wǒnch'ǔk's commentary to the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra was extremely popular in the Chinese outpost of Dunhuang, where Chos grub (Ch. Facheng; c. 755–849) translated it into Tibetan during the reign of King Ral pa can (r. 815–838). Only nine of the ten rolls of the commentary are still extant in Chinese; the full text is available only in its Tibetan translation, which the Tibetans know as the "Great Chinese Commentary" (Rgya nag gi 'grel chen) even though it was written by a Korean. (Source: "Wǒnch'ǔk." In The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 996–97. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)

A Commentary on the Meaning of the Words of the “Uttaratantra”

རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་ཚིག་དོན་རྣམ་པར་འགྲེལ་པ་

Mahāyānottaratantraśāstraṭippaṇī

One of only two extant Sanskrit commentaries to the Uttaratantra, the other being the pith instruction composed by Sajjana. However, this work seems to have not been translated into Tibetan and thus it had little, if any, influence on the development of the Tibetan exegesis of the Uttaratantra.

Mahāyāna System on Establishing the Wheels of Dharma Received by Onge

ཆོས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོ་ལེགས་པར་གཏན་ལ་ཕབ་པ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་ཚུལ་འོང་གེས་ཞུས་པ།

Chos kyi 'khor lo legs par gtan la phab pa theg pa chen po'i tshul 'ong ges zhus pa

These are teachings delivered by Drikung Kagyu master Jikten Sumgön that includes an account of the twelve great events of the buddha and the detailed explanation of the three turnings of the wheel of dharma and written down by his student Onge. The text also contains a praise of the Ultimate Continuum as containing the gist of the third wheel.

Mirror of Buddha-Nature with Qualities

བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོ་ཡོན་ཏན་ཅན་གྱི་མེ་ལོང་།

Chos dbyings du ma ro gcig bde gshegs snying po'i yon tan can gyi mdo sde

Dölpopa's responds to arguments against the theory that buddha-nature has the qualities of the buddha latent in it. He uses scriptural citations and reasonings to argue that the unconditioned buddha-nature must possess the qualities of the Buddha.

Golden Garland of Excellent Explanation: A Commentary on the Abhisamayālaṃkāra

ལེགས་བཤད་གསེར་ཕྲེང་།

Legs bshad gser phreng

Tsongkhapa's comprehensive treatise on both Maitreya's Abhisamayālaṃkāra and the commentary on this work by Haribhadra, the Abhisamayālaṃkāravrtti.

Illuminating the Definitive Meaning: An Explanation of the Ultimate Continuum

ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་རྣམ་པར་བཤད་པ་ངེས་དོན་རབ་གསལ་སྣང་བ།

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi rnam par bshad pa nges don rab gsal snang ba

A detailed explanation of the Uttaratantra written by one of Dölpopa's chief disciples.

Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum Possessing Four Reliances and Causing Delight to the Learned

རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་འགྲེལ་པ་རྟོན་པ་བཞི་ལྡན་མཁས་པ་དགའ་བྱེད།

Rgyud bla ma'i 'grel pa rton pa bzhi ldan mkhas pa dga' byed

A commentary on the the Ultimate Continuum containing word by word explanation as well as scriptural citations, the author critiques both the understanding of Buddha-Nature as mere emptiness of non-implicative negation and as absolute reality.

A Garland of Views: The King of Pith Instructions

མན་ངག་གི་རྒྱལ་པོ་ལྟ་བའི་འཕྲེང་བ

RKTST 2725

A Garland of Views presents a concise commentary by the eighth-century Indian Buddhist master Padmasambhava on a chapter from the Guhyagarbha Tantra on the different Buddhist and non-Buddhist philosophical views, including the Great Perfection (Dzogchen). (Source: Shambhala Publications)

Treasury of the True Dharma Eye

ཤོ་བོ་གན་ཛོ་ (དམ་པའི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་མིག་གི་གན་མཛོད།)

Shōbōgenzō

In Japanese, “Treasury of the True Dharma Eye”; the magnum opus of the Japanese Zen master Dōgen Kigen (1200-1253); the title refers to the Zen (C. Chan) school, which is considered to be the repository of the insights of the buddha Śākyamuni himself, transmitted through the lineage of the Chan patriarchs (zushi) starting with Mahākāśyapa... Dōgen’s oeuvre contains two works with this title...The second is a collection of essays written in Japanese, known as the Kana [viz., “vernacular”] Shōbōgenzō, which is the better known of the two and which will be the focus of this account. The Shōbōgenzō is a collection of individual essays and treatises that Dogen composed throughout his eventful career.... Six different editions of the Shōbōgenzō are known to exist: the “original” volume edited by Dōgen in seventy-five rolls, the twelve-roll Yōkōji edition, the sixty-roll Eiheiji edition edited by Giun (1253-1333), the eighty-four roll edition edited by Bonsei (d. 1427) in 1419, the eighty-nine roll edition edited by Manzan Dōhaku (1636-1715) in 1684 at Daishōji, and the ninety-five roll edition edited by Kōzen (1627-1693) in 1690 at Eiheiji. The seventy-five roll edition is today the most widely consulted and cited. Many of the essays were originally sermons delivered by Dōgen, such that some are written by him and others were recorded by his disciples. (Source: Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 810-811.)

The Essential Pith Instructions That Summarize the Quintessence of the Piṭakas

སྡེ་སྣོད་བཅུད་བསྡུས་མན་ངག་གི་སྙིང་པོ།

Sde snod bcud bsdus man ngag gi snying po

One of a series of short texts by the Kadam scholar Kyotön Mönlam Tsultrim, this was composed in Narthang at the behest of Sonam Dar, a descendent of Kyide Nyima Gön and at the request of Geshe Gönden Ö and Yönten Ö. The text contains concise lamrim instructions starting with (1) instruction on the contemplation on precious humanhood, impermanence and the law of cause and effect, and the practice of taking refuge for the inferior individuals, (2) contemplation of defects of cycle of existence, renunciation and non-self for those following the path of the hearers and solitary realisers for the middling individuals, and (3) finally the cultivation of bodhicitta and meditation on non-conceptuality and luminous nature of the mind which is free from all elaborations for superior individuals. This brief teaching underscores the importance of eradicating conceptual thoughts and abiding in the non-conceptual luminous nature of the mind.

Precious Light: A Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum

རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་འགྲེལ་བ་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་སྣང་བ།

Rgyud bla ma'i 'grel ba rin po che'i snang ba

Composed by Dondup Rinchen, the first teacher of Tsongkhapa, this clear and moderate-size commentary presents an interpretation of Buddha-Nature as reality which has latent qualities of the Buddha. Thus, Dhondup Rinchen's interpretations differs from the position held by his student Tsongkhapa and the latter's followers. He refutes the position held by earlier Tibetan scholars, which one finds later adopted by the Gelukpa tradition.

Incomparable King: A Verse Commentary of the Heart Sūtra

འཕགས་པ་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པའི་སྙིང་པོའི་དཀའ་འགྲེལ་འགྲན་ཟླ་མེད་པའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་ཚིག་ལེའུར་བྱས་པ།

'phags ma shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa'i snying po'i dka' 'grel 'gran zla med pa'i rgyal po tshig le'ur byas pa

One of the Tāranātha's three commentaries on the Heart Sūtra, he presents the ultimate purport of the sūtras as being the ultimate other-emptiness. He comments on the sūtra and its transmission in verses, a very rare style for a work considered to be a commentary. Like his short word for word commentary and the detailed exegesis, this verse commentary explains the Heart Sūtra in accordance with the theories of other-emptiness. Tāranātha also claims he is unique in showing how the Heart Sūtra also captures the hidden themes of the eight topics discussed in some other longer versions of Perfection of Wisdom texts. The commentary was written when Tāranātha was 29 by Tibetan reckoning.

The Treatise on the Ultimate Continuum of the Mahāyāna (84000)

ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས།

Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra

The Ratnagotravibhāga, commonly known as the Uttaratantra, or Gyu Lama in Tibetan, is one of the main Indian scriptural sources for buddha-nature theory. It was likely composed during the fifth century, by whom we do not know. Comprised of verses interspersed with prose commentary, it systematizes the buddha-nature teachings that were circulating in multiple sūtras such as the Tathāgatagarbhasūtra, the Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra, and the Śrīmaladevisūtra. The Tibetan tradition attributes the verses to the Bodhisattva Maitreya and the commentary to Asaṅga, and treats the two as separate texts, although this division is not attested to in surviving Indian versions. The Chinese tradition attributes the text to *Sāramati (娑囉末底), but the translation itself does not include the name of the author, and the matter remains unsettled. It was translated into Chinese in the early sixth century by Ratnamati and first translated into Tibetan by Atiśa, although this text is not known to survive. Ngok Loden Sherab translated it a second time based on teachings from the Kashmiri Pandita Sajjana, and theirs remains the standard translation. It has been translated into English several times, and recently into French. See the Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā, read more about the Ratnagotravibhāga, or take a look at the most complete English translation in When the Clouds Part by Karl Brunnholzl.

Ascertaining the Dharmadhātu: a Detailed Explanation of the Dharmadhātustava

ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབྱིངས་སུ་བསྟོད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་རྣམ་པར་བཤད་པ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབྱིངས་རྣམ་པར་ངེས་པ།

Chos kyi dbyings su bstod pa zhes bya ba'i bstan bcos rnam par bshad pa chos kyi dbyings rnam par nges pa

In this commentary on Nāgārjuna's Dharmadhātustava, the renowned Sakya scholar Śākya Chokden reasons that he wrote this commentary because many scholars misunderstand dharmadhātu or sphere of reality to be mere emptiness that is non-implicative negative and do not understand that it has a luminous aspect of awareness.

De bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po bstan pa zhis bya ba'i bstan bcos kyi 'grel pa don gsal lung gi 'od zer

Commentary by Sherab Rinchen on The Third Karmapa's treatise on buddha-nature, which is essentially a synopsis of the Uttaratantra.

The Meaning of the Essence of Luminosity

འོད་གསལ་སྙིང་པོའི་དོན།

'od gsal snying po'i don

One of a series of short texts by the Kadam scholar Kyotön Mönlam Tsultrim, which represent an intersection between the works of Maitreya, particularly the Ratnagotravibhāga, and the practical instructions of Mahāmudrā.

Thoroughly Ascertaining the Great Middle Way of the Expansive Supreme Vehicle

ཐེག་མཆོག་ཤིན་ཏུ་རྒྱས་པའི་དབུ་མ་ཆེན་པོ་རྣམ་པར་ངེས་པ།

Theg mchog shin tu rgyas pa'i dbu ma chen po rnam par nges pa

Composition on select points considered essential for understanding the philosophical view of other-emptiness (zhentong) by the great Jonang scholar Tāranātha (1575-1635). It remains one of the most important works on zhentong in the Jonang order. Root text was composed by Tāranātha and an annotated commentary was compiled and edited by Tāranātha's disciple Yeshe Gyamtso according to oral teachings he received from Tāranātha, himself.

Annotated Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum

རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་འགྲེལ་མཆན།

Rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi 'grel mchan

The Thoroughly Clear Intention: A Detailed Explanation of the Madhyamakāvatāra

དབུ་མ་ལ་འཇུག་པའི་རྣམ་བཤད་དགོངས་པ་རབ་གསལ།

Dbu ma la 'jug pa'i rnam bshad dgongs pa rab gsal

This work is perhaps the most influential explanation of Candrakīrti's seventh-century classic Entering the Middle Way (Madhyamakāvatāra).

Written as a supplement to Nagarjuna’s Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way, Candrakīrti’s text integrates the central insight of Nagarjuna’s thought—the rejection of any metaphysical notion of intrinsic existence—with the well-known Mahayana framework of the ten levels of the bodhisattva, and it became the most studied presentation of Madhyamaka thought in Tibet.

Completed the year before the author’s death, Tsongkhapa’s exposition of Candrakīrti's text is recognized by the Tibetan tradition as the final standpoint of Tsongkhapa on many philosophical questions, particularly the clear distinctions it draws between the standpoints of the Madhyamaka and Cittamatra schools.

Written in exemplary Tibetan, Tsongkhapa’s work presents a wonderful marriage of rigorous Madhyamaka philosophical analysis with a detailed and subtle account of the progressively advancing mental states and spiritual maturity realized by sincere Madhyamaka practitioners. (Source: Thupten Jinpa, Illuminating the Intent, 2021.)

Notes on the Annotated Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum

ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་མཆན་འགྲེལ་གྱི་མཆན་བུ།

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos zhes bya ba'i mchan 'grel gyi mchan bu

A Treasury of Gems of the Definitive Meaning: An Explanation of the Treatise on the Ultimate Continuum of the Mahāyāna

ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་བཤད་པ་ངེས་དོན་ནོར་བུའི་མཛོད།

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi bshad pa nges don nor bu'i mdzod

According to Brunnhölzl, this work "clearly subscribes to the disclosure model of buddha nature, asserting that the stainless tathāgata heart adorned with all major and minor marks as well as awakening exists in all beings, refuting that the reality of cessation is a nonimplicative negation, and denying the position that the fully qualified sugata heart exists solely on the buddhabhūmi, while it is only nominal at the time of sentient beings. Also, besides CMW and Mipham’s commentary, YDC is the only other commentary I have reviewed that explicitly connects the name and contents of the Uttaratantra with the vajrayāna notion of tantra, thus underlining the text’s reputation as a bridge between the sūtras and tantras."

Notes on the Ultimate Continuum Called the Unmistaken Intent of Maitreya

ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་ཟིན་བྲིས་བྱམས་མགོན་དགོངས་པ་ཕྱིན་ཅི་མ་ལོག་པ།

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i zin bris byams mgon gyi dgongs pa phyin ci ma log pa

Synopsis of the Ultimate Continuum Entitled Precious Lamp

རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྡུས་དོན་རིན་ཆེན་སྒྲོན་མེ།

Rgyud bla ma'i bsdus don rin chen sgron me

A commentary on the Ultimate Continuum composed by the Gelukpa master Yeshe Gyatso in 1992 in Chentsa Mani temple in Qinghai province, this concise and clear work generally follows the interpretations of Gyaltsap Darma Rinchen.

Distinguishing Dharma: A Letter to Pön Jangpa

དཔོན་བྱང་བའི་ཕྱག་ཏུ་ཕུལ་བའི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་ཤན་འབྱེད།

Dpon byang ba'i phyag tu phul ba'i chos kyi shan 'byed

A lengthy polemical work by Dölpopa that addresses various disputed philosophical positions. Pön Jangpa sent Dolpopa some polemical writings with a measure of gold as gift asking him to send him response. In response, Dölpopa wrote this treatise explaining how self-emptiness as many Tibetan scholars understood is not the ultimate truth but buddha-nature endowed with buddha qualities is.

Moon that Illuminates the Indian and Tibetan Interpretations of Buddha Nature

དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་སྙིང་པོའི་དོན་རྒྱ་བོད་ཀྱི་མཁས་པའི་བཞེད་སྲོལ་མ་འདྲེས་པར་གསལ་བར་བྱེད་པའི་ཟླ་གཞོན།

De bzhin gshegs pa snying po'i don rgya bod kyi mkhas pa'i bzhed srol ma 'dres par gsal bar byed pa'i zla gzhon

In this treatise, a contemporary Geluk scholar Sönam Kunga presents the understanding of the spiritual gene or rigs according to the different Buddhist philosophical schools culminating in the theory of buddha-nature in the Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna traditions. He elaborates the transmission of buddha-nature teachings and the interpretation of buddha-nature in the four main schools of Tibetan Buddhism.

An Extensive Explanation that Illuminates the Subtle Points of the Words and Meaning of the Mahāyāna Uttaratantra Treatise

ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་ཚིག་དང་དོན་གྱི་ཆ་རྒྱ་ཆེར་བསྙད་པ་ཕྲ་བའི་དོན་གསལ་བ།

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi tshig dang don gyi cha rgya cher bsnyad pa phra ba'i don gsal ba

Commentary on the Uttaratantra by one of the early Kadam scholars representing the analytic exegesis of the treatise stemming from Ngok Lotsāwa (rngog lugs) and the scholastic tradition of Sangpu Neutok Monastery.

Chariot of the Siddhas of the Dakpo Lineage: The Oral Instructions of Glorious Dusum Khyenpa, an Extensive Commentary on the Madhyamakāvatāra

དབུ་མ་ལ་འཇུག་པའི་རྣམ་བཤད་དཔལ་ལྡན་དུས་གསུམ་མཁྱེན་པའི་ཞལ་ལུང་དྭགས་བརྒྱུད་གྲུབ་པ་ཤིང་རྟ།

Dbu ma la 'jug pa'i rnam bshad dpal ldan dus gsum mkhyen pa'i zhal lung dwags brgyud grub pa'i shing rta

The Eighth Karmapa's commentary on Candrakīrti's Madhyamakāvatāra (Entry into the Middle Way), presented as the oral instructions of the First Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa. This extensive commentary covers the transmission of the teachings of Middle Way to Tibet, polemical discussions on the difference between Middle Way in sūtra and mantra traditions and the proper commentary on the root verses. The author also comments on Candrakīrti's interpretation of buddha-nature teachings as provisional.

The Commentary on the Treatise “Mahāyāna-Uttaratantra”: The Mirror Showing Reality Very Clearly

ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་འགྲེལ་བཤད་དེ་ཁོ་ན་ཉིད་རབ་ཏུ་གསལ་བའི་མེ་ལོང་།

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi 'grel bshad de kho na nyid rab tu gsal ba'i me long

Gö Lotsāwa Zhönu Pal's commentary to the Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā, that presents the text from within the mahāmudrā tradition of Maitrīpa and Gampopa. More specifically, as Mathes reports, the author, himself, states in his colophon that "he combined the commentarial tradition of Loden Sherab with Gampopa's and Drigung Jigten Sumgön's mahāmudrā interpretation of the Ratnagotravibhāga." (A Direct Path to the Buddha Within, p. 411.)

A Commentary on The Treatise on Pointing Out the Tathāgata Heart, Illuminating the Intention of Rangjung

དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་བསྟན་པའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་རྣམ་འགྲེལ་རང་བྱུང་དགོངས་གསལ།

De bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po bstan pa'i bstan bcos kyi rnam 'grel rang byung dgongs gsal

Kongtrul's commentary on the Third Karmapa's short verse synopsis of the Uttaratantra, The Treatise on Pointing Out the Tathāgata Heart. As he states in the opening of the text:

"The Omniscient Victor spoke about [this Heart] in the collection of the sūtras of the final definitive meaning and in the very profound collection of tantras in an unconcealed and clear way. The illustrious sons of this victor, such as the mighty lords of the tenth bhūmi, the regent Ajita and Avalokiteśvara, as well as the mahāsiddha Saraha and his heirs, noble Nāgārjuna, venerable Asaṅga, and others commented on it as being [the Buddha's] direct and straightforward intention. The way of being of the very profound actuality of this Heart does not fit within the scope of the minds of those who roam the [sphere of] dialectics. It was extensively illuminated by the second mighty sage, Rangjung Dorje, the charioteer who was the first in the land of snow mountains to utter the unassailable great lion's roar of the Heart that is the definitive meaning. The quintessence of all his excellent words is this Treatise on Pointing Out the Tathāgata Heart."

Instructions on "The Ultimate Continuum of the Mahāyāna"

ཐེག་ཆེན་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་གདམས་པ།

Theg chen rgyud bla ma'i gdams pa

This work details instructions on the Ratnagotravibhāga that Maitrīpa reportedly received directly from Maitreya in a dream, which he then later retrieved, in actuality, discovering the text concealed within in a stūpa. Mönlam Tsultrim, the attributed Tibetan author of this work that lived centuries later, thus claims that he copied and edited this work from the original manuscript that was passed down in a lineage coming from Maitrīpa, himself.

Pith Instructions on "The Treatise on the Ultimate Continuum of the Mahāyāna"

ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་མན་ངག

Mahāyānottaratantraśāstropadeśa

One of only two extant Sanskrit texts that comment on the Uttaratantra, this highly original work by Sajjana presents a contemplative approach to Maitreya's treatise from an author that was the veritable source for the Tibetan exegetical traditions spawned by his students Ngok Loden Sherab and Tsen Khawoche.

Instruction for the Moment of Death

འདའ་ཀ་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་འཆི་ཁ་མའི་མན་ངག།

'da' ka ye shes kyi 'chi kha ma'i man ngag

One of a series of short texts by the Kadam scholar Kyotön Mönlam Tsultrim, which represent an intersection between the works of Maitreya, particularly the Ratnagotravibhāga, and the practical instructions of Mahāmudrā.

The Repository of Wisdom

ཡེ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་འཇོག་ས།

Ye shes kyi 'jog sa

One of a series of short texts by the Kadam scholar Kyotön Mönlam Tsultrim, which represent an intersection between the works of Maitreya, particularly the Ratnagotravibhāga, and the practical instructions of Mahāmudrā.

Immaculate Light Rays of the Vajra Moon: Instructions on the View of Other-Emptiness of Great Madhyamaka

གཞན་སྟོང་དབུ་མ་ཆེན་པོའི་ལྟ་ཁྲིད་རྡོ་རྗེ་ཟླ་བ་དྲི་མ་མེད་པའི་འོད་ཟེར།

Gzhan stong dbu ma chen po'i lta khrid rdo rje zla ba dri ma med pa'i 'od zer

Written at Dzamtang, a monastic city in southern Amdo that is the primary institutional base of the Jonang school, this work by the famed Kagyu scholar Jamgön Kongtrul is characterized by Brunnhölzl as "an eclectic blend of what could be called "Kagyü Shentong" (primarily based on Maitrīpa, the Third and Seventh Karmapas, and the Eighth and Ninth Situpas) and "Jonang Shentong" (based on Dölpopa and especially Tāranātha), as well as some elements of Śākya Chogden’s Shentong."

Heart of the Luminous Sun

ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་འགྲེལ་བ་གསལ་བ་ཉི་མའི་སྙིང་པོ།

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi 'grel ba gsal ba nyi ma'i snying po

Dumowa Tashi Özer's commentary on the Uttaratantra that is based on the Third Karmapa’s topical outline or summary (bsdus don).

A Commentary on the Meaning of the Words of the Uttaratantra

རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་ཚིག་དོན་རྣམ་པར་འགྲེལ་པ།

Rgyud bla ma'i tshig don rnam par 'grel pa

An early Tibetan commentary on the Uttaratantra, both the śāstra and the vyākhyā, that purports to represent the teachings passed on by the Kashmiri Parahitabhadra to his Tibetan student Marpa, though it is not entirely clear whether this refers to Marpa Dopa or Marpa Chökyi Lodrö, both of whom were important early Kagyu masters and translators that travelled south to receive teachings which they imported and propagated in Tibet. Nevertheless, the text follows more closely Indian commentarial styles and includes typical Mahāmudrā type instructions in its exegesis. Thus it is a prime example of the lineage that descends from Maitrīpa that came to dominate the Kagyu school's approach to the Uttaratantra in later generations.

An Extensive Commentary called "The Brightening Lamp" (84000)

སྒྲོན་མ་གསལ་བར་བྱེད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་རྒྱ་ཆེར་བཤད་པ།

Pradīpoddyotana-nāma-ṭīkā

A commentary on the Guhyasamāja Tantra attributed to Candrakīrti. This extensive commentary on Guhyasamāja Tantra discusses the six hermeneutic strategies of provisional and ultimate meaning, literal and non-literal reading, and interpretable or non-interpretable meaning. It also highlights the natural state of all phenomena such as five aggregates and five elements as enlightened buddhas, and described the innate mind as luminous and endowed with qualities of enlightenment.

The commentary is said to have been written relying on instructions passed down from Nāgārjuna who is said to have been prophesied in the Descent to Laṅka Sūtra to be a promoter of the higher yoga tantras. If one accepts the author of this text to be Candrakīrti, who is the Mādhyamika author of the Madhyamakāvatāra, as tradition has it, then it is evident he adopted here a position on buddha-nature which is different from the one in Madhyamakāvatāra, where his focus is on establishing all things as emptiness, and he argues the sūtras advocating buddha-nature are provisional teachings to lead those beings scared of non-self. In this text, the author accepts the nature of all things to be enlightened, and he argues that 'sentient beings are the base of all buddhas because they possess buddha-nature'(རྒྱལ་བ་ཀུན་གྱི་གནས་ནི་སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད་དེ། དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་ཅན་ཡིན་པའི་ཕྱིར་རོ། །). Traditional scholars would generally explain such a shift in philosophical stance as context-based and not see it as a contradiction or inconsistency. In the context of Guhyasamāja tantra, Candrakīrti could be said to have accepted the concept of buddha-nature as innate enlightenment.

Four Works including Exegesis on the Uttaratantra Entitled the Sun Previously Unseen

རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་རྣམ་བཤད་སྔོན་མེད་ཉི་མ་སོགས་ཆོས་ཚན་བཞི།

Rgyud bla ma'i rnam bshad sngon med nyi ma sogs chos tshan bzhi

Four works including an exegesis on the Uttaratantra by an important Sakya scholar known for taking, at times, controversial stances that challenged the philosophical positions of even his own school. These works, thus, represent a unique view of buddha-nature that is unconfined by the sectarian affiliations that otherwise dominated the Tibetan philosophical landscape.

Illuminating the Definitive Meaning of the Uttaratantra

ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་འགྲེལ་པ་ངེས་དོན་གསལ་བར་བྱེད་པའི་འོད་ཟེར།

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i 'grel pa nges don gsal bar byed pa'i 'od zer

This work presents a late (14th century) Kadampa view on the Ratnagotravibhāga and the associated buddha-nature teachings by an influential representative of this tradition, often referred to as "the second Asaṅga" (thogs med gnyis pa).

Condensed Meaning of the "Ultimate Continuum of the Mahāyāna"

ཐེག་ཆེན་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་དོན་བསྡུས་པ།

Theg chen rgyud bla ma'i don bsdus pa

The first Tibetan commentary written on the Uttaratantra by the translator of the only extant Tibetan translation of the treatise. Furthermore, since the author is also the namesake of the Ngok tradition (rngog lugs) of exegesis of the Uttaratantra, known for its analytic take on the work, this text was highly influential in the conception of a uniquely Tibetan approach to the Uttaratantra and the notion of buddha-nature.

Treatise on Pointing Out the Tathāgata Heart Together with Annotations

དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་གཏན་ལ་དབབ་པའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་མཆན་ཅན།

De bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po gtan la dbab pa'i bstan bcos mchan can

This work is an edition of the Third Karmapa's Treatise on Pointing Out the Tathāgata Heart (De bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po bstan pa'i bstan bcos) embellished with interlinear annotations by the Fifth Shamarpa.

Ornament That Illuminates and Beautifies the Tathāgata Heart

བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོ་གསལ་བའི་རྒྱན།

Bde gshegs snying po gsal ba'i rgyan

Butön's study on the theory of the tathāgatagarbha written in 1359. In this text he argues that the teachings on buddha-nature are of an expedient or provisional meaning, which is a position that is typical of the Sakya view as set forth by Sakya Paṇḍita and others. He backs up this position with citations from the Ghanavyūhasūtra, the Laṅkāvatārasūtra, the Śrīmālādevīsūtra, the Aṅgulimālīyasūtra, and the Ratnagotravibhāga.

Illumination of the Definitive Meaning: A Commentary on the Uttaratantra in Relation to the Sūtras

རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་འགྲེལ་པ་མདོ་དང་སྦྱར་བ་ངེས་པའི་དོན་གྱི་སྣང་བ།

Rgyud bla ma'i 'grel pa mdo dang sbyar ba nges pa'i don gyi snang ba

A voluminous commentary on the Uttaratantra, which, as its title suggests, presents the treatise as a definitive work and elucidates it vis-a-vis the sūtras that are cited within it. It is noteworthy for its scholarship, as an early example of a Tibetan locating the scriptural source material of the Uttaratantra, as well as being widely considered an influential precursor to Dölpopa's treatment of the text.

Distinguishing the Three Vows

སྡོམ་གསུམ་རབ་དབྱེ།

Sdom gsum rab dbye

Written circa 1232 when the author was about fifty years old, it is an expansive treatise on the three vows pertaining to the three vehicles of Buddhism that is one of Sakya Paṇḍita's most important and influential works. Nevertheless, it was controversial in its time for the criticism the author levels against the philosophical positions of various scholars and schools of thought.

Ornamental Flowers: A Commentary on the Mahāyāna Uttaratantra

ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མ་རྒྱན་གྱི་མེ་ཏོག།

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma rgyan gyi me tog

A rather brief work that, as Tsering Wangchuk states, is "the earliest extant Tibetan commentary on the Uttaratantra that cites both tantric and sutric sources to corroborate the claims made in the treatise."

The Explanation of The Treatise on the Ultimate Continuum of the Mahāyāna (84000)

ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་རྣམ་པར་བཤད་པ།

Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā

In the Tibetan tradition, which parses out the root verses and refers to that as the treatise (bstan bcos, śāstra), this title references the full text complete with the root verses and the accompanying prose commentary (rnam par bshad pa, vyākhyā). While the earlier Chinese tradition attributes authorship of both aspects of the text to the as of yet still mysterious figure of Sāramati, the Tibetan tradition attributes the treatise to the Bodhisattva Maitreya and this commentary to the illustrious founder of the Yogācāra school, Asaṅga. However, unlike the Chinese tradition which delineates different aspects of the text into the basic verses, the commentarial verses, and the prose commentary, the Tibetan tradition actually preserves two separate versions of the text we know as the Ratnagotravibhāga.

The first, made up entirely of the so-called root verses, corresponds to the Sanskrit title Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra, though it is usually referenced in this tradition by the Tibetan equivalent of the latter subtitle, Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos, which is commonly rendered into English as the Treatise on the Ultimate Continuum of the Great Vehicle and is abbreviated as RGV. However, the full title, Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos dkon mchog gi rigs rnam par dbye ba, does appear at the end of each chapter of the canonical Tibetan recensions. Nevertheless, this version is likely a Tibetan redaction, in that thus far there is no evidence of a Sanskrit version written entirely in verse that excludes the commentarial sections that explain them.

The second, which combines the verses with their accompanying prose commentary, corresponds to the *Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā as it has become known in academic circles where it is referenced with the abbreviation RGVV. However, in Tibetan the subtitle is merely appended with the equivalent of vyākhyā, i.e. Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos rnam par bshad pa, and thus a translation of the Tibetan title of the complete text would be something akin to the Explanatory Commentary on the Treatise on the Ultimate Continuum of the Great Vehicle. However, the extant Sanskrit recension of the Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra directly corresponds to the Tibetan version known as the *Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā, in that it contains both the root verses and the prose commentary. Though, again, lacking a Sanskrit work entitled the Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā, we can surmise that its corresponding Tibetan title was likely manufactured in order to delineate it from the streamlined verse redaction, while the Sanskrit title *Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā was in turn a product of modern scholars. On the surface it would seem that this title is a combination of the Chinese title back translated into Sanskrit as the Ratnagotraśāstra and the one found in the Tibetan editions, which state the Sanskrit title as the Mahāyānottaratantraśāstravyākhya. Nevertheless, in terms of content, the Sanskrit RGV corresponds to the Tibetan RGVV, in that the Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra is the same text as Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos rnam par bshad pa.

Also, see the Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra and for a recent essay on the text: On the Ratnagotravibhāga by Alexander Gardner.

The History of Dharma Associated with Maitreya

བྱམས་པ་དང་འབྲེལ་བའི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་བྱུང་ཚུལ།

Byams pa dang 'brel chos kyi byung tshul

The Precious Lamp That Illuminates the Definitive Meaning of the Mahāyāna Uttaratantra Treatise

ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་ངེས་དོན་གསལ་བར་བྱེད་པའི་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་སྒྲོན་མེ།

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi nges don gsal bar byed pa'i rin po che'i gron me

An extensive commentary on the Uttaratantra written by a contemporary of Dölpopa and Butön during the height of the debate over the definitive nature of the treatise and its teaching on buddha-nature. Lodrö Tsungme presents an interpretation of buddha-nature which is different from what is given by many masters of Sangphu including Ngok Loden Sherab. As his position are quite similar to what Longchenpa espoused later, the commentary was mistakenly attributed to Longchenpa by some Nyingma followers.

Instructions on the Path to Reality

ཆོས་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ལམ་ཁྲིད།

Chos nyid kyi lam khrid

One of a series of short texts by the Kadam scholar Kyotön Mönlam Tsultrim, which represent an intersection between the works of Maitreya, particularly the Ratnagotravibhāga and Dharmadharmatāvibhāga, and the practical instructions of Mahāmudrā, this text discusses the spiritual gene, the genesis of saṃsāra, the path to awakening and the nature of Buddhahood.

Instructions on the View of Other-Emptiness

གཞན་སྟོང་ལྟ་ཁྲིད།

Gzhan stong lta khrid

A brief summary of the three natures (trisvabhāva / rang bzhin gsum) of the Yogācāra school that was reportedly reproduced from a manuscript of the writings of Tsen Khawoche and included in the One Hundred and Eight Instructions of the Jonang (Jo nang khrid brgya), that was edited together by Kunga Drolchok. If reports of its provenance are correct, then it would likely be the earliest appearance in a Tibetan work of the terms other-emptiness (gzhan stong) and Great Madhyamaka (dbu ma chen po).

Essence of Other-Emptiness

གཞན་སྟོང་སྙིང་པོ།

Gzhan stong snying po

A fairly brief work by Tāranātha on the basic tenets of the four systems of Buddhist philosophy, namely the Vaibhāṣika, Sautrāntrika, Cittamātra, and Madhyamaka. His exposition culminates with a presentation of the Great Madhyamaka, the pinnacle of the four, which is synonymous with other-emptiness as represented by the Jonang tradition.

Praise of the Dharmadhātu (84000)

ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབྱིངས་སུ་བསྟོད་པ།

Dharmadhātustava

Also known as the Dharmadhātustotra, it is a praise written in verse attributed to Nāgārjuna. A Sanskrit manuscript found in Tibet was recently published in 2015. However, before this it was only extant in Tibetan and Chinese translations, though fragments of this text were found to be quoted in other Sanskrit texts. It is notable as perhaps the only work of Nāgārjuna that takes a positivistic view of emptiness and the existence of wisdom, in this case represented by the dharmadhātu. In fact much of the language echoes descriptions of buddha-nature. Though modern scholarship has thus called the attribution of this text to Nāgārjuna into question based on its contents, Tibetan scholars have utilized the text as a support for works that promote or defend tathāgatagarbha and it is especially prominently featured in works on other-emptiness (gzhan stong) and Great Madhyamaka.

An Explanation of In Praise of Madhyamaka-Dharmadhātu

དབུ་མ་ཆོས་དབྱིངས་བསྟོད་པའི་རྣམ་པར་བཤད་པ།

Dbu ma chos dbyings bstod pa'i rnam par bshad pa

Among all available commentaries on the Dharmadhātustava, the Third Karmapa's is both the earliest and the longest, composed in either 1326 or 1327. Until the recent appearance of a single dbu med manuscript (fifty-two folios with eight lines each), the text had been considered lost at least since the Tibetan exodus in 1959. The title of Rangjung Dorje's commentary—An Explanation of In Praise of Madhyamaka-Dharmadhātu—already indicates that he obviously considers Nāgārjunas text to be a Madhyamaka work, not fundamentally different from what the latter says in his well-known collection of reasoning and elsewhere. Indeed then, considerable parts of the commentary are devoted to showing that the Dharmadhātustava does not conflict with Nāgārjuna's classical Madhyamaka works. Moreover, Rangjung Dorje freely uses typical terminologies from both the Indian Madhyamaka and Yogācāra traditions, such as the frameworks of the two realities, the three natures, the eight consciousnesses, the four wisdoms, and the two/three kāyas; the middle and extremes; false imagination; tathāgatagarbha; natural luminosity; and the fundamental change of state. Through both this and extensively quoting mainly Nāgārjuna, Maitreya, Asaṅga, and Candrakīrti, these two traditions are shown to perfectly accord in the essential points. Thus, the Karmapa's commentary often offers original interpretations and also elaborates on a number of supplementary topics, though it does not explicitly explain every single line of the Dharmadhātustava.

(Karl Brunnhölzl, In Praise of Dharmadhātu, 2007: pp. 193-194.)

Lion's Roar: Affirming Other Emptiness

གཞན་སྟོང་ཁས་ལེན་སེང་གེའི་ང་རོ།

Gzhan stong khas len seng ge'i nga ro

Mipam's other "lion's roar"—his Lion's Roar: Affirming Other Emptiness—shows the way he establishes an other-emptiness view that affirms the existence of the ultimate truth as not empty of its own essence. (Source: Duckworth, Douglas. Jamgön Mipham: His Life and Teachings. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2011: p 58.)

Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna

ཏ་ཤེང་ཅི་ཟིན་ལུང་།(*ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་མོས་པ་བསྐྱེད་པའི་བསྟན་བཅོས།)

Dasheng qixin lun

The Treatise on the Awakening of Faith According to the Mahāyāna is an immensely important treatise popular in all traditions of Buddhism in East Asia. It was written in China in the middle of the sixth century, heavily influenced by Indian Yogācāra and tathāgatagarbha teachings, providing a scriptural foundation for both buddha-nature theory and the doctrine of original enlightenment. The text synthesized tathāgatagarbha and ālayavijñāna theories to explain how the mind is the source for both enlightenment and ignorance. A relatively short text at just nine pages, it lucidly, if densely, explains important topics such as the nature of mind and consciousness and the threefold bodies of the Buddha, concluding with elegant meditation instructions. Although traditionally said to have been composed by Aśvaghoṣa and translated by Paramārtha, contemporary scholarly consensus has raised doubts about this attribution, and the text's authorship is typically said to be unknown.

There is no known Tibetan translation but the text is mentioned three times in Saṃdhigambhīranirmocanasūtratīkā written by the Chinese scholar Wan tshik (རྒྱའི་སློབ་དཔོན་ཝན་ཚིག་གིས་མཛད་པ་ འཕགས་པ་དགོངས་པ་ཟབ་མོ་ངེས་པར་འགྲེལ་བའི་མདོ་རྒྱ་ཆེར་འགྲེལ་པ།) and translated by Gö Chödrup.

Mountain Dharma: An Ocean of Definitive Meaning

རི་ཆོས་ངེས་དོན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་མཐར་ཐུག་ཐུན་མོང་མ་ཡིན་པའི་མན་ངག་

Ri chos nges don rgya mtsho zhes bya ba mthar thug thun mong ma yin pa'i man ngag

Dolpopa's seminal work considered to be the most definitive philosophical treatise of the Jonang tradition. It became famous as the crucial source for the presentation of his view of other-emptiness (zhentong).

The Verses on the Ornament for the Mahāyāna Sūtras (84000)

ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་མདོ་སྡེའི་རྒྱན་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་ཚིག་ལེའུར་བྱས་པ།

Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkārakārikā

In Sanskrit, the “Ornament for the Mahāyāna Sūtras”; one of the Five Dharma Treatises of Maitreya (byams chos sde lnga) said to have been presented to Asaṅga by the bodhisattva Maitreya in the Tuṣita heaven. Written in verse, the text offers a systematic presentation of the practices of the bodhisattva from the standpoint of the Yogācāra school and is one of the most important of the Indian Mahāyāna śāstras. Its twenty-one chapters deal with (1) the proof that the Mahāyāna sūtras are the word of the Buddha; (2) taking refuge in the three jewels (ratnatraya); (3) the lineage (gotra) of enlightenment necessary to undertake the bodhisattva path; (4) the generation of the aspiration to enlightenment (bodhicittotpāda); (5) the practice of the bodhisattva; (6) the nature of reality, described from the Yogācāra perspective; (7) the attainment of power by the bodhisattva; (8) the methods of bringing oneself and others to maturation; (9) enlightenment and the three bodies of a buddha (trikāya); (10) faith in the Mahāyāna; (11) seeking complete knowledge of the dharma; (12) teaching the dharma; (13) practicing in accordance with the dharma; (14) the precepts and instructions received by the bodhisattva; (15) the skillful methods of the bodhisattva; (16) the six perfections (pāramitā) and the four means of conversion (saṃgrahavastu), through which bodhisattvas attract and retain disciples; (17) the worship of the Buddha; (18) the constituents of enlightenment (bodhipākṣikadharma); (19) the qualities of the bodhisattva; and (20-21) the consummation of the bodhisattva path and the attainment of buddhahood. (Source: The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, p. 514)

Sacred Teaching on the Single Intention

དམ་ཆོས་དགོངས་པ་གཅིག་པ།

Dam chos dgongs pa gcig pa

One of the core texts of the Drikung Kagyu tradition that is reported to be the oral teachings of Jikten Gönpo that were written down and edited together by his student Sherab Jungne. Although not all manuscripts are alike, a beautiful reproduction from Garchen Stiftung (2015) that was studied by Dr. Jan-Ulrich Sobisch contains the following chapter topics:

• (1) Pure View, Practice, and Conduct
• (2-4) The Three Vows
• (5) Three Dharma Wheels
• (6) Dependent Origination
• (7) The Resultant Stage of Buddhahood

The Verses on Distinguishing the Middle from the Extremes (84000)

དབུས་དང་མཐའ་རྣམ་པར་འབྱེད་པའི་ཚིག་ལེའུར་བྱས་པ།

Madhyāntavibhāga

In Sanskrit, “Differentiation of the Middle Way and the Extremes”; one of the Five Dharma Treatises of Maitreya (byams chos sde lnga) said to have been presented to Asaṅga by the bodhisattva Maitreya in the Tuṣita heaven. Written in verse, it is one of the most important Yogācāra delineations of the three natures (trisvabhāva), especially as they figure in the path to enlightenment, where the obstacles created by the imaginary (parikalpita) are overcome ultimately by the antidote of the consummate (pariniṣpanna). The “middle way” exposed here is that of the Yogācāra, and is different from that of Nāgārjuna, although the names of the two extremes to be avoided—the extreme of permanence (śāśvatānta) and the extreme of annihilation (ucchedānta)—are the same. Here the extreme of permanence is the existence of external objects, the imaginary nature (parikalpitasvabhāva). The extreme of annihilation would seem to include Nāgārjuna’s emptiness of intrinsic nature (svabhāva). The middle way entails upholding the existence of consciousness (vijñāna) as the dependent nature (paratantrasvabhāva) and the existence of the consummate nature (pariniṣpannasvabhāva). The work is divided into five chapters, which consider the three natures, the various forms of obstruction to be abandoned on the path, the ultimate truth according to Yogācāra, the means of cultivating the antidotes to the defilements, and the activity of the Mahāyāna path. (Source: The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, p. 489)

The Blue Annals

དེབ་ཐེར་སྔོན་པོ་

Deb ther sngon po

The famous historical work by Gö Lotsawa Zhönu Pal (1392-1481), likely referenced by more scholars than any other single work. It was translated into English by G. Roerich with the help of Gendün Chöpel.

The Great Calculation of the Doctrine Which Has the Significance of a Fourth Council

བཀའ་བསྡུ་བཞི་པའི་དོན་བསྟན་རྩིས་ཆེན་པོ།

Bka' bsdu bzhi pa'i don bstan rtsis chen po

The seminal work of Dölpopa often simply referred to as the Fourth Council. Structured around the notion of four eons drawn from the Kālacakra Tantra, it is one of the primary sources for Dölpopa's presentation of his other-emptiness (zhentong) philosophy.

Commentarial Notes on Thoroughly Ascertaining the Great Middle Way of the Expansive Supreme Vehicle

ཐེག་མཆོག་ཤིན་ཏུ་རྒྱས་པའི་དབུ་མ་ཆེན་པོ་རྣམ་པར་ངེས་པའི་རྣམ་བཤད་ཟིན་བྲིས།

Theg mchog shin tu rgyas pa'i dbu ma chen po rnam par nges pa'i rnam bshad zin bris dbu phyogs legs pa

A collection of explanatory notes on Tāranātha's Theg mchog shin tu rgyas pa'i dbu ma chen po rnam par nges pa compiled by his disciple Yeshe Gyamtso, the book presents in detail the concepts of the Middle Way, the understanding of the ground, general phenomenology, Buddhist theories of consciousness and Mahāyāna path leading to Buddhahood, which is considered to be a quality latent in all sentient beings obscured by adventitious afflictions. The notes on the last two chapters were either not written or lost. Lobsang Chogdrub Gyatso added the commentary on the last two chapters in 1894.

Essential Points on the Origins of the Cycle of Teachings on the Kālacakra

དཔལ་དུས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོའི་ཆོས་སྐོར་གྱི་བྱུང་ཁུངས་ཉེར་མཁོ་བསྡུས་པ།

Dpal dus kyi 'khor lo'i chos bskor gyi byung khungs nyer mkho

Tāranātha's history of the Kālacakra teachings.

The Jewel Lamp Illuminating the Definitive Meaning of the Glorious Kālacakra

དཔལ་དུས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོའི་ངེས་དོན་གསལ་བར་བྱེད་པ་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་སྒྲོན་མ།

Dpal dus kyi 'khor lo'i nges don gsal bar byed pa rin po che'i sgron ma

In the Jewel Lamp Illuminating the Definitive Meaning of the Glorious Kālacakra, Rendawa Zhönu Lodrö presents the content of Kālacakra tantra using the scheme of the causal continuum or the ground nature, the method continuum or the path, and the resultant continuum or the all pervading adamantine body of the Buddha. Though not a polemical work, he repeatedly refutes the position holding buddha-nature and resultant Buddha body to be identical, absolute and eternal. He provides a very clear and comprehensive presentation of the causal continuum through conventional and ultimate types of the ground nature, the method or path continuum by discussing the six limbs of yogic applications in Kālacakra, and the resultant state by discussing its nature, cause, duration, forms and qualities.

Undermining the Haughtiness of Others by the Wheel of Brahma: A Treatise Clarifying Mahāmudrā

ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོ་གསལ་བར་བྱེད་པའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཚངས་པའི་འཁོར་ལོས་གཞན་བློའི་དྲེགས་པ་ཉམས་བྱེད།

Phyag rgya chen po gsal bar byed pa'i bstan bcos tshangs pa'i 'khor los gzhan blo'i dregs pa nyams byed

In this book, Śākya Chokden seeks to explain the luminous nature of the mind which he says is also popularly given the name Mahāmudrā in Tibet (སེམས་ཀྱི་རང་བཞིན་འོད་གསལ་ལ།། ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོའི་མཚན་གསོལ་ནས། །གངས་ཅན་ལྗོངས་སུ་ཆེར་གྲགས་པ། །དེ་ཉིད་མདོ་ཙམ་གསལ་བར་བྱ།།). In elucidating the Mahāmudrā advocated by Gampopa, he presents a detailed explanation of it by pointing out that the Mahāmudrā in this context is the luminous nature of the mind, which is common to all Mahāyāna traditions, and the one which is explicitly taught in the works of Maitreya, particularly in the Ultimate Continuum. This nature is totally obscured or tainted in the ground phase (གཞི་དུས་མ་དག་པ་), partially tainted or obscured at the path phase (ལམ་དུས་ཕྱོགས་གཅིག་དག་པ་) and fully purified at the fruition phase (འབྲས་དུས་ཐམས་ཅད་དག་པ་). He writes that the basic element of buddha nature is the ground to be purified, the stains to be removed are nine-fold perhaps referring to the nine analogies used to illustrate how buddha-nature is obscured by the afflictive emotions, the antidote which purifies is the discernment of buddha-nature and the final result the perfection of purity, self and bliss. A resemblance of the final result is already perceived on the Path of Seeing, and such experience of buddha nature is said to be the seeing of Mahāmudrā.

He states that Mahāmudrā in this context is not the emptiness of non-implicative negation as argued in the scholastic writings of Nāgārjuna but what is taught in the writings of Maitreya, or the definitive ultimate reality taught in the Third Turning after having taught self-emptiness in the Middle Turning. He then explains how such nature is actualized through meditation by removing the dualistic conceptual thoughts and emotions which are included in the eight types of consciousness that characterize the three realms of cycle of existence. In the final section, he refutes several misunderstanding and criticism concerning Mahāmudrā and argues that this Mahāmudrā cannot be realized merely through conceptual reasoning but through practice of non-mentation with the help of instructions which points out the nature of the mind and devotion to guru. Intellectual study and single-pointed concentration are not prerequisites for the experience of Mahāmudrā. He adds that positing the emptiness, which is a non-implicative negation after a reductionist analysis, as Mahāmudrā is not in accordance with the Ultimate Continuum or the purport of the hymns by Saraha.

The Marvelous Wish-fulfilling Harvest: An Eloquent Commentary on Ascertaining the Three Vows

སྡོམ་པ་གསུམ་རྣམ་པར་ངེས་པའི་འགྲེལ་པ་ལེགས་བཤད་ངོ་མཚར་དཔག་བསམ་གྱི་སྙེ་མ།

Sdom pa gsum rnam par nges pa'i 'grel pa legs bshad ngo mtshar dpag bsam gyi snye ma

Minling Lochen's voluminous commentary on Ngari Paṇchen's Ascertaining the Three Vows.

The Profound Inner Meaning

ཟབ་མོ་ནང་དོན།

Zab mo nang don

Rang byung's most famous, and perhaps most difficult work is yet another verse text, his Zab mo nang don, on the Anuttarayogatantras. This eleven-chapter work is thirty-two folios in length. According to a colophon provided by Kong sprul, it was written in the Water Male Dog year, 1322, at Bde chen steng. The colophons to the present redactions say only that it was written in the Dog Year. (Source: Schaeffer, K., The Enlightened Heart of Buddhahood, p. 16)

Treasury of Knowledge

ཤེས་བྱ་ཀུན་ལ་ཁྱབ་པའི་མཛོད།

Shes bya kun la khyab pa'i mdzod

In Tibetan religious literature, its ten books stand out as a unique masterpiece embodying the entire range of Buddhist teachings as they were preserved in Tibet. In his monumental work, Jamgön Kongtrul presents an encyclopedic account of the major lines of thought and practice that comprise Tibetan Buddhism. (source: Tsadra Foundation's Treasury of Knowledge Series)

The Vajra Convergence: A Teaching on How to Practice the View and Meditation of the Definitive Meaning

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

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.

Ornament Illuminating the Essence: A Commentary on the Famous Text, the Four Dharmas of the Incomparable Dakpo

མཉམ་མེད་དྭགས་པོའི་ཆོས་བཞིར་གྲགས་པའི་གཞུང་གི་འགྲེལ་པ་སྙིང་པོ་གསལ་བའི་རྒྱན།

Mnyam med dwags po'i chos bzhir grags pa'i gzhung gi 'grel pa snying po gsal ba'i rgyan

A detailed commentary on Gampopa's Four Dharmas (chos bzhi) instruction for fundamental Buddhist practice. The root verses containing the four dharma of Gampopa were written by his learned student from Laya, Jangchub Ngödup exactly according to how Gampopa taught, and the extensive commentary containing a rich array of citations and arguments was authored by Jangchub Ngödup himself. The topic four dharmas of Gampopa refers to the four points of making dharma practice a genuine dharma practice, making dharma progress on the path, dispelling confusion on the path, and see confusion as pristine wisdom.

General Outline of the Tenets of the Single Intention that Reveal Errors Concerning the Inner Meaning of the Profound Great Discourses that Distinguish Dharma from that which is not Dharma

ཆོས་དང་ཆོས་མ་ཡིན་པར་རྣམ་པར་འབྱེད་པའི་གཏམ་ཆེན་པོ་ཟབ་མོར་ནང་དོན་འཁྲུལ་པར་ངོ་སྤྲོད་པར་བྱེད་པ་གྲུབ་མཐའི་སྤྱི་ཆིང་།

Chos dang chos ma yin par rnam par 'byed pa'i gtam chen po zab mor nang don 'khrul par ngo sprod par byed pa grub mtha'i spyi ching

The Eight Karmapa's general outline of the tenets of the Sacred Teaching on the Single Intention (Dam chos dgongs pa gcig pa).

Treasury of Precious Sūtras and Tantras

མདོ་རྒྱུད་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་མཛོད།

Mdo rgyud rin po che'i mdzod

In 1838, Choying Tobden Dorje, a Buddhist yogi-scholar of eastern Tibet, completed a multivolume masterwork that traces the entire path of the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism from beginning to end. Written by a lay practitioner for laypeople, it was intended to be accessible, informative, inspirational, and above all, practical. Its twenty-five books, or topical divisions, offer a comprehensive and detailed view of the Buddhist path according to the early translation school of Tibetan Buddhism, spanning the vast range of Buddhist teachings from the initial steps to the highest esoteric teachings of great perfection. (Source: Shambhala Publications)

Naturally Liberating Whatever You Meet: Instructions to Guide You on the Profound Path

ཟབ་ལམ་ཁྲིད་ཀྱི་མན་ངག་འཕྲད་ཚད་རང་གྲོལ།

Zab lam khrid kyi man ngag 'phrad tshad rang grol

Thrangu Rinpoche met Khenpo Gangshar in the summer of 1957 when Khenpo Gangshar went to Thrangu Monastery in eastern Tibet. While there, Khenpo Gangshar gave these instructions, which are a distillation of the essential points ofthe practices of both mahamudra and dzogchen. Later they were written down, first in a very short form and then as the slightly longer text known as "Naturally Liberating Whatever You Meet." What makes them so beneficial for our time is that Khenpo Gangshar presents them in a way that is easy for anyone to understand and put into practice. (Source: Vivid Awareness, Translator's Introduction, pp. IX-X)

Ornament of Sugatagarbha: A Discourse Ascertaining the Definite Great Middle Way

ངེས་དོན་དབུ་མ་ཆེན་པོའི་ཚུལ་རྣམ་པར་ངེས་པའི་གཏམ་བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོའི་རྒྱན།

Nges don dbu ma chen po'i tshul rnam par nges pa'i gtam bde gshegs snying po'i rgyan

In this work on Great Madhyamaka, the Ornament of Sugatagarbha, Getse Mahāpaṇḍita discusses the different tenet systems and their brief history and aligns them to the three Turnings of the Wheel of Dharma. He delves into discussion of Madhyamaka and includes both traditions from Nāgārjuna and Asaṅga was Middle Way. He introduces the term coarse outer Middle Way (རགས་པ་ཕྱིའི་དབུ་མ་) to refer to the Mādhyamika tradition which focusses on emptiness as taught in the Perfection of Wisdom sūtras and the subtle inner Middle Way (ཕྲ་བ་ནང་གི་དབུ་མ་) to refer to the teachings on buddha-nature in the last Turning. Getse Mahāpaṇḍita underscores how buddha nature, the innate nature of the mind, or the self cognising awareness is the ultimate reality. He highlights the Great Madhyamaka of other-emptiness as the ultimate truth and identifies that with the final message of the Kālacakra, Mahāmudrā and Dzogchen teachings as well as the final intent of the great masters.

Karmapa's Great Commentary on the Sacred Teaching of the Single Intention

དམ་ཆོས་དགོངས་པ་གཅིག་པའི་ཀར་ཊཱིཀ་ཆེན་མོ།

Dam chos dgongs pa gcig pa'i kar TIka chen mo

The 8th Karmapa's commentary on the famous treatise, the Sacred Teaching on the Single Intention (Dam chos dgongs pa gcig pa) by Drikungpa master Jikten Gönpo. The Single Intention is a compendium of critical philosophical, soteriological, and moral positions taught by Jikten Gönpo and written down by his disciple and nephew Sherab Jungne. The text contains 150 critical vajra words (རྡོ་རྗེའི་གསུང་) in seven groups (ཚོམས་), along with another 47 appended points (ལྷན་ཐབས་). The root text composed by Sherab Jungne has seen several commentaries, including one by the first Drikung Chungtsang Chökyi Drakpa. This extensive commentary by the 8th Karmapa Mikyö Dorje is perhaps the only long commentary by Karma Kagyu master on the Single Intention.

Epistle: A Drop of Nectar

སྤྲིངས་ཡིག་བདུད་རྩིའི་ཐིག་ལེ།

Springs yig bdud rtsi'i thig le

Instruction by Ngok Lotsāwa Loden Sherab written as a letter of advice on Buddhist practice framed as a formal correspondence to one Gatön Sherab Drak and other monks. Ngok Lotsāwa covers many topics in his advice from thinking of death and impermanence, cultivating enthusiasm, compassion, bodhicitta, etc., following the discipline and good teacher to cultivating the crop of Buddha's qualities having moistened the seed of buddha-nature by the rain of learning coming from the cloud of one's master. He advises monks to follow the words of Nāgārjuna and understand the notion of emptiness beyond existence and non-existence.

Essence of Sūtra and Tantra: An Explanation of Buddhagarbha

སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་སྙིང་པོའི་རྣམ་བཤད་མདོ་རྒྱུད་སྙིང་པོ།

Sangs rgyas kyi snying po'i rnam bshad mdo rgyud snying po

Śākya Chokden on buddha-nature. This text is a section of a more expansive work on the Ratnagotravibhāga, titled the rgyud bla ma'i rnam bshad sngon med nyi ma sogs chos tshan bzhi.

The Wish-fulfilling Meru: A Discourse Explaining the Origination of Madhyamaka

དབུ་མའི་བྱུང་ཚུལ་རྣམ་པར་བཤད་པའི་གཏམ་ཡིད་བཞིན་ལྷུན་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་བསྟན་བཅོས།

Dbu ma'i byung tshul rnam par bshad pa'i gtam yid bzhin lhun po zhes bya ba'i bstan bcos

A history of the Madhyamaka philosophy in India and Tibet written by Śākya Chokden between 1484-1490 in Lhasa with Kongtön Chökyi Gyaltsen as scribe. In this text, he defines what is a Middle Way and presents the transmission of different Middle Way thoughts.

Supplication to the Profound Other-Emptiness Madhyamaka Lineage

ཟབ་མོ་གཞན་སྟོང་དབུ་མའི་བརྒྱུད་འདེབས།

Zab mo gzhan stong dbu ma'i brgyud 'debs

Tāranātha's lineage supplication to the other-emptiness Madhyamaka tradition that was preserved by the Jonang school. Tāranātha traces the origin of the other-emptiness to the Buddha, who passed it down through Maitreya, Asaṅga, Vasubandhu to Maitripa or from Vasubandhu through Sthiramati, Guṇamāti, et al. to Maitrīpa, or from Buddha through Vajrapaṇi, Rahulabhadra, Nāgārjuna, Śabari, Maitrīpa, from Maitrīpa through Anandakīrti, Ratnakaraśānti, Sajjṇāna, Anandavajra, then in Tibet through Tsen Khawoche, et al. until Tāranātha.

Ornament of Other-Emptiness Madhyamaka

གཞན་སྟོང་དབུ་མའི་རྒྱན།

Gzhan stong dbu ma'i rgyan

A polemical work defending the other-emptiness view of the Jonang tradition that addresses the criticism of this position by other Tibetan schools. This discursive text discusses the provisional or ultimate nature of the three turnings of the wheel of dharma, the position of Indian masters and philosophical schools, the intent of the Mahāyāna sūtras and the rebuts the criticism of other-emptiness by proponents of the self-emptiness theory in Tibet.

The Scriptural Citations for the Ornament of Madhyamaka of Other-Emptiness

གཞན་སྟོང་དབུ་མའི་རྒྱན་གྱི་ལུང་སྦྱོར།

Gzhan stong dbu ma'i rgyan gyi lung sbyor

A supplement to Tāranātha's Ornament of Madhyamaka of Other-Emptiness (Gzhan stong dbu ma'i brgyan) that focuses on the scriptural sources of the other-emptiness philosophy. The scriptural citations and reference which were barely mentioned or referred to in the Ornament of Madhyamaka of Other-Emptiness are quoted in full to substantiate the claims of the proponents of Other-Emptiness.

An Excellent Ornament of a Brilliant Mind: A Concise Presentation of Buddhist and Non-Buddhist Tenets

ཕྱི་ནང་གྲུབ་མཐའི་རྣམ་བཞག་གི་བསྡུས་དོན་བློ་གསལ་ཡིད་ཀྱི་རྒྱན་བཟང་།

Phyi nang grub mtha'i rnam bzhag gi bsdus don blo gsal yid kyi rgyan bzang

A condensed presentation of the tenets of Buddhist and Non-Buddhist philosophical systems by a modern Jonang scholar. This treatise presents the main advocates, the main literary sources, the view or ground reality, the practice on the path and resultant states. The highest Buddhist tenet system, the Mādhyamika school, is divided into the rangtong or the self-emptiness sub-school and the zhentong or the other-emptiness sub-school.

The Ornament for Clear Realizations, A Treatise of Personal Instructions on the Perfection of Wisdom (84000)

ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པའི་མན་ངག་གི་བསྟན་བཅོས་མངོན་པར་རྟོགས་པའི་རྒྱན་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་ཚིག་ལེའུར་བྱས་པ

Abhisamayālaṃkāra

In Sanskrit, “Ornament of Realization”; a major scholastic treatise of the Mahāyāna, attributed to Maitreyanātha (c. 330 ce). Its full title is Abhisamayālaṃkāra-prajñāpāramitā upadeśa-śāstra (T. Shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa'i man ngag gi bstan bcos mngon par rtogs pa'i rgyan) or “Treatise Setting Forth the Perfection of Wisdom called ‘Omament for Realization.’” In the Tibetan tradition, the Abhisamayālaṃkāra is counted among the five treatises of Maitreya (Byams chos sde lnga). The 273 verses of the Abhisamayālaṃkāra provide a schematic outline of the perfection of wisdom, or prajñāpāramitā, approach to enlightenment, specifically as delineated in the Pañcaviṃśati-sāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā (“Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines”). This detailed delineation of the path is regarded as the “hidden teaching” of the prajñāpāramitā sūtras. Although hardly known in East Asian Buddhism (until the modern Chinese translation by Fazun), the work was widely studied in Tibet, where it continues to hold a central place in the monastic curricula of all the major sects. (Source: The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, p. 11)

The Ornament of the Heart of the Tathāgata: A Commentary on The Descent into Laṅkā (84000)

ལང་ཀར་གཤེགས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོའི་འགྲེལ་པ་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོའི་རྒྱན།

Tathāgatahṛdayālaṃkāra

Jñānavajra's commentary on the Laṅkāvatārasūtra, which is one of two Indian commentaries on the Sūtra that has survived only in Tibetan translation.

Fearless Lion's Roar: The Tradition of Jonang Which Ascertains the Profound Meaning of the Supreme Vehicle of Cause and Result

རྒྱུ་དང་འབྲས་བུའི་ཐེག་པ་མཆོག་གི་གནས་ལུགས་ཟབ་མོའི་དོན་རྣམ་པར་ངེས་པ་རྗེ་ཇོ་ནང་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་རིང་ལུགས་འཇིགས་མེད་གདོང་ལྔའི་ང་རོ།

Gzhan stong chen mo

Along with Dol po pa's Ri chos Nges don Rgya mtsho and Tāranātha’s Dbu ma Theg mchog Rab dbyed Brgyad, the Gzhan stong Chen mo comprises the third major textbook studied within the Gzhan stong Madhyamaka curriculum at major Jonang monastic universities, including 'Dzam thang Dgon pa, Bswe Dgon pa and Lcam mda' Dgon pa. For pedagogical reasons, and because of the structure of Mkhan po Blo grags' work, monks generally begin by studying sūtra gzhan stong separately from tantric gzhan stong in preparation for examining Dol po pa's synthetic masterpiece interweaving sūtra and tantra. In a coherent structure identical to the Ri chos, the Gzhan stong Chen mo presents gzhan stong philosophical thinking systematically in accord with the outline of ground (gzhi), path (lam) and fruition ('bras bu), treating sūtra gzhan stong within the main body of the text and tantric gzhan stong as an appendix.

Michael Sheehy, 2007.

A Summary of the View (84000)

ལྟ་བ་མདོར་བསྡུས་པ།

Lta ba mdor bsdus pa

A condensed explanation of the view of Mahāmudrā presented in verse. It is cataloged as an anonymous composition in the Derge Tengyur, however the closing line of the text attributes it to Nāropa, with the customary repetition of the title appearing as rje na ro pa'i lta ba mdor bsdus pa.

The Great Treasure of Faith and Devotion: A Praise to Sugatagarbha

བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོ་ལ་བསྟོད་པ་དད་གུས་ཀྱི་གཏེར་ཆེན་པོ།

Bde gshegs snying po la bstod pa dad gus kyi gter chen po

Verses of praise to sugatagarbha, or buddha-nature, composed by Dölpopa.

Benediction of Sugatagarbha

བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོའི་བཀྲ་ཤིས།

Bde gshegs snying po'i bkra shis

Verses of benediction to invoke the auspiciousness of sugatagarbha composed by Dölpopa.

An Exposition of Mahāmudrā: The Treasure Vault of the Victors

ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོའི་མན་ངག་གི་བཤད་སྦྱར་རྒྱལ་བའི་གན་མཛོད།

Phyag rgya chen po'i man ngag gi bshad sbyar rgyal ba'i gan mdzod

In his exposition of the Mahāmudrā view in the Phyag chen rgyal ba’i gan mdzod, Padma dkar po adopts Yang dgon pa’s famous distinction between the mahāmudrā in the modes of abiding (gnas lugs phyag chen) and error ( ’khrul lugs phyag chen) as an interpretive schema both for [1] clarifying the doctrine of the unity or nonduality of the two truths—which he takes as a central doctrine of the Madhyamaka, Mantrayāna and ’Brug pa Bka’ brgyud traditions—and [2] criticizing the rival Jo nang account of reality which posits the conventional and ultimate as two great kingdoms that have nothing in common. (Source: Mahamudra and the Middle Way - Vol. 2, 157.)

The Precious Lamp: An Extensive Explanation of the Words and Meaning of the Mahāyāna Uttaratantra

ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་ཚིག་དོན་རྣམ་པར་བཤད་པ་རིན་ཆེན་སྒྲོན་མེ།

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i tshig don rnam par bshad pa rin chen sgron me

This is a commentary on Ratnagotravibhāga by the 69th Je Khenpo of Bhutan, Gendun Rinchen. The commentary was composed in 1983 at the request of his students when he was giving lectures on Ratnagotravibhāga in the Maitreya Temple at Phajoding, Bhutan. It is most likely the first commentary by a Bhutanese scholar. The author claims to have based his commentary on the annotated commentary of Khenpo Zhenga while also including the best of other commentaries by Tibetan masters.

Music of the Sphere of Definitive Meaning: Detailed Explanation of the Mahamudra Prayer in Accordance with the Philosophy of the Great Emptiness-of-Other

ཆེན་པོ་གཞན་སྟོང་གི་ལྟ་བ་དང་འབྲེལ་བའི་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོའི་སྨོན་ལམ་གྱི་རྣམ་བཤད་ངེས་དོན་དབྱིངས་ཀྱི་རོལ་མོ།

Chen po gzhan stong gi lta ba dang 'brel ba'i phyag rgya chen po'i smon lam gyi rnam bshad nges don dbyings kyi rol mo

A clear explanation of the Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje's famous Mahāmudrā Aspiration Prayer in colloquial Tibetan by a leading contemporary Karma Kagyu master Sangay Nyenpa Rinpoche.

Aspiration Prayer of the Definitive Meaning of Mahāmudrā

ངེས་དོན་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོའི་སྨོན་ལམ།

Nges don phyag rgya chen po'i smon lam

The Mahamudra Prayer by the Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje is a short yet thorough and profound text which presents all the essential points of Mahamudra teaching in terms of view, practice, and fruition. It is a classic that, especially in the tradition of the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, has been and is widely used whenever a disciple is given a first introduction into Mahamudra. The Third Karmapa shows how to recognize our ultimate potential as a buddha. (Source: Shambhala Publications)

Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum, a Great Treatise Connecting Sūtra and Mantra

མདོ་སྔགས་རྗེས་སུ་འབྲེལ་བར་བྱེད་པའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་འགྲེལ་པ།

Theg pa chen po'i bstan bcos rgyud bla ma'i 'grel pa

A commentary on the Ratnagotravibhāga by the famed scholar Bodong Paṇchen Chokle Namgyal. He considers this text a connector between sūtra and mantra traditions and argues that buddha-nature does not possess the qualities of the Buddha but is luminous and pure by nature.

Entering into the Middle Way (84000)

དབུ་མ་ལ་འཇུག་པ།

Madhyamakāvatāra

Madhyamakāvatāra. (T. Dbu ma la 'jug pa). In Sanskrit, "Entrance to the Middle Way" (translated also as "Supplement to the Middle Way"); the major independent (as opposed to commentarial) work of the seventh-century Indian master Candrakīrti, who states that it is intended as an avatāra (variously rendered as "primer," "entrance," and "supplement") to Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā. The work is written in verse, to which the author provides an extensive prose commentary (bhāṣya). The work is organized around ten "productions of the aspiration to enlightenment" (bodhicittotpāda), which correspond to the ten stages (bhūmi) of the bodhisattva path (drawn largely from the Daśabhūmikasūtra) and their respective perfections (pāramitā), describing the salient practices and attainments of each. These are followed by chapters on the qualities of the bodhisattva, on the stage of buddhahood, and a conclusion. The lengthiest (comprising approximately half of the work) and most important chapter of the text is the sixth, dealing with the perfection of wisdom (prajñāpāramitā). This is one of the most extensive and influential expositions in Indian literature of Madhyamaka philosophical positions. In it, Candrakīrti provides a detailed discussion of the two truths—ultimate truth (paramārthasatya) and conventional truth (saṃvṛtisatya)—arguing that all things that have these two natures and that conventional truths (which he glosses as "concealing truths") are not in fact true because they appear falsely to the ignorant consciousness. He also discusses the crucial question of valid knowledge (pramāṇa) among the unenlightened, relating it to worldly consensus (lokaprasiddha). The sixth chapter also contains one of the most detailed refutations of Yogācāra in Madhyamaka literature, treating such topics as the three natures (trisvabhāva), the foundational consciousness (ālayavijñāna), and the statements in the sūtras that the three realms of existence are "mind-only" (cittamātra). This chapter also contains Candrakīrti's most famous contribution to Madhyamaka reasoning, the sevenfold reasoning designed to demonstrate the absence of a personal self (pudgalanairātmya). Adding to and elaborating upon a fivefold reasoning found in Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, Candrakīrti argues that the person does not intrinsically exist because of it: (1) not being the aggregates (skandha), (2) not being other than the aggregates, (3) not being the basis of the aggregates, (4) not depending on the aggregates, (5) not possessing the aggregates, (6) not being the shape of the aggregates, and (7) not being the composite of the aggregates. He illustrates this reasoning by applying it to the example of a chariot, which, he argues, is not to be found among its constituent parts. The sixth chapter concludes with a discussion of the sixteen and the twenty forms of emptiness (śūnyatā), which include the emptiness of emptiness (śūnyatāśūnyatā). The work was the most widely studied and commented upon Madhyamaka text in Tibet among all sects, serving, for example, as one of the "five texts" (zhung lnga) that formed the Dge lugs scholastic curriculum. The work is preserved only in Tibetan, although a Sanskrit manuscript of verses has been discovered in Tibet. (Source: "Madhyamakāvatāra." In The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 489. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)

Annotated Commentary on the Treatise on Pointing Out the Tathāgata Heart

དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་བསྟན་པའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་མཆན་འགྲེལ་བྱམས་མགོན་དགྱེས་པའི་ཞལ་ལུང་ནོར་བུ་དབང་གི་རྒྱལ་པོ་དྲི་མ་མེད་པའི་འོད།

De bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po bstan pa'i bstan bcos kyi mchan 'grel

An annotated commentary written by the fifteenth Karmapa on the Third Karmapa's verses on buddha-nature, The Treatise on Pointing Out the Tathāgata Heart.

Light of the Sun: Detailed Exposition of the Excellent Dharma, the Single Intention, a Well-Expressed Clarification of the Meaning of the Scriptures

དམ་པའི་ཆོས་དགོངས་པ་གཅིག་པའི་རྣམ་བཤད་ལུང་དོན་གསལ་བྱེད་ལེགས་བཤད་ཉི་མའི་སྣང་བ།

Dam pa'i chos dgongs pa gcig pa'i rnam bshad lung don gsal byed legs bshad nyi ma'i snang ba

Rikdzin Chökyi Drakpa's extensive commentary on the Sacred Teaching on the Single Intention (Dam chos dgongs pa gcig pa), one of the core texts of the Drikung Kagyu tradition that is reported to be the oral teachings of Jikten Gönpo that were written down and edited together by his student Sherab Jungne.

Great Commentary on the Sacred Teaching on the Single Intention: Illuminating Wisdom Lamp

དམ་པའི་ཆོས་དགོངས་པ་གཅིག་པའི་འགྲེལ་ཆེན་སྣང་མཛད་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྒྲོན་མེ།

Dam pa'i chos dgongs pa gcig pa'i 'grel chen snang mdzad ye shes sgron me

Dorje Sherab's extensive commentary on the Sacred Teaching on the Single Intention (Dam chos dgongs pa gcig pa), one of the core texts of the Drikung Kagyu tradition that is reported to be the oral teachings of Jikten Gönpo that were written down and edited together by his student Sherab Jungne.

Buddha Nature Treatise

ཕོ་ཤིང་ལུང་ (*སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་རང་བཞིན་བསྟན་པའི་བསྟན་བཅོས།)

Fo xing lun

An influential text in East Asian on buddha-nature attributed in the Chinese canon to Vasubandhu. Though no Sanskrit recension nor Tibetan translation has ever been located it was reportedly translated into Chinese by Paramārtha in the 6th century. Much like the Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna, several modern scholars of East Asian Buddhism have surmised that the work may have been actually composed by Paramārtha.

The Saṃdhigambhīranirmocanasūtratīkā composed by Wan tshik translated from Chinese to Tibetan by Gö Chodrub mentions this treatise about ten times.

Removing the Anguish of Holding to Extremes: Explanation of Omniscient Jonangpa's Madhyamaka of Other Emptiness

ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ཇོ་ནང་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་དགོངས་པ་གཞན་སྟོང་དབུ་མའི་ཚུལ་ལེགས་པར་བཤད་པ་མཐར་འཛིན་གདུང་འཕྲོག།

Kun mkhyen jo nang pa chen po'i dgongs pa gzhan stong dbu ma'i tshul legs pa bshad mthar 'dzin gdung 'phrog

A treatise on the Madhyamaka philosophy of Other-Emptiness (gzhan stong) as inherited from Dölpopa by the influential modern Jonangpa scholar Ngawang Tsoknyi Gyatso (1880-1940). Tsoknyi Gyatso explains the system of the ground, path and result in this text, followed by a synopsis of the Ultimate Continuum.

Illuminating Light: An Exegesis of Omniscient Jonangpa's Intent Aligned with General Treatises of Madhyamaka and Pramāṇa

ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ཇོ་ནང་པའི་བཞེས་དགོངས་དབུ་ཚད་ཀྱི་གཞུང་སྤྱི་དང་གུང་བསྒྲིགས་ཏེ་སྤྱོད་པའི་སྤྱི་དོན་རབ་གསལ་སྣང་བ།

Kun mkhyen jo nang pa'i bzhes dgongs dbu tshad kyi gzhung spyi dang gung bsgrigs te spyod pa'i spyi don rab gsal snang ba

An explanation of the general meaning of the scriptures on Madhyamaka (dbu ma) and pramāṇa (tshad ma) by the influential modern Jonangpa scholar Ngawang Tsoknyi Gyatso (1880-1940).

A Concise Presentation of Other-Emptiness Madhyamaka

གཞན་སྟོང་དབུ་མའི་རྣམ་གཞག་སྙིང་པོར་དྲིལ་བ།

Gzhan stong dbu ma'i rnam gzhag snying por dril ba

A brief overview of the philosophical positions and related terminology of other-emptiness (gzhan stong) Madhyamaka with an emphasis on the Jonang perspective developed by Dölpopa.

Unprecedented Elegant Exposition: An Exegesis on the Heart Sūtra

ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པའི་སྙིང་པོའི་མདོ་རྣམ་པར་བཤད་པ་སྔོན་མེད་ལེགས་བཤད།

Shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa'i snying po'i mdo rnam par bshad pa sngon med legs bshad

In this commentary on the Heart Sūtra, Tāranātha starts with the discussion of the different forms of Perfection of Wisdom in relation to the nature of phenomena, the path to enlightenment, the resultant state, and the doctrinal teachings which discuss the topic. He cites Dignāga to claim that the true Perfection of Wisdom is the resultant wisdom of the buddhas. However, the most important point he underscores is that the ultimate message of all three Turning of the Wheels and the Heart Sūtra is the great other-emptiness. All conventional phenomena are primordially empty of their own nature but the ultimate nature is only empty of other conventional phenomena but not empty of its own nature. This, he argues, is the ultimate truth, the reality and the intent of all buddhas. Commenting on the four statements on form and emptiness in the Heart Sūtra, he presents what he considers to be the interpretations among the proponents of the Mind Only (སེམས་ཙམ་པ་) and Naturelessness (ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་མེད་པར་སྨྲ་བ་), both of which are acceptable in certain contexts but do not capture the ultimate reality. The ultimate understanding, he reasons, must be obtained by putting the four statements in the context of the three characteristics (མཚན་ཉིད་གསུམ་). He goes on to explain how the four statements should be understood in relation to the imputed nature, the dependent nature and the consummate nature, through which one can grasp the meaning of the emptiness of that which is non-existent (མེད་པའི་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་), the emptiness of that which is existent (ཡོད་པའི་སྟོང་ཉིད་), and the emptiness of true nature (རང་བཞིན་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་) taught by Maitreya.

Summary of the Ultimate Continuum: Clarifying the Meaning of Buddha-Nature

རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་དོན་བསྡུས་བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོའི་དོན་གསལ།

Rgyud bla ma'i don bsdus bde gshegs snying po'i don gsal

In this short work, the famous Sakya scholar Rendawa presents his interpretation of and positions on the main topics covered by the Ultimate Continuum. While summarising the text, he points out how buddha-nature is to be understood as the luminous nature of the mind, and not as an absolute nature separate from the luminous aspect of the mind. He argues that buddha-nature, which is present in all sentient beings, is endowed with the universal quality of luminosity of the mind but not with the specific enlightened qualities of the Buddha. Thus, employing the common hermeneutic tools of reference,་purpose and direct contradiction, he considered the teachings on buddha-nature to be provisional teachings, which are not to be taken literally.

Stages of Meditation of the Ultimate Continuum: Ornament of Maitreya's Intent

རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་སྒོམ་རིམ་མི་ཕམ་དགོངས་རྒྱན།

Rgyud bla ma'i sgom rim mi pham dgongs don

This short text by Rongtön Sheja Kunrig contains instructions on how to put the topics contained in the Ultimate Continuum into actual practice. It is among the many practical instructions he has written pertaining to the classical texts which are widely studied in Tibetan scholarly centres. In the course of providing practical instructions, Rongtön makes clear his philosophical understanding of buddha-nature and his interpretation of the teachings on buddha-nature.

Powerful Aspiration Prayer of Samantabhadra

ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་པོའི་སྨོན་ལམ་སྟོབས་པོ་ཆེ།

Kun tu bzang po'i smon lam stobs po che

The Powerful Aspiration Prayer of Samantabhadra comes from the dGongs pa zang thal or Penetrating Intent cycle of Dzogchen teachings by Rigdzin Gödem. The prayer explains how saṃsāra and nirvāṇa emerge from the same ground of primordial reality through awareness and unawareness. The cognitive glitch of dualistic clinging and ego-grasping is explained to have led to the many afflictive emotions and the corresponding resultant states of rebirth. The prayers instructs practitioners to rest in the natural state of the mind without attachment or aversion. The prayer is very widely chanted in the Himalayan communities.

The Great Chariot: A Commentary on the Treatise on Great Perfection, Relaxation in the Nature of the Mind

རྫོགས་པ་ཆེན་པོ་སེམས་ཉིད་ངལ་གསོའི་འགྲེལ་པ་ཤིང་རྟ་ཆེན་པོ།

Rdzogs pa chen po sems nyid ngal gso'i 'grel pa shing rta chen po

In his Relaxation in the Nature of Mind and its auto-commentary the Great Chariot, Longchenpa deals with buddha-nature in the opening verse while paying homage to the ultimate truth, in chapter 9 while discussing the generation-stage- and completion-stage practices, and in chapter 10 on the topic of wisdom which comprehends the ground reality free from the two extremes. He presents buddha-nature as the ground maṇḍala, which forms the basis of temporary confusion, while at the same time being the uncontrived, unborn, unchanging nature of the mind to be realized on the path. Ordinary beings do not perceive this buddha-nature, but bodhisattvas on the stages see it partially and the buddhas see it fully. Longchenpa blends the sūtra presentation of buddha-nature with the esoteric exposition of the spontaneous primordial ground in the tantras. He uses terms such as essence, element, spiritual gene, innate mind, pristine wisdom, vajra mind, primordial ground, the ultimate, ground gnosis, sphere of reality, Middle Way, nondual truth, thatness, Perfection of Wisdom, etc., to refer to the same luminous nature of mind which is buddha-nature.

White Lotus: A Commentary on the Wish Fulfilling Treasury

ཡིད་བཞིན་མཛོད་ཀྱི་འགྲེལ་པ་པདྨ་དཀར་པོ།

Yid bzhin mdzod kyi 'grel pa pad+ma dkar po

The root text of the Treasury of Wishfulfilling Jewel along with its auto-commentary the White Lotus make up one of the main books among the Seven Treasures of Longchenpa. In chapter 1 of his Treasury of Wishfulfilling Jewel, he expounds the theory of buddha-nature as the primordial ground from which both nirvāṇa and saṃsāra arise. In chapter 18 he discusses the abiding nature of reality, which is the ultimate truth, and presents the experiences of saṃsāra as temporary illusions arising from adventitious misconception. Buddha-nature is understood to be the empty, luminous nature of things which abides as the ontic reality in all sentient beings and is free from all fabrications. Using the terms from the sūtras teaching buddha-nature and the Ultimate Continuum, he characterizes buddha-nature as the ultimate pure, eternal, blissful self. He considers the teachings on buddha-nature which form part of the third wheel as definitive teachings, which expound the same ground nature presented in both the sūtra and tantra literature. In summary, he writes in the Treasury of Wishfulfilling Jewel: འོད་གསལ་བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོ་ལྷུན་གྲུབ་སྟེ། །སྟོང་གསལ་རིག་པ་དབྱེར་མེད་ཆོས་ཉིད་དོ།། The luminous buddha-nature is indivisible reality Which is spontaneous, empty, and clear awareness. His presentation on buddha-nature theory and associated practices in his writings became the most authoritative references which determine the interpretation of buddha-nature theory and practice in the Nyingma tradition to this day.

Marvellous Word Commentary on the Heart Sūtra

ཤེར་སྙིང་གི་ཚིག་འགྲེལ་རྨད་དུ་བྱུང་བ།

Sher snying gi tshig 'grel

Tāranātha presents an interpretation of the Heart Sūtra in accordance with his philosophical espousal of the other-emptiness in this short word-for-word commentary. At the very outset, he states in this commentary that the main referent of the term Perfection of Wisdom is buddha-nature, the non-dual wisdom which is the true nature of all phenomena. This, he argues, is not empty of its nature. The Heart Sūtra sufficiently makes it clear that the five skandhas and other conventional phenomena are empty of their nature, but not buddha-nature or the ultimate truth. ‘Form is emptiness’ indicates that form is utterly non-existent and empty. ‘Emptiness is form’ indicates that emptiness, which is the ultimate reality, is what appears as form to ordinary beings. ‘Emptiness is not other than form’ shows there is no emptiness which exists separately from form but reality qua emptiness is rather the true nature of form. ‘Form is not other than emptiness’ states there is no real form that is different from emptiness in the ultimate sense, because emptiness qua reality exists whereas form doesn’t.

Union Ship: A Treatise Dispelling the Misconception in the Understanding of Mahāmudrā through Scriptures and Reasoning

ལུང་རིགས་གཉིས་ཀྱིས་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོའི་བཞེད་ཚུལ་ལ་འཁྲུལ་པ་སེལ་བའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཟུང་འཇུག་གྲུ་ཆེན།

Lung rigs gnyis kyis phyag rgya chen po'i bzhed tshul la 'khrul pa sel ba'i bstan bcos zung 'jug gru chen

One of the three short texts on Mahāmudrā by Śākya Choden, this was written in response to a list of questions raised by a certain scholar named Karma Wangchuk Pel with regard to Sakya Paṇḍita’s critique of Neo-Mahāmudrā and Single White Remedy in his Distinguishing the Three Vows. He begins with a cogent presentation of Mahāmudrā covering its sources, the objective Mahāmudrā, the subjective Mahāmudrā, its synonyms, the actual Mahāmudra experience among sublime beings, the analogous Mahāmudrā understanding among ordinary practitioners, and the Mahāmudrā concept according to the philosophical and tantric schools. Following this, he delves into how some later followers of Sakya and Kagyu tradition do not fathom the understanding of their respective teachings. He also points out how the followers of Kadampa tradition have missed the important original teachings of Atīśa and founding fathers.

In summary, Śākya Chokden underscores the point that there are two ways in which misconceptions are overcome: through an extrovert rational analysis and an introvert yogic contemplation. The Mahāmudrā tradition of Gampopa belongs to the latter category while the former includes the postulations of self-emptiness and other-emptiness.

A Treatise entitled Distinguishing Mahāmudrā

ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོའི་ཤན་འབྱེད་ཅེས་བྱ་བའི་བསྟན་བཅོས།

Phyag rgya chen po'i shan 'byed ces bya ba'i bstan bcos

The second work in Śākya Chokden's trilogy of short writings on Mahāmudra, he points out in this text a list of the five types of misinterpretation of the actual point of Mahāmudrā practice: 1. The emptiness posited through Mādhyamika reasoning. 2. The union of emptiness and bliss which fills the network of channels after tantric practice of consecration. 3. Experience of bare consciousness free from all mentation. 4. Non-apprehension of the mind either inside or outside, having colour and shape, etc. 5. The ground consciousness which is the cause of all experience.

Śākya Choden states that none of these capture the profound, precise, effective Mahāmudrā technique of Gampopa, which is compared to the Single White Remedy, and explains how they are not the same as Gampopa’s Mahāmudrā. Śākya Chokden also distinguishes the Chinese Chan practice from Gampopa’s Mahāmudrā and goes on to explain their differences. He elaborates on the practice of Mahāmudrā through the four points of single-pointedness (རྩེ་གཅིག་), non-elaboration (སྤྲོས་བྲལ་), one taste (རོ་གཅིག་), and non-meditation (སྒོམ་མེད་).

A Synopsis of the Mahāyāna Uttaratantra

ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྡུས་དོན།

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bsdus don

This is an outline and synopsis of the Uttaratantra by Chapa, one of the early Kadam scholars of Sangpu Neutok Monastery.

The Seventh Precious Treasury: An Explanation of Śrī Guhyasamāja

དཔལ་གསང་བ་འདུས་པའི་རྣམ་བཤད་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་གཏེར་མཛོད་བདུན་པ།

Dpal gsang ba 'dus pa'i rnam bshad rin po che'i gter mdzod bdun pa

The Seventh Precious Treasury: An Explanation of Śrī Guhyasamāja is a treatise on the two stages of the path in the Guhyasamāja tradition and delineates the ultimate truth and reality in the context of the sūtra and tantras. It also carries out discussion of different Tibetan interpretations of ultimate truth and buddha-nature. The text is also given the titles Twenty-One Doors of Liberation and Sixty-three Distinctions of Tenet Systems of Oneself and Others.

Personal Instructions of the Ḍākiṇī called "An Exemplar of Perfect Speech" (84000)

བཀའ་ཡང་དག་པའི་ཚད་མ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་མཁའ་འགྲོ་མའི་མན་ངག།

Bka' yang dag pa'i tshad ma zhes bya ba mkha' 'gro ma'i man ngag

The text, Instructions of Ḍākiṇīs entitled Validity of the True Word (བཀའ་ཡང་དག་པའི་ཚད་མ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་མཁའ་འགྲོ་མའི་མན་ངག) is one of the primary sources for Mahāmudrā meditation and six yogas of Naropas passed down through the Kagyu tradition. In this text, one finds the six dharmas of Tilopa (ཏི་ལི་ཆོས་དྲུག་) which are fundamental techniques for meditation to cultivate single-pointed concentration and non-conceptuality, and account of the six yogas of Naropa in some detail. The text is said to be teachings received by Tilopa from Vajradhara and then passed down through Naropa and Marpa who translated it into Tibetan.

Hymns on the Fivefold Path of Realization of Mahāmudrā

ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོ་ལྔ་ལྡན་རྟོགས་པའི་མགུར།

Phyag rgya chen po lnga ldan rtogs pa'i mgur

Ten Verses on Suchness (84000)

དེ་ཁོ་ན་ཉིད་བཅུ་པ།

Tattvadaśaka

In this work of ten verses on true reality, Maitrīpa presents the luminous nature of reality which is beyond any duality and apprehension. The text underscores the non-abiding and luminous nature of reality and how the instructions of the master is crucial for realising the authentic nature of Madhyamaka. Through this, Maitrīpa rules out that the True Aspectarian and False Aspectarian traditions of the Mind Only school and the scholastic Mādhyamika which do not rely on direct pith instructions of the guru can realise the true nature of reality.

Distinguishing Wisdom from Appearances: A Commentary on Distinguishing Phenomena and their Nature

ཆོས་དང་ཆོས་ཉིད་རྣམ་པར་འབྱེད་པའི་ཚིག་ལེའུར་བྱས་པའི་འགྲེལ་པ་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྣང་བ་རྣམ་འབྱེད།

Chos dang chos nyid rnam par 'byed pa'i tshig le'ur byas pa'i 'grel pa ye shes snang ba rnam 'byed

Mipam's commentary on the Dharmadharmatāvibhāga, one of the Five Dharma Treatises of Maitreya (byams chos sde lnga) said to have been presented to Asaṅga by the bodhisattva Maitreya in the Tuṣita heaven.

A Synopsis of the Mahāyāna Uttaratantra

ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྡུས་པའི་དོན།

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bsdus pa'i don

A Synopsis of the Mahāyāna Uttaratantraśāstra

ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་བསྡུས་པའི་དོན།

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi bsdus pa'i don

The Moonlight of the Crucial Points: A Commentary on the Difficult Aspects of the Uttaratantra

རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་དཀའ་འགྲེལ་གནད་ཀྱི་ཟླ་འོད།

Rgyud bla ma'i dka' 'grel gnad kyi zla 'od

Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum Entitled Clear Sun Rays

རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་འགྲེལ་པ་ཊི་ཀ་ཉི་འོད་གསལ་བ།

Rgyud bla ma'i 'grel pa Ti ka nyi 'od gsal ba

Among the numerous texts discovered at Drepung monastery's library through the efforts of Alak Zenkar Rinpoche and his team is a hitherto unknown commentary [on the Ultimate Continuum] by one Lhodrak Dharma Senge. Although the manuscript is incomplete and missing the final pages which may have contained the colophon, the title on the first page and a note at the start of the commentary explicitly mention Lhodrakpa Dharma Senge as the author. Yet, apart from the obvious association of the author with the southern Lhodrak region of Central Tibet, we have no information on when and where he lived.

The style and content of the commentary suggest its composition was completed in the early classical period of the twelfth-thirteenth centuries, most likely before the well-known commentaries on the Ultimate Continuum appeared at the peak of the classical period in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The manuscript itself, in dbu med script, bears some archaic characteristics, including the writing of the negative med (མེད་) as myed (མྱེད་) and the use of numerals instead of spelling numbers in full, such as རྣམ་འབྱེད་རྣམ་པ་༣་ instead of རྣམ་འབྱེད་རྣམ་པ་གསུམ་ and ༢་མྱེད་ in the place of གཉིས་མེད།. Read more here.

Synopsis of the Ultimate Continuum Possessing Four Reliances and Causing Delight to the Learned

རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྡུས་དོན་རྟོན་པ་བཞི་ལྡན་མཁས་པ་དགའ་བྱེད།

Rgyud bla ma'i bsdus don rton pa bzhi ldan mkhas pa dga' byed

General Exegesis on the Ultimate Continuum

རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་སྤྱི་དོན།

Rgyud bla ma'i spyi don

This is a short treatise from the collection of bka' gdams gsung 'bum phyogs bsgrigs which was recently published containing books from Drepung Nechu library. Although the compilers attributed this work to Lochen Kyapchok Palzang, there is no colophon to confirm it. The work discusses the adamantine and luminous nature of Buddha-Nature.

Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum Called Definitive Clarification of the Intent

ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་འགྲེལ་པ་དགོངས་པ་ངེས་གསལ།

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i 'grel pa dgongs pa nges gsal

Outline of the Ultimate Continuum Called Incomparable Exposition

རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་ས་བཅད་མཚུངས་མེད་ལེགས་བཤད།

Rgyud bla ma'i sa bcad mtshungs med legs bshad

An outline of the Ultimate Continuum attributed to Lochen Kyapchok Palzang has verses in the beginning and end written with play of words used in a difficult poetic compositions. The outlines divides the main text into three sections, unlike most other outlines which presents the Ultimate Continuum in four sections.

Illumination of the Ultimate Continuum

རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་གསལ་བྱེད།

Rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos gsal byed

This is a commentary on the Ultimate Continuum which was discovered in the Nechu library in Drepung monastery recently. Although the compilers of the bKa' gdams gsung 'bum phyogs bsgrigs have attributed this to Lochen Kyapchok Palzang, the commentary does not have the same outline as the one said to have been authored by him. It also presents interpretations which align with the interpretations of Gyaltsap. Thus, it is possible the commentary is by a later Geluk author but nothing can be confirmed as the book has no colophon.

Inconceivable Letters Clarifying the Ultimate Continuum

རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་གསལ་བྱེད་བསམ་མི་ཁྱབ་པའི་ཡི་གེ།

Rgyud bla ma'i gsal byed bsam mi khyab pa'i yi ge

This text, published as part of the bka' gdams gsung 'bum phyogs bsgrigs, is attributed to Lochen Kyapchok Palzang. It was found in the Nechu Lhakhang library in Drepung monastery. However, the text does not have a colophon and the content points to an earlier author named Chöshe, who was a disciple of Zulphowa. Presenting an early version of other-emptiness, this treatise presents different topics of advanced meditation based on the Ultimate Continuum. At the end of the text, one finds an account of how the teachings were passed down from Maitrīpa to Kashmir and then through the Tsen contemplative lineage. The account is almost identical to the account found in Kyotön Monlam Tsultrim's work with minor variations.

Verses from the Beginning and Conclusion of Sūtrālaṅkāra, Bodhicaryāvatāra and Uttaratantra

མདོ་སྡེ་རྒྱན་དང་རྒྱུད་བླ་མ་སྤྱོད་འཇུག་རྣམས་ཀྱི་འགྲེལ་ཊཱིཀྐ་གི་དབུ་ཞབས་ཀྱི་ཚིགས་བཅད།

Mdo sde rgyan dang rgyud bla ma spyod 'jug rnams kyi 'grel TIk+ka gi dbu zhabs kyi tshigs bcad

The Great Light Which Illuminates the Essence of the Ultimate Continuum

ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་དོན་གྱི་སྙིང་པོ་གསལ་བྱེད་ཀྱི་སྣང་བ་ཆེན་པོ།

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i don gyi snying po gsal byed kyi snang ba chen po

An articulate synopsis of the seven vajra points in the Ultimate Continuum based on mainstream Geluk interpretation. Chone Drakpa Shedrup makes a clear distinction between the naturally abiding spiritual and the developed spiritual gene identifying the former with the emptiness of the mind and the latter with spiritual qualities such as compassion, renunciation and mind of awakening.

Rang stong dang gzhan stong gi khyad par cung zad brjod pa tshul gnyis rnam gsal lung rigs sgron me

Annotated Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum

ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་ཟིན་བྲིས་ཏཱི་ཀཱ།

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i zin bris tI kA

A very clear commentary on the Ultimate Continuum by Taglung Choje according to the title page, the treatise presents a brief history of the teachings on the Ultimate Continuum and follows the meditative tradition from Tsen Khawoche. The authors also cites and critiques some Tibetan interpretations and is perhaps unique in arguing Dhammakāya pervades all phenomena and not just sentient beings.

Annotated Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum

ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་མཆན་འགྲེལ།

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi mchan 'grel

Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum Clarifying the Last Wheel of Teachings

རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་འགྲེལ་བཀའ་འཁོར་ལོ་ཐ་མའི་གསལ་བྱེད།

Rgyud bla ma'i 'grel bka' 'khor lo tha ma'i gsal byed

Word Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum Entitled Flourishing of the Buddha’s Teachings

ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་ཚིག་འགྲེལ་ཐུབ་བསྟན་ཡར་རྒྱས།

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi tshig 'grel thub bstan yar rgyas

A clear commentary on the Ultimate Continuum composed by the 20th century Gelukpa scholar Muge Samten at the request of Lobzang Tashi, it is based on the commentary by Gyaltsap Je. The work is incomplete due to the author's illness.

Clarifying Darkness: An Analysis of Difficult Points in the Ultimate Continuum

ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་དཀའ་གནད་ཀྱི་མཐའ་དཔྱད་མུན་སེལ།

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i dka' gnad kyi mtha' dpyad mun sel

This commentary is included in the fourth set of bKa' gdams gsung 'bum phyogs bsgrigs but the name of the author is partially erased and not clear. The author was a student of one Sonam Zangpo and Palden Gyaltsen and the commentary was written in Sakya. Using dialectical arguments, the author discusses the crucial points in the Ultimate Continuum to present a very clear interpretation of Buddha-Nature in the tradition of zhentong.

Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum Entitled Illumination of Reality

ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་ཊཱིཀྐ་དེ་ཉིད་སྣང་བ།

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i TIk+ka de nyid snang ba

Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum Called the Words of Asaṅga

ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་མཆན་འགྲེལ་ལེགས་བཤད་ཐོགས་མེད་ཞལ་ལུང་།

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi mchan 'grel legs bshad thogs med zhal lung

A commentary on the Ultimate Continuum by living master Seventh Drikung Chetsang, it follows the mainstream Kagyu interpretation of Buddha-Nature as a union of emptiness and luminosity endowed with latent qualities of the Buddha. He rejects both the understanding of Buddha-Nature as emptiness of mere negation and an absolute and truly existent entity. The commentary was finished in 2008, probably in Lhasa, and he also wrote a long preface underscoring the importance of studying the Ultimate Continuum in the Kagyu tradition to its publication in 2017.

Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum Entitled The Mirror of the Element Buddha-Nature

ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་འགྲེལ་བ་རིགས་ཁམས་བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོའི་མེ་ལོང་།

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi 'grel ba rigs khams bde gshegs snying po'i me long

Elucidating the Essence: A Commentary on the Tathāgatagarbhasūtra

དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོའི་མདོའི་འགྲེལ་པ་སྙིང་པོ་རབ་གསལ།

De bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po'i mdo'i 'grel pa snying po rab gsal

Perhaps the first and only Tibetan commentary on the Tathāgatagarbhasūtra, Zhangtön Sonam Drakpa interprets the sūtra according to theory of Other-emptiness and also carries out refutation of those who identity Buddha-Nature with store-consciousness and consider Buddha-Nature sūtras as provisional teachings.

Offering Clouds to Delight Our Protector Maitreya: A Commentary on the Treatise on the Ultimate Continuum of the Mahāyāna

ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་འགྲེལ་པ་བྱམས་མགོན་དགྱེས་པའི་མཆོད་སྤྲིན།

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi 'grel pa byams mgon dgyes pa'i mchod sprin

Buddha Gene as Non-implicative Negation and Other Notes on Buddha-Nature

མ་ཡིན་དགག་གི་རིགས་སོགས་གཤེགས་སྙིང་ཟིན་བྲིས།

Bde gshegs snying po'i skor zin bris

Found among the rare old manuscripts from Kham area, these notes appear in vols. 44 and 45 of the collection. They discuss the three types of the Buddha element at three stages and also link them to the ground, path and resultant stages and other aspects of the Dzogchen system. Some of the notes are signed by one named Tsul but it is not clear who the Tsul is.

Opening the Hundred Doors to the Treasure of Ascertaining the Dharmadhātu

ཆོས་དབྱིངས་རྣམ་པར་ངེས་པའི་གཏེར་སྒོ་བརྒྱ་འབྱེད།

Chos dbyings rnam par nges pa'i gter sgo brgya 'byed

The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment

ལམ་རིམ་ཆེན་མོ།

Lam rim chen mo

Lam rim chen mo. In Tibetan, "Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path"; the abbreviated title for one of the best-known works on Buddhist thought and practice in Tibet, composed by the Tibetan luminary Tsong khapa Blo bzang Grags pa in 1402 at the central Tibetan monastery of Rwa sgreng. A lengthy treatise belonging to the lam rim, or stages of the path, genre of Tibetan Buddhist literature, the Lam rim chen mo takes its inspiration from numerous earlier writings, most notably the Bodhipathapradīpa ("Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment") by the eleventh-century Bengali master Atiśa Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna. It is the most extensive treatment of three principal stages that Tsong kha pa composed. The others include (1) the Lam rim chung ba ("Short Treatise on the Stages of the Path"), also called the Lam rim 'bring ba ('"Intermediate Treatise on the States of the Path") and (2) the Lam rim bsdus don ("Concise Meaning of the Stages of the Path"), occasionally also referred to as the Lam rim chung ngu ("Brief Stages of the Path"). The latter text, which records Tsong kha pa's own realization of the path in verse form, is also referred to as the Lam rim nyams mgur ma ("Song of Experience of the Stages of the Path"). The Lam rim chen mo is a highly detailed and often technical treatise presenting a comprehensive and synthetic overview of the path to buddhahood. It draws, often at length, upon a wide range of scriptural sources including the Sūtra and śāstra literature of both the hīnayāna and Mahāyāna; Tsong kha pa treats tantric practice in a separate work. The text is organized under the rubric of the three levels of spiritual predilection, personified as "the three individuals" (skyes bu gsum): the beings of small capacity, who engage in religious practice in order to gain a favorable rebirth in their next lifetime; the beings of intermediate capacity, who seek liberation from rebirth for themselves as an arhat; and the beings of great capacity, who seek to liberate all beings in the universe from suffering and thus follow the bodhisattva path to buddhahood. Tsong kha pa's text does not lay out all the practices of these three types of persons but rather those practices essential to the bodhisattva path that are held in common by persons of small and intermediate capacity, such as the practice of refuge (śaraṇa) and contemplation of the uncertainty of the time of death. The text includes extended discussions of topics such as relying on a spiritual master, the development of bodhicitta, and the six perfections (pāramitā). The last section of the text, sometimes regarded as a separate work, deals at length with the nature of serenity (śamatha) and insight (vipaśyanā); Tsong kha pa's discussion of insight here represents one of his most important expositions of emptiness (śūnyatā). Primarily devoted to exoteric Mahāyāna doctrine, the text concludes with a brief reference to Vajrayāna and the practice of tantra, a subject discussed at length by Tsong kha pa in a separate work, the Sngags rim chen mo ("Stages of the Path of Mantra"). The Lam rim chen mo's full title is Skyes bu gsum gyi rnyams su blang ba'i rim pa thams cad tshang bar ston pa'i byang chub lam gyi rim pa. (Source: "Lam rim chen mo." In The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 465-66. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)

Exegesis on the Intermediate State called the Mirror of Mindfulness Which Illuminates Everything

བར་དོ་སྤྱིའི་དོན་ཐམས་ཅད་རྣམ་པ་གསལ་བར་བྱེད་པ་དྲན་པའི་མེ་ལོང་།

Bar do spyi'i don thams cad rnam pa gsal bar byed pa dran pa'i me long

The Mirror of Mindfulness is a presentation of Tibetan Buddhist teachings on the endless cycle of experience, the four bardos — life, death, after-death, and rebirth. It is aimed at inspiring and helping the practitioner achieve liberation from deluded existence and awaken to complete enlightenment for the benefit of others. (Source: Rangjung Yeshe Publications)

Rays of Sunlight: A Commentary on the Heart of the Mahāyāna Teachings

ཐེག་ཆེན་བསྟན་པའི་སྙིང་པོའི་འགྲེལ་པ་ཉི་མའི་འོད་ཟེར།

Theg chen bstan pa'i snying po'i 'grel pa nyi ma'i 'od zer

Ayang Thubten Rinpoche’s Rays of Sunlight is a commentary on Zhedang Dorje’s The Heart of the Mahayana Teachings (Theg chen bstan pa'i snying po'i gzhung), a detailed guide to the stages of the path to awakening. Containing all of the Drikung Kagyu tradition’s essential teachings on sutra and tantra, Rays of Sunlight is one of the most treasured works in the Drikung Kagyu tradition.

Like Gampopa's Jewel Ornament of Liberation, the text Rays of Sunlight begins with a discussion of Buddha-nature, the nascent buddha within all beings, before presenting the sequential practices we must cultivate to fully awaken its transcendent qualities. With its lucid explanation of how a single individual can uphold the pratimoksha vows, bodhisattva precepts, and tantric samaya without contra-diction, Rays of Sunlight is sure to be of interest to dedicated practitioners of all traditions. And for those with an affinity for the profound path of meditation, the text closes with an extraordinary explanation of “The Fivefold Path of Mahamudra.” (Source: Edition Garchen Stiftung)

A Garland of Views: The King of Pith Instructions

མན་ངག་གི་རྒྱལ་པོ་ལྟ་བའི་འཕྲེང་བ

Rājopadeśadarśanamālā (RKTST 2725)

A Garland of Views presents a concise commentary by the eighth-century Indian Buddhist master Padmasambhava on a chapter from the Guhyagarbha Tantra on the different Buddhist and non-Buddhist philosophical views, including the Great Perfection (Dzogchen). (Source: Shambhala Publications)

The Essence of the Explanation of the Provisional and True Meanings

དྲང་ངེས་ལེགས་བཤད་སྙིང་པོ།

Drang nges legs bshad snying po

The Unassailable Lion's Roar

ཕྱིར་མི་ལྡོག་པ་སེང་གེའི་ང་རོ།

Phyir mi ldog pa seng ge'i nga ro

Jamgön Kongtrul's commentary on the Uttaratantra which, according to Brunnhölzl, draws heavily from Dölpopa's work on the same subject. Over the course of time since Kongtrul's passing at the dawn of the 20th century up until the present this text has become the primary commentary to the Uttaratantra used in the Kagyu tradition.

Words of Mipam: Interlinear Commentary on the Uttaratantra

ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་མཆན་འགྲེལ་མི་ཕམ་ཞལ་ལུང་།

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi mchan 'grel mi pham zhal lung

Mipam's annotated commentary to the Uttaratantra, a commentarial style in which the root verses of the treatise are embedded in the text and are then explained word by word. This text overlaps significantly with his related work on this subject Lion’s Roar: Exposition of Buddha-Nature.

Notes on the Essential Points of Mipam’s Exposition of Buddha-Nature

སྟོང་ཐུན་གནད་ཀྱི་ཟིན་ཐུན།

Stong thun gnad kyi zin thun

Notes on Mipam's Lion’s Roar: Exposition of Buddha-Nature, by an influential 20th century Nyingma scholar that took great pains to uphold and further the legacy of Mipam's scholastic contributions.

Elegant Explanation of the Treatise of the Ultimate Continuum of the Mahāyāna

ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ལེགས་པར་བཤད་པ།

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos legs par bshad pa

An extensive explanatory commentary on the the Ultimate Continuum by one of the major scholastic voices of the Sakya school. As Bernert states, "Refuting, on one hand, the notion that Buddha-nature is synonymous with mere emptiness, and on the other that the mind is inherently endowed with the Buddha qualities, Rongtön argues for an understanding of Buddha-nature that embraces both aspects of the nature of mind: cognizance and emptiness." (Christian Bernert. Perfect or Perfected? Rongtön on Buddha-Nature, 2018.

The Treatise on Pointing Out the Tathāgata Heart

དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་བསྟན་པའི་བསྟན་བཅོས།

De bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po bstan pa'i bstan bcos

The Third Karmapa's treatise on buddha-nature written in verse, which is essentially a synopsis of the Uttaratantra. According to Schaeffer, "This verse text (De bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po gtan la dbab pa, or De bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po bstan pa) blends scriptural quotations from both sūtra and tantra with Rang byung's own words, creating an evocative picture of the relation between the primordially pure enlightened state- symbolized by the Enlightened Heart (snying po)- human existence, and Buddhahood. While Rang byung has relied heavily on the Ratnagotravibhāgaśāstra, (known in Tibet as the Uttaratantra, or Rgyud bla ma), the syncretism of various strands of Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna apparent in the text is particular to Tibet. Tathāgatagarbha, Madhyamaka, Yogācāra, Mahāmudrā, and Annuttarayogatantra all coalesce in this work, which is a testament to the hundreds of years of appropriation and synthesis of Indian and Tibetan Buddhist thought that preceded it. - Kurtis Schaeffer, from the introduction to The Enlightened Heart of Buddhahood.

The Sunlight Exposition: A Commentary on the Mahāyāna Uttaratantra Treatise

ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ལེགས་བཤད་ཉི་མའི་འོད་ཟེར།

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos legs bshad nyi ma'i 'od zer

Dölpopa's commentary on the Uttaratantra, which, although it doesn't actually use the term "other-emptiness", is an important precursor and source to the formulation of his unique Zhentong view found in his seminal work Mountain Dharma: An Ocean of Definitive Meaning (ri chos nges don rgya mtsho).

Lion's Roar: Exposition of Buddha-Nature

བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོའི་སྟོང་ཐུན་ཆེན་མོ་སེངྒེའི་ང་རོ།

Bde gshegs snying po'i stong thun chen mo seng+ge'i nga ro

Mipam lays out his view of buddha-nature in a short text called Lion's Roar: Exposition of Buddha-Nature, which draws on another of the five treatises of Maitreya, the Sublime Continuum. Here he presents three main arguments showing why all beings have buddha-nature. He also distinguishes his view of buddha-nature, which he portrays as the unconditioned unity of emptiness and appearance, from other traditions' views. Namely, he contrasts his view with traditions that maintain buddhanature as truly real and not empty (Jonang), traditions that hold buddhanature to be simply the mind's absence of true existence (Geluk), and traditions that maintain that the cognitive quality of buddha-nature—the element that is in unity with emptiness—is impermanent (a Sakya view). (Source: Duckworth, Douglas. Jamgön Mipham: His Life and Teachings. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2011: p 58.)

The Lamp That Excellently Elucidates the System of the Proponents of the Other-Emptiness Madhyamaka

དབུ་མ་གཞན་སྟོང་སྨྲ་བའི་སྲོལ་ལེགས་པར་ཕྱེ་བའི་སྒྲོན་མེ།

Dbu ma gzhan stong smra ba'i srol legs par phye ba'i sgron me

In terms of its contents, the Lamp represents a digest of the Uttaratantra, discussing its seven vajra points. In particular, the text’s structure closely follows the first chapter of the Uttaratantra and RGVV, explaining the first four vajra points in detail. Thus, the Lamp refers to both the Uttaratantra and RGVV throughout, though each one is only quoted explicitly once. In addition, the text cites the Anūnatvāpūrṇatvanirdeśaparivarta, the Avataṃsakasūtra, and the Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkārabhāṣya (once each). It also refers to the Dharmadharmatāvibhāga, the Madhyāntavibhāga, the Kālacakratantra, and six verses from the Dharmadhātustava.

(Karl Brunnhölzl. When the Clouds Part, 2015: p. 323.)

Interlinear Commentary on the Mahāyāna Uttaratantra Treatise

ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་མཆན་འགྲེལ།

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos zhes bya ba'i mchan 'grel

An interlinear commentary on the Uttaratantra by the famed Khenpo Zhenga. It is one of a series of such works on the thirteen major treatises of Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism that became the basis for the curriculum at several major Tibetan monastic universities, such as those at Dzogchen and Dzongsar monasteries.

Outline of the Mahāyāna Treatise the Uttaratantra

ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་ས་བཅད།

Theg pa chen po'i bstan bcos rgyud bla ma'i sa bcad

A topical outline of the Ratnagotravibhāga written by the famed 19th century Nyingma scholar Paltrul Rinpoche, Orgyen Jigme Chökyi Wangpo.

Quintessential Essence of the Condensed Ultimate Definitive Meaning: An Explanation of the Mahāyāna Uttaratantra

ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་རྣམ་བཤད་དོན་དམ་རྣམ་ངེས་བསྡུས་པའི་སྙིང་པོའི་སྙིང་པོ།

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i rnam bshad don dam rnam nges bsdus pa'i snying po'i snying po

In his commentary [Gendun Özer] mentions that he composed it for his students who had requested that he write something that would differ from the "coarse explanation" (bshad nyog rtsing po) of the Uttaratantra offered by the "early commentators" (snga rabs pa) of the Kadam tradition. While Gendün Özer does not intend to succumb to a "coarse explanation" of the Indian treatise, he follows his early Kadam predecessors' exposition in terms of doctrinal position, even though his literary style is different, with numerous poetic verses of admiration. In this time period it is not surprising that he wrote the commentary primarily in consultation with Ngok's Tibetan translation (rngog 'gyur) of the Uttaratantra, but the author also used the translations made by Naktso and Patsap wherever necessary.

(Source: Tsering Wangchuk. The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows, 59.)

Supplement to Rongtön's Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum

རྒྱུད་བླ་རོང་སྟོན་འགྲེལ་པའི་ཁ་སྐོང་།

Rgyud bla rong ston 'grel pa'i kha skong

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Troru Tsenam: Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum Entitled The Mirror of the Element Buddha-Nature

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Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi 'grel ba rigs khams bde gshegs snying po'i me long;Troru Tsenam;ཁྲོ་རུ་ཚེ་རྣམ་;khro ru tshe rnam;theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi 'grel ba rigs khams bde gshegs snying po'i me long;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་འགྲེལ་བ་རིགས་ཁམས་བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོའི་མེ་ལོང་།;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་འགྲེལ་བ་རིགས་ཁམས་བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོའི་མེ་ལོང་།

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Lhodrak Dharma Senge: Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum Entitled Clear Sun Rays

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Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum by Lhodrak Dharma Senge.

Rgyud bla ma'i 'grel pa Ti ka nyi 'od gsal ba;Lhodrak Dharma Senge;ལྷོ་བྲག་དར་མ་སེང་གེ;Lho brag dar ma seng ge;rgyud bla ma'i 'grel pa Ti ka nyi 'od gsal ba;རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་འགྲེལ་པ་ཊི་ཀ་ཉི་འོད་གསལ་བ།;རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་འགྲེལ་པ་ཊི་ཀ་ཉི་འོད་གསལ་བ།

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Je Yeshe Gyatso: Synopsis of the Ultimate Continuum Entitled Precious Lamp

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A commentary on the Ultimate Continuum composed by the Gelukpa master Yeshe Gyatso in 1992 in Chentsa Mani temple in Qinghai province, this concise and clear work generally follows the interpretations of Gyaltsap Darma Rinchen.

Rgyud bla ma'i bsdus don rin chen sgron me;Je Yeshe Gyatso;རྗེ་ཡེ་ཤེས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་;rje ye shes rgya mtsho;rgyud bla ma'i bsdus don rin chen sgron me;རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྡུས་དོན་རིན་ཆེན་སྒྲོན་མེ།;རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྡུས་དོན་རིན་ཆེན་སྒྲོན་མེ།

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Bötrul Dongak Tenpai Nyima: Notes on the Essential Points of Mipam’s Exposition of Buddha-Nature

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Notes on Mipam's Lion’s Roar: Exposition of Buddha-Nature, by an influential 20th century Nyingma scholar that took great pains to uphold and further the legacy of Mipam's scholastic contributions.

Stong thun gnad kyi zin thun;Nyingma;Bde gshegs snying po'i stong thun chen mo seng+ge'i nga ro;Mi pham rgya mtsho;Bötrul Dongak Tenpai Nyima;བོད་སྤྲུལ་མདོ་སྔགས་བསྟན་པའི་ཉི་མ་;bod sprul mdo sngags bstan pa'i nyi ma;bod sprul;bod pa sprul sku mdo sngags bstan pa'i nyi ma;thub bstan bshad sgrub thos bsam rgya mtsho;བོད་སྤྲུལ་;བོད་པ་སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་མདོ་སྔགས་བསྟན་པའི་ཉི་མ་;ཐུབ་བསྟན་བཤད་སྒྲུབ་ཐོས་བསམ་རྒྱ་མཚོ་;stong thun gnad kyi zin thun;སྟོང་ཐུན་གནད་ཀྱི་ཟིན་ཐུན།;སྟོང་ཐུན་གནད་ཀྱི་ཟིན་ཐུན།

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Padmasambhava: Rājopadeśadarśanamālā

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A Garland of Views presents a concise commentary by the eighth-century Indian Buddhist master Padmasambhava on a chapter from the Guhyagarbha Tantra on the different Buddhist and non-Buddhist philosophical views, including the Great Perfection (Dzogchen). (Source: Shambhala Publications)

RKTST 2725;Dzogchen;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Tibetan Buddhism;Padmasambhava;པདྨ་འབྱུང་གནས་;pad+ma 'byung gnas;gu ru rin po che;o rgyan chen po;o rgyan gyi slob dpon;blo ldan mchog sred;gu ru nyi ma 'od zer;gu ru shAkya seng ge;gu ru seng ge sgra sgrog;གུ་རུ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་;ཨོ་རྒྱན་ཆེན་པོ་;ཨོ་རྒྱན་གྱི་སློབ་དཔོན་;བློ་ལྡན་མཆོག་སྲེད་;གུ་རུ་ཉི་མ་འོད་ཟེར་;གུ་རུ་ཤཱཀྱ་སེང་གེ་;གུ་རུ་སེང་གེ་སྒྲ་སྒྲོག་;Man ngag gi rgyal po lta ba'i 'phreng ba;མན་ངག་གི་རྒྱལ་པོ་ལྟ་བའི་འཕྲེང་བ;Rājopadeśadarśanamālā;राजोपदेशदर्शनमाला

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 Buddha Gene as Non-implicative Negation and Other Notes on Buddha-Nature

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Found among the rare old manuscripts from Kham area, these notes appear in vols. 44 and 45 of the collection. They discuss the three types of the Buddha element at three stages and also link them to the ground, path and resultant stages and other aspects of the Dzogchen system. Some of the notes are signed by one named Tsul but it is not clear who the Tsul is.

Bde gshegs snying po'i skor zin bris;ma yin dgag gi rigs sogs gshegs snying zin bris;མ་ཡིན་དགག་གི་རིགས་སོགས་གཤེགས་སྙིང་ཟིན་བྲིས།;མ་ཡིན་དགག་གི་རིགས་སོགས་གཤེགས་སྙིང་ཟིན་བྲིས།

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Gö Lotsāwa Zhönu Pal: The Commentary on the Treatise “Mahāyāna-Uttaratantra”: The Mirror Showing Reality Very Clearly

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Gö Lotsāwa Zhönu Pal's commentary to the Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā, that presents the text from within the mahāmudrā tradition of Maitrīpa and Gampopa. More specifically, as Mathes reports, the author, himself, states in his colophon that "he combined the commentarial tradition of Loden Sherab with Gampopa's and Drigung Jigten Sumgön's mahāmudrā interpretation of the Ratnagotravibhāga." (A Direct Path to the Buddha Within, p. 411.)

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi 'grel bshad de kho na nyid rab tu gsal ba'i me long;Kagyu;Mahamudra;Gö Lotsāwa Zhönu Pal;འགོས་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་གཞོན་ནུ་དཔལ་;'gos lo tsA ba gzhon nu dpal;yid bzang rtse ba;mgos lo tsA ba gzhon nu dpal;'gos lo tsā ba gzhon nu dpal;ཡིད་བཟང་རྩེ་བ་;མགོས་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་གཞོན་ནུ་དཔལ་;theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi 'grel bshad de kho na nyid rab tu gsal ba'i me long;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་འགྲེལ་བཤད་དེ་ཁོ་ན་ཉིད་རབ་ཏུ་གསལ་བའི་མེ་ལོང་།

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Sangpuwa Lodrö Tsungme: The Precious Lamp That Illuminates the Definitive Meaning of the Mahāyāna Uttaratantra Treatise

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An extensive commentary on the Uttaratantra written by a contemporary of Dölpopa and Butön during the height of the debate over the definitive nature of the treatise and its teaching on buddha-nature. Lodrö Tsungme presents an interpretation of buddha-nature which is different from what is given by many masters of Sangphu including Ngok Loden Sherab. As his position are quite similar to what Longchenpa espoused later, the commentary was mistakenly attributed to Longchenpa by some Nyingma followers.

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi nges don gsal bar byed pa'i rin po che'i gron me;Sangpuwa Lodrö Tsungme;གསང་ཕུ་བ་བློ་གྲོས་མཚུངས་མེད་;gsang phu ba blo gros mtshungs med;theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi nges don gsal bar byed pa'i rin po che'i gron me;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་ངེས་དོན་གསལ་བར་བྱེད་པའི་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་སྒྲོན་མེ།;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་ངེས་དོན་གསལ་བར་བྱེད་པའི་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་སྒྲོན་མེ།

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Padmasambhava: Rājopadeśadarśanamālā

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A Garland of Views presents a concise commentary by the eighth-century Indian Buddhist master Padmasambhava on a chapter from the Guhyagarbha Tantra on the different Buddhist and non-Buddhist philosophical views, including the Great Perfection (Dzogchen). (Source: Shambhala Publications)

RKTST 2725;Dzogchen;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Tibetan Buddhism;Padmasambhava;པདྨ་འབྱུང་གནས་;pad+ma 'byung gnas;gu ru rin po che;o rgyan chen po;o rgyan gyi slob dpon;blo ldan mchog sred;gu ru nyi ma 'od zer;gu ru shAkya seng ge;gu ru seng ge sgra sgrog;གུ་རུ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་;ཨོ་རྒྱན་ཆེན་པོ་;ཨོ་རྒྱན་གྱི་སློབ་དཔོན་;བློ་ལྡན་མཆོག་སྲེད་;གུ་རུ་ཉི་མ་འོད་ཟེར་;གུ་རུ་ཤཱཀྱ་སེང་གེ་;གུ་རུ་སེང་གེ་སྒྲ་སྒྲོག་;Man ngag gi rgyal po lta ba'i 'phreng ba;མན་ངག་གི་རྒྱལ་པོ་ལྟ་བའི་འཕྲེང་བ;Rājopadeśadarśanamālā;राजोपदेशदर्शनमाला

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Śākya Chokden: Essence of Sūtra and Tantra: An Explanation of Buddhagarbha

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Śākya Chokden on buddha-nature. This text is a section of a more expansive work on the Ratnagotravibhāga, titled the rgyud bla ma'i rnam bshad sngon med nyi ma sogs chos tshan bzhi.

Sangs rgyas kyi snying po'i rnam bshad mdo rgyud snying po;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Tibetan Buddhism;Sakya;Śākya Chokden;ཤཱཀྱ་མཆོག་ལྡན་;shAkya mchog ldan;sangs rgyas kyi snying po'i rnam bshad mdo rgyud snying po;སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་སྙིང་པོའི་རྣམ་བཤད་མདོ་རྒྱུད་སྙིང་པོ།;སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་སྙིང་པོའི་རྣམ་བཤད་མདོ་རྒྱུད་སྙིང་པོ།

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Tāranātha: Supplication to the Profound Other-Emptiness Madhyamaka Lineage

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Tāranātha's lineage supplication to the other-emptiness Madhyamaka tradition that was preserved by the Jonang school. Tāranātha traces the origin of the other-emptiness to the Buddha, who passed it down through Maitreya, Asaṅga, Vasubandhu to Maitripa or from Vasubandhu through Sthiramati, Guṇamāti, et al. to Maitrīpa, or from Buddha through Vajrapaṇi, Rahulabhadra, Nāgārjuna, Śabari, Maitrīpa, from Maitrīpa through Anandakīrti, Ratnakaraśānti, Sajjṇāna, Anandavajra, then in Tibet through Tsen Khawoche, et al. until Tāranātha.

Zab mo gzhan stong dbu ma'i brgyud 'debs;gzhan stong;Jonang;Tāranātha;ཏཱ་ར་ནཱ་ཐ་;tA ra nA tha;kun dga' snying po;ཀུན་དགའ་སྙིང་པོ་;zab mo gzhan stong dbu ma'i brgyud 'debs;ཟབ་མོ་གཞན་སྟོང་དབུ་མའི་བརྒྱུད་འདེབས།;ཟབ་མོ་གཞན་སྟོང་དབུ་མའི་བརྒྱུད་འདེབས།

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Kalkī Śrī Puṇḍarīka: vimalaprabhānāmamūlatantrānusāriṇīdvādaśasāhasrikālaghukālacakratantrarājaṭīkā

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A crucial commentary to the Kālacakra Tantra purported to have been written by Kalkī Śrī Puṇḍarīka, the fabled Second King of Shambhala also known as Kulika Puṇḍarīka, though in the Tibetan tradition the work is sometimes attributed to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara whom Puṇḍarīka was considered to be an emanation of. In the Tibetan tradition it is counted among the Three Cycles of Bodhisattva Commentaries (Sems 'grel skor gsum), which are a trilogy of canonical commentaries attributed to the transcendent Bodhisattvas Vajrapaṇi, Vajragarbha, and Avalokiteśvara on the Cakrasamvara, Hevajra, and Kālacakra Tantras, respectively.

Vimalaprabhā;Vajrayana;Kālacakra;Kalkī Śrī Puṇḍarīka;རིགས་ལྡན་པདྨ་དཀར་པོ་;rigs ldan pad+ma dkar po;rigs ldan gnyis pa pad+ma dkar po;རིགས་ལྡན་གཉིས་པ་པདྨ་དཀར་པོ་; Drogön Chögyal Pakpa;འགྲོ་མགོན་ཆོས་རྒྱལ་འཕགས་པ་;'gro mgon chos rgyal 'phags pa;'phags pa blo gros rgyal mtshan;chos rgyal 'phags pa;'gro mgon 'phags pa blo gros rgyal mtshan;blo gros rgyal mtshan;འཕགས་པ་བློ་གྲོས་རྒྱལ་མཚན་;Pakpa Lodro Gyaltsen;Chögyal Phagpa;Chögyal Phakpa;Chogyal Phagpa;Drogön Chögyal Phagpa;Drogon Chogyal Phagpa;Drogön Phagpa Lodrö Gyaltsen;Drogon Phagpa Lodro Gyaltsen;Shongton Dorje Gyaltsen;ཤོང་སྟོན་རྡོ་རྗེ་རྒྱལ་མཚན;shong ston rdo rje rgyal mtshan;shong ston lo tsA ba rdo rje rgyal mtshan;Zhang mdo sde dpal;Mdo sde dpal;Zhang ston Mdo sde dpal;bsdus pa'i rgyud kyi rgyal po dus kyi 'khor lo'i 'grel bshad rtsa ba'i rgyud kyi rjes su 'jug pa stong phrag bcu gnyis pa dri ma med pa'i 'od;བསྡུས་པའི་རྒྱུད་ཀྱི་རྒྱལ་པོ་དུས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོའི་འགྲེལ་བཤད་རྩ་བའི་རྒྱུད་ཀྱི་རྗེས་སུ་འཇུག་པ་སྟོང་ཕྲག་བཅུ་གཉིས་པ་དྲི་མ་མེད་པའི་འོད;vimalaprabhānāmamūlatantrānusāriṇīdvādaśasāhasrikālaghukālacakratantrarājaṭīkā;དྲི་མ་མེད་པའི་འོད།

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Khenpo Zhenga: Interlinear Commentary on the Mahāyāna Uttaratantra Treatise

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An interlinear commentary on the Uttaratantra by the famed Khenpo Zhenga. It is one of a series of such works on the thirteen major treatises of Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism that became the basis for the curriculum at several major Tibetan monastic universities, such as those at Dzogchen and Dzongsar monasteries.

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos zhes bya ba'i mchan 'grel;Nyingma;Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra;Khenpo Zhenga;གཞན་ཕན་ཆོས་ཀྱི་སྣང་བ་;gzhan phan chos kyi snang ba;mkhan po gzhan dga';rgya kong mkhan chen gzhan phan chos kyi snang ba;gzhan phan byams pa'i go cha;mkhas mchog gzhan phan snang ba;rdzogs chen mkhan rabs 19;rdzong sar mkhan rabs 01;མཁན་པོ་གཞན་དགའ་;རྒྱ་ཀོང་མཁན་ཆེན་གཞན་ཕན་ཆོས་ཀྱི་སྣང་བ་;གཞན་ཕན་བྱམས་པའི་གོ་ཆ་;མཁས་མཆོག་གཞན་ཕན་སྣང་བ་;རྫོགས་ཆེན་མཁན་རབས་༡༩་;རྫོང་སར་མཁན་རབས་༠༡་;Khenpo Shenga;theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos zhes bya ba'i mchan 'grel;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་མཆན་འགྲེལ།;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་མཆན་འགྲེལ།

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Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Taye: Immaculate Light Rays of the Vajra Moon: Instructions on the View of Other-Emptiness of Great Madhyamaka

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Written at Dzamtang, a monastic city in southern Amdo that is the primary institutional base of the Jonang school, this work by the famed Kagyu scholar Jamgön Kongtrul is characterized by Brunnhölzl as "an eclectic blend of what could be called "Kagyü Shentong" (primarily based on Maitrīpa, the Third and Seventh Karmapas, and the Eighth and Ninth Situpas) and "Jonang Shentong" (based on Dölpopa and especially Tāranātha), as well as some elements of Śākya Chogden’s Shentong."

Gzhan stong dbu ma chen po'i lta khrid rdo rje zla ba dri ma med pa'i 'od zer;Karma Kagyu;Mahamudra;Vajrayana;gzhan stong;Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Taye;འཇམ་མགོན་ཀོང་སྤྲུལ་;'jam mgon kong sprul;blo gros mtha' yas;yon tan rgya mtsho;'jam mgon chos kyi rgyal po;pad+ma gar dbang blo gros mtha' yas;pad+ma gar gyi dbang phyug rtsal;pad+ma gar dbang phrin las 'gro 'dul rtsal;བློ་གྲོས་མཐའ་ཡས་;ཡོན་ཏན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་;འཇམ་མགོན་ཆོས་ཀྱི་རྒྱལ་པོ་;པདྨ་གར་དབང་བློ་གྲོས་མཐའ་ཡས་;པདྨ་གར་གྱི་དབང་ཕྱུག་རྩལ་;པདྨ་གར་དབང་ཕྲིན་ལས་འགྲོ་འདུལ་རྩལ་;gzhan stong dbu ma chen po'i lta khrid rdo rje zla ba dri ma med pa'i 'od zer;གཞན་སྟོང་དབུ་མ་ཆེན་པོའི་ལྟ་ཁྲིད་རྡོ་རྗེ་ཟླ་བ་དྲི་མ་མེད་པའི་འོད་ཟེར།;གཞན་སྟོང་དབུ་མ་ཆེན་པོའི་ལྟ་ཁྲིད་རྡོ་རྗེ་ཟླ་བ་དྲི་མ་མེད་པའི་འོད་ཟེར།

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Rongtön Sheja Kunrik: Elegant Explanation of the Treatise of the Ultimate Continuum of the Mahāyāna

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An extensive explanatory commentary on the the Ultimate Continuum by one of the major scholastic voices of the Sakya school. As Bernert states, "Refuting, on one hand, the notion that Buddha-nature is synonymous with mere emptiness, and on the other that the mind is inherently endowed with the Buddha qualities, Rongtön argues for an understanding of Buddha-nature that embraces both aspects of the nature of mind: cognizance and emptiness." (Christian Bernert. Perfect or Perfected? Rongtön on Buddha-Nature, 2018.

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos legs par bshad pa;Sakya;Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra;Rangtong;Rongtön Sheja Kunrik;རོང་སྟོན་ཤེས་བྱ་ཀུན་རིག་;rong ston shes bya kun rig;shAkya rgyal mtshan;smra ba'i seng+ge;shes bya kun gzigs;rong TI ka pa;shes rab 'od zer;ཤཱཀྱ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་;སྨྲ་བའི་སེངྒེ་;ཤེས་བྱ་ཀུན་གཟིགས་;རོང་ཊཱི་ཀ་པ་;ཤེས་རབ་འོད་ཟེར་;Rongtön Shéja Günsi;Rongton Sheja Kunrig;theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos legs par bshad pa;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ལེགས་པར་བཤད་པ།;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ལེགས་པར་བཤད་པ།

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Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje: The Treatise on Pointing Out the Tathāgata Heart

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The Third Karmapa's treatise on buddha-nature written in verse, which is essentially a synopsis of the Uttaratantra. According to Schaeffer, "This verse text (De bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po gtan la dbab pa, or De bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po bstan pa) blends scriptural quotations from both sūtra and tantra with Rang byung's own words, creating an evocative picture of the relation between the primordially pure enlightened state- symbolized by the Enlightened Heart (snying po)- human existence, and Buddhahood. While Rang byung has relied heavily on the Ratnagotravibhāgaśāstra, (known in Tibet as the Uttaratantra, or Rgyud bla ma), the syncretism of various strands of Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna apparent in the text is particular to Tibet. Tathāgatagarbha, Madhyamaka, Yogācāra, Mahāmudrā, and Annuttarayogatantra all coalesce in this work, which is a testament to the hundreds of years of appropriation and synthesis of Indian and Tibetan Buddhist thought that preceded it. - Kurtis Schaeffer, from the introduction to The Enlightened Heart of Buddhahood.

De bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po bstan pa'i bstan bcos;Karma Kagyu;Vajrayana;Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra;Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje;རང་བྱུང་རྡོ་རྗེ་;rang byung rdo rje;karma pa gsum pa;ཀརྨ་པ་གསུམ་པ་;Karmapa, 3rd;de bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po bstan pa'i bstan bcos;དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་བསྟན་པའི་བསྟན་བཅོས།;དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་བསྟན་པའི་བསྟན་བཅོས།

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Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Taye: A Commentary on The Treatise on Pointing Out the Tathāgata Heart, Illuminating the Intention of Rangjung

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Kongtrul's commentary on the Third Karmapa's short verse synopsis of the Uttaratantra, The Treatise on Pointing Out the Tathāgata Heart. As he states in the opening of the text: "The Omniscient Victor spoke about [this Heart] in the collection of the sūtras of the final definitive meaning and in the very profound collection of tantras in an unconcealed and clear way. The illustrious sons of this victor, such as the mighty lords of the tenth bhūmi, the regent Ajita and Avalokiteśvara, as well as the mahāsiddha Saraha and his heirs, noble Nāgārjuna, venerable Asaṅga, and others commented on it as being [the Buddha's] direct and straightforward intention. The way of being of the very profound actuality of this Heart does not fit within the scope of the minds of those who roam the [sphere of] dialectics. It was extensively illuminated by the second mighty sage, Rangjung Dorje, the charioteer who was the first in the land of snow mountains to utter the unassailable great lion's roar of the Heart that is the definitive meaning. The quintessence of all his excellent words is this Treatise on Pointing Out the Tathāgata Heart."

De bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po bstan pa'i bstan bcos kyi rnam 'grel rang byung dgongs gsal;Karma Kagyu;Vajrayana;De bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po bstan pa'i bstan bcos;Karmapa, 3rd;Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Taye;འཇམ་མགོན་ཀོང་སྤྲུལ་;'jam mgon kong sprul;blo gros mtha' yas;yon tan rgya mtsho;'jam mgon chos kyi rgyal po;pad+ma gar dbang blo gros mtha' yas;pad+ma gar gyi dbang phyug rtsal;pad+ma gar dbang phrin las 'gro 'dul rtsal;བློ་གྲོས་མཐའ་ཡས་;ཡོན་ཏན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་;འཇམ་མགོན་ཆོས་ཀྱི་རྒྱལ་པོ་;པདྨ་གར་དབང་བློ་གྲོས་མཐའ་ཡས་;པདྨ་གར་གྱི་དབང་ཕྱུག་རྩལ་;པདྨ་གར་དབང་ཕྲིན་ལས་འགྲོ་འདུལ་རྩལ་; de bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po bstan pa'i bstan bcos kyi rnam 'grel rang byung dgongs gsal;དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་བསྟན་པའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་རྣམ་འགྲེལ་རང་བྱུང་དགོངས་གསལ།;དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་བསྟན་པའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་རྣམ་འགྲེལ་རང་བྱུང་དགོངས་གསལ།

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Dölpopa Sherab Gyaltsen: The Sunlight Exposition: A Commentary on the Mahāyāna Uttaratantra Treatise

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Dölpopa's commentary on the Uttaratantra, which, although it doesn't actually use the term "other-emptiness", is an important precursor and source to the formulation of his unique Zhentong view found in his seminal work Mountain Dharma: An Ocean of Definitive Meaning (ri chos nges don rgya mtsho).

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos legs bshad nyi ma'i 'od zer;Jonang;Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra;Zhentong;Dölpopa Sherab Gyaltsen;དོལ་པོ་པ་ཤེས་རབ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་;dol po pa shes rab rgyal mtshan;shes rab rgyal mtshan;shes rab mgon;rton pa bzhi ldan;ཤེས་རབ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་;ཤེས་རབ་མགོན་;རྟོན་པ་བཞི་ལྡན་;theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos legs bshad nyi ma'i 'od zer;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ལེགས་བཤད་ཉི་མའི་འོད་ཟེར།;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ལེགས་བཤད་ཉི་མའི་འོད་ཟེར།

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Mipam Gyatso: Lion's Roar: Exposition of Buddha-Nature

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Mipam lays out his view of buddha-nature in a short text called Lion's Roar: Exposition of Buddha-Nature, which draws on another of the five treatises of Maitreya, the Sublime Continuum. Here he presents three main arguments showing why all beings have buddha-nature. He also distinguishes his view of buddha-nature, which he portrays as the unconditioned unity of emptiness and appearance, from other traditions' views. Namely, he contrasts his view with traditions that maintain buddhanature as truly real and not empty (Jonang), traditions that hold buddhanature to be simply the mind's absence of true existence (Geluk), and traditions that maintain that the cognitive quality of buddha-nature—the element that is in unity with emptiness—is impermanent (a Sakya view). (Source: Duckworth, Douglas. Jamgön Mipham: His Life and Teachings. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2011: p 58.)

Bde gshegs snying po'i stong thun chen mo seng+ge'i nga ro;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Tibetan Buddhism;Nyingma;Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra;Mipam Gyatso;མི་ཕམ་རྒྱ་མཚོ་;mi pham rgya mtsho;mi pham 'jam dbyangs rnam rgyal rgya mtsho;'jam dpal dgyes pa'i rdo rje;'ju mi pham;མི་ཕམ་འཇམ་དབྱངས་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་རྒྱ་མཚོ་;འཇམ་དཔལ་དགྱེས་པའི་རྡོ་རྗེ་;འཇུ་མི་ཕམ་;mipham;bde gshegs snying po'i stong thun chen mo seng+ge'i nga ro;བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོའི་སྟོང་ཐུན་ཆེན་མོ་སེངྒེའི་ང་རོ།;བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོའི་སྟོང་ཐུན་ཆེན་མོ་སེངྒེའི་ང་རོ།

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Kyotön Mönlam Tsultrim: Instructions on "The Ultimate Continuum of the Mahāyāna"

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This work details instructions on the Ratnagotravibhāga that Maitrīpa reportedly received directly from Maitreya in a dream, which he then later retrieved, in actuality, discovering the text concealed within in a stūpa. Mönlam Tsultrim, the attributed Tibetan author of this work that lived centuries later, thus claims that he copied and edited this work from the original manuscript that was passed down in a lineage coming from Maitrīpa, himself.

Theg chen rgyud bla ma'i gdams pa;Mahamudra;Kyotön Mönlam Tsultrim;སྐྱོ་སྟོན་སྨོན་ལམ་ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་;skyo ston smon lam tshul khrims;theg chen rgyud bla ma'i gdams pa;ཐེག་ཆེན་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་གདམས་པ།;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་གདམས་པ།།

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Kyotön Mönlam Tsultrim: Instruction for the Moment of Death

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Instructions on attaining Mahāmudrā in the intermediate state based on the Atyayajñānasūtra.

'da' ka ye shes kyi 'chi kha ma'i man ngag;Mahamudra;Kyotön Mönlam Tsultrim;སྐྱོ་སྟོན་སྨོན་ལམ་ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་;skyo ston smon lam tshul khrims;'da' ka ye shes kyi 'chi kha ma'i man ngag;འདའ་ཀ་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་འཆི་ཁ་མའི་མན་ངག།

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Kyotön Mönlam Tsultrim: The Repository of Wisdom

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One of a series of short texts by the Kadam scholar Kyotön Mönlam Tsultrim, which represent an intersection between the works of Maitreya, particularly the Ratnagotravibhāga, and the practical instructions of Mahāmudrā.

Ye shes kyi 'jog sa;Meditative Tradition;Mahamudra;Buddha-nature as Luminosity;Disclosure model;Kyotön Mönlam Tsultrim;སྐྱོ་སྟོན་སྨོན་ལམ་ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་;skyo ston smon lam tshul khrims;ye shes kyi 'jog sa;ཡེ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་འཇོག་ས།

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Kyotön Mönlam Tsultrim: The Meaning of the Essence of Luminosity

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A Kadam work on luminosity and buddha-nature.

'od gsal snying po'i don;Buddha-nature as Luminosity;Mahamudra;Kyotön Mönlam Tsultrim;སྐྱོ་སྟོན་སྨོན་ལམ་ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་;skyo ston smon lam tshul khrims;'od gsal snying po'i don;འོད་གསལ་སྙིང་པོའི་དོན།

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Dumowa Tashi Özer: Heart of the Luminous Sun

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Dumowa Tashi Özer's commentary on the Uttaratantra that is based on the Third Karmapa’s topical outline or summary (bsdus don).

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi 'grel ba gsal ba nyi ma'i snying po;Karma Kagyu;Dumowa Tashi Özer;བདུད་མོ་བ་བཀྲ་ཤིས་འོད་ཟེར་;bdud mo ba bkra shis 'od zer;Dümo Tashi Öser;Dümo Tashi Özer;Dümo Dashi Öser;theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi 'grel ba gsal ba nyi ma'i snying po;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་འགྲེལ་བ་གསལ་བ་ཉི་མའི་སྙིང་པོ།;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་འགྲེལ་བ་གསལ་བ་ཉི་མའི་སྙིང་པོ།

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Eighth Karmapa Mikyö Dorje: The Lamp That Excellently Elucidates the System of the Proponents of the Other-Emptiness Madhyamaka

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In terms of its contents, the Lamp represents a digest of the Uttaratantra, discussing its seven vajra points.

Dbu ma gzhan stong smra ba'i srol legs par phye ba'i sgron me;Karma Kagyu;Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra;Zhentong;Eighth Karmapa Mikyö Dorje;མི་བསྐྱོད་རྡོ་རྗེ་;mi bskyod rdo rje;karma pa brgyad pa;chos kyi grags pa dpal bzang po;ཀརྨ་པ་བརྒྱད་པ་;ཆོས་ཀྱི་གྲགས་པ་དཔལ་བཟང་པོ་;Karmapa, 8th;dbu ma gzhan stong smra ba'i srol legs par phye ba'i sgron me;དབུ་མ་གཞན་སྟོང་སྨྲ་བའི་སྲོལ་ལེགས་པར་ཕྱེ་བའི་སྒྲོན་མེ།;དབུ་མ་གཞན་སྟོང་སྨྲ་བའི་སྲོལ་ལེགས་པར་ཕྱེ་བའི་སྒྲོན་མེ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ།

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Marpa Dopa Chökyi Wangchuk: A Commentary on the Meaning of the Words of the Uttaratantra

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An early Tibetan commentary on the Uttaratantra, both the śāstra and the vyākhyā, that purports to represent the teachings passed on by the Kashmiri Parahitabhadra to his Tibetan student Marpa, though it is not entirely clear whether this refers to Marpa Dopa or Marpa Chökyi Lodrö, both of whom were important early Kagyu masters and translators that travelled south to receive teachings which they imported and propagated in Tibet. Nevertheless, the text follows more closely Indian commentarial styles and includes typical Mahāmudrā type instructions in its exegesis. Thus it is a prime example of the lineage that descends from Maitrīpa that came to dominate the Kagyu school's approach to the Uttaratantra in later generations.

Rgyud bla ma'i tshig don rnam par 'grel pa;Mahamudra;Kagyu;Marpa Dopa Chökyi Wangchuk;མར་པ་དོ་པ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབང་ཕྱུག་;mar pa do pa chos kyi dbang phyug;mar pa do ba chos kyi dbang phyug;མར་པ་དོ་བ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབང་ཕྱུག་;rgyud bla ma'i tshig don rnam par 'grel pa;རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་ཚིག་དོན་རྣམ་པར་འགྲེལ་པ།;རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་ཚིག་དོན་རྣམ་པར་འགྲེལ་པ།

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Sabzang Mati Paṇchen Lodrö Gyaltsen: Illuminating the Definitive Meaning: An Explanation of the Ultimate Continuum

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A detailed explanation of the Uttaratantra written by one of Dölpopa's chief disciples.

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi rnam par bshad pa nges don rab gsal snang ba;Jonang;Sabzang Mati Paṇchen Lodrö Gyaltsen;ས་བཟང་མ་ཏི་པཎ་ཆེན་བློ་གྲོས་རྒྱལ་མཚན་;sa bzang ma ti paN chen blo gros rgyal mtshan;theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi rnam par bshad pa nges don rab gsal snang ba;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་རྣམ་པར་བཤད་པ་ངེས་དོན་རབ་གསལ་སྣང་བ།;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་རྣམ་པར་བཤད་པ་ངེས་དོན་རབ་གསལ་སྣང་བ།

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Śākya Chokden: Four Works including Exegesis on the Uttaratantra Entitled the Sun Previously Unseen

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Four works including an exegesis on the Uttaratantra by an important Sakya scholar known for taking, at times, controversial stances that challenged the philosophical positions of even his own school. These works, thus, represent a unique view of buddha-nature that is unconfined by the sectarian affiliations that otherwise dominated the Tibetan philosophical landscape.

Rgyud bla ma'i rnam bshad sngon med nyi ma sogs chos tshan bzhi;Buddha-nature as Luminosity;Provisional or definitive;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Tibetan Buddhism;Sakya;Śākya Chokden;ཤཱཀྱ་མཆོག་ལྡན་;shAkya mchog ldan;rgyud bla ma'i rnam bshad sngon med nyi ma sogs chos tshan bzhi;རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་རྣམ་བཤད་སྔོན་མེད་ཉི་མ་སོགས་ཆོས་ཚན་བཞི།;རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་རྣམ་བཤད་སྔོན་མེད་ཉི་མ་སོགས་ཆོས་ཚན་བཞི།

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Gyalse Tokme Zangpo: Illuminating the Definitive Meaning of the Uttaratantra

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This work presents a late (14th century) Kadampa view on the Ratnagotravibhāga and the associated buddha-nature teachings by an influential representative of this tradition, often referred to as "the second Asaṅga" (thogs med gnyis pa).

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i 'grel pa nges don gsal bar byed pa'i 'od zer;Provisional or definitive;Gyalse Tokme Zangpo;རྒྱལ་སྲས་ཐོགས་མེད་བཟང་པོ་;rgyal sras thogs med bzang po;thogs med bzang po dpal;rgyal sras dngul chu thogs med;rgyal sras chos rdzong pa;dkon mchog bzang po;bzang po dpal;ཐོགས་མེད་བཟང་པོ་དཔལ་;རྒྱལ་སྲས་དངུལ་ཆུ་ཐོགས་མེད་;རྒྱལ་སྲས་ཆོས་རྫོང་པ་;དཀོན་མཆོག་བཟང་པོ་;བཟང་པོ་དཔལ་;theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i 'grel pa nges don gsal bar byed pa'i 'od zer;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་འགྲེལ་པ་ངེས་དོན་གསལ་བར་བྱེད་པའི་འོད་ཟེར།;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་འགྲེལ་པ་ངེས་དོན་གསལ་བར་བྱེད་པའི་འོད་ཟེར།

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Mipam Gyatso: Words of Mipam: Interlinear Commentary on the Uttaratantra

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Mipam's annotated commentary to the Uttaratantra, a commentarial style in which the root verses of the treatise are embedded in the text and are then explained word by word. This text overlaps significantly with his related work on this subject Lion’s Roar: Exposition of Buddha-Nature.

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi mchan 'grel mi pham zhal lung;Nyingma;Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra;Mipam Gyatso;མི་ཕམ་རྒྱ་མཚོ་;mi pham rgya mtsho;mi pham 'jam dbyangs rnam rgyal rgya mtsho;'jam dpal dgyes pa'i rdo rje;'ju mi pham;མི་ཕམ་འཇམ་དབྱངས་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་རྒྱ་མཚོ་;འཇམ་དཔལ་དགྱེས་པའི་རྡོ་རྗེ་;འཇུ་མི་ཕམ་;mipham;theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi mchan 'grel mi pham zhal lung;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་མཆན་འགྲེལ་མི་ཕམ་ཞལ་ལུང་།;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་མཆན་འགྲེལ་མི་ཕམ་ཞལ་ལུང་།

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Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Taye: The Unassailable Lion's Roar

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Jamgön Kongtrul's commentary on the Uttaratantra which, according to Brunnhölzl, draws heavily from Dölpopa's work on the same subject. Over the course of time since Kongtrul's passing at the dawn of the 20th century up until the present this text has become the primary commentary to the Uttaratantra used in the Kagyu tradition.

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos snying po'i don mngon sum lam gyi bshad pa srol dang sbyar ba'i rnam par 'grel ba phyir mi ldog pa seng ge'i nga ro;Kagyu;Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra;Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Taye;འཇམ་མགོན་ཀོང་སྤྲུལ་;'jam mgon kong sprul;blo gros mtha' yas;yon tan rgya mtsho;'jam mgon chos kyi rgyal po;pad+ma gar dbang blo gros mtha' yas;pad+ma gar gyi dbang phyug rtsal;pad+ma gar dbang phrin las 'gro 'dul rtsal;བློ་གྲོས་མཐའ་ཡས་;ཡོན་ཏན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་;འཇམ་མགོན་ཆོས་ཀྱི་རྒྱལ་པོ་;པདྨ་གར་དབང་བློ་གྲོས་མཐའ་ཡས་;པདྨ་གར་གྱི་དབང་ཕྱུག་རྩལ་;པདྨ་གར་དབང་ཕྲིན་ལས་འགྲོ་འདུལ་རྩལ་;phyir mi ldog pa seng ge'i nga ro;ཕྱིར་མི་ལྡོག་པ་སེང་གེའི་ང་རོ།

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Ngok Lotsāwa Loden Sherab: Condensed Meaning of the "Ultimate Continuum of the Mahāyāna"

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The first Tibetan commentary written on the Uttaratantra by the translator of the only extant Tibetan translation of the treatise. Furthermore, since the author is also the namesake of the Ngok tradition (rngog lugs) of exegesis of the Uttaratantra, known for its analytic take on the work, this text was highly influential in the conception of a uniquely Tibetan approach to the Uttaratantra and the notion of buddha-nature.

Theg chen rgyud bla ma'i don bsdus pa;Analytic Tradition;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Tibetan Buddhism;Buddha-nature as Emptiness;Ngok Lotsāwa Loden Sherab;རྔོག་བློ་ལྡན་ཤེས་རབ་;rngog blo ldan shes rab;rngog lo tsA ba;lo chen blo ldan shes rab;blo ldan shes rab;རྔོག་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་;ལོ་ཆེན་བློ་ལྡན་ཤེས་རབ་;Ngok Lotsāwa;Ngok Loden Sherab;Lochen Loden Sherab;Loden Sherab;Theg chen rgyud bla ma'i don bsdus pa;ཐེག་ཆེན་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་དོན་བསྡུས་པ།

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Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje, Fifth Shamarpa Könchok Yenlak: Treatise on Pointing Out the Tathāgata Heart Together with Annotations

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This work is an edition of the Third Karmapa's Treatise on Pointing Out the Tathāgata Heart (De bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po bstan pa'i bstan bcos) embellished with interlinear annotations by the Fifth Shamarpa.

De bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po gtan la dbab pa'i bstan bcos mchan can;Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje;རང་བྱུང་རྡོ་རྗེ་;rang byung rdo rje;karma pa gsum pa;ཀརྨ་པ་གསུམ་པ་;Karmapa, 3rd; Fifth Shamarpa Könchok Yenlak;དཀོན་མཆོག་ཡན་ལག་;dkon mchog yan lag;zhwa dmar lnga pa;dkon mchog 'bangs;zla ba chu skyes;spyan snga dkon mchog 'bangs;ཞྭ་དམར་ལྔ་པ་;དཀོན་མཆོག་འབངས་;ཟླ་བ་ཆུ་སྐྱེས་;སྤྱན་སྔ་དཀོན་མཆོག་འབངས་;Shamarpa, 5th;de bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po gtan la dbab pa'i bstan bcos mchan can;དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་གཏན་ལ་དབབ་པའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་མཆན་ཅན།;དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་གཏན་ལ་དབབ་པའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་མཆན་ཅན།

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Gyaltsap Je Dharma Rinchen: Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum of the Mahāyāna

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Commentary on the Uttaratantra by a preeminent Geluk scholar that was a chief disciple of the school's founder, Tsongkhapa, as well as the Sakya scholar Rendawa Zhönu Lodrö, an outspoken critic of the treatise.

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i ṭīkka;Buddha-nature as Emptiness;Geluk;Madhyamaka;Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra;Rangtong;Gyaltsap Je Dharma Rinchen;རྒྱལ་ཚབ་རྗེ་དར་མ་རིན་ཆེན་;rgyal tshab rje dar ma rin chen;rgyal tshab rje;dga' ldan khri pa 02;རྒྱལ་ཚབ་རྗེ་;དགའ་ལྡན་ཁྲི་པ་༠༢་;Ganden Tripa, 2nd;theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i ṭīkka;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་ཊཱི་ཀྐ།;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་ཊཱི་ཀྐ།

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Butön Rinchen Drup: Ornament That Illuminates and Beautifies the Tathāgata Heart

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Butön's study on the theory of the tathāgatagarbha written in 1359. In this text he argues that the teachings on buddha-nature are of an expedient or provisional meaning, which is a position that is typical of the Sakya view as set forth by Sakya Paṇḍita and others. He backs up this position with citations from the Ghanavyūhasūtra, the Laṅkāvatārasūtra, the Śrīmālādevīsūtra, the Aṅgulimālīyasūtra, and the Ratnagotravibhāga.

Bde gshegs snying po gsal ba'i rgyan;Provisional or definitive;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Tibetan Buddhism;Sakya;Butön Rinchen Drup;བུ་སྟོན་རིན་ཆེན་གྲུབ་;bu ston rin chen grub;bu ston kha che;bu ston thams cad mkhyen pa;Buton Khache;Butön Tamche Khyenpa;Rinchen Drub;bde gshegs snying po gsal ba'i rgyan;བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོ་གསལ་བའི་རྒྱན།;བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོ་གསལ་བའི་རྒྱན།

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Vairocanarakṣita: Mahāyānottaratantraśāstraṭippaṇī

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One of only two extant Sanskrit commentaries to the Uttaratantra, the other being the pith instruction composed by Sajjana. However, this work seems to have not been translated into Tibetan and thus it had little, if any, influence on the development of the Tibetan exegesis of the Uttaratantra.

Mahāyānottaratantraśāstraṭippaṇī;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Indian Buddhism;Vairocanarakṣita;བཻ་རོ་ཙ་ན་རཀྵི་ཏ་;bai ro tsa na rak+Shi ta;rgyud bla ma'i tshig don rnam par 'grel pa;རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་ཚིག་དོན་རྣམ་པར་འགྲེལ་པ་;Mahāyānottaratantraśāstraṭippaṇī;महायानोत्तरतन्त्रशास्त्रटिप्पणी

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Tanak Rinchen Yeshe: Illumination of the Definitive Meaning: A Commentary on the Uttaratantra in Relation to the Sūtras

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A voluminous commentary on the Uttaratantra, which, as its title suggests, presents the treatise as a definitive work and elucidates it vis-a-vis the sūtras that are cited within it. It is noteworthy for its scholarship, as an early example of a Tibetan locating the scriptural source material of the Uttaratantra, as well as being widely considered an influential precursor to Dölpopa's treatment of the text.

Rgyud bla ma'i 'grel pa mdo dang sbyar ba nges pa'i don gyi snang ba;Provisional or definitive;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Tibetan Buddhism;Zhentong;Tanak Rinchen Yeshe;རྟ་ནག་རིན་ཆེན་ཡེ་ཤེས་;rta nag rin chen ye shes;rin chen ye shes;rta nag rin ye;རིན་ཆེན་ཡེ་ཤེས་;རྟ་ནག་རིན་ཡེ་;rgyud bla ma'i 'grel pa mdo dang sbyar ba nges pa'i don gyi snang ba;རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་འགྲེལ་པ་མདོ་དང་སྦྱར་བ་ངེས་པའི་དོན་གྱི་སྣང་བ།;རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་འགྲེལ་པ་མདོ་དང་སྦྱར་བ་ངེས་པའི་དོན་གྱི་སྣང་བ།

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Minyak Lama Yeshe Dorje: A Treasury of Gems of the Definitive Meaning: An Explanation of the Treatise on the Ultimate Continuum of the Mahāyāna

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According to Brunnhölzl, this work "clearly subscribes to the disclosure model of buddha nature, asserting that the stainless tathāgata heart adorned with all major and minor marks as well as awakening exists in all beings, refuting that the reality of cessation is a nonimplicative negation, and denying the position that the fully qualified sugata heart exists solely on the buddhabhūmi, while it is only nominal at the time of sentient beings. Also, besides CMW and Mipham’s commentary, YDC is the only other commentary I have reviewed that explicitly connects the name and contents of the Uttaratantra with the vajrayāna notion of tantra, thus underlining the text’s reputation as a bridge between the sūtras and tantras."

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi bshad pa nges don nor bu'i mdzod;Disclosure model;Vajrayana;Minyak Lama Yeshe Dorje;མི་ཉག་བླ་མ་ཡེ་ཤེས་རྡོ་རྗེ་;mi nyag bla ma ye shes rdo rje;ye shes rdo rje dpal bzang po;ཡེ་ཤེས་རྡོ་རྗེ་དཔལ་བཟང་པོ་;Yeshé Dorje;Yeshé Dorje Bal Sangpo;theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi bshad pa nges don nor bu'i mdzod;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་བཤད་པ་ངེས་དོན་ནོར་བུའི་མཛོད།;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་བཤད་པ་ངེས་དོན་ནོར་བུའི་མཛོད།

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Sajjana: Mahāyānottaratantraśāstropadeśa

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One of only two extant Sanskrit texts that comment on the Uttaratantra, this highly original work by Sajjana presents a contemplative approach to Maitreya's treatise from an author that was the veritable source for the Tibetan exegetical traditions spawned by his students Ngok Loden Sherab and Tsen Khawoche.

Mahāyānottaratantraśāstropadeśa;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Indian Buddhism;Meditative Tradition;Sajjana;ས་ཛ་ན་;sa dza na;paN+Di ta sa dza na;sa dzdza na;པཎྜི་ཏ་ས་ཛ་ན་;ས་ཛཛ་ན་;theg pa chen po'i bstan bcos rgyud bla ma'i man ngag;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་མན་ངག;Mahāyānottaratantraśāstropadeśa;महायानोत्तरतन्त्रशास्त्रोपदेश

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Chapa Chökyi Senge: An Extensive Explanation that Illuminates the Subtle Points of the Words and Meaning of the Mahāyāna Uttaratantra Treatise

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Commentary on the Uttaratantra by one of the early Kadam scholars representing the analytic exegesis of the treatise stemming from Ngok Lotsāwa (rngog lugs) and the scholastic tradition of Sangpu Neutok Monastery.

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi tshig dang don gyi cha rgya cher bsnyad pa phra ba'i don gsal ba;Analytic Tradition;Chapa Chökyi Senge;ཕྱྭ་པ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་སེངྒེ་;phywa pa chos kyi seng+ge;cha pa chos kyi seng+ge;phya pa chos kyi seng+ge;gsang phu ne'u thog mkhan rabs 06;ཆ་པ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་སེངྒེ་;ཕྱ་པ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་སེངྒེ་;གསང་ཕུ་ནེའུ་ཐོག་མཁན་རབས་༠༦་;theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi tshig dang don gyi cha rgya cher bsnyad pa phra ba'i don gsal ba;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་ཚིག་དང་དོན་གྱི་ཆ་རྒྱ་ཆེར་བསྙད་པ་ཕྲ་བའི་དོན་གསལ་བ།;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་ཚིག་དང་དོན་གྱི་ཆ་རྒྱ་ཆེར་བསྙད་པ་ཕྲ་བའི་དོན་གསལ་བ།

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Sakya Paṇḍita: Distinguishing the Three Vows

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Written circa 1232 when the author was about fifty years old, it is an expansive treatise on the three vows pertaining to the three vehicles of Buddhism that is one of Sakya Paṇḍita's most important and influential works. Nevertheless, it was controversial in its time for the criticism the author levels against the philosophical positions of various scholars and schools of thought.

Sdom gsum rab dbye;Debate(s);Provisional or definitive;Sakya;Sakya Paṇḍita;ས་སྐྱ་པཎྜི་ཏ་;sa skya paN+Di ta;kun dga' rgyal mtshan;sa skya paN+Di ta kun dga' rgyal mtshan;ཀུན་དགའ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་;ས་སྐྱ་པཎྜི་ཏ་ཀུན་དགའ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་;Sapaṇ;Sapen;Sapan;sdom gsum rab dbye;སྡོམ་གསུམ་རབ་དབྱེ།;སྡོམ་པ་གསུམ་གྱི་རབ་དུ་དབྱེ་བ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ།

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Asaṅga: Mahāyānottaratantraśāstravyākhyā

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In the Tibetan tradition, which parses out the root verses and refers to that as the treatise (bstan bcos, śāstra), this title references the full text complete with the root verses and the accompanying prose commentary (rnam par bshad pa, vyākhyā). While the earlier Chinese tradition attributes authorship of both aspects of the text to the as of yet still mysterious figure of Sāramati, the Tibetan tradition attributes the treatise to the Bodhisattva Maitreya and this commentary to the illustrious founder of the Yogācāra school, Asaṅga. However, unlike the Chinese tradition which delineates different aspects of the text into the basic verses, the commentarial verses, and the prose commentary, the Tibetan tradition actually preserves two separate versions of the text we know as the Ratnagotravibhāga.

The first, made up entirely of the so-called root verses, corresponds to the Sanskrit title Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra, though it is usually referenced in this tradition by the Tibetan equivalent of the latter subtitle, Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos, which is commonly rendered into English as the Treatise on the Ultimate Continuum of the Great Vehicle and is abbreviated as RGV. However, the full title, Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos dkon mchog gi rigs rnam par dbye ba, does appear at the end of each chapter of the canonical Tibetan recensions. Nevertheless, this version is likely a Tibetan redaction, in that thus far there is no evidence of a Sanskrit version written entirely in verse that excludes the commentarial sections that explain them.

The second, which combines the verses with their accompanying prose commentary, corresponds to the *Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā as it has become known in academic circles where it is referenced with the abbreviation RGVV. However, in Tibetan the subtitle is merely appended with the equivalent of vyākhyā, i.e. Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos rnam par bshad pa, and thus a translation of the Tibetan title of the complete text would be something akin to the Explanatory Commentary on the Treatise on the Ultimate Continuum of the Great Vehicle. However, the extant Sanskrit recension of the Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra directly corresponds to the Tibetan version known as the *Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā, in that it contains both the root verses and the prose commentary. Though, again, lacking a Sanskrit work entitled the Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā, we can surmise that its corresponding Tibetan title was likely manufactured in order to delineate it from the streamlined verse redaction, while the Sanskrit title *Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā was in turn a product of modern scholars. On the surface it would seem that this title is a combination of the Chinese title back translated into Sanskrit as the Ratnagotraśāstra and the one found in the Tibetan editions, which state the Sanskrit title as the Mahāyānottaratantraśāstravyākhya. Nevertheless, in terms of content, the Sanskrit RGV corresponds to the Tibetan RGVV, in that the Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra is the same text as Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos rnam par bshad pa.

Also, see the Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra and for a recent essay on the text: On the Ratnagotravibhāga by Alexander Gardner.

Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā;Asaṅga;ཐོགས་མེད་;thogs med;slob dpon thogs med;སློབ་དཔོན་ཐོགས་མེད་;Āryāsaṅga; Sajjana;ས་ཛ་ན་;sa dza na;paN+Di ta sa dza na;sa dzdza na;པཎྜི་ཏ་ས་ཛ་ན་;ས་ཛཛ་ན་;Ngok Lotsāwa Loden Sherab;རྔོག་བློ་ལྡན་ཤེས་རབ་;rngog blo ldan shes rab;rngog lo tsA ba;lo chen blo ldan shes rab;blo ldan shes rab;རྔོག་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་;ལོ་ཆེན་བློ་ལྡན་ཤེས་རབ་;Ngok Lotsāwa;Ngok Loden Sherab;Lochen Loden Sherab;Loden Sherab;theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos rnam par bshad pa;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་རྣམ་པར་བཤད་པ།;Mahāyānottaratantraśāstravyākhyā;रत्नगोत्रविभागव्याख्या;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་རྣམ་པར་བཤད་པ།

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Maitreya, Asaṅga: Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra

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The Ratnagotravibhāga, commonly known as the Uttaratantra, or Gyu Lama in Tibetan, is one of the main Indian scriptural sources for buddha-nature theory. It was likely composed during the fifth century, by whom we do not know. Comprised of verses interspersed with prose commentary, it systematizes the buddha-nature teachings that were circulating in multiple sūtras such as the Tathāgatagarbhasūtra, the Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra, and the Śrīmaladevisūtra. The Tibetan tradition attributes the verses to the Bodhisattva Maitreya and the commentary to Asaṅga, and treats the two as separate texts, although this division is not attested to in surviving Indian versions. The Chinese tradition attributes the text to *Sāramati (娑囉末底), but the translation itself does not include the name of the author, and the matter remains unsettled. It was translated into Chinese in the early sixth century by Ratnamati and first translated into Tibetan by Atiśa, although this text is not known to survive. Ngok Loden Sherab translated it a second time based on teachings from the Kashmiri Pandita Sajjana, and theirs remains the standard translation. It has been translated into English several times, and recently into French. See the Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā, read more about the Ratnagotravibhāga, or take a look at the most complete English translation in When the Clouds Part by Karl Brunnholzl.

Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra;byams chos sde lnga;Uttaratantra;Maitreya;བྱམས་པ་;byams pa;'phags pa byams pa;byams pa'i mgon po;mgon po byams pa;ma pham pa;འཕགས་པ་བྱམས་པ་;བྱམས་པའི་མགོན་པོ་;མགོན་པོ་བྱམས་པ་;མ་ཕམ་པ་;Ajita; Asaṅga;ཐོགས་མེད་;thogs med;slob dpon thogs med;སློབ་དཔོན་ཐོགས་མེད་;Āryāsaṅga;Sajjana;ས་ཛ་ན་;sa dza na;paN+Di ta sa dza na;sa dzdza na;པཎྜི་ཏ་ས་ཛ་ན་;ས་ཛཛ་ན་;Ngok Lotsāwa Loden Sherab;རྔོག་བློ་ལྡན་ཤེས་རབ་;rngog blo ldan shes rab;rngog lo tsA ba;lo chen blo ldan shes rab;blo ldan shes rab;རྔོག་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་;ལོ་ཆེན་བློ་ལྡན་ཤེས་རབ་;Ngok Lotsāwa;Ngok Loden Sherab;Lochen Loden Sherab;Loden Sherab;Ratnamati;Rin chen blo gros;རིན་ཆེན་བློ་གྲོས;theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས།;Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra;究竟一乘寶性論;रत्नगोत्रविभाग महायानोत्तरतन्त्रशास्त्र;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས།

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Gampopa: Ornament of Precious Liberation: A Wish-Fulfilling Gem of Sublime Dharma

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One of Gampopa's most enduring works. It was one of the first "stages of the path" (lam rim) texts to be written by a Tibetan, after the genre was introduced by Atiśa through his famous composition Bodhipathapradīpa, The Stages of the Path to Enlightenment.

Dwags po thar rgyan;The Path;Kagyu;Gampopa;སྒམ་པོ་པ་;sgam po pa;dwags po lha rje;bsod nams rin chen;dwags po zla 'od gzhon nu;dwags po rin po che;དྭགས་པོ་ལྷ་རྗེ་;བསོད་ནམས་རིན་ཆེན་;དྭགས་པོ་ཟླ་འོད་གཞོན་ནུ་;དྭགས་པོ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་;Jé Gampopa;Dakpo Rinpoche;Takpo Rinpoche;Je Dakpo Rinpoche;Je Takpo Rinpoche;Da'od Zhonnu;Dagpo Lhaje;The Physician from Dagpo;Nyamed Dakpo Rinpoche;The Incomparible Precious One from Dagpo;Ü-pa Tönpa;dam chos yid bzhin gyi nor bu thar pa rin po che'i rgyan;དམ་ཆོས་ཡིད་བཞིན་གྱི་ནོར་བུ་ཐར་པ་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་རྒྱན།;དམ་ཆོས་ཡིད་བཞིན་གྱི་ནོར་བུ་ཐར་པ་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་རྒྱན།

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Chomden Rikpai Raldri: Ornamental Flowers: A Commentary on the Mahāyāna Uttaratantra

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A rather brief work that, as Tsering Wangchuk states, is "the earliest extant Tibetan commentary on the Uttaratantra that cites both tantric and sutric sources to corroborate the claims made in the treatise."

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma rgyan gyi me tog;Buddha-nature as Luminosity;Vajrayana;Zhentong;Chomden Rikpai Raldri;བཅོམ་ལྡན་རིག་པའི་རལ་གྲི་;bcom ldan rig pa'i ral gri;bcom ldan ral gri;bcom ldan rigs pa'i ral gri;rig ral;dar ma rgyal mtshan;བཅོམ་ལྡན་རལ་གྲི་;བཅོམ་ལྡན་རིགས་པའི་རལ་གྲི་;རིག་རལ་;དར་མ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་;Rikrel;bCom-ldan-ral-gri;theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma rgyan gyi me tog;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མ་རྒྱན་གྱི་མེ་ཏོག།;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་ཏི་ཀ་རྒྱན་གྱི་མེ་ཏོག

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Kyotön Mönlam Tsultrim: The Essential Pith Instructions That Summarize the Quintessence of the Piṭakas

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One of a series of short texts by the Kadam scholar Kyotön Mönlam Tsultrim, this was composed in Narthang at the behest of Sonam Dar, a descendent of Kyide Nyima Gön and at the request of Geshe Gönden Ö and Yönten Ö. The text contains concise lamrim instructions starting with (1) instruction on the contemplation on precious humanhood, impermanence and the law of cause and effect, and the practice of taking refuge for the inferior individuals, (2) contemplation of defects of cycle of existence, renunciation and non-self for those following the path of the hearers and solitary realisers for the middling individuals, and (3) finally the cultivation of bodhicitta and meditation on non-conceptuality and luminous nature of the mind which is free from all elaborations for superior individuals. This brief teaching underscores the importance of eradicating conceptual thoughts and abiding in the non-conceptual luminous nature of the mind.

Sde snod bcud bsdus man ngag gi snying po;Buddha-nature as Luminosity;Mahamudra;Kyotön Mönlam Tsultrim;སྐྱོ་སྟོན་སྨོན་ལམ་ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་;skyo ston smon lam tshul khrims;sde snod bcud bsdus man ngag gi snying po;སྡེ་སྣོད་བཅུད་བསྡུས་མན་ངག་གི་སྙིང་པོ།;སྡེ་སྣོད་བཅུད་བསྡུས་ཀྱི་མན་ངག།

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Kyotön Mönlam Tsultrim: Instructions on the Path to Reality

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One of a series of short texts by the Kadam scholar Kyotön Mönlam Tsultrim, which represent an intersection between the works of Maitreya, particularly the Ratnagotravibhāga and Dharmadharmatāvibhāga, and the practical instructions of Mahāmudrā, this text discusses the spiritual gene, the genesis of saṃsāra, the path to awakening and the nature of Buddhahood.

Chos nyid kyi lam khrid;Buddha-nature as Luminosity;Mahamudra;Kyotön Mönlam Tsultrim;སྐྱོ་སྟོན་སྨོན་ལམ་ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་;skyo ston smon lam tshul khrims;chos nyid kyi lam khrid;ཆོས་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ལམ་ཁྲིད།;ཆོས་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ལམ་ཁྲིད།

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Tāranātha: Ornament of Other-Emptiness Madhyamaka

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A polemical work defending the other-emptiness view of the Jonang tradition that addresses the criticism of this position by other Tibetan schools. This discursive text discusses the provisional or ultimate nature of the three turnings of the wheel of dharma, the position of Indian masters and philosophical schools, the intent of the Mahāyāna sūtras and the rebuts the criticism of other-emptiness by proponents of the self-emptiness theory in Tibet.

Gzhan stong dbu ma'i rgyan;Jonang;Zhentong;Tāranātha;ཏཱ་ར་ནཱ་ཐ་;tA ra nA tha;kun dga' snying po;ཀུན་དགའ་སྙིང་པོ་;gzhan stong dbu ma'i rgyan;གཞན་སྟོང་དབུ་མའི་རྒྱན།;གཞན་སྟོང་དབུ་མའི་རྒྱན།

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Tāranātha: The Scriptural Citations for the Ornament of Madhyamaka of Other-Emptiness

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A supplement to Tāranātha's Ornament of Madhyamaka of Other-Emptiness (Gzhan stong dbu ma'i brgyan) that focuses on the scriptural sources of the other-emptiness philosophy. The scriptural citations and reference which were barely mentioned or referred to in the Ornament of Madhyamaka of Other-Emptiness are quoted in full to substantiate the claims of the proponents of Other-Emptiness.

Gzhan stong dbu ma'i rgyan gyi lung sbyor;Jonang;Zhentong;Tāranātha;ཏཱ་ར་ནཱ་ཐ་;tA ra nA tha;kun dga' snying po;ཀུན་དགའ་སྙིང་པོ་;gzhan stong dbu ma'i rgyan gyi lung sbyor;གཞན་སྟོང་དབུ་མའི་རྒྱན་གྱི་ལུང་སྦྱོར།;གཞན་སྟོང་དབུ་མའི་རྒྱན་གྱི་ལུང་སྦྱོར།

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Tāranātha: Essence of Other-Emptiness

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A fairly brief work by Tāranātha on the basic tenets of the four systems of Buddhist philosophy, namely the Vaibhāṣika, Sautrāntrika, Cittamātra, and Madhyamaka. His exposition culminates with a presentation of the Great Madhyamaka, the pinnacle of the four, which is synonymous with other-emptiness as represented by the Jonang tradition.

Gzhan stong snying po;Third Turning;Jonang;Zhentong;Meditative Tradition;Tāranātha;ཏཱ་ར་ནཱ་ཐ་;tA ra nA tha;kun dga' snying po;ཀུན་དགའ་སྙིང་པོ་;gzhan stong snying po;གཞན་སྟོང་སྙིང་པོ།;གཞན་སྟོང་སྙིང་པོ།

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Tāranātha: Thoroughly Ascertaining the Great Middle Way of the Expansive Supreme Vehicle

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An expansive work on the Zhentong philosophy known as Great Madhyamaka in the Jonang Tradition.

Theg mchog shin tu rgyas pa'i dbu ma chen po rnam par nges pa;Jonang;Zhentong;Tāranātha;ཏཱ་ར་ནཱ་ཐ་;tA ra nA tha;kun dga' snying po;ཀུན་དགའ་སྙིང་པོ་;theg mchog shin tu rgyas pa'i dbu ma chen po rnam par nges pa;ཐེག་མཆོག་ཤིན་ཏུ་རྒྱས་པའི་དབུ་མ་ཆེན་པོ་རྣམ་པར་ངེས་པ།;ཐེག་མཆོག་ཤིན་ཏུ་རྒྱས་པའི་དབུ་མ་ཆེན་པོ་རྣམ་པར་ངེས་པ།

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Nāgārjuna: Dharmadhātustava

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Also known as the Dharmadhātustotra, it is a praise written in verse attributed to Nāgārjuna. A Sanskrit manuscript found in Tibet was recently published in 2015. However, before this it was only extant in Tibetan and Chinese translations, though fragments of this text were found to be quoted in other Sanskrit texts. It is notable as perhaps the only work of Nāgārjuna that takes a positivistic view of emptiness and the existence of wisdom, in this case represented by the dharmadhātu. In fact much of the language echoes descriptions of buddha-nature. Though modern scholarship has thus called the attribution of this text to Nāgārjuna into question based on its contents, Tibetan scholars have utilized the text as a support for works that promote or defend tathāgatagarbha and it is especially prominently featured in works on other-emptiness (gzhan stong) and Great Madhyamaka.

RKTST 10;Nāgārjuna;ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་;klu sgrub;'phags pa klu sgrub;slob dpon chen po nA gardzu na;slob dpon klu sgrub;འཕགས་པ་ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་;སློབ་དཔོན་ཆེན་པོ་ནཱ་གརྫུ་ན་;སློབ་དཔོན་ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་;Ārya Nāgārjuna; Kṛṣṇapaṇḍita;Naktso Lotsāwa Tsultrim Gyalwa;ནག་འཚོ་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་རྒྱལ་བ་;Nag 'tsho lo tsA ba tshul khrims rgyal ba;Dānapāla;chos kyi dbyings su bstod pa;ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབྱིངས་སུ་བསྟོད་པ།;Dharmadhātustava;讚法界頌;धर्मधातुस्तव;ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབྱིངས་སུ་བསྟོད་པ།

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Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje: An Explanation of In Praise of Madhyamaka-Dharmadhātu

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A commentary by the Third Karmapa on Nāgārjuna's Dharmadhātustava.

Dbu ma chos dbyings bstod pa'i rnam par bshad pa;Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje;རང་བྱུང་རྡོ་རྗེ་;rang byung rdo rje;karma pa gsum pa;ཀརྨ་པ་གསུམ་པ་;Karmapa, 3rd;dbu ma chos dbyings bstod pa'i rnam par bshad pa;དབུ་མ་ཆོས་དབྱིངས་བསྟོད་པའི་རྣམ་པར་བཤད་པ།;དབུ་མ་ཆོས་དབྱིངས་བསྟོད་པའི་རྣམ་པར་བཤད་པ།

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Patrul Rinpoche: Outline of the Mahāyāna Treatise the Uttaratantra

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A topical outline of the Ratnagotravibhāga written by the famed 19th century Nyingma scholar Paltrul Rinpoche, Orgyen Jigme Chökyi Wangpo.

Theg pa chen po'i bstan bcos rgyud bla ma'i sa bcad;Nyingma;Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra;Patrul Rinpoche;དཔལ་སྤྲུལ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་;dpal sprul rin po che;o rgyan 'jigs med chos kyi dbang po;dpal sprul 'jigs med chos kyi dbang po;rdza dpal sprul;ཨོ་རྒྱན་འཇིགས་མེད་ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབང་པོ་;དཔལ་སྤྲུལ་འཇིགས་མེད་ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབང་པོ་;རྫ་དཔལ་སྤྲུལ་;theg pa chen po'i bstan bcos rgyud bla ma'i sa bcad;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་ས་བཅད།;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་ས་བཅད།

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Mipam Gyatso: Lion's Roar: Affirming Other Emptiness

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Mipam's other "lion's roar"—his Lion's Roar: Affirming Other Emptiness—shows the way he establishes an other-emptiness view that affirms the existence of the ultimate truth as not empty of its own essence. (Source: Duckworth, Douglas. Jamgön Mipham: His Life and Teachings. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2011: p 58.)

Gzhan stong khas len seng ge'i nga ro;Nyingma;Zhentong;Mipam Gyatso;མི་ཕམ་རྒྱ་མཚོ་;mi pham rgya mtsho;mi pham 'jam dbyangs rnam rgyal rgya mtsho;'jam dpal dgyes pa'i rdo rje;'ju mi pham;མི་ཕམ་འཇམ་དབྱངས་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་རྒྱ་མཚོ་;འཇམ་དཔལ་དགྱེས་པའི་རྡོ་རྗེ་;འཇུ་མི་ཕམ་;mipham;gzhan stong khas len seng ge'i nga ro;གཞན་སྟོང་ཁས་ལེན་སེང་གེའི་ང་རོ།;གཞན་སྟོང་ཁས་ལེན་སེང་གེའི་ང་རོ།

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Aśvaghoṣa: Mahāyānaśraddhotpādaśāstra

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The Treatise on the Awakening of Faith According to the Mahāyāna is an immensely important treatise popular in all traditions of Buddhism in East Asia. It was written in China in the middle of the sixth century, heavily influenced by Indian Yogācāra and tathāgatagarbha teachings, providing a scriptural foundation for both buddha-nature theory and the doctrine of original enlightenment. The text synthesized tathāgatagarbha and ālayavijñāna theories to explain how the mind is the source for both enlightenment and ignorance. A relatively short text at just nine pages, it lucidly, if densely, explains important topics such as the nature of mind and consciousness and the threefold bodies of the Buddha, concluding with elegant meditation instructions. Although traditionally said to have been composed by Aśvaghoṣa and translated by Paramārtha, contemporary scholarly consensus has raised doubts about this attribution, and the text's authorship is typically said to be unknown. There is no known Tibetan translation but the text is mentioned three times in Saṃdhigambhīranirmocanasūtratīkā written by the Chinese scholar Wan tshik (རྒྱའི་སློབ་དཔོན་ཝན་ཚིག་གིས་མཛད་པ་ འཕགས་པ་དགོངས་པ་ཟབ་མོ་ངེས་པར་འགྲེལ་བའི་མདོ་རྒྱ་ཆེར་འགྲེལ་པ།) and translated by Gö Chödrup.

The Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna;History of buddha-nature in China;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Chinese Buddhism;Actualized Enlightenment;Original Enlightenment;Aśvaghoṣa;རྟ་དབྱངས་;rta dbyangs; Paramārtha;Śikṣānanda;ཏ་ཤེང་ཅི་ཟིན་ལུང་།(*ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་མོས་པ་བསྐྱེད་པའི་བསྟན་བཅོས།);Mahāyānaśraddhotpādaśāstra;大乗起信論;ཏ་ཤེང་ཅི་ཟིན་ལུང་(*ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་མོས་པ་བསྐྱེད་པའི་བསྟན་བཅོས།)

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Ngawang Lodrö Drakpa: Fearless Lion's Roar: The Tradition of Jonang Which Ascertains the Profound Meaning of the Supreme Vehicle of Cause and Result

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Along with Dol po pa's Ri chos Nges don Rgya mtsho and Tāranātha’s Dbu ma Theg mchog Rab dbyed Brgyad, the Gzhan stong Chen mo comprises the third major textbook studied within the Gzhan stong Madhyamaka curriculum at major Jonang monastic universities, including 'Dzam thang Dgon pa, Bswe Dgon pa and Lcam mda' Dgon pa. For pedagogical reasons, and because of the structure of Mkhan po Blo grags' work, monks generally begin by studying sūtra gzhan stong separately from tantric gzhan stong in preparation for examining Dol po pa's synthetic masterpiece interweaving sūtra and tantra. In a coherent structure identical to the Ri chos, the Gzhan stong Chen mo presents gzhan stong philosophical thinking systematically in accord with the outline of ground (gzhi), path (lam) and fruition ('bras bu), treating sūtra gzhan stong within the main body of the text and tantric gzhan stong as an appendix. Michael Sheehy, 2007.

Gzhan stong chen mo;gzhan stong;gzhi;Jonang;Ngawang Lodrö Drakpa;ངག་དབང་བློ་གྲོས་གྲགས་པ་;ngag dbang blo gros grags pa;'dzam thang mkhan po blo gros grags pa;mkhan po blo grags;blo gros grags pa;འཛམ་ཐང་མཁན་པོ་བློ་གྲོས་གྲགས་པ་;མཁན་པོ་བློ་གྲགས་;བློ་གྲོས་གྲགས་པ་;Dzamthang Khenpo Lodrö Drakpa;Khenpo Lodrak;rgyu dang 'bras bu'i theg pa mchog gi gnas lugs zab mo'i don rnam par nges pa rje jo nang pa chen po'i ring lugs 'jigs med gdong lnga'i nga ro;རྒྱུ་དང་འབྲས་བུའི་ཐེག་པ་མཆོག་གི་གནས་ལུགས་ཟབ་མོའི་དོན་རྣམ་པར་ངེས་པ་རྗེ་ཇོ་ནང་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་རིང་ལུགས་འཇིགས་མེད་གདོང་ལྔའི་ང་རོ།;རྒྱུ་དང་འབྲས་བུའི་ཐེག་པ་མཆོག་གི་གནས་ལུགས་ཟབ་མོའི་དོན་རྣམ་པར་ངེས་པ་རྗེ་ཇོ་ནང་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་རིང་ལུགས་འཇིགས་མེད་གདོང་ལྔའི་ང་རོ།

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Dölpopa Sherab Gyaltsen: Mountain Dharma: An Ocean of Definitive Meaning

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Dolpopa's seminal work considered to be the most definitive philosophical treatise of the Jonang tradition. It became famous as the crucial source for the presentation of his view of other-emptiness (zhentong).

Ri chos nges don rgya mtsho zhes bya ba mthar thug thun mong ma yin pa'i man ngag;Jonang;Dol po pa;zhentong;Dölpopa Sherab Gyaltsen;དོལ་པོ་པ་ཤེས་རབ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་;dol po pa shes rab rgyal mtshan;shes rab rgyal mtshan;shes rab mgon;rton pa bzhi ldan;ཤེས་རབ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་;ཤེས་རབ་མགོན་;རྟོན་པ་བཞི་ལྡན་;ri chos nges don rgya mtsho zhes bya ba mthar thug thun mong ma yin pa'i man ngag;རི་ཆོས་ངེས་དོན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་མཐར་ཐུག་ཐུན་མོང་མ་ཡིན་པའི་མན་ངག་;རི་ཆོས་ངེས་དོན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་མཐར་ཐུག་ཐུན་མོང་མ་ཡིན་པའི་མན་ངག

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Jigme Lingpa: Rain of Joy, Treasury of Precious Qualities

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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:

1. The Difficulty of Gaining the Freedoms and Advantages
2. Death and Impermanence
3. Karma: Cause and Effect
4. The Sufferings of Samsara
5. The Four Wheels, which are the initial entry point for supreme beings
6. Taking Refuge, the entrance to the Buddhist Path
7. The Entrance to the Actual Mahayana (cultivating the four immeasurables)
8. Arousing Bodhichitta
9. The Bodhisattva Trainings
10. The Pitaka of the Vidyadharas
11. The Nature of the Ground
12. The Extraordinary Path of the Natural Great Perfection
13. The Kayas and Wisdoms of the Ultimate Fruition

The first nine chapters comprise the sūtra section, and the last four comprise the mantra section. You can download an English translation of the root text by the Padmakara Translation Group by clicking here.

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།;ཡོན་ཏན་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་མཛོད་དགའ་བའི་ཆར།

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Maitreya: Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkārakārikā

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In Sanskrit, the “Ornament for the Mahāyāna Sūtras”; one of the Five Dharma Treatises of Maitreya (byams chos sde lnga) said to have been presented to Asaṅga by the bodhisattva Maitreya in the Tuṣita heaven. Written in verse, the text offers a systematic presentation of the practices of the bodhisattva from the standpoint of the Yogācāra school and is one of the most important of the Indian Mahāyāna śāstras. Its twenty-one chapters deal with (1) the proof that the Mahāyāna sūtras are the word of the Buddha; (2) taking refuge in the three jewels (ratnatraya); (3) the lineage (gotra) of enlightenment necessary to undertake the bodhisattva path; (4) the generation of the aspiration to enlightenment (bodhicittotpāda); (5) the practice of the bodhisattva; (6) the nature of reality, described from the Yogācāra perspective; (7) the attainment of power by the bodhisattva; (8) the methods of bringing oneself and others to maturation; (9) enlightenment and the three bodies of a buddha (trikāya); (10) faith in the Mahāyāna; (11) seeking complete knowledge of the dharma; (12) teaching the dharma; (13) practicing in accordance with the dharma; (14) the precepts and instructions received by the bodhisattva; (15) the skillful methods of the bodhisattva; (16) the six perfections (pāramitā) and the four means of conversion (saṃgrahavastu), through which bodhisattvas attract and retain disciples; (17) the worship of the Buddha; (18) the constituents of enlightenment (bodhipākṣikadharma); (19) the qualities of the bodhisattva; and (20-21) the consummation of the bodhisattva path and the attainment of buddhahood. (Source: The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, p. 514)

RKTST 3359;byams chos sde lnga;Maitreya;Maitreya;བྱམས་པ་;byams pa;'phags pa byams pa;byams pa'i mgon po;mgon po byams pa;ma pham pa;འཕགས་པ་བྱམས་པ་;བྱམས་པའི་མགོན་པོ་;མགོན་པོ་བྱམས་པ་;མ་ཕམ་པ་;Ajita; Śākyasiṁha;Kawa Paltsek;སྐ་བ་དཔལ་བརྩེགས་;ska ba dpal brtsegs;lo tsA ba ska ba dpal brtsegs;ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་སྐ་བ་དཔལ་བརྩེགས་;Prabhākaramitra;theg pa chen po mdo sde'i rgyan zhes bya ba'i tshig le'ur byas pa;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་མདོ་སྡེའི་རྒྱན་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་ཚིག་ལེའུར་བྱས་པ།;Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkārakārikā;大乘莊嚴經論;महायानसूत्रालंकारकारिका;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་མདོ་སྡེའི་རྒྱན།

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Jikten Gönpo, Sherab Jungne: Sacred Teaching on the Single Intention

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The primary text in the Drikung Kagyu tradition.

Dam chos dgongs pa gcig pa;Drikung Kagyu;Jikten Gönpo;འབྲི་གུང་སྐྱོབ་པ་འཇིག་རྟེན་མགོན་པོ་;'bri gung skyob pa 'jig rten mgon po;'jig rten mgon po;rin chen dpal;'jig rten gsum mgon;'bri gung gdan rabs 01;འཇིག་རྟེན་མགོན་པོ་;རིན་ཆེན་དཔལ་;འཇིག་རྟེན་གསུམ་མགོན་;འབྲི་གུང་གདན་རབས་༠༡་; Sherab Jungne;འབྲི་གུང་སྤྱན་སྔ་ཤེས་རབ་འབྱུང་གནས་;'bri gung spyan snga shes rab 'byung gnas;spyan snga shes rab 'byung gnas;'bri gung dbon shes rab 'byung gnas;'bri gung gling pa;dbon shes rab 'byung gnas;སྤྱན་སྔ་ཤེས་རབ་འབྱུང་གནས;འབྲི་གུང་དབོན་ཤེས་རབ་འབྱུང་གནས;འབྲི་གུང་གླིང་པ;དབོན་ཤེས་རབ་འབྱུང་གནས;dam chos dgongs pa gcig pa;དམ་ཆོས་དགོངས་པ་གཅིག་པ།;དམ་ཆོས་དགོངས་པ་གཅིག་པ།

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Dölpopa Sherab Gyaltsen: Mirror of Buddha-Nature with Qualities

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Dölpopa's responds to arguments against the theory that buddha-nature has the qualities of the buddha latent in it. He uses scriptural citations and reasonings to argue that the unconditioned buddha-nature must possess the qualities of the Buddha.

Chos dbyings du ma ro gcig bde gshegs snying po'i yon tan can gyi mdo sde;Jonang;Dölpopa Sherab Gyaltsen;དོལ་པོ་པ་ཤེས་རབ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་;dol po pa shes rab rgyal mtshan;shes rab rgyal mtshan;shes rab mgon;rton pa bzhi ldan;ཤེས་རབ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་;ཤེས་རབ་མགོན་;རྟོན་པ་བཞི་ལྡན་;bde gshegs snying po yon tan can gyi me long;བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོ་ཡོན་ཏན་ཅན་གྱི་མེ་ལོང་།;བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོའི་ཡོན་ཏན་ཅན་གྱི་མེ་ལོང་།

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Maitreya: Abhisamayālaṃkāranāmaprajñāpāramitopadeśaśāstrakārikā

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In Sanskrit, “Ornament of Realization”; a major scholastic treatise of the Mahāyāna, attributed to Maitreyanātha (c. 330 ce). Its full title is Abhisamayālaṃkāra-prajñāpāramitā upadeśa-śāstra (T. Shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa'i man ngag gi bstan bcos mngon par rtogs pa'i rgyan) or “Treatise Setting Forth the Perfection of Wisdom called ‘Omament for Realization.’” In the Tibetan tradition, the Abhisamayālaṃkāra is counted among the five treatises of Maitreya (Byams chos sde lnga). The 273 verses of the Abhisamayālaṃkāra provide a schematic outline of the perfection of wisdom, or prajñāpāramitā, approach to enlightenment, specifically as delineated in the Pañcaviṃśati-sāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā (“Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines”). This detailed delineation of the path is regarded as the “hidden teaching” of the prajñāpāramitā sūtras. Although hardly known in East Asian Buddhism (until the modern Chinese translation by Fazun), the work was widely studied in Tibet, where it continues to hold a central place in the monastic curricula of all the major sects. (Source: The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, p. 11)

Abhisamayālaṃkāra;Maitreya;byams chos sde lnga;Maitreya;བྱམས་པ་;byams pa;'phags pa byams pa;byams pa'i mgon po;mgon po byams pa;ma pham pa;འཕགས་པ་བྱམས་པ་;བྱམས་པའི་མགོན་པོ་;མགོན་པོ་བྱམས་པ་;མ་ཕམ་པ་;Ajita; Pal Gomi Chime;དཔལ་གོ་མི་འཆི་མེད;dpal go mi 'chi med;pan Di ta dpal go mi 'chi med;dpal btsun pa 'chi med;srigomiamar;Ngok Lotsāwa Loden Sherab;རྔོག་བློ་ལྡན་ཤེས་རབ་;rngog blo ldan shes rab;rngog lo tsA ba;lo chen blo ldan shes rab;blo ldan shes rab;རྔོག་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་;ལོ་ཆེན་བློ་ལྡན་ཤེས་རབ་;Ngok Lotsāwa;Ngok Loden Sherab;Lochen Loden Sherab;Loden Sherab;shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa'i man ngag gi bstan bcos mngon par rtogs pa'i rgyan zhes bya ba'i tshig le'ur byas pa;ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པའི་མན་ངག་གི་བསྟན་བཅོས་མངོན་པར་རྟོགས་པའི་རྒྱན་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་ཚིག་ལེའུར་བྱས་པ;Abhisamayālaṃkāranāmaprajñāpāramitopadeśaśāstrakārikā

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Maitreya: Madhyāntavibhāgakārikā

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In Sanskrit, “Differentiation of the Middle Way and the Extremes”; one of the Five Dharma Treatises of Maitreya (byams chos sde lnga) said to have been presented to Asaṅga by the bodhisattva Maitreya in the Tuṣita heaven. Written in verse, it is one of the most important Yogācāra delineations of the three natures (trisvabhāva), especially as they figure in the path to enlightenment, where the obstacles created by the imaginary (parikalpita) are overcome ultimately by the antidote of the consummate (pariniṣpanna). The “middle way” exposed here is that of the Yogācāra, and is different from that of Nāgārjuna, although the names of the two extremes to be avoided—the extreme of permanence (śāśvatānta) and the extreme of annihilation (ucchedānta)—are the same. Here the extreme of permanence is the existence of external objects, the imaginary nature (parikalpitasvabhāva). The extreme of annihilation would seem to include Nāgārjuna’s emptiness of intrinsic nature (svabhāva). The middle way entails upholding the existence of consciousness (vijñāna) as the dependent nature (paratantrasvabhāva) and the existence of the consummate nature (pariniṣpannasvabhāva). The work is divided into five chapters, which consider the three natures, the various forms of obstruction to be abandoned on the path, the ultimate truth according to Yogācāra, the means of cultivating the antidotes to the defilements, and the activity of the Mahāyāna path. (Source: The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, p. 489)

RKTST 3360;byams chos sde lnga;Maitreya;བྱམས་པ་;byams pa;'phags pa byams pa;byams pa'i mgon po;mgon po byams pa;ma pham pa;འཕགས་པ་བྱམས་པ་;བྱམས་པའི་མགོན་པོ་;མགོན་པོ་བྱམས་པ་;མ་ཕམ་པ་;Ajita; Jinamitra;ཇིནམིཏྲ;slob dpon dzi na mi tra;Śīlendrabodhi;shi len+d+ra bo d+hi;tshul khrims dbang po byang chub;Yeshe De;ཡེ་ཤེས་སྡེ་;ye shes sde;sna nam ye shes sde;zhang ban+de ye shes sde;སྣ་ནམ་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྡེ་;ཞང་བནྡེ་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྡེ་;Xuanzang;Chen Hui (or Chen Yi);dbus dang mtha' rnam par 'byed pa'i tshig le'ur byas pa;དབུས་དང་མཐའ་རྣམ་པར་འབྱེད་པའི་ཚིག་ལེའུར་བྱས་པ།;Madhyāntavibhāgakārikā;辯中邊論頌;དབུས་དང་མཐའ་རྣམ་པར་འབྱེད་པའི་ཚིག་ལེའུར་བྱས་པ།

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Maitreya: dharmadharmatāvibhāga

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One of the Five Dharma Treatises of Maitreya (byams chos sde lnga). This work exists only in Tibetan translation, of which there are two versions: the Dharmadharmatāvibhāga (chos dang chos nyid rnam par 'byed pa) presented in prose, and the Dharmadharmatāvibhāgakārikā (chos dang chos nyid rnam par 'byed pa'i tshig le'ur byas pa) presented in verse. "The text explains saṃsāra (= dharma) and the nirvāṇa (= dharmatā) attained by the śrāvaka, pratyekabuddha, and bodhisattva; like the Madhyāntavibhāga, it uses the three-nature (trisvabhāva) terminology to explain that, because there is no object or subject, the transcendent is beyond conceptualization. It presents the paths leading to transformation of the basis (aśrayaparāvṛtti), and enumerates ten types of tathatā (suchness)." (Source: The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, p. 244)

RKTST 3361;byams chos sde lnga;Maitreya;Maitreya;བྱམས་པ་;byams pa;'phags pa byams pa;byams pa'i mgon po;mgon po byams pa;ma pham pa;འཕགས་པ་བྱམས་པ་;བྱམས་པའི་མགོན་པོ་;མགོན་པོ་བྱམས་པ་;མ་ཕམ་པ་;Ajita; Śāntibhadra;Badantabarma;Bharohamtung;Chiterwa;Hangdu Karpo;Mahākarunika;Tsaham Pandita Zhiwa Zangpo (zhi ba bzang po);Naktso Lotsāwa Tsultrim Gyalwa;ནག་འཚོ་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་རྒྱལ་བ་;Nag 'tsho lo tsA ba tshul khrims rgyal ba;Mahājana;Lotsawa Senge Gyaltsen;ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་སེང་གེ་རྒྱལ་མཚན;lo tsA ba seng ge rgyal mtshan;sgra bsgyur gyi lo tsA ba seng ge rgyal mtshan;seng ge rgyal mtshan;chos dang chos nyid rnam par 'byed pa;ཆོས་དང་ཆོས་ཉིད་རྣམ་པར་འབྱེད་པ།;dharmadharmatāvibhāga;धर्मधर्मताविभाग;ཆོས་དང་ཆོས་ཉིད་རྣམ་འབྱེད།

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Gö Lotsāwa Zhönu Pal: The Blue Annals

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The famous historical work by Gö Lotsawa Zhönu Pal (1392-1481), likely referenced by more scholars than any other single work. It was translated into English by G. Roerich with the help of Gendün Chöpel.

Deb ther sngon po;Gö Lotsāwa Zhönu Pal;འགོས་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་གཞོན་ནུ་དཔལ་;'gos lo tsA ba gzhon nu dpal;yid bzang rtse ba;mgos lo tsA ba gzhon nu dpal;'gos lo tsā ba gzhon nu dpal;ཡིད་བཟང་རྩེ་བ་;མགོས་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་གཞོན་ནུ་དཔལ་;deb ther sngon po;དེབ་ཐེར་སྔོན་པོ་;དེབ་ཐེར་སྔོན་པོ།

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Tsen Khawoche: Instructions on the View of Other-Emptiness

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A brief summary of the three natures (trisvabhāva / rang bzhin gsum) of the Yogācāra school that was reportedly reproduced from a manuscript of the writings of Tsen Khawoche and included in the One Hundred and Eight Instructions of the Jonang (Jo nang khrid brgya), that was edited together by Kunga Drolchok. If reports of its provenance are correct, then it would likely be the earliest appearance in a Tibetan work of the terms other-emptiness (gzhan stong) and Great Madhyamaka (dbu ma chen po).

Gzhan stong lta khrid;Great Madhyamaka;gzhan stong;Kadam;trisvabhāva;Yogācāra;Tsen Khawoche;བཙན་ཁ་བོ་ཆེ་;btsan kha bo che;dri med shes rab;དྲི་མེད་ཤེས་རབ་;gzhan stong lta khrid;གཞན་སྟོང་ལྟ་ཁྲིད།;གཞན་སྟོང་ལྟ་ཁྲིད།

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Dölpopa Sherab Gyaltsen: The Great Calculation of the Doctrine Which Has the Significance of a Fourth Council

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The seminal work of Dölpopa often simply referred to as the Fourth Council. Structured around the notion of four eons drawn from the Kālacakra Tantra, it is one of the primary sources for Dölpopa's presentation of his other-emptiness (zhentong) philosophy.

Bka' bsdu bzhi pa'i don bstan rtsis chen po;gzhan stong;Jonang;Dölpopa Sherab Gyaltsen;དོལ་པོ་པ་ཤེས་རབ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་;dol po pa shes rab rgyal mtshan;shes rab rgyal mtshan;shes rab mgon;rton pa bzhi ldan;ཤེས་རབ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་;ཤེས་རབ་མགོན་;རྟོན་པ་བཞི་ལྡན་;bka' bsdu bzhi pa'i don bstan rtsis chen po;བཀའ་བསྡུ་བཞི་པའི་དོན་བསྟན་རྩིས་ཆེན་པོ།;བཀའ་བསྡུ་བཞི་པའི་དོན་བསྟན་རྩིས་ཆེན་པོ།

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Dölpopa Sherab Gyaltsen: Distinguishing Dharma: A Letter to Pön Jangpa

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A lengthy polemical work by Dölpopa that addresses various disputed philosophical positions. Pön Jangpa sent Dolpopa some polemical writings with a measure of gold as gift asking him to send him response. In response, Dölpopa wrote this treatise explaining how self-emptiness as many Tibetan scholars understood is not the ultimate truth but buddha-nature endowed with buddha qualities is.

Dpon byang ba'i phyag tu phul ba'i chos kyi shan 'byed;gzhan stong;Jonang;Dölpopa Sherab Gyaltsen;དོལ་པོ་པ་ཤེས་རབ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་;dol po pa shes rab rgyal mtshan;shes rab rgyal mtshan;shes rab mgon;rton pa bzhi ldan;ཤེས་རབ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་;ཤེས་རབ་མགོན་;རྟོན་པ་བཞི་ལྡན་;dpon byang ba'i phyag tu phul ba'i chos kyi shan 'byed;དཔོན་བྱང་བའི་ཕྱག་ཏུ་ཕུལ་བའི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་ཤན་འབྱེད།;དཔོན་བྱང་པའི་ཕྱག་ཏུ་ཕུལ་བའི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་ཤན་འབྱེད་

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Kunga Yeshe Gyatso: Commentarial Notes on Thoroughly Ascertaining the Great Middle Way of the Expansive Supreme Vehicle

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A collection of explanatory notes on Tāranātha's Theg mchog shin tu rgyas pa'i dbu ma chen po rnam par nges pa compiled by his disciple Yeshe Gyamtso, the book presents in detail the concepts of the Middle Way, the understanding of the ground, general phenomenology, Buddhist theories of consciousness and Mahāyāna path leading to Buddhahood, which is considered to be a quality latent in all sentient beings obscured by adventitious afflictions. The notes on the last two chapters were either not written or lost. Lobsang Chogdrub Gyatso added the commentary on the last two chapters in 1894.

Theg mchog shin tu rgyas pa'i dbu ma chen po rnam par nges pa'i rnam bshad zin bris dbu phyogs legs pa;gzhan stong;Jonang;Kunga Yeshe Gyatso;ཀུན་དགའ་ཡེ་ཤེས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་;Kun dga' ye shes rgya mtsho;Rgyal tshab ye shes rgya mtsho;Rje drung ye shes rgya mtsho;རྒྱལ་ཚབ་ཡེ་ཤེས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་;རྗེ་དྲུང་ཡེ་ཤེས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་;theg mchog shin tu rgyas pa'i dbu ma chen po rnam par nges pa'i rnam bshad zin bris;ཐེག་མཆོག་ཤིན་ཏུ་རྒྱས་པའི་དབུ་མ་ཆེན་པོ་རྣམ་པར་ངེས་པའི་རྣམ་བཤད་ཟིན་བྲིས།;ཐེག་མཆོག་ཤིན་ཏུ་རྒྱས་པའི་དབུ་མ་ཆེན་པོ་རྣམ་པར་ངེས་པའི་རྣམ་བཤད་ཟིན་བྲིས།

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Ngawang Lodrö Drakpa: An Excellent Ornament of a Brilliant Mind: A Concise Presentation of Buddhist and Non-Buddhist Tenets

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A condensed presentation of the tenets of Buddhist and Non-Buddhist philosophical systems by a modern Jonang scholar. This treatise presents the main advocates, the main literary sources, the view or ground reality, the practice on the path and resultant states. The highest Buddhist tenet system, the Mādhyamika school, is divided into the rangtong or the self-emptiness sub-school and the zhentong or the other-emptiness sub-school.

Phyi nang grub mtha'i rnam bzhag gi bsdus don blo gsal yid kyi rgyan bzang;Jonang;Ngawang Lodrö Drakpa;ངག་དབང་བློ་གྲོས་གྲགས་པ་;ngag dbang blo gros grags pa;'dzam thang mkhan po blo gros grags pa;mkhan po blo grags;blo gros grags pa;འཛམ་ཐང་མཁན་པོ་བློ་གྲོས་གྲགས་པ་;མཁན་པོ་བློ་གྲགས་;བློ་གྲོས་གྲགས་པ་;Dzamthang Khenpo Lodrö Drakpa;Khenpo Lodrak;phyi nang grub mtha'i rnam bzhag gi bsdus don blo gsal yid kyi rgyan bzang;ཕྱི་ནང་གྲུབ་མཐའི་རྣམ་བཞག་གི་བསྡུས་དོན་བློ་གསལ་ཡིད་ཀྱི་རྒྱན་བཟང་།;ཕྱི་ནང་གྲུབ་མཐའི་རྣམ་བཞག་གི་བསྡུས་དོན་བློ་གསལ་ཡིད་ཀྱི་རྒྱན་བཟང་།

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Tāranātha: Essential Points on the Origins of the Cycle of Teachings on the Kālacakra

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Tāranātha's history of the Kālacakra teachings.

Dpal dus kyi 'khor lo'i chos skor gyi byung khungs nyer mkho bsdus pa;Kālacakra;Tāranātha;ཏཱ་ར་ནཱ་ཐ་;tA ra nA tha;kun dga' snying po;ཀུན་དགའ་སྙིང་པོ་;dpal dus kyi 'khor lo'i chos skor gyi byung khungs nyer mkho bsdus pa;དཔལ་དུས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོའི་ཆོས་སྐོར་གྱི་བྱུང་ཁུངས་ཉེར་མཁོ་བསྡུས་པ།;དཔལ་དུས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོའི་ཆོས་སྐོར་གྱི་བྱུང་ཁུངས་ཉེར་མཁོ་བསྡུས་པ།

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Rendawa Zhönu Lodrö: The Jewel Lamp Illuminating the Definitive Meaning of the Glorious Kālacakra

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In the Jewel Lamp Illuminating the Definitive Meaning of the Glorious Kālacakra, Rendawa Zhönu Lodrö presents the content of Kālacakra tantra using the scheme of the causal continuum or the ground nature, the method continuum or the path, and the resultant continuum or the all pervading adamantine body of the Buddha. Though not a polemical work, he repeatedly refutes the position holding buddha-nature and resultant Buddha body to be identical, absolute and eternal. He provides a very clear and comprehensive presentation of the causal continuum through conventional and ultimate types of the ground nature, the method or path continuum by discussing the six limbs of yogic applications in Kālacakra, and the resultant state by discussing its nature, cause, duration, forms and qualities.

Dpal dus kyi 'khor lo'i nges don gsal bar byed pa rin po che'i sgron ma;Kālacakra;Sakya;Rendawa Zhönu Lodrö;རེད་མདའ་བ་གཞོན་ནུ་བློ་གྲོས་;red mda' ba gzhon nu blo gros;dpal dus kyi 'khor lo'i nges don gsal bar byed pa rin po che'i sgron ma;དཔལ་དུས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོའི་ངེས་དོན་གསལ་བར་བྱེད་པ་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་སྒྲོན་མ།;དཔལ་དུས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོའི་ངེས་དོན་གསལ་བར་བྱེད་པ་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་སྒྲོན་མ།

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Śākya Chokden: Undermining the Haughtiness of Others by the Wheel of Brahma: A Treatise Clarifying Mahāmudrā

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In this book, Śākya Chokden seeks to explain the luminous nature of the mind which he says is also popularly given the name Mahāmudrā in Tibet (སེམས་ཀྱི་རང་བཞིན་འོད་གསལ་ལ།། ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོའི་མཚན་གསོལ་ནས། །གངས་ཅན་ལྗོངས་སུ་ཆེར་གྲགས་པ། །དེ་ཉིད་མདོ་ཙམ་གསལ་བར་བྱ།།). In elucidating the Mahāmudrā advocated by Gampopa, he presents a detailed explanation of it by pointing out that the Mahāmudrā in this context is the luminous nature of the mind, which is common to all Mahāyāna traditions, and the one which is explicitly taught in the works of Maitreya, particularly in the Ultimate Continuum. This nature is totally obscured or tainted in the ground phase (གཞི་དུས་མ་དག་པ་), partially tainted or obscured at the path phase (ལམ་དུས་ཕྱོགས་གཅིག་དག་པ་) and fully purified at the fruition phase (འབྲས་དུས་ཐམས་ཅད་དག་པ་). He writes that the basic element of buddha nature is the ground to be purified, the stains to be removed are nine-fold perhaps referring to the nine analogies used to illustrate how buddha-nature is obscured by the afflictive emotions, the antidote which purifies is the discernment of buddha-nature and the final result the perfection of purity, self and bliss. A resemblance of the final result is already perceived on the Path of Seeing, and such experience of buddha nature is said to be the seeing of Mahāmudrā. He states that Mahāmudrā in this context is not the emptiness of non-implicative negation as argued in the scholastic writings of Nāgārjuna but what is taught in the writings of Maitreya, or the definitive ultimate reality taught in the Third Turning after having taught self-emptiness in the Middle Turning. He then explains how such nature is actualized through meditation by removing the dualistic conceptual thoughts and emotions which are included in the eight types of consciousness that characterize the three realms of cycle of existence. In the final section, he refutes several misunderstanding and criticism concerning Mahāmudrā and argues that this Mahāmudrā cannot be realized merely through conceptual reasoning but through practice of non-mentation with the help of instructions which points out the nature of the mind and devotion to guru. Intellectual study and single-pointed concentration are not prerequisites for the experience of Mahāmudrā. He adds that positing the emptiness, which is a non-implicative negation after a reductionist analysis, as Mahāmudrā is not in accordance with the Ultimate Continuum or the purport of the hymns by Saraha.

Phyag rgya chen po gsal bar byed pa'i bstan bcos tshangs pa'i 'khor los gzhan blo'i dregs pa nyams byed;Mahamudra;Śākya Chokden;ཤཱཀྱ་མཆོག་ལྡན་;shAkya mchog ldan;phyag rgya chen po gsal bar byed pa'i bstan bcos tshangs pa'i 'khor los gzhan blo'i dregs pa nyams byed;ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོ་གསལ་བར་བྱེད་པའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཚངས་པའི་འཁོར་ལོས་གཞན་བློའི་དྲེགས་པ་ཉམས་བྱེད།;ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོ་གསལ་བར་བྱེད་པའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཚངས་པའི་འཁོར་ལོས་གཞན་བློའི་དྲེགས་པ་ཉམས་བྱེད།

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Minling Lochen Dharmaśrī: The Marvelous Wish-fulfilling Harvest: An Eloquent Commentary on Ascertaining the Three Vows

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Minling Lochen's voluminous commentary on Ngari Paṇchen's Ascertaining the Three Vows.

Sdom pa gsum rnam par nges pa'i 'grel pa legs bshad ngo mtshar dpag bsam gyi snye ma;Minling Lochen Dharmaśrī;སྨིན་གླིང་ལོ་ཆེན་དྷརྨ་ཤྲཱི་;smin gling lo chen d+harma shrI;smin gling mkhan chen gnyis pa;ngag dbang chos dpal rgya mtsho;སྨིན་གླིང་མཁན་ཆེན་གཉིས་པ་;ངག་དབང་ཆོས་དཔལ་རྒྱ་མཚོ་;sdom pa gsum rnam par nges pa'i 'grel pa legs bshad ngo mtshar dpag bsam gyi snye ma;སྡོམ་པ་གསུམ་རྣམ་པར་ངེས་པའི་འགྲེལ་པ་ལེགས་བཤད་ངོ་མཚར་དཔག་བསམ་གྱི་སྙེ་མ།;སྡོམ་གསུམ་རྣམ་ངེས་ཀྱི་འགྲེལ་པ་ལེགས་བཤད་ངོ་མཚར་དཔག་བསམ་གྱི་སྙེ་མ།

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Getse Mahāpaṇḍita Tsewang Chokdrup: Ornament of Sugatagarbha: A Discourse Ascertaining the Definite Great Middle Way

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In this work on Great Madhyamaka, the Ornament of Sugatagarbha, Getse Mahāpaṇḍita discusses the different tenet systems and their brief history and aligns them to the three Turnings of the Wheel of Dharma. He delves into discussion of Madhyamaka and includes both traditions from Nāgārjuna and Asaṅga was Middle Way. He introduces the term coarse outer Middle Way (རགས་པ་ཕྱིའི་དབུ་མ་) to refer to the Mādhyamika tradition which focusses on emptiness as taught in the Perfection of Wisdom sūtras and the subtle inner Middle Way (ཕྲ་བ་ནང་གི་དབུ་མ་) to refer to the teachings on buddha-nature in the last Turning. Getse Mahāpaṇḍita underscores how buddha nature, the innate nature of the mind, or the self cognising awareness is the ultimate reality. He highlights the Great Madhyamaka of other-emptiness as the ultimate truth and identifies that with the final message of the Kālacakra, Mahāmudrā and Dzogchen teachings as well as the final intent of the great masters.

Nges don dbu ma chen po'i tshul rnam par nges pa'i gtam bde gshegs snying po'i rgyan;Great Madhyamaka;Getse Mahāpaṇḍita Tsewang Chokdrup;དགེ་རྩེ་མ་ཧཱ་པཎྡི་ཏ་ཚེ་དབང་མཆོག་གྲུབ་;Dge rtse ma hA paN+Di ta tshe dbang mchog grub;dge rtse paN chen 'gyur med tshe dbang mchog grub;kaH thog dge rtse paN+Di ta;kaH thog dge rtse ma ha paN+Di ta;'gyur med tshe dbang mchog grub;དགེ་རྩེ་པཎ་ཆེན་འགྱུར་མེད་ཚེ་དབང་མཆོག་གྲུབ་;ཀཿ་ཐོག་དགེ་རྩེ་པཎྜི་ཏ་;ཀཿ་ཐོག་དགེ་རྩེ་མ་ཧ་པཎྜི་ཏ་;འགྱུར་མེད་ཚེ་དབང་མཆོག་གྲུབ་;Getse Panchen Gyurme Tsewang Chogdrup;Katok Getse Pandita;Katok Getse Mahapandita;Gyurme Tsewang Chokdrup;nges don dbu ma chen po'i tshul rnam par nges pa'i gtam bde gshegs snying po'i rgyan;ངེས་དོན་དབུ་མ་ཆེན་པོའི་ཚུལ་རྣམ་པར་ངེས་པའི་གཏམ་བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོའི་རྒྱན།;ངེས་དོན་དབུ་མ་ཆེན་པོའི་ཚུལ་རྣམ་པར་ངེས་པའི་གཏམ་བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོའི་རྒྱན།

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Candrakīrti: pradīpodyotananāmaṭīkā

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A commentary on the Guhyasamāja Tantra attributed to Candrakīrti. This extensive commentary on Guhyasamāja Tantra discusses the six hermeneutic strategies of provisional and ultimate meaning, literal and non-literal reading, and interpretable or non-interpretable meaning. It also highlights the natural state of all phenomena such as five aggregates and five elements as enlightened buddhas, and described the innate mind as luminous and endowed with qualities of enlightenment. The commentary is said to have been written relying on instructions passed down from Nāgārjuna who is said to have been prophesied in the Descent to Laṅka Sūtra to be a promoter of the higher yoga tantras. If one accepts the author of this text to be Candrakīrti, who is the Mādhyamika author of the Madhyamakāvatāra, as tradition has it, then it is evident he adopted here a position on buddha-nature which is different from the one in Madhyamakāvatāra, where his focus is on establishing all things as emptiness, and he argues the sūtras advocating buddha-nature are provisional teachings to lead those beings scared of non-self. In this text, the author accepts the nature of all things to be enlightened, and he argues that 'sentient beings are the base of all buddhas because they possess buddha-nature'(རྒྱལ་བ་ཀུན་གྱི་གནས་ནི་སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད་དེ། དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་ཅན་ཡིན་པའི་ཕྱིར་རོ། །). Traditional scholars would generally explain such a shift in philosophical stance as context-based and not see it as a contradiction or inconsistency. In the context of Guhyasamāja tantra, Candrakīrti could be said to have accepted the concept of buddha-nature as innate enlightenment.

RKTST 650;Vajrayana;Candrakīrti;ཟླ་བ་གྲགས་པ་;zla ba grags pa; Gö Khukpa Lhatse;འགོས་ཁུག་པ་ལྷས་བཙས;'gos khug pa lhas btsas;dbang phyug rgya mtsho;Śraddhākaravarman;Rinchen Zangpo;རིན་ཆེན་བཟང་པོ་;rin chen bzang po;lo tsA ba rin chen bzang po;ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་རིན་ཆེན་བཟང་པོ་;Śrījñānākara;dpal ye shes 'byung gnas;sgron ma gsal bar byed pa zhes bya ba'i rgya cher bshad pa;སྒྲོན་མ་གསལ་བར་བྱེད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་རྒྱ་ཆེར་བཤད་པ།;pradīpodyotananāmaṭīkā;प्रदीपोद्द्योतन-नाम-टीका;སྒྲོན་མ་གསལ་བར་བྱེད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་རྒྱ་ཆེར་བཤད་པ།

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Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje: The Profound Inner Meaning

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Rang byung's most famous, and perhaps most difficult work is yet another verse text, his Zab mo nang don, on the Anuttarayogatantras. This eleven-chapter work is thirty-two folios in length. According to a colophon provided by Kong sprul, it was written in the Water Male Dog year, 1322, at Bde chen steng. The colophons to the present redactions say only that it was written in the Dog Year. (Source: Schaeffer, K., The Enlightened Heart of Buddhahood, p. 16)

Zab mo nang don;Karma Kagyu;Vajrayana;Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje;རང་བྱུང་རྡོ་རྗེ་;rang byung rdo rje;karma pa gsum pa;ཀརྨ་པ་གསུམ་པ་;Karmapa, 3rd;zab mo nang don;ཟབ་མོ་ནང་དོན།;ཟབ་མོ་ནང་གི་དོན།

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Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Taye: Treasury of Knowledge

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In Tibetan religious literature, its ten books stand out as a unique masterpiece embodying the entire range of Buddhist teachings as they were preserved in Tibet. In his monumental work, Jamgön Kongtrul presents an encyclopedic account of the major lines of thought and practice that comprise Tibetan Buddhism. (source: Tsadra Foundation's Treasury of Knowledge Series)

Shes bya kun la khyab pa'i mdzod;'jam mgon kong sprul;Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Taye;འཇམ་མགོན་ཀོང་སྤྲུལ་;'jam mgon kong sprul;blo gros mtha' yas;yon tan rgya mtsho;'jam mgon chos kyi rgyal po;pad+ma gar dbang blo gros mtha' yas;pad+ma gar gyi dbang phyug rtsal;pad+ma gar dbang phrin las 'gro 'dul rtsal;བློ་གྲོས་མཐའ་ཡས་;ཡོན་ཏན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་;འཇམ་མགོན་ཆོས་ཀྱི་རྒྱལ་པོ་;པདྨ་གར་དབང་བློ་གྲོས་མཐའ་ཡས་;པདྨ་གར་གྱི་དབང་ཕྱུག་རྩལ་;པདྨ་གར་དབང་ཕྲིན་ལས་འགྲོ་འདུལ་རྩལ་;Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Taye;འཇམ་མགོན་ཀོང་སྤྲུལ་;'jam mgon kong sprul;blo gros mtha' yas;yon tan rgya mtsho;'jam mgon chos kyi rgyal po;pad+ma gar dbang blo gros mtha' yas;pad+ma gar gyi dbang phyug rtsal;pad+ma gar dbang phrin las 'gro 'dul rtsal;བློ་གྲོས་མཐའ་ཡས་;ཡོན་ཏན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་;འཇམ་མགོན་ཆོས་ཀྱི་རྒྱལ་པོ་;པདྨ་གར་དབང་བློ་གྲོས་མཐའ་ཡས་;པདྨ་གར་གྱི་དབང་ཕྱུག་རྩལ་;པདྨ་གར་དབང་ཕྲིན་ལས་འགྲོ་འདུལ་རྩལ་;shes bya kun la khyab pa'i mdzod;ཤེས་བྱ་ཀུན་ལ་ཁྱབ་པའི་མཛོད།;ཤེས་བྱ་ཀུན་ལ་ཁྱབ་པའི་མཛོད།

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Tsele Natsok Rangdrol: The Vajra Convergence: A Teaching on How to Practice the View and Meditation of the Definitive Meaning

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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.

Nges don gyi lta sgom nyams su len tshul ji lta bar ston pa rdo rje'i mdo 'dzin;Tsele Natsok Rangdrol;རྩེ་ལེ་སྣ་ཚོགས་རང་གྲོལ་;rtse le sna tshogs rang grol;nges 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།;ངེས་དོན་གྱི་ལྟ་སྒོམ་ཉམས་སུ་ལེན་ཚུལ་ཇི་ལྟ་བར་སྟོན་པ་རྡོ་རྗེའི་མདོ་འཛིན།

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Layakpa Jangchub Ngödrup: Ornament Illuminating the Essence: A Commentary on the Famous Text, the Four Dharmas of the Incomparable Dakpo

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A detailed commentary on Gampopa's Four Dharmas (chos bzhi) instruction for fundamental Buddhist practice. The root verses containing the four dharma of Gampopa were written by his learned student from Laya, Jangchub Ngödup exactly according to how Gampopa taught, and the extensive commentary containing a rich array of citations and arguments was authored by Jangchub Ngödup himself. The topic four dharmas of Gampopa refers to the four points of making dharma practice a genuine dharma practice, making dharma progress on the path, dispelling confusion on the path, and see confusion as pristine wisdom.

Mnyam med dwags po'i chos bzhir grags pa'i gzhung gi 'grel pa snying po gsal ba'i rgyan;Kagyu;Sgam po pa;Layakpa Jangchub Ngödrup;ལ་ཡག་པ་བྱང་ཆུབ་དངོས་གྲུབ་;la yag pa byang chub dngos grub;lho la yag pa;la yag jo sras;ལྷོ་ལ་ཡག་པ་;ལ་ཡག་ཇོ་སྲས་;mnyam med dwags po'i chos bzhir grags pa'i gzhung gi 'grel pa snying po gsal ba'i rgyan;མཉམ་མེད་དྭགས་པོའི་ཆོས་བཞིར་གྲགས་པའི་གཞུང་གི་འགྲེལ་པ་སྙིང་པོ་གསལ་བའི་རྒྱན།;མཉམ་མེད་དྭགས་པོའི་ཆོས་བཞིར་གྲགས་པའི་གཞུང་གི་འགྲེལ་པ་སྙིང་པོ་གསལ་བའི་རྒྱན།

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Chöying Tobden Dorje: Treasury of Precious Sūtras and Tantras

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In 1838, Choying Tobden Dorje, a Buddhist yogi-scholar of eastern Tibet, completed a multivolume masterwork that traces the entire path of the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism from beginning to end. Written by a lay practitioner for laypeople, it was intended to be accessible, informative, inspirational, and above all, practical. Its twenty-five books, or topical divisions, offer a comprehensive and detailed view of the Buddhist path according to the early translation school of Tibetan Buddhism, spanning the vast range of Buddhist teachings from the initial steps to the highest esoteric teachings of great perfection. (Source: Shambhala Publications)

Mdo rgyud rin po che'i mdzod;Nyingma;Chöying Tobden Dorje;ཆོས་དབྱིངས་སྟོབས་ལྡན་རྡོ་རྗེ་;chos dbyings stobs ldan rdo rje;a lags rgyal po;ཨ་ལགས་རྒྱལ་པོ་;Alak Gyalpo;mdo rgyud rin po che'i mdzod;མདོ་རྒྱུད་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་མཛོད།;མདོ་རྒྱུད་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་མཛོད།

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Jikten Gönpo: Mahāyāna System on Establishing the Wheels of Dharma Received by Onge

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These are teachings delivered by Drikung Kagyu master Jikten Sumgön that includes an account of the twelve great events of the buddha and the detailed explanation of the three turnings of the wheel of dharma and written down by his student Onge. The text also contains a praise of the Ultimate Continuum as containing the gist of the third wheel.

Chos kyi 'khor lo legs par gtan la phab pa theg pa chen po'i tshul 'ong ges zhus pa;Drikung Kagyu;'bri gung skyob pa 'jig rten mgon po;Jikten Gönpo;འབྲི་གུང་སྐྱོབ་པ་འཇིག་རྟེན་མགོན་པོ་;'bri gung skyob pa 'jig rten mgon po;'jig rten mgon po;rin chen dpal;'jig rten gsum mgon;'bri gung gdan rabs 01;འཇིག་རྟེན་མགོན་པོ་;རིན་ཆེན་དཔལ་;འཇིག་རྟེན་གསུམ་མགོན་;འབྲི་གུང་གདན་རབས་༠༡་;chos kyi 'khor lo legs par gtan la phab pa theg pa chen po'i tshul 'ong ges zhus pa;ཆོས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོ་ལེགས་པར་གཏན་ལ་ཕབ་པ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་ཚུལ་འོང་གེས་ཞུས་པ།;ཆོས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོ་ལེགས་པར་གཏན་ལ་ཕབ་པ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་ཚུལ་འོང་གེས་ཞུས་པ།

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Khenpo Gangshar: Naturally Liberating Whatever You Meet: Instructions to Guide You on the Profound Path

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Thrangu Rinpoche met Khenpo Gangshar in the summer of 1957 when Khenpo Gangshar went to Thrangu Monastery in eastern Tibet. While there, Khenpo Gangshar gave these instructions, which are a distillation of the essential points ofthe practices of both mahamudra and dzogchen. Later they were written down, first in a very short form and then as the slightly longer text known as "Naturally Liberating Whatever You Meet." What makes them so beneficial for our time is that Khenpo Gangshar presents them in a way that is easy for anyone to understand and put into practice. (Source: Vivid Awareness, Translator's Introduction, pp. IX-X)

Zab lam khrid kyi man ngag 'phrad tshad rang grol;Dzogchen;Mahamudra;Khenpo Gangshar;མཁན་པོ་གང་ཤར་;mkhan po gang shar;gang shar dbang po;gang shar dbang po 'jigs med phyogs las rnam rgyal;གང་ཤར་དབང་པོ་འཇིགས་མེད་ཕྱོགས་ལས་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་;གང་ཤར་རང་གྲོལ་དབང་པོ་;Khenpo Gangshar Wangpo;Khenpo Gangshar Rangdrol Wangpo;zab lam khrid kyi man ngag 'phrad tshad rang grol;ཟབ་ལམ་ཁྲིད་ཀྱི་མན་ངག་འཕྲད་ཚད་རང་གྲོལ།;ཟབ་ལམ་ཁྲིད་ཀྱི་མན་ངག་འཕྲད་ཚད་རང་གྲོལ།

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Eighth Karmapa Mikyö Dorje: Chariot of the Siddhas of the Dakpo Lineage: The Oral Instructions of Glorious Dusum Khyenpa, an Extensive Commentary on the Madhyamakāvatāra

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The Eighth Karmapa's commentary on Candrakīrti's Madhyamakāvatāra (Entry into the Middle Way), presented as the oral instructions of the First Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa. This extensive commentary covers the transmission of the teachings of Middle Way to Tibet, polemical discussions on the difference between Middle Way in sūtra and mantra traditions and the proper commentary on the root verses. The author also comments on Candrakīrti's interpretation of buddha-nature teachings as provisional.

Dbu ma la 'jug pa'i rnam bshad dpal ldan dus gsum mkhyen pa'i zhal lung dwags brgyud grub pa'i shing rta;Madhyamaka;Karmapa, 1st;Eighth Karmapa Mikyö Dorje;མི་བསྐྱོད་རྡོ་རྗེ་;mi bskyod rdo rje;karma pa brgyad pa;chos kyi grags pa dpal bzang po;ཀརྨ་པ་བརྒྱད་པ་;ཆོས་ཀྱི་གྲགས་པ་དཔལ་བཟང་པོ་;Karmapa, 8th; dbu ma la 'jug pa'i rnam bshad dpal ldan dus gsum mkhyen pa'i zhal lung dwags brgyud grub pa'i shing rta;དབུ་མ་ལ་འཇུག་པའི་རྣམ་བཤད་དཔལ་ལྡན་དུས་གསུམ་མཁྱེན་པའི་ཞལ་ལུང་དྭགས་བརྒྱུད་གྲུབ་པ་ཤིང་རྟ།;དབུ་མ་ལ་འཇུག་པའི་རྣམ་བཤད་དཔལ་ལྡན་དུས་གསུམ་མཁྱེན་པའི་ཞལ་ལུང་དྭགས་བརྒྱུད་གྲུབ་པ་ཤིང་རྟ།

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Ngok Lotsāwa Loden Sherab: Epistle: A Drop of Nectar

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Instruction by Ngok Lotsāwa Loden Sherab written as a letter of advice on Buddhist practice framed as a formal correspondence to one Gatön Sherab Drak and other monks. Ngok Lotsāwa covers many topics in his advice from thinking of death and impermanence, cultivating enthusiasm, compassion, bodhicitta, etc., following the discipline and good teacher to cultivating the crop of Buddha's qualities having moistened the seed of buddha-nature by the rain of learning coming from the cloud of one's master. He advises monks to follow the words of Nāgārjuna and understand the notion of emptiness beyond existence and non-existence.

Springs yig bdud rtsi'i thig le;Ngok Tradition;Ngok Lotsāwa Loden Sherab;རྔོག་བློ་ལྡན་ཤེས་རབ་;rngog blo ldan shes rab;rngog lo tsA ba;lo chen blo ldan shes rab;blo ldan shes rab;རྔོག་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་;ལོ་ཆེན་བློ་ལྡན་ཤེས་རབ་;Ngok Lotsāwa;Ngok Loden Sherab;Lochen Loden Sherab;Loden Sherab;springs yig bdud rtsi'i thig le;སྤྲིངས་ཡིག་བདུད་རྩིའི་ཐིག་ལེ།;སྤྲིངས་ཡིག་བདུད་རྩིའི་ཐིག་ལེ།

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Śākya Chokden: The Wish-fulfilling Meru: A Discourse Explaining the Origination of Madhyamaka

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A history of the Madhyamaka philosophy in India and Tibet written by Śākya Chokden between 1484-1490 in Lhasa with Kongtön Chökyi Gyaltsen as scribe. In this text, he defines what is a Middle Way and presents the transmission of different Middle Way thoughts.

Dbu ma'i byung tshul rnam par bshad pa'i gtam yid bzhin lhun po zhes bya ba'i bstan bcos;Madhyamaka;Sakya;Śākya Chokden;ཤཱཀྱ་མཆོག་ལྡན་;shAkya mchog ldan;dbu ma'i byung tshul rnam par bshad pa'i gtam yid bzhin lhun po zhes bya ba'i bstan bcos;དབུ་མའི་བྱུང་ཚུལ་རྣམ་པར་བཤད་པའི་གཏམ་ཡིད་བཞིན་ལྷུན་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་བསྟན་བཅོས།;དབུ་མའི་བྱུང་ཚུལ་རྣམ་པར་བཤད་པའི་གཏམ་ཡིད་བཞིན་ལྷུན་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་བསྟན་བཅོས།

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Jñānavajra: Laṅkāvatāranāmamahāyānasūtravṛttitathāgatahṛdayālaṃkāra

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Jñānavajra's commentary on the Laṅkāvatārasūtra, which is one of two Indian commentaries on the Sūtra that has survived only in Tibetan translation.

RKTST 3358;Laṅkāvatārasūtra;Jñānavajra;Advayajñānavajra;lang kar gshegs pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo'i 'grel pa de bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po'i rgyan;ལང་ཀར་གཤེགས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོའི་འགྲེལ་པ་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོའི་རྒྱན།;Laṅkāvatāranāmamahāyānasūtravṛttitathāgatahṛdayālaṃkāra;འཕགས་པ་ལང་ཀར་གཤེགས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོའི་འགྲེལ་པ་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོའི་རྒྱན།

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Nāropa: Dṛṣṭisaṃkṣipta

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A brief song on the view of Mahāmudrā attributed to the famed Indian master Nāropa.

Lta ba mdor bsdus pa;Mahamudra; Marpa Chökyi Lodrö;མར་པ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་བློ་གྲོས་;mar pa chos kyi blo gros;mar pa lo tsA ba;མར་པ་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་;lta ba mdor bsdus pa;ལྟ་བ་མདོར་བསྡུས་པ།;Dṛṣṭisaṃkṣipta;ལྟ་བ་མདོར་བསྡུས་པ།

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Dölpopa Sherab Gyaltsen: The Great Treasure of Faith and Devotion: A Praise to Sugatagarbha

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Verses of praise to sugatagarbha, or buddha-nature, composed by Dölpopa.

Bde gshegs snying po la bstod pa dad gus kyi gter chen po;Dölpopa Sherab Gyaltsen;དོལ་པོ་པ་ཤེས་རབ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་;dol po pa shes rab rgyal mtshan;shes rab rgyal mtshan;shes rab mgon;rton pa bzhi ldan;ཤེས་རབ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་;ཤེས་རབ་མགོན་;རྟོན་པ་བཞི་ལྡན་;bde gshegs snying po la bstod pa dad gus kyi gter chen po;བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོ་ལ་བསྟོད་པ་དད་གུས་ཀྱི་གཏེར་ཆེན་པོ།

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Dölpopa Sherab Gyaltsen: Benediction of Sugatagarbha

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Verses of benediction to invoke the auspiciousness of sugatagarbha composed by Dölpopa.

Bde gshegs snying po'i bkra shis;Dölpopa Sherab Gyaltsen;དོལ་པོ་པ་ཤེས་རབ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་;dol po pa shes rab rgyal mtshan;shes rab rgyal mtshan;shes rab mgon;rton pa bzhi ldan;ཤེས་རབ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་;ཤེས་རབ་མགོན་;རྟོན་པ་བཞི་ལྡན་;bde gshegs snying po'i bkra shis;བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོའི་བཀྲ་ཤིས།

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Śākya Chokden: Ascertaining the Dharmadhātu: a Detailed Explanation of the Dharmadhātustava

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In this commentary on Nāgārjuna's Dharmadhātustava, the renowned Sakya scholar Śākya Chokden reasons that he wrote this commentary because many scholars misunderstand dharmadhātu or sphere of reality to be mere emptiness that is non-implicative negative and do not understand that it has a luminous aspect of awareness.

Chos kyi dbyings su bstod pa zhes bya ba'i bstan bcos rnam par bshad pa chos kyi dbyings rnam par nges pa;Śākya Chokden;ཤཱཀྱ་མཆོག་ལྡན་;shAkya mchog ldan;chos kyi dbyings su bstod pa zhes bya ba'i bstan bcos rnam par bshad pa chos kyi dbyings rnam par nges pa;ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབྱིངས་སུ་བསྟོད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་རྣམ་པར་བཤད་པ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབྱིངས་རྣམ་པར་ངེས་པ།;ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབྱིངས་སུ་བསྟོད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་རྣམ་པར་བཤད་པ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབྱིངས་རྣམ་པར་ངེས་པ།

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The Fourth Drukchen Pema Karpo: An Exposition of Mahāmudrā: The Treasure Vault of the Victors

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In his exposition of the Mahāmudrā view in the Phyag chen rgyal ba’i gan mdzod, Padma dkar po adopts Yang dgon pa’s famous distinction between the mahāmudrā in the modes of abiding (gnas lugs phyag chen) and error ( ’khrul lugs phyag chen) as an interpretive schema both for [1] clarifying the doctrine of the unity or nonduality of the two truths—which he takes as a central doctrine of the Madhyamaka, Mantrayāna and ’Brug pa Bka’ brgyud traditions—and [2] criticizing the rival Jo nang account of reality which posits the conventional and ultimate as two great kingdoms that have nothing in common. (Source: Mahamudra and the Middle Way - Vol. 2, 157.)

Phyag rgya chen po'i man ngag gi bshad sbyar rgyal ba'i gan mdzod;The Fourth Drukchen Pema Karpo;པདྨ་དཀར་པོ་;pad+ma dkar po;kun mkhyen pad+ma dkar po;ngag dbang nor bu;kun dga' rnam rgyal nor bu;mi pham pad+ma dkar po phyogs las rnam par rgyal ba'i sde;blo gsal dbang po;ཀུན་མཁྱེན་པདྨ་དཀར་པོ་;ངག་དབང་ནོར་བུ་;ཀུན་དགའ་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་ནོར་བུ་;མི་ཕམ་པདྨ་དཀར་པོ་ཕྱོགས་ལས་རྣམ་པར་རྒྱལ་བའི་སྡེ་;བློ་གསལ་དབང་པོ་;phyag rgya chen po'i man ngag gi bshad sbyar rgyal ba'i gan mdzod;ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོའི་མན་ངག་གི་བཤད་སྦྱར་རྒྱལ་བའི་གན་མཛོད།;ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོའི་མན་ངག་གི་བཤད་སྦྱར་རྒྱལ་བའི་གན་མཛོད།

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Je Khenpo Gendun Rinchen: The Precious Lamp: An Extensive Explanation of the Words and Meaning of the Mahāyāna Uttaratantra

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This is a commentary on Ratnagotravibhāga by the 69th Je Khenpo of Bhutan, Gendun Rinchen. The commentary was composed in 1983 at the request of his students when he was giving lectures on Ratnagotravibhāga in the Maitreya Temple at Phajoding, Bhutan. It is most likely the first commentary by a Bhutanese scholar. The author claims to have based his commentary on the annotated commentary of Khenpo Zhenga while also including the best of other commentaries by Tibetan masters.

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i tshig don rnam par bshad pa rin chen sgron me;Je Khenpo Gendun Rinchen;དགེ་འདུན་རིན་ཆེན་;dge 'dun rin chen;brag phug dge shes;བྲག་ཕུག་དགེ་ཤེས་;theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i tshig don rnam par bshad pa rin chen sgron me;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་ཚིག་དོན་རྣམ་པར་བཤད་པ་རིན་ཆེན་སྒྲོན་མེ།;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་ཚིག་དོན་རྣམ་པར་བཤད་པ་རིན་ཆེན་སྒྲོན་མེ།

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Sangye Nyenpa Rinpoche: Music of the Sphere of Definitive Meaning: Detailed Explanation of the Mahamudra Prayer in Accordance with the Philosophy of the Great Emptiness-of-Other

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A clear explanation of the Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje's famous Mahāmudrā Aspiration Prayer in colloquial Tibetan by a leading contemporary Karma Kagyu master Sangay Nyenpa Rinpoche.

Chen po gzhan stong gi lta ba dang 'brel ba'i phyag rgya chen po'i smon lam gyi rnam bshad nges don dbyings kyi rol mo;Karma Kagyu;Mahamudra;gzhan stong;Karmapa, 3rd;Sangye Nyenpa Rinpoche;སངས་རྒྱས་མཉན་པ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་;sangs rgyas mnyan pa rin po che; chen po gzhan stong gi lta ba dang 'brel ba'i phyag rgya chen po'i smon lam gyi rnam bshad nges don dbyings kyi rol mo;ཆེན་པོ་གཞན་སྟོང་གི་ལྟ་བ་དང་འབྲེལ་བའི་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོའི་སྨོན་ལམ་གྱི་རྣམ་བཤད་ངེས་དོན་དབྱིངས་ཀྱི་རོལ་མོ།;ཆེན་པོ་གཞན་སྟོང་གི་ལྟ་བ་དང་འབྲེལ་བའི་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོའི་སྨོན་ལམ་གྱི་རྣམ་བཤད་ངེས་དོན་དབྱིངས་ཀྱི་རོལ་མོ།

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Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje: Aspiration Prayer of the Definitive Meaning of Mahāmudrā

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The Mahamudra Prayer by the Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje is a short yet thorough and profound text which presents all the essential points of Mahamudra teaching in terms of view, practice, and fruition. It is a classic that, especially in the tradition of the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, has been and is widely used whenever a disciple is given a first introduction into Mahamudra. The Third Karmapa shows how to recognize our ultimate potential as a buddha. (Source: Shambhala Publications)

Nges don phyag rgya chen po'i smon lam;Karma Kagyu;Mahamudra;Karmapa, 3rd;Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje;རང་བྱུང་རྡོ་རྗེ་;rang byung rdo rje;karma pa gsum pa;ཀརྨ་པ་གསུམ་པ་;Karmapa, 3rd; nges don phyag rgya chen po'i smon lam;ངེས་དོན་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོའི་སྨོན་ལམ།;ངེས་དོན་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོའི་སྨོན་ལམ།

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Bodong Paṇchen Chokle Namgyal: Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum, a Great Treatise Connecting Sūtra and Mantra

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A commentary on the Ratnagotravibhāga by the famed scholar Bodong Paṇchen Chokle Namgyal. He considers this text a connector between sūtra and mantra traditions and argues that buddha-nature does not possess the qualities of the Buddha but is luminous and pure by nature.

Theg pa chen po'i bstan bcos rgyud bla ma'i 'grel pa;Bodong Paṇchen Chokle Namgyal;བོ་དོང་པཎ་ཆེན་ཕྱོགས་ལས་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་;bo dong paN chen phyogs las rnam rgyal;'jigs med grags pa;g.yung drung sangs rgyas skyid;gzhung lugs 'bum phrag brgya pa;'bum phrag brgya pa;chos kyi rgyal mtshan;gsang ba byin;dbyangs can dga' ba;འཇིགས་མེད་གྲགས་པ་;གཡུང་དྲུང་སངས་རྒྱས་སྐྱིད་;གཞུང་ལུགས་འབུམ་ཕྲག་བརྒྱ་པ་;འབུམ་ཕྲག་བརྒྱ་པ་;ཆོས་ཀྱི་རྒྱལ་མཚན་;གསང་བ་བྱིན་;དབྱངས་ཅན་དགའ་བ་;mdo sngags rjes su 'brel bar byed pa'i bstan bcos chen po rgyud bla ma'i 'grel pa;མདོ་སྔགས་རྗེས་སུ་འབྲེལ་བར་བྱེད་པའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་འགྲེལ་པ།;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་འགྲེལ་པ།

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Candrakīrti, Candrakīrti: Madhyamakāvatāra

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Madhyamakāvatāra. (T. Dbu ma la 'jug pa). In Sanskrit, "Entrance to the Middle Way" (translated also as "Supplement to the Middle Way"); the major independent (as opposed to commentarial) work of the seventh-century Indian master Candrakīrti, who states that it is intended as an avatāra (variously rendered as "primer," "entrance," and "supplement") to Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā. The work is written in verse, to which the author provides an extensive prose commentary (bhāṣya). The work is organized around ten "productions of the aspiration to enlightenment" (bodhicittotpāda), which correspond to the ten stages (bhūmi) of the bodhisattva path (drawn largely from the Daśabhūmikasūtra) and their respective perfections (pāramitā), describing the salient practices and attainments of each. These are followed by chapters on the qualities of the bodhisattva, on the stage of buddhahood, and a conclusion. The lengthiest (comprising approximately half of the work) and most important chapter of the text is the sixth, dealing with the perfection of wisdom (prajñāpāramitā). This is one of the most extensive and influential expositions in

Indian literature of Madhyamaka philosophical positions. In it, Candrakīrti provides a detailed discussion of the two truths—ultimate truth (paramārthasatya) and conventional truth (saṃvṛtisatya)—arguing that all things that have these two natures and that conventional truths (which he glosses as "concealing truths") are not in fact true because they appear falsely to the ignorant consciousness. He also discusses the crucial question of valid knowledge (pramāṇa) among the unenlightened, relating it to worldly consensus (lokaprasiddha). The sixth chapter also contains one of the most detailed refutations of Yogācāra in Madhyamaka literature, treating such topics as the three natures (trisvabhāva), the foundational consciousness (ālayavijñāna), and the statements in the sūtras that the three realms of existence are "mind-only" (cittamātra). This chapter also contains Candrakīrti's most famous contribution to Madhyamaka reasoning, the sevenfold reasoning designed to demonstrate the absence of a personal self (pudgalanairātmya). Adding to and elaborating upon a fivefold reasoning found in Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, Candrakīrti argues that the person does not intrinsically exist because of it: (1) not being the aggregates (skandha), (2) not being other than the aggregates, (3) not being the basis of the aggregates, (4) not depending on the aggregates, (5) not possessing the aggregates, (6) not being the shape of the aggregates, and (7) not being the composite of the aggregates. He illustrates this reasoning by applying it to the example of a chariot, which, he argues, is not to be found among its constituent parts. The sixth chapter concludes with a discussion of

the sixteen and the twenty forms of emptiness (śūnyatā), which include the emptiness of emptiness (śūnyatāśūnyatā). The work was the most widely studied and commented upon Madhyamaka text in Tibet among all sects, serving, for example, as one of the "five texts" (zhung lnga) that formed the Dge lugs scholastic curriculum. The work is preserved only in Tibetan, although a Sanskrit manuscript of verses has been discovered in Tibet. (Source: "Madhyamakāvatāra." In The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 489. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)

RKTST 3206;Madhyamaka;Candrakīrti;ཟླ་བ་གྲགས་པ་;zla ba grags pa; Patsab Lotsāwa Nyima Drakpa;པ་ཚབ་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་ཉི་མ་གྲགས་པ་;pa tshab lo tsA ba nyi ma grags pa;Kṛṣṇapaṇḍita;Naktso Lotsāwa Tsultrim Gyalwa;ནག་འཚོ་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་རྒྱལ་བ་;Nag 'tsho lo tsA ba tshul khrims rgyal ba;dbu ma la 'jug pa;དབུ་མ་ལ་འཇུག་པ།;Madhyamakāvatāra;मध्यमकावतार;དབུ་མ་ལ་འཇུག་པ།

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Fifteenth Karmapa Khakhyab Dorje: Annotated Commentary on the Treatise on Pointing Out the Tathāgata Heart

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An annotated commentary written by the fifteenth Karmapa on the Third Karmapa's verses on buddha-nature, The Treatise on Pointing Out the Tathāgata Heart.

De bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po bstan pa'i bstan bcos kyi mchan 'grel;Karma Kagyu;De bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po bstan pa'i bstan bcos;Karmapa, 3rd;Fifteenth Karmapa Khakhyab Dorje;མཁའ་ཁྱབ་རྡོ་རྗེ་;mkha' khyab rdo rje;karma pa bco lnga pa;don grub rdo rje;ཀརྨ་པ་བཅོ་ལྔ་པ་;དོན་གྲུབ་རྡོ་རྗེ་;Karmapa, 15th; de bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po bstan pa'i bstan bcos kyi mchan 'grel byams mgon dgyes pa'i zhal lung nor bu dbang gi rgyal po dri ma med pa'i 'od;དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་བསྟན་པའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་མཆན་འགྲེལ་བྱམས་མགོན་དགྱེས་པའི་ཞལ་ལུང་ནོར་བུ་དབང་གི་རྒྱལ་པོ་དྲི་མ་མེད་པའི་འོད།;དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་བསྟན་པའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་མཆན་འགྲེལ་བྱམས་མགོན་དགྱེས་པའི་ཞལ་ལུང་ནོར་བུ་དབང་གི་རྒྱལ་པོ་དྲི་མ་མེད་པའི་འོད།

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The First Drikung Chungtsang, Rigdzin Chökyi Drakpa: Light of the Sun: Detailed Exposition of the Excellent Dharma, the Single Intention, a Well-Expressed Clarification of the Meaning of the Scriptures

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Rikdzin Chökyi Drakpa's extensive commentary on the Sacred Teaching on the Single Intention (Dam chos dgongs pa gcig pa), one of the core texts of the Drikung Kagyu tradition that is reported to be the oral teachings of Jikten Gönpo that were written down and edited together by his student Sherab Jungne.

Dam pa'i chos dgongs pa gcig pa'i rnam bshad lung don gsal byed legs bshad nyi ma'i snang ba;Drikung Kagyu;Dam chos dgongs pa gcig pa;'bri gung skyob pa 'jig rten mgon po;The First Drikung Chungtsang, Rigdzin Chökyi Drakpa;ཆོས་ཀྱི་གྲགས་པ་;chos kyi grags pa;'bri gung rig 'dzin chos kyi grags pa;'bri gung pa chos kyi grags pa;rig 'dzin chos kyi grags pa;kun mkhyen rig 'dzin chos grags;rdo rje 'dzin pa chos kyi grags pa;shAkya'i dge slong chos kyi grags pa;dus mtha'i sngags 'chang chos kyi grags pa;dkon mchog phun tshogs;chos kyi grags pa phrin las rnam par rgyal ba'i sde;thugs kyi rdo rje;che mchog 'dus pa rtsal;pad+ma ba dz+ra rtsal;dbur smyon;rtag pa'i rdo rje;'bri gung pa gshin rje'i gshed kyi rnal 'byor pa rig 'dzin chos kyi grags pa;འབྲི་གུང་རིག་འཛིན་ཆོས་ཀྱི་གྲགས་པ་;འབྲི་གུང་པ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་གྲགས་པ་;རིག་འཛིན་ཆོས་ཀྱི་གྲགས་པ་;ཀུན་མཁྱེན་རིག་འཛིན་ཆོས་གྲགས་;རྡོ་རྗེ་འཛིན་པ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་གྲགས་པ་;ཤཱཀྱའི་དགེ་སློང་ཆོས་ཀྱི་གྲགས་པ་;དུས་མཐའི་སྔགས་འཆང་ཆོས་ཀྱི་གྲགས་པ་;དཀོན་མཆོག་ཕུན་ཚོགས་;ཆོས་ཀྱི་གྲགས་པ་ཕྲིན་ལས་རྣམ་པར་རྒྱལ་བའི་སྡེ་;ཐུགས་ཀྱི་རྡོ་རྗེ་;ཆེ་མཆོག་འདུས་པ་རྩལ་;པདྨ་བ་ཛྲ་རྩལ་;དབུར་སྨྱོན་;རྟག་པའི་རྡོ་རྗེ་;འབྲི་གུང་པ་གཤིན་རྗེའི་གཤེད་ཀྱི་རྣལ་འབྱོར་པ་རིག་འཛིན་ཆོས་ཀྱི་གྲགས་པ་;dam pa'i chos dgongs pa gcig pa'i rnam bshad lung don gsal byed legs bshad nyi ma'i snang ba;དམ་པའི་ཆོས་དགོངས་པ་གཅིག་པའི་རྣམ་བཤད་ལུང་དོན་གསལ་བྱེད་ལེགས་བཤད་ཉི་མའི་སྣང་བ།;དམ་པའི་ཆོས་དགོངས་པ་གཅིག་པའི་རྣམ་བཤད་ལུང་དོན་གསལ་བྱེད་ལེགས་བཤད་ཉི་མའི་སྣང་བ།

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Dorje Sherab: Great Commentary on the Sacred Teaching on the Single Intention: Illuminating Wisdom Lamp

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Dorje Sherab's extensive commentary on the Sacred Teaching on the Single Intention (Dam chos dgongs pa gcig pa), one of the core texts of the Drikung Kagyu tradition that is reported to be the oral teachings of Jikten Gönpo that were written down and edited together by his student Sherab Jungne.

Dam pa'i chos dgongs pa gcig pa'i 'grel chen snang mdzad ye shes sgron me;Drikung Kagyu;Dam chos dgongs pa gcig pa;'bri gung skyob pa 'jig rten mgon po;Dorje Sherab;རྡོ་རྗེ་ཤེས་རབ་;rdo rje shes rab;spyan snga rdo rje shes rab;སྤྱན་སྔ་རྡོ་རྗེ་ཤེས་རབ་;dam pa'i chos dgongs pa gcig pa'i 'grel chen snang mdzad ye shes sgron me;དམ་པའི་ཆོས་དགོངས་པ་གཅིག་པའི་འགྲེལ་ཆེན་སྣང་མཛད་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྒྲོན་མེ།;དམ་པའི་ཆོས་དགོངས་པ་གཅིག་པའི་འགྲེལ་ཆེན་སྣང་མཛད་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྒྲོན་མེ།

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 Buddha Nature Treatise

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An influential text in East Asian on buddha-nature attributed in the Chinese canon to Vasubandhu. Though no Sanskrit recension nor Tibetan translation has ever been located it was reportedly translated into Chinese by Paramārtha in the 6th century. Much like the Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna, several modern scholars of East Asian Buddhism have surmised that the work may have been actually composed by Paramārtha. The Saṃdhigambhīranirmocanasūtratīkā composed by Wan tshik translated from Chinese to Tibetan by Gö Chodrub mentions this treatise about ten times.

Fo xing lun;History of buddha-nature in China;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Chinese Buddhism;buddhadhātu;Paramārtha;ཕོ་ཤིང་ལུང་ (*སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་རང་བཞིན་བསྟན་པའི་བསྟན་བཅོས།);佛性論;ཕོ་ཤིང་ལུང་ (*སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་རང་བཞིན་བསྟན་པའི་བསྟན་བཅོས།)

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Jangtse Khenzur Sönam Kunga: Moon that Illuminates the Indian and Tibetan Interpretations of Buddha Nature

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A commentary on buddha-nature by twentieth-century Gelukpa scholar Jangtse Khenzur Sönam Kunga (1929–1995)

De bzhin gshegs pa snying po'i don rgya bod kyi mkhas pa'i bzhed srol ma 'dres par gsal bar byed pa'i zla gzhon;Geluk;Jangtse Khenzur Sönam Kunga;བྱང་རྩེ་མཁན་ཟུར་བསོད་ནམས་ཀུན་དགའ་;byang rtse mkhan zur bsod nams kun dga';de bzhin gshegs pa snying po'i don rgya bod kyi mkhas pa'i bzhed srol ma 'dres par gsal bar byed pa'i zla gzhon;དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་སྙིང་པོའི་དོན་རྒྱ་བོད་ཀྱི་མཁས་པའི་བཞེད་སྲོལ་མ་འདྲེས་པར་གསལ་བར་བྱེད་པའི་ཟླ་གཞོན།;དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་སྙིང་པོའི་དོན་རྒྱ་བོད་ཀྱི་མཁས་པའི་བཞེད་སྲོལ་མ་འདྲེས་པར་གསལ་བར་བྱེད་པའི་ཟླ་གཞོན།

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Ngawang Tsoknyi Gyatso: Removing the Anguish of Holding to Extremes: Explanation of Omniscient Jonangpa's Madhyamaka of Other Emptiness

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A treatise on the Madhyamaka philosophy of Other-Emptiness (gzhan stong) as inherited from Dölpopa by the influential modern Jonangpa scholar Ngawang Tsoknyi Gyatso (1880-1940). Tsoknyi Gyatso explains the system of the ground, path and result in this text, followed by a synopsis of the Ultimate Continuum.

Kun mkhyen jo nang pa chen po'i dgongs pa gzhan stong dbu ma'i tshul legs pa bshad mthar 'dzin gdung 'phrog;gzhan stong;Jonang;Ngawang Tsoknyi Gyatso;ངག་དབང་ཚོགས་གཉིས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་;ngag dbang tshogs gnyis rgya mtsho;'dzam thang mkhan po tshogs gnyis rgya mtsho;tshogs gnyis rgya mtsho;འཛམ་ཐང་མཁན་པོ་ཚོགས་གཉིས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་;ཚོགས་གཉིས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་;kun mkhyen jo nang pa chen po'i dgongs pa gzhan stong dbu ma'i tshul legs pa bshad mthar 'dzin gdung 'phrog;ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ཇོ་ནང་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་དགོངས་པ་གཞན་སྟོང་དབུ་མའི་ཚུལ་ལེགས་པར་བཤད་པ་མཐར་འཛིན་གདུང་འཕྲོག།;ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ཇོ་ནང་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་དགོངས་པ་གཞན་སྟོང་དབུ་མའི་ཚུལ་ལེགས་པར་བཤད་པ་མཐར་འཛིན་གདུང་འཕྲོག།

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Ngawang Tsoknyi Gyatso: Illuminating Light: An Exegesis of Omniscient Jonangpa's Intent Aligned with General Treatises of Madhyamaka and Pramāṇa

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An explanation of the general meaning of the scriptures on Madhyamaka (dbu ma) and pramāṇa (tshad ma) by the influential modern Jonangpa scholar Ngawang Tsoknyi Gyatso (1880-1940).

Kun mkhyen jo nang pa'i bzhes dgongs dbu tshad kyi gzhung spyi dang gung bsgrigs te spyod pa'i spyi don rab gsal snang ba;Jonang;Madhyamaka;Ngawang Tsoknyi Gyatso;ངག་དབང་ཚོགས་གཉིས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་;ngag dbang tshogs gnyis rgya mtsho;'dzam thang mkhan po tshogs gnyis rgya mtsho;tshogs gnyis rgya mtsho;འཛམ་ཐང་མཁན་པོ་ཚོགས་གཉིས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་;ཚོགས་གཉིས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་;kun mkhyen jo nang pa'i bzhes dgongs dbu tshad kyi gzhung spyi dang gung bsgrigs te spyod pa'i spyi don rab gsal snang ba;ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ཇོ་ནང་པའི་བཞེས་དགོངས་དབུ་ཚད་ཀྱི་གཞུང་སྤྱི་དང་གུང་བསྒྲིགས་ཏེ་སྤྱོད་པའི་སྤྱི་དོན་རབ་གསལ་སྣང་བ།;ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ཇོ་ནང་པའི་བཞེད་དགོངས་དབུ་ཚད་ཀྱི་གཞུང་སྤྱིའི་དགུང་བསྒྲིགས་ཏེ་དཔྱོད་པའི་སྤྱི་དོན་རབ་གསལ་སྣང་བ།

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Eighth Karmapa Mikyö Dorje: Karmapa's Great Commentary on the Sacred Teaching of the Single Intention

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The 8th Karmapa's commentary on the famous treatise, the Sacred Teaching on the Single Intention (Dam chos dgongs pa gcig pa) by Drikungpa master Jikten Gönpo. The Single Intention is a compendium of critical philosophical, soteriological, and moral positions taught by Jikten Gönpo and written down by his disciple and nephew Sherab Jungne. The text contains 150 critical vajra words (རྡོ་རྗེའི་གསུང་) in seven groups (ཚོམས་), along with another 47 appended points (ལྷན་ཐབས་). The root text composed by Sherab Jungne has seen several commentaries, including one by the first Drikung Chungtsang Chökyi Drakpa. This extensive commentary by the 8th Karmapa Mikyö Dorje is perhaps the only long commentary by Karma Kagyu master on the Single Intention.

Dam chos dgongs pa gcig pa'i kar TIka chen mo;Drikung Kagyu;Kagyu;Dam chos dgongs pa gcig pa;Eighth Karmapa Mikyö Dorje;མི་བསྐྱོད་རྡོ་རྗེ་;mi bskyod rdo rje;karma pa brgyad pa;chos kyi grags pa dpal bzang po;ཀརྨ་པ་བརྒྱད་པ་;ཆོས་ཀྱི་གྲགས་པ་དཔལ་བཟང་པོ་;Karmapa, 8th;dam chos dgongs pa gcig pa'i kar TIka chen mo;དམ་ཆོས་དགོངས་པ་གཅིག་པའི་ཀར་ཊཱིཀ་ཆེན་མོ།;དམ་ཆོས་དགོངས་པ་གཅིག་པའི་ཀར་ཊཱིཀ་ཆེན་མོ།

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Eighth Karmapa Mikyö Dorje: General Outline of the Tenets of the Single Intention that Reveal Errors Concerning the Inner Meaning of the Profound Great Discourses that Distinguish Dharma from that which is not Dharma

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The Eight Karmapa's general outline of the tenets of the Sacred Teaching on the Single Intention (Dam chos dgongs pa gcig pa).

Chos dang chos ma yin par rnam par 'byed pa'i gtam chen po zab mor nang don 'khrul par ngo sprod par byed pa grub mtha'i spyi ching;Drikung Kagyu;Kagyu;Dam chos dgongs pa gcig pa;Eighth Karmapa Mikyö Dorje;མི་བསྐྱོད་རྡོ་རྗེ་;mi bskyod rdo rje;karma pa brgyad pa;chos kyi grags pa dpal bzang po;ཀརྨ་པ་བརྒྱད་པ་;ཆོས་ཀྱི་གྲགས་པ་དཔལ་བཟང་པོ་;Karmapa, 8th;chos dang chos ma yin par rnam par 'byed pa'i gtam chen po zab mor nang don 'khrul par ngo sprod par byed pa grub mtha'i spyi ching;ཆོས་དང་ཆོས་མ་ཡིན་པར་རྣམ་པར་འབྱེད་པའི་གཏམ་ཆེན་པོ་ཟབ་མོར་ནང་དོན་འཁྲུལ་པར་ངོ་སྤྲོད་པར་བྱེད་པ་གྲུབ་མཐའི་སྤྱི་ཆིང་།;ཆོས་དང་ཆོས་མ་ཡིན་པར་རྣམ་པར་འབྱེད་པའི་གཏམ་ཆེན་པོ་ཟབ་མོར་རློམ་པའི་ནང་དོན་འཁྲུལ་པར་ངོ་སྤྲོད་པར་བྱེད་པ་གྲུབ་མཐའི་སྤྱི་ཆིངས།

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Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo: A Concise Presentation of Other-Emptiness Madhyamaka

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A brief overview of the philosophical positions and related terminology of other-emptiness (gzhan stong) Madhyamaka with an emphasis on the Jonang perspective developed by Dölpopa.

Gzhan stong dbu ma'i rnam gzhag snying por dril ba;gzhan stong;Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo;འཇམ་དབྱངས་མཁྱེན་བརྩེའི་དབང་པོ་;'jam dbyangs mkhyen brtse'i dbang po;mkhyen brtse'i dbang po;rdzong gsar mkhyen brtse 01;kun dga' bstan pa'i rgyal mtshan dpal bzang po;rdo rje gzi brjid rtsal;'od gsal rdo rje thugs mchog rtsal;mtsho skyes bla ma dgyes pa'i 'bangs;Fifth Terton King;Pema Ösel Dongak Lingpa;Pema Osel Dongak Lingpa;མཁྱེན་བརྩེའི་དབང་པོ་;རྫོང་གསར་མཁྱེན་བརྩེ་༠༡་;ཀུན་དགའ་བསྟན་པའི་རྒྱལ་མཚན་དཔལ་བཟང་པོ་;རྡོ་རྗེ་གཟི་བརྗིད་རྩལ་;འོད་གསལ་རྡོ་རྗེ་ཐུགས་མཆོག་རྩལ་;མཚོ་སྐྱེས་བླ་མ་དགྱེས་པའི་འབངས་;གཏེར་སྟོན་རྒྱལ་པོ་ལྔ་པ་;gzhan stong dbu ma'i rnam gzhag snying por dril ba;གཞན་སྟོང་དབུ་མའི་རྣམ་གཞག་སྙིང་པོར་དྲིལ་བ།;གཞན་སྟོང་དབུ་མའི་རྣམ་གཞག་སྙིང་པོར་དྲིལ་བ།

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Gendun Özer: Quintessential Essence of the Condensed Ultimate Definitive Meaning: An Explanation of the Mahāyāna Uttaratantra

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In his commentary [Gendun Özer] mentions that he composed it for his students who had requested that he write something that would differ from the "coarse explanation" (bshad nyog rtsing po) of the Uttaratantra offered by the "early commentators" (snga rabs pa) of the Kadam tradition. While Gendün Özer does not intend to succumb to a "coarse explanation" of the Indian treatise, he follows his early Kadam predecessors' exposition in terms of doctrinal position, even though his literary style is different, with numerous poetic verses of admiration. In this time period it is not surprising that he wrote the commentary primarily in consultation with Ngok's Tibetan translation (rngog 'gyur) of the Uttaratantra, but the author also used the translations made by Naktso and Patsap wherever necessary. (Source: Tsering Wangchuk. The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows, 59.)

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i rnam bshad don dam rnam nges bsdus pa'i snying po'i snying po;Kadam;Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra;Gendun Özer;དགེ་འདུན་འོད་ཟེར་;dge 'dun 'od zer;theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i rnam bshad don dam rnam nges bsdus pa'i snying po'i snying po;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་རྣམ་བཤད་དོན་དམ་རྣམ་ངེས་བསྡུས་པའི་སྙིང་པོའི་སྙིང་པོ།;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་རྣམ་བཤད་དོན་དམ་རྣམ་ངེས་བསྡུས་པའི་སྙིང་པོའི་སྙིང་པོ།

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Dōgen: Treasury of the True Dharma Eye

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“Treasury of the True Dharma Eye” is the magnum opus of the Japanese Zen master Dōgen (1200-1253).

Shōbōgenzō;History of buddha-nature in Japan;Zen - Chan;Dōgen;Dōgen Kigen (道元希玄);Dōgen Zenji (道元禅師);Eihei Dōgen (永平道元);Kōso Jōyō Daishi (高祖承陽大師);Busshō Dentō Kokushi (仏性伝東国師);ཤོ་བོ་གན་ཛོ་ (དམ་པའི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་མིག་གི་གན་མཛོད།);正法眼蔵;ཤོ་་བོ་གན་ཛོ་ (དམ་པའི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་མིག་གི་གན་མཛོད་)

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Tāranātha: Unprecedented Elegant Exposition: An Exegesis on the Heart Sūtra

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In this commentary on the Heart Sūtra, Tāranātha starts with the discussion of the different forms of Perfection of Wisdom in relation to the nature of phenomena, the path to enlightenment, the resultant state, and the doctrinal teachings which discuss the topic. He cites Dignāga to claim that the true Perfection of Wisdom is the resultant wisdom of the buddhas. However, the most important point he underscores is that the ultimate message of all three Turning of the Wheels and the Heart Sūtra is the great other-emptiness. All conventional phenomena are primordially empty of their own nature but the ultimate nature is only empty of other conventional phenomena but not empty of its own nature. This, he argues, is the ultimate truth, the reality and the intent of all buddhas. Commenting on the four statements on form and emptiness in the Heart Sūtra, he presents what he considers to be the interpretations among the proponents of the Mind Only (སེམས་ཙམ་པ་) and Naturelessness (ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་མེད་པར་སྨྲ་བ་), both of which are acceptable in certain contexts but do not capture the ultimate reality. The ultimate understanding, he reasons, must be obtained by putting the four statements in the context of the three characteristics (མཚན་ཉིད་གསུམ་). He goes on to explain how the four statements should be understood in relation to the imputed nature, the dependent nature and the consummate nature, through which one can grasp the meaning of the emptiness of that which is non-existent (མེད་པའི་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་), the emptiness of that which is existent (ཡོད་པའི་སྟོང་ཉིད་), and the emptiness of true nature (རང་བཞིན་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་) taught by Maitreya.

Shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa'i snying po'i mdo rnam par bshad pa sngon med legs bshad;Tāranātha;ཏཱ་ར་ནཱ་ཐ་;tA ra nA tha;kun dga' snying po;ཀུན་དགའ་སྙིང་པོ་;shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa'i snying po'i mdo rnam par bshad pa sngon med legs bshad;ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པའི་སྙིང་པོའི་མདོ་རྣམ་པར་བཤད་པ་སྔོན་མེད་ལེགས་བཤད།;ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པའི་སྙིང་པོའི་མདོ་རྣམ་པར་བཤད་པ་སྔོན་མེད་ལེགས་བཤད།

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Rendawa Zhönu Lodrö: Summary of the Ultimate Continuum: Clarifying the Meaning of Buddha-Nature

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In this short work, the famous Sakya scholar Rendawa presents his interpretation of and positions on the main topics covered by the Ultimate Continuum. While summarising the text, he points out how buddha-nature is to be understood as the luminous nature of the mind, and not as an absolute nature separate from the luminous aspect of the mind. He argues that buddha-nature, which is present in all sentient beings, is endowed with the universal quality of luminosity of the mind but not with the specific enlightened qualities of the Buddha. Thus, employing the common hermeneutic tools of reference,་purpose and direct contradiction, he considered the teachings on buddha-nature to be provisional teachings, which are not to be taken literally.

The Summary of the Ultimate Continuum: Clarifying the Meaning of Buddha-Nature;Rendawa Zhönu Lodrö;རེད་མདའ་བ་གཞོན་ནུ་བློ་གྲོས་;red mda' ba gzhon nu blo gros;rgyud bla ma'i don bsdus bde gshegs snying po'i don gsal;རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་དོན་བསྡུས་བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོའི་དོན་གསལ།;རྒྱུད་བླའི་དོན་བསྡུས་སམ་བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོའི་དོན་གསལ།

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Rongtön Sheja Kunrik: Stages of Meditation of the Ultimate Continuum: Ornament of Maitreya's Intent

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This short text by Rongtön Sheja Kunrig contains instructions on how to put the topics contained in the Ultimate Continuum into actual practice. It is among the many practical instructions he has written pertaining to the classical texts which are widely studied in Tibetan scholarly centres. In the course of providing practical instructions, Rongtön makes clear his philosophical understanding of buddha-nature and his interpretation of the teachings on buddha-nature.

Rgyud bla ma'i sgom rim mi pham dgongs don;Rongtön Sheja Kunrik;རོང་སྟོན་ཤེས་བྱ་ཀུན་རིག་;rong ston shes bya kun rig;shAkya rgyal mtshan;smra ba'i seng+ge;shes bya kun gzigs;rong TI ka pa;shes rab 'od zer;ཤཱཀྱ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་;སྨྲ་བའི་སེངྒེ་;ཤེས་བྱ་ཀུན་གཟིགས་;རོང་ཊཱི་ཀ་པ་;ཤེས་རབ་འོད་ཟེར་;Rongtön Shéja Günsi;Rongton Sheja Kunrig;rgyud bla ma'i sgom rim mi pham dgongs rgyan;རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་སྒོམ་རིམ་མི་ཕམ་དགོངས་རྒྱན།;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་མན་ངག་སྒོམ་ཚུལ་གྱི་རིམ་པ་མི་ཕམ་དགོངས་རྒྱན།

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Ngawang Tsoknyi Gyatso: Dispelling the Darkness of Partiality: A Commentary on Illumination of the Topics of Tenet Systems by Omniscient Jonangpa

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This is a commentary by the Jonangpa scholar Ngawang Tsoknyi Gyatso on the treatise composed by Dolpopa entitled Illuminating the Topics of Tenet Systems. Dolpopa composed the treatise in verse for the Yuan emperor Toghon Temür, who invited Dolpopa to China but Dolpopa declined. Yet, he wrote the treatise for the emperor and he presents his theory of the Middle Way of Other-Emptiness. Ngawang Tsoknyi Gyatso provides a very clear and incisive commentary in prose for Dolpopa's verse text.

Kun mkhyen chen pos mdzad pa'i grub mtha'i rnam bzhag don gsal gyi 'grel ba phyogs lhung mun sel;Ngawang Tsoknyi Gyatso;ངག་དབང་ཚོགས་གཉིས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་;ngag dbang tshogs gnyis rgya mtsho;'dzam thang mkhan po tshogs gnyis rgya mtsho;tshogs gnyis rgya mtsho;འཛམ་ཐང་མཁན་པོ་ཚོགས་གཉིས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་;ཚོགས་གཉིས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་;kun mkhyen chen pos mdzad pa'i grub mtha'i rnam bzhag don gsal gyi 'grel ba phyogs lhung mun sel;ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ཆེན་པོས་མཛད་པའི་གྲུབ་མཐའི་རྣམ་བཞག་དོན་གསལ་གྱི་འགྲེལ་བ་ཕྱོགས་ལྷུང་མུན་སེལ།;ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ཆེན་པོས་མཛད་པའི་གྲུབ་མཐའི་རྣམ་བཞག་དོན་གསལ་གྱི་འགྲེལ་བ་ཕྱོགས་ལྷུང་མུན་སེལ།

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Rigdzin Gödem: Powerful Aspiration Prayer of Samantabhadra

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The Powerful Aspiration Prayer of Samantabhadra comes from the dGongs pa zang thal or Penetrating Intent cycle of Dzogchen teachings by Rigdzin Gödem. The prayer explains how saṃsāra and nirvāṇa emerge from the same ground of primordial reality through awareness and unawareness. The cognitive glitch of dualistic clinging and ego-grasping is explained to have led to the many afflictive emotions and the corresponding resultant states of rebirth. The prayers instructs practitioners to rest in the natural state of the mind without attachment or aversion. The prayer is very widely chanted in the Himalayan communities.

Kun tu bzang po'i smon lam stobs po che;Rigdzin Gödem;རིག་འཛིན་རྒོད་ཀྱི་ལྡེམ་འཕྲུ་ཅན་;rig 'dzin rgod kyi ldem 'phru can;rig 'dzin rgod ldem;rig 'dzin dngos grub rgyal mtshan;rdor brag rig 'dzin gcig pa;རིག་འཛིན་རྒོད་ལྡེམ་;རིག་འཛིན་དངོས་གྲུབ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་;རྡོར་བྲག་རིག་འཛིན་གཅིག་པ་;kun tu bzang po'i smon lam stobs po che;ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་པོའི་སྨོན་ལམ་སྟོབས་པོ་ཆེ།;ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་པོའི་སྨོན་ལམ་སྟོབས་པོ་ཆེ།

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Longchen Rabjam Drime Özer: The Great Chariot: A Commentary on the Treatise on Great Perfection, Relaxation in the Nature of the Mind

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In his Relaxation in the Nature of Mind and its auto-commentary the Great Chariot, Longchenpa deals with buddha-nature in the opening verse while paying homage to the ultimate truth, in chapter 9 while discussing the generation-stage- and completion-stage practices, and in chapter 10 on the topic of wisdom which comprehends the ground reality free from the two extremes. He presents buddha-nature as the ground maṇḍala, which forms the basis of temporary confusion, while at the same time being the uncontrived, unborn, unchanging nature of the mind to be realized on the path. Ordinary beings do not perceive this buddha-nature, but bodhisattvas on the stages see it partially and the buddhas see it fully. Longchenpa blends the sūtra presentation of buddha-nature with the esoteric exposition of the spontaneous primordial ground in the tantras. He uses terms such as essence, element, spiritual gene, innate mind, pristine wisdom, vajra mind, primordial ground, the ultimate, ground gnosis, sphere of reality, Middle Way, nondual truth, thatness, Perfection of Wisdom, etc., to refer to the same luminous nature of mind which is buddha-nature.

Rdzogs pa chen po sems nyid ngal gso'i 'grel pa shing rta chen po;Longchen Rabjam Drime Özer;ཀློང་ཆེན་རབ་འབྱམས་;klong chen rab 'byams;klong chen pa;dri med 'od zer;kun mkhyen klong chen rab 'byams;klong chen pa dri med 'od zer;ཀློང་ཆེན་པ་;དྲི་མེད་འོད་ཟེར་;ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ཀློང་ཆེན་རབ་འབྱམས་;ཀློང་ཆེན་པ་དྲི་མེད་འོད་ཟེར་;Kunkhyen Longchen Rabjam;longchenpa;drime özer;Drimé Özer;Longchenpa Drime Wozer;Rdzogs pa chen po sems nyid ngal gso'i 'grel pa shing rta chen po;རྫོགས་པ་ཆེན་པོ་སེམས་ཉིད་ངལ་གསོའི་འགྲེལ་པ་ཤིང་རྟ་ཆེན་པོ།;རྫོགས་པ་ཆེན་པོ་སེམས་ཉིད་ངལ་གསོའི་འགྲེལ་པ་ཤིང་རྟ་ཆེན་པོ།

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Longchen Rabjam Drime Özer: White Lotus: A Commentary on the Wish Fulfilling Treasury

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The root text of the Treasury of Wishfulfilling Jewel along with its auto-commentary the White Lotus make up one of the main books among the Seven Treasures of Longchenpa. In chapter 1 of his Treasury of Wishfulfilling Jewel, he expounds the theory of buddha-nature as the primordial ground from which both nirvāṇa and saṃsāra arise. In chapter 18 he discusses the abiding nature of reality, which is the ultimate truth, and presents the experiences of saṃsāra as temporary illusions arising from adventitious misconception. Buddha-nature is understood to be the empty, luminous nature of things which abides as the ontic reality in all sentient beings and is free from all fabrications. Using the terms from the sūtras teaching buddha-nature and the Ultimate Continuum, he characterizes buddha-nature as the ultimate pure, eternal, blissful self. He considers the teachings on buddha-nature which form part of the third wheel as definitive teachings, which expound the same ground nature presented in both the sūtra and tantra literature. In summary, he writes in the Treasury of Wishfulfilling Jewel:

འོད་གསལ་བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོ་ལྷུན་གྲུབ་སྟེ། །སྟོང་གསལ་རིག་པ་དབྱེར་མེད་ཆོས་ཉིད་དོ།། The luminous buddha-nature is indivisible reality Which is spontaneous, empty, and clear awareness.

His presentation on buddha-nature theory and associated practices in his writings became the most authoritative references which determine the interpretation of buddha-nature theory and practice in the Nyingma tradition to this day.

Yid bzhin mdzod kyi 'grel pa pad+ma dkar po;Longchen Rabjam Drime Özer;ཀློང་ཆེན་རབ་འབྱམས་;klong chen rab 'byams;klong chen pa;dri med 'od zer;kun mkhyen klong chen rab 'byams;klong chen pa dri med 'od zer;ཀློང་ཆེན་པ་;དྲི་མེད་འོད་ཟེར་;ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ཀློང་ཆེན་རབ་འབྱམས་;ཀློང་ཆེན་པ་དྲི་མེད་འོད་ཟེར་;Kunkhyen Longchen Rabjam;longchenpa;drime özer;Drimé Özer;Longchenpa Drime Wozer;yid bzhin mdzod kyi 'grel pa pad+ma dkar po;ཡིད་བཞིན་མཛོད་ཀྱི་འགྲེལ་པ་པདྨ་དཀར་པོ།;ཡིད་བཞིན་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་མཛོད་ཀྱི་འགྲེལ་པ་པདྨ་དཀར་པོ།

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Longchen Rabjam Drime Özer: Treasury of Philosophical Tenets

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This book is among the Seven Treasures Longchenpa composed. The Seven Treasures today represent the best Tibetan literary collection for the systemisation of the Dzogchen tradition. In his Treasury of Tenet Systems, Longchenpa carries a detailed exegesis of the buddha-nature in chapter 4 on the spiritual gene required for the practice of Mahāyāna path. He cites several sūtras and many critical verses from the Ultimate Continuum, on which he comments to make clear his interpretation of buddha-nature teachings. He considers buddhahood as being identical with buddha-nature latent in all sentient beings and argues that buddhahood is a result which is revealed rather than a fruit which is cultivated and produced. Thus, all qualities of the Buddha are primordially present in the nature of all sentient beings.

Grub mtha' mdzod;Longchen Rabjam Drime Özer;ཀློང་ཆེན་རབ་འབྱམས་;klong chen rab 'byams;klong chen pa;dri med 'od zer;kun mkhyen klong chen rab 'byams;klong chen pa dri med 'od zer;ཀློང་ཆེན་པ་;དྲི་མེད་འོད་ཟེར་;ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ཀློང་ཆེན་རབ་འབྱམས་;ཀློང་ཆེན་པ་དྲི་མེད་འོད་ཟེར་;Kunkhyen Longchen Rabjam;longchenpa;drime özer;Drimé Özer;Longchenpa Drime Wozer;theg pa mtha' dag gi don gsal bar byed pa grub pa'i mtha' rin po che'i mdzod;ཐེག་པ་མཐའ་དག་གི་དོན་གསལ་བར་བྱེད་པ་གྲུབ་པའི་མཐའ་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་མཛོད།;གྲུབ་མཐའ་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་མཛོད།

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Tāranātha: Marvellous Word Commentary on the Heart Sūtra

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Tāranātha presents an interpretation of the Heart Sūtra in accordance with his philosophical espousal of the other-emptiness in this short word-for-word commentary. At the very outset, he states in this commentary that the main referent of the term Perfection of Wisdom is buddha-nature, the non-dual wisdom which is the true nature of all phenomena. This, he argues, is not empty of its nature. The Heart Sūtra sufficiently makes it clear that the five skandhas and other conventional phenomena are empty of their nature, but not buddha-nature or the ultimate truth. ‘Form is emptiness’ indicates that form is utterly non-existent and empty. ‘Emptiness is form’ indicates that emptiness, which is the ultimate reality, is what appears as form to ordinary beings. ‘Emptiness is not other than form’ shows there is no emptiness which exists separately from form but reality qua emptiness is rather the true nature of form. ‘Form is not other than emptiness’ states there is no real form that is different from emptiness in the ultimate sense, because emptiness qua reality exists whereas form doesn’t.

Sher snying gi tshig 'grel;Tāranātha;ཏཱ་ར་ནཱ་ཐ་;tA ra nA tha;kun dga' snying po;ཀུན་དགའ་སྙིང་པོ་;sher snying gi tshig 'grel rmad du byung ba;ཤེར་སྙིང་གི་ཚིག་འགྲེལ་རྨད་དུ་བྱུང་བ།;ཤེར་སྙིང་གི་ཚིག་འགྲེལ་རྨད་དུ་བྱུང་བ།

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Tāranātha: Incomparable King: A Verse Commentary of the Heart Sūtra

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One of the Tāranātha's three commentaries on the Heart Sūtra, he presents the ultimate purport of the sūtras as being the ultimate other-emptiness. He comments on the sūtra and its transmission in verses, a very rare style for a work considered to be a commentary. Like his short word for word commentary and the detailed exegesis, this verse commentary explains the Heart Sūtra in accordance with the theories of other-emptiness. Tāranātha also claims he is unique in showing how the Heart Sūtra also captures the hidden themes of the eight topics discussed in some other longer versions of Perfection of Wisdom texts. The commentary was written when Tāranātha was 29 by Tibetan reckoning.

'phags ma shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa'i snying po'i dka' 'grel 'gran zla med pa'i rgyal po tshig le'ur byas pa;Tāranātha;ཏཱ་ར་ནཱ་ཐ་;tA ra nA tha;kun dga' snying po;ཀུན་དགའ་སྙིང་པོ་;'phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa'i snying po'i dka' 'grel 'gran zla med pa'i rgyal po tshig le'ur byas pa;འཕགས་པ་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པའི་སྙིང་པོའི་དཀའ་འགྲེལ་འགྲན་ཟླ་མེད་པའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་ཚིག་ལེའུར་བྱས་པ།;འཕགས་མ་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པའི་སྙིང་པོའི་དཀའ་འགྲེལ་འགྲན་ཟླ་མེད་པའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་ཚིག་ལེའུར་བྱས་པ།

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Śākya Chokden: Union Ship: A Treatise Dispelling the Misconception in the Understanding of Mahāmudrā through Scriptures and Reasoning

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One of the three short texts on Mahāmudrā by Śākya Choden, this was written in response to a list of questions raised by a certain scholar named Karma Wangchuk Pel with regard to Sakya Paṇḍita’s critique of Neo-Mahāmudrā and Single White Remedy in his Distinguishing the Three Vows.

He begins with a cogent presentation of Mahāmudrā covering its sources, the objective Mahāmudrā, the subjective Mahāmudrā, its synonyms, the actual Mahāmudra experience among sublime beings, the analogous Mahāmudrā understanding among ordinary practitioners, and the Mahāmudrā concept according to the philosophical and tantric schools. Following this, he delves into how some later followers of Sakya and Kagyu tradition do not fathom the understanding of their respective teachings. He also points out how the followers of Kadampa tradition have missed the important original teachings of Atīśa and founding fathers.

In summary, Śākya Chokden underscores the point that there are two ways in which misconceptions are overcome: through an extrovert rational analysis and an introvert yogic contemplation. The Mahāmudrā tradition of Gampopa belongs to the latter category while the former includes the postulations of self-emptiness and other-emptiness.

Lung rigs gnyis kyis phyag rgya chen po'i bzhed tshul la 'khrul pa sel ba'i bstan bcos zung 'jug gru chen;Mahamudra;Śākya Chokden;ཤཱཀྱ་མཆོག་ལྡན་;shAkya mchog ldan;lung rigs gnyis kyis phyag rgya chen po'i bzhed tshul la 'khrul pa sel ba'i bstan bcos zung 'jug gru chen;ལུང་རིགས་གཉིས་ཀྱིས་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོའི་བཞེད་ཚུལ་ལ་འཁྲུལ་པ་སེལ་བའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཟུང་འཇུག་གྲུ་ཆེན།;ལུང་རིགས་གཉིས་ཀྱིས་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོའི་བཞེད་ཚུལ་ལ་འཁྲུལ་པ་སེལ་བའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཟུང་འཇུག་གྲུ་ཆེན།

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Śākya Chokden: A Treatise entitled Distinguishing Mahāmudrā

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The second work in Śākya Chokden's trilogy of short writings on Mahāmudra, he points out in this text a list of the five types of misinterpretation of the actual point of Mahāmudrā practice:

1. The emptiness posited through Mādhyamika reasoning. 2. The union of emptiness and bliss which fills the network of channels after tantric practice of consecration. 3. Experience of bare consciousness free from all mentation. 4. Non-apprehension of the mind either inside or outside, having colour and shape, etc. 5. The ground consciousness which is the cause of all experience.

Śākya Choden states that none of these capture the profound, precise, effective Mahāmudrā technique of Gampopa, which is compared to the Single White Remedy, and explains how they are not the same as Gampopa’s Mahāmudrā. Śākya Chokden also distinguishes the Chinese Chan practice from Gampopa’s Mahāmudrā and goes on to explain their differences. He elaborates on the practice of Mahāmudrā through the four points of single-pointedness (རྩེ་གཅིག་), non-elaboration (སྤྲོས་བྲལ་), one taste (རོ་གཅིག་), and non-meditation (སྒོམ་མེད་).

Phyag rgya chen po'i shan 'byed ces bya ba'i bstan bcos;Mahamudra;Śākya Chokden;ཤཱཀྱ་མཆོག་ལྡན་;shAkya mchog ldan;phyag rgya chen po'i shan 'byed ces bya ba'i bstan bcos;ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོའི་ཤན་འབྱེད་ཅེས་བྱ་བའི་བསྟན་བཅོས།;ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོའི་ཤན་འབྱེད་ཅེས་བྱ་བའི་བསྟན་བཅོས།

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Chapa Chökyi Senge: A Synopsis of the Mahāyāna Uttaratantra

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This is an outline and synopsis of the Uttaratantra by Chapa, one of the early Kadam scholars of Sangpu Neutok Monastery.

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bsdus don;Analytic Tradition;Chapa Chökyi Senge;ཕྱྭ་པ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་སེངྒེ་;phywa pa chos kyi seng+ge;cha pa chos kyi seng+ge;phya pa chos kyi seng+ge;gsang phu ne'u thog mkhan rabs 06;ཆ་པ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་སེངྒེ་;ཕྱ་པ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་སེངྒེ་;གསང་ཕུ་ནེའུ་ཐོག་མཁན་རབས་༠༦་;theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bsdus don;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྡུས་དོན།;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྡུས་དོན།

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Śākya Chokden: The Seventh Precious Treasury: An Explanation of Śrī Guhyasamāja

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Śākya Chokden's commentary on the Guhyasamāja Tantra composed in 1504

Dpal gsang ba 'dus pa'i rnam bshad rin po che'i gter mdzod bdun pa;Sakya;Śākya Chokden;ཤཱཀྱ་མཆོག་ལྡན་;shAkya mchog ldan;dpal gsang ba 'dus pa'i rnam bshad rin po che'i gter mdzod bdun pa;དཔལ་གསང་བ་འདུས་པའི་རྣམ་བཤད་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་གཏེར་མཛོད་བདུན་པ།;དཔལ་གསང་བ་འདུས་པའི་རྣམ་བཤད་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་གཏེར་མཛོད་བདུན་པ།

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Tilopa: Ājñāsaṃyakpramāṇanāmaḍākinyupadeśa

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The text, Instructions of Ḍākiṇīs entitled Validity of the True Word (བཀའ་ཡང་དག་པའི་ཚད་མ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་མཁའ་འགྲོ་མའི་མན་ངག) is one of the primary sources for Mahāmudrā meditation and six yogas of Naropas passed down through the Kagyu tradition. In this text, one finds the six dharmas of Tilopa (ཏི་ལི་ཆོས་དྲུག་) which are fundamental techniques for meditation to cultivate single-pointed concentration and non-conceptuality, and account of the six yogas of Naropa in some detail. The text is said to be teachings received by Tilopa from Vajradhara and then passed down through Naropa and Marpa who translated it into Tibetan.

Bka' yang dag pa'i tshad ma zhes bya ba mkha' 'gro ma'i man ngag;Mahamudra;Tilopa;ཏི་ལོ་པ་;ti lo pa;tai lo pa;te lo pa; Marpa Chökyi Lodrö;མར་པ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་བློ་གྲོས་;mar pa chos kyi blo gros;mar pa lo tsA ba;མར་པ་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་;bka' yang dag pa'i tshad ma zhes bya ba mkha' 'gro ma'i man ngag;བཀའ་ཡང་དག་པའི་ཚད་མ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་མཁའ་འགྲོ་མའི་མན་ངག།;Ājñāsaṃyakpramāṇanāmaḍākinyupadeśa;བཀའ་ཡང་དག་པའི་ཚད་མ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་མཁའ་འགྲོ་མའི་མན་ངག།

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Jikten Gönpo: Hymns on the Fivefold Path of Realization of Mahāmudrā

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Hymns on the Fivefold Path of Realization (Phyag rgya chen po lnga ldan rtogs pa'i mgur) by Jikten Gönpo.

Phyag rgya chen po lnga ldan rtogs pa'i mgur;Drikung Kagyu;Mahamudra;'bri gung skyob pa 'jig rten mgon po;Jikten Gönpo;འབྲི་གུང་སྐྱོབ་པ་འཇིག་རྟེན་མགོན་པོ་;'bri gung skyob pa 'jig rten mgon po;'jig rten mgon po;rin chen dpal;'jig rten gsum mgon;'bri gung gdan rabs 01;འཇིག་རྟེན་མགོན་པོ་;རིན་ཆེན་དཔལ་;འཇིག་རྟེན་གསུམ་མགོན་;འབྲི་གུང་གདན་རབས་༠༡་;phyag rgya chen po lnga ldan rtogs pa'i mgur;ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོ་ལྔ་ལྡན་རྟོགས་པའི་མགུར།;ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོ་ལྔ་ལྡན་རྟོགས་པའི་མགུར།

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Maitrīpa: Tattvadaśaka

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In this work of ten verses on true reality, Maitrīpa presents the luminous nature of reality which is beyond any duality and apprehension. The text underscores the non-abiding and luminous nature of reality and how the instructions of the master is crucial for realising the authentic nature of Madhyamaka. Through this, Maitrīpa rules out that the True Aspectarian and False Aspectarian traditions of the Mind Only school and the scholastic Mādhyamika which do not rely on direct pith instructions of the guru can realise the true nature of reality.

Tattvadaśaka;Mahamudra;Maitrīpa;མཻ་ཏྲི་པ་;mai tri pa;mnga' bdag mai tri pa;d+har+ma;gnyis med rdo rje;a wa d+hu ti pa;mai tri gup+ta;gnyis su med pa'i rdo rje;མངའ་བདག་མཻ་ཏྲི་པ་;དྷརྨ་;གཉིས་མེད་རྡོ་རྗེ་;ཨ་ཝ་དྷུ་ཏི་པ་;མཻ་ཏྲི་གུཔྟ་;གཉིས་སུ་མེད་པའི་རྡོ་རྗེ་;Advayavajra;Maitrīpāda;Maitrīgupta;Avadhūtipa;Avadhūtipāda;Maitreyanātha; de kho na nyid bcud pa;དེ་ཁོ་ན་ཉིད་བཅུ་པ།;Tattvadaśaka;तत्त्वदशक;དེ་ཁོ་ན་ཉིད་བཅུ་པ།

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Mipam Gyatso: Distinguishing Wisdom from Appearances: A Commentary on Distinguishing Phenomena and their Nature

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Mipam's commentary on the Dharmadharmatāvibhāga, one of the Five Dharma Treatises of Maitreya (byams chos sde lnga) said to have been presented to Asaṅga by the bodhisattva Maitreya in the Tuṣita heaven.

Chos dang chos nyid rnam par 'byed pa'i tshig le'ur byas pa'i 'grel pa ye shes snang ba rnam 'byed;Mipam Gyatso;མི་ཕམ་རྒྱ་མཚོ་;mi pham rgya mtsho;mi pham 'jam dbyangs rnam rgyal rgya mtsho;'jam dpal dgyes pa'i rdo rje;'ju mi pham;མི་ཕམ་འཇམ་དབྱངས་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་རྒྱ་མཚོ་;འཇམ་དཔལ་དགྱེས་པའི་རྡོ་རྗེ་;འཇུ་མི་ཕམ་;mipham;chos dang chos nyid rnam par 'byed pa'i tshig le'ur byas pa'i 'grel pa ye shes snang ba rnam 'byed;ཆོས་དང་ཆོས་ཉིད་རྣམ་པར་འབྱེད་པའི་ཚིག་ལེའུར་བྱས་པའི་འགྲེལ་པ་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྣང་བ་རྣམ་འབྱེད།;ཆོས་དང་ཆོས་ཉིད་རྣམ་པར་འབྱེད་པའི་ཚིག་ལེའུར་བྱས་པའི་འགྲེལ་པ་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྣང་བ་རྣམ་འབྱེད།

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Wǒnch'ǔk: Gambhīrasaṃdhinirmocanasūtraṭīkā

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Wǒnch'ǔk's commentary to the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra was extremely popular in the Chinese outpost of Dunhuang, where Chos grub (Ch. Facheng; c. 755–849) translated it into Tibetan during the reign of King Ral pa can (r. 815–838). Only nine of the ten rolls of the commentary are still extant in Chinese; the full text is available only in its Tibetan translation, which the Tibetans know as the "Great Chinese Commentary" (Rgya nag gi 'grel chen) even though it was written by a Korean. (Source: "Wǒnch'ǔk." In The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 996–97. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)

RKTST 3355;Wǒnch'ǔk; Gö Chödrub;འགོས་ཆོས་གྲུབ་;'gos chos grub;Facheng;'phags pa dgongs pa zab mo nges par 'grel pa'i mdo rgya cher 'grel pa;འཕགས་པ་དགོངས་པ་ཟབ་མོ་ངེས་པར་འགྲེལ་པའི་མདོ་རྒྱ་ཆེར་འགྲེལ་པ།;Gambhīrasaṃdhinirmocanasūtraṭīkā;आर्यगम्भीरसंधिनिर्मोचनसूत्रटीका;འཕགས་པ་དགོངས་པ་ཟབ་མོ་ངེས་པར་འགྲེལ་པའི་མདོ་རྒྱ་ཆེར་འགྲེལ་པ།

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Sönam Gyaltsen: A Synopsis of the Mahāyāna Uttaratantra

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Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bsdus pa'i don;Sönam Gyaltsen;བསོད་ནམས་རྒྱལ་མཚན་;bsod nams rgyal mtshan;btsun pa bsod nams;bla ma dam pa bsod nams rgyal mtshan;sa skya pa bla ma dam pa bsod nams rgyal mtshan;nyi ma bde ba'i blo gros;sa skya khri 'dzin, 14;བཙུན་པ་བསོད་ནམས་;བླ་མ་དམ་པ་བསོད་ནམས་རྒྱལ་མཚན་;ས་སྐྱ་པ་བླ་མ་དམ་པ་བསོད་ནམས་རྒྱལ་མཚན་;ཉི་མ་བདེ་བའི་བློ་གྲོས་;ས་སྐྱ་ཁྲི་འཛིན་༡༤་;Lama Dampa Sönam Gyaltsen;Sakya Trizin, 14th;theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bsdus pa'i don;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྡུས་པའི་དོན།;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྡུས་པའི་དོན།

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Drogön Chögyal Pakpa: A Synopsis of the Mahāyāna Uttaratantraśāstra

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Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi bsdus pa'i don;Drogön Chögyal Pakpa;འགྲོ་མགོན་ཆོས་རྒྱལ་འཕགས་པ་;'gro mgon chos rgyal 'phags pa;'phags pa blo gros rgyal mtshan;chos rgyal 'phags pa;'gro mgon 'phags pa blo gros rgyal mtshan;blo gros rgyal mtshan;འཕགས་པ་བློ་གྲོས་རྒྱལ་མཚན་;Pakpa Lodro Gyaltsen;Chögyal Phagpa;Chögyal Phakpa;Chogyal Phagpa;Drogön Chögyal Phagpa;Drogon Chogyal Phagpa;Drogön Phagpa Lodrö Gyaltsen;Drogon Phagpa Lodro Gyaltsen;theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi bsdus pa'i don;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་བསྡུས་པའི་དོན།;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་བསྡུས་པའི་དོན།

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Paṇchen Sönam Drakpa: The Moonlight of the Crucial Points: A Commentary on the Difficult Aspects of the Uttaratantra

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A commentary on the Ratnagotravibhāga called The Moonlight of the Crucial Points: A Commentary on the Difficult Aspects of the Uttaratantra.

Rgyud bla ma'i dka' 'grel gnad kyi zla 'od;Geluk;Paṇchen Sönam Drakpa;པཎ་ཆེན་བསོད་ནམས་གྲགས་པ་;paN chen bsod nams grags pa;rgyud bla ma'i dka' 'grel gnad kyi zla 'od;རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་དཀའ་འགྲེལ་གནད་ཀྱི་ཟླ་འོད།;རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་དཀའ་འགྲེལ་གནད་ཀྱི་ཟླ་འོད།

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Karma Könchok Zhönu: Synopsis of the Ultimate Continuum Possessing Four Reliances and Causing Delight to the Learned

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Synopsis of the Ultimate Continuum Possessing Four Reliances and Causing Delight to the Learned

Rgyud bla ma'i bsdus don rton pa bzhi ldan mkhas pa dga' byed;Karma Könchok Zhönu;ཀརྨ་དཀོན་མཆོག་གཞོན་ནུ་;karma dkon mchog gzhon nu;rgyud bla ma'i bsdus don rton pa bzhi ldan mkhas pa dga' byed;རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྡུས་དོན་རྟོན་པ་བཞི་ལྡན་མཁས་པ་དགའ་བྱེད།;རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྡུས་དོན་རྟོན་པ་བཞི་ལྡན་མཁས་པ་དགའ་བྱེད།

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Karma Könchok Zhönu: Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum Possessing Four Reliances and Causing Delight to the Learned

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Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum Possessing Four Reliances and Causing Delight to the Learned

Rgyud bla ma'i 'grel pa rton pa bzhi ldan mkhas pa dga' byed;Karma Könchok Zhönu;ཀརྨ་དཀོན་མཆོག་གཞོན་ནུ་;karma dkon mchog gzhon nu;rgyud bla ma'i 'grel pa rton pa bzhi ldan mkhas pa dga' byed;རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་འགྲེལ་པ་རྟོན་པ་བཞི་ལྡན་མཁས་པ་དགའ་བྱེད།;རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་འགྲེལ་པ་རྟོན་པ་བཞི་ལྡན་མཁས་པ་དགའ་བྱེད།

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 General Exegesis on the Ultimate Continuum

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This is a short treatise from the collection of bka' gdams gsung 'bum phyogs bsgrigs which was recently published containing books from Drepung Nechu library. Although the compilers attributed this work to Lochen Kyapchok Palzang, there is no colophon to confirm it. The work discusses the adamantine and luminous nature of Buddha-Nature.

Rgyud bla ma'i spyi don;Rgyud bla ma'i spyi don;རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་སྤྱི་དོན།;རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་སྤྱི་དོན།

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Sönam Gyaltsen: Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum Called Definitive Clarification of the Intent

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Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i 'grel pa dgongs pa nges gsal;Sönam Gyaltsen;བསོད་ནམས་རྒྱལ་མཚན་;bsod nams rgyal mtshan;btsun pa bsod nams;bla ma dam pa bsod nams rgyal mtshan;sa skya pa bla ma dam pa bsod nams rgyal mtshan;nyi ma bde ba'i blo gros;sa skya khri 'dzin, 14;བཙུན་པ་བསོད་ནམས་;བླ་མ་དམ་པ་བསོད་ནམས་རྒྱལ་མཚན་;ས་སྐྱ་པ་བླ་མ་དམ་པ་བསོད་ནམས་རྒྱལ་མཚན་;ཉི་མ་བདེ་བའི་བློ་གྲོས་;ས་སྐྱ་ཁྲི་འཛིན་༡༤་;Lama Dampa Sönam Gyaltsen;Sakya Trizin, 14th;theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i 'grel pa dgongs pa nges gsal;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་འགྲེལ་པ་དགོངས་པ་ངེས་གསལ།;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་འགྲེལ་པ་དགོངས་པ་ངེས་གསལ།

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Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen: Notes on the Ultimate Continuum Called the Unmistaken Intent of Maitreya

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Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i zin bris byams mgon gyi dgongs pa phyin ci ma log pa;Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen;རྗེ་བཙུན་གྲགས་པ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་;rje btsun grags pa rgyal mtshan;sa skya rje btsun grags pa rgyal mtshan;shAk+ya'i dge bsnyen grags pa rgyal mtshan;shAk+ya'i dge bsnyen theg pa mchog gi rnal 'byor pa grags pa rgyal mtshan;ས་སྐྱ་རྗེ་བཙུན་གྲགས་པ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་;ཤཱཀྱའི་དགེ་བསྙེན་གྲགས་པ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་;ཤཱཀྱའི་དགེ་བསྙེན་ཐེག་པ་མཆོག་གི་རྣལ་འབྱོར་པ་གྲགས་པ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་;Sakya Tridzin, 5th;theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i zin bris byams mgon gyi dgongs pa phyin ci ma log pa;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་ཟིན་བྲིས་བྱམས་མགོན་དགོངས་པ་ཕྱིན་ཅི་མ་ལོག་པ།;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་ཟིན་བྲིས་བྱམས་མགོན་དགོངས་པ་ཕྱིན་ཅི་མ་ལོག་པ།

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 Outline of the Ultimate Continuum Called Incomparable Exposition

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An outline of the Ultimate Continuum attributed to Lochen Kyapchok Palzang has verses in the beginning and end written with play of words used in a difficult poetic compositions. The outlines divides the main text into three sections, unlike most other outlines which presents the Ultimate Continuum in four sections.

Rgyud bla ma'i sa bcad mtshungs med legs bshad;rgyud bla ma'i sa bcad mtshungs med legs bshad;རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་ས་བཅད་མཚུངས་མེད་ལེགས་བཤད།;རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་ས་བཅད་མཚུངས་མེད་ལེགས་བཤད།

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 Illumination of the Ultimate Continuum

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This is a commentary on the Ultimate Continuum which was discovered in the Nechu library in Drepung monastery recently. Although the compilers of the bKa' gdams gsung 'bum phyogs bsgrigs have attributed this to Lochen Kyapchok Palzang, the commentary does not have the same outline as the one said to have been authored by him. It also presents interpretations which align with the interpretations of Gyaltsap. Thus, it is possible the commentary is by a later Geluk author but nothing can be confirmed as the book has no colophon.

Rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos gsal byed;rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos gsal byed;རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་གསལ་བྱེད།;རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་གསལ་བྱེད།

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 Inconceivable Letters Clarifying the Ultimate Continuum

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This text, published as part of the bka' gdams gsung 'bum phyogs bsgrigs, is attributed to Lochen Kyapchok Palzang. It was found in the Nechu Lhakhang library in Drepung monastery. However, the text does not have a colophon and the content points to an earlier author named Chöshe, who was a disciple of Zulphowa. Presenting an early version of other-emptiness, this treatise presents different topics of advanced meditation based on the Ultimate Continuum. At the end of the text, one finds an account of how the teachings were passed down from Maitrīpa to Kashmir and then through the Tsen contemplative lineage. The account is almost identical to the account found in Kyotön Monlam Tsultrim's work with minor variations.

Rgyud bla ma'i gsal byed bsam mi khyab pa'i yi ge;rgyud bla ma'i gsal byed bsam mi khyab pa'i yi ge;རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་གསལ་བྱེད་བསམ་མི་ཁྱབ་པའི་ཡི་གེ།;བསྟན་བཅོས་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་གདམས་ངག་བསམ་མི་ཁྱབ་པའི་ཡི་གེ

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Gyalse Tokme Zangpo: Verses from the Beginning and Conclusion of Sūtrālaṅkāra, Bodhicaryāvatāra and Uttaratantra

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Mdo sde rgyan dang rgyud bla ma spyod 'jug rnams kyi 'grel TIk+ka gi dbu zhabs kyi tshigs bcad;Gyalse Tokme Zangpo;རྒྱལ་སྲས་ཐོགས་མེད་བཟང་པོ་;rgyal sras thogs med bzang po;thogs med bzang po dpal;rgyal sras dngul chu thogs med;rgyal sras chos rdzong pa;dkon mchog bzang po;bzang po dpal;ཐོགས་མེད་བཟང་པོ་དཔལ་;རྒྱལ་སྲས་དངུལ་ཆུ་ཐོགས་མེད་;རྒྱལ་སྲས་ཆོས་རྫོང་པ་;དཀོན་མཆོག་བཟང་པོ་;བཟང་པོ་དཔལ་;mdo sde rgyan dang rgyud bla ma spyod 'jug rnams kyi 'grel TIk+ka gi dbu zhabs kyi tshigs bcad;མདོ་སྡེ་རྒྱན་དང་རྒྱུད་བླ་མ་སྤྱོད་འཇུག་རྣམས་ཀྱི་འགྲེལ་ཊཱིཀྐ་གི་དབུ་ཞབས་ཀྱི་ཚིགས་བཅད།;མདོ་སྡེ་རྒྱན་དང་རྒྱུད་བླ་མ་སྤྱོད་འཇུག་རྣམས་ཀྱི་འགྲེལ་ཊཱིཀྐ་གི་དབུ་ཞབས་ཀྱི་ཚིགས་བཅད།

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Chomden Rikpai Raldri: The History of Dharma Associated with Maitreya

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Byams pa dang 'brel chos kyi byung tshul;Chomden Rikpai Raldri;བཅོམ་ལྡན་རིག་པའི་རལ་གྲི་;bcom ldan rig pa'i ral gri;bcom ldan ral gri;bcom ldan rigs pa'i ral gri;rig ral;dar ma rgyal mtshan;བཅོམ་ལྡན་རལ་གྲི་;བཅོམ་ལྡན་རིགས་པའི་རལ་གྲི་;རིག་རལ་;དར་མ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་;Rikrel;bCom-ldan-ral-gri;byams pa dang 'brel chos kyi byung tshul;བྱམས་པ་དང་འབྲེལ་བའི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་བྱུང་ཚུལ།;བྱམས་པ་དང་འབྲེལ་བའི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་བྱུང་ཚུལ།

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 Annotated Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum

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Rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi 'grel mchan;rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi 'grel mchan;རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་འགྲེལ་མཆན།;རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་འགྲེལ་མཆན།

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Chone Drakpa Shedrup: The Great Light Which Illuminates the Essence of the Ultimate Continuum

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An articulate synopsis of the seven vajra points in the Ultimate Continuum based on mainstream Geluk interpretation. Chone Drakpa Shedrup makes a clear distinction between the naturally abiding spiritual and the developed spiritual gene identifying the former with the emptiness of the mind and the latter with spiritual qualities such as compassion, renunciation and mind of awakening.

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i don gyi snying po gsal byed kyi snang ba chen po;Chone Drakpa Shedrup;ཅོ་ནེ་གྲགས་པ་བཤད་སྒྲུབ་;co ne grags pa bshad sgrub;theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i don gyi snying po gsal byed kyi snang ba chen po;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་དོན་གྱི་སྙིང་པོ་གསལ་བྱེད་ཀྱི་སྣང་བ་ཆེན་པོ།;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་དོན་གྱི་སྙིང་པོ་གསལ་བྱེད་ཀྱི་སྣང་བ་ཆེན་པོ།

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Drakar Lobzang Palden Tenzin Nyendrak: rang stong dang gzhan stong gi khyad par cung zad brjod pa tshul gnyis rnam gsal lung rigs sgron me

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Rang stong dang gzhan stong gi khyad par cung zad brjod pa tshul gnyis rnam gsal lung rigs sgron me;Drakar Lobzang Palden Tenzin Nyendrak;བྲག་དཀར་བློ་བཟང་དཔལ་ལྡན་བསྟན་འཛིན་སྙན་གྲགས་;brag dkar blo bzang dpal ldan bstan 'dzin snyan grags;blo bzang dpal ldan;brag dkar sprul sku;བློ་བཟང་དཔལ་ལྡན་;བྲག་དཀར་སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་;rang stong dang gzhan stong gi khyad par cung zad brjod pa tshul gnyis rnam gsal lung rigs sgron me;རང་སྟོང་དང་གཞན་སྟོང་གི་ཁྱད་པར་ཅུང་ཟད་བརྗོད་པ་ཚུལ་གཉིས་རྣམ་གསལ་ལུང་རིགས་སྒྲོན་མེ།;རང་སྟོང་དང་གཞན་སྟོང་གི་ཁྱད་པར་ཅུང་ཟད་བརྗོད་པ་ཚུལ་གཉིས་རྣམ་གསལ་ལུང་རིགས་སྒྲོན་མེ།

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 Annotated Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum

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A very clear commentary on the Ultimate Continuum by Taglung Choje according to the title page, the treatise presents a brief history of the teachings on the Ultimate Continuum and follows the meditative tradition from Tsen Khawoche. The authors also cites and critiques some Tibetan interpretations and is perhaps unique in arguing Dhammakāya pervades all phenomena and not just sentient beings.

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i zin bris tI kA;theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i zin bris tI kA;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་ཟིན་བྲིས་ཏཱི་ཀཱ།;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་ཟིན་བྲིས་ཏཱི་ཀཱ།

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Lobzang Palden Tendzin Yargye: Annotated Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum

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Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi mchan 'grel;Lobzang Palden Tendzin Yargye;བློ་བཟང་དཔལ་ལྡན་བསྟན་འཛིན་ཡར་རྒྱས་;blo bzang dpal ldan bstan 'dzin yar rgyas;theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi mchan 'grel;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་མཆན་འགྲེལ།;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་མཆན་འགྲེལ།

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Zhangtön Sönam Drakpa: Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum Clarifying the Last Wheel of Teachings

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Rgyud bla ma'i 'grel bka' 'khor lo tha ma'i gsal byed;Zhangtön Sönam Drakpa;ཞང་སྟོན་བསོད་ནམས་གྲགས་པ་;zhang ston bsod nams grags pa;zhang ston rgya bo bsod nams grags pa;zhang ston byang sems bsod nams grags pa;ཞང་སྟོན་རྒྱ་བོ་བསོད་ནམས་གྲགས་པ་;ཞང་སྟོན་བྱང་སེམས་བསོད་ནམས་གྲགས་པ་;rgyud bla ma'i 'grel bka' 'khor lo tha ma'i gsal byed;རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་འགྲེལ་བཀའ་འཁོར་ལོ་ཐ་མའི་གསལ་བྱེད།;རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་འགྲེལ་བཀའ་འཁོར་ལོ་ཐ་མའི་གསལ་བྱེད།

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 Notes on the Annotated Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum

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Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos zhes bya ba'i mchan 'grel gyi mchan bu;theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos zhes bya ba'i mchan 'grel gyi mchan bu;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་མཆན་འགྲེལ་གྱི་མཆན་བུ།;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་མཆན་འགྲེལ་གྱི་མཆན་བུ།

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Dondrup Rinchen: Precious Light: A Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum

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Composed by Dondup Rinchen, the first teacher of Tsongkhapa, this clear and moderate-size commentary presents an interpretation of Buddha-Nature as reality which has latent qualities of the Buddha. Thus, Dhondup Rinchen's interpretations differs from the position held by his student Tsongkhapa and the latter's followers. He refutes the position held by earlier Tibetan scholars, which one finds later adopted by the Gelukpa tradition.

Rgyud bla ma'i 'grel ba rin po che'i snang ba;Dondrup Rinchen;དོན་གྲུབ་རིན་ཆེན་;don grub rin chen;rgyud bla ma'i 'grel ba rin po che'i snang ba;རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་འགྲེལ་བ་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་སྣང་བ།;རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་འགྲེལ་བ་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་སྣང་བ།

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Muge Samten Gyatso: Word Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum Entitled Flourishing of the Buddha’s Teachings

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A clear commentary on the Ultimate Continuum composed by the 20th century Gelukpa scholar Muge Samten at the request of Lobzang Tashi, it is based on the commentary by Gyaltsap Je. The work is incomplete due to the author's illness.

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi tshig 'grel thub bstan yar rgyas;Muge Samten Gyatso;དམུ་དགེ་བསམ་གཏན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་;dmu dge bsam gtan rgya mtsho;theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi tshig 'grel thub bstan yar rgyas;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་ཚིག་འགྲེལ་ཐུབ་བསྟན་ཡར་རྒྱས།;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་ཚིག་འགྲེལ་ཐུབ་བསྟན་ཡར་རྒྱས།

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Ganden Tripa Lodrö Tenpa: Exegesis on the Ultimate Continuum Called the Ornament of Buddha-Nature

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A commentary on the Ratnagotravibhāga called Exegesis on the Ultimate Continuum Called the Ornament of Buddha-Nature.

Rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi rnam bshad bde gshegs snying po'i mdzes rgyan;Geluk;Ganden Tripa Lodrö Tenpa;དགའ་ལྡན་ཁྲི་པ་བློ་གྲོས་བརྟན་པ་;dga' ldan khri pa blo gros brtan pa;rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi rnam bshad bde gshegs snying po'i mdzes rgyan;རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་རྣམ་བཤད་བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོའི་མཛེས་རྒྱན།;རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་རྣམ་བཤད་བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོའི་མཛེས་རྒྱན།

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 Clarifying Darkness: An Analysis of Difficult Points in the Ultimate Continuum

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This commentary is included in the fourth set of bKa' gdams gsung 'bum phyogs bsgrigs but the name of the author is partially erased and not clear. The author was a student of one Sonam Zangpo and Palden Gyaltsen and the commentary was written in Sakya. Using dialectical arguments, the author discusses the crucial points in the Ultimate Continuum to present a very clear interpretation of Buddha-Nature in the tradition of zhentong.

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i dka' gnad kyi mtha' dpyad mun sel;theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i dka' gnad kyi mtha' dpyad mun sel;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་དཀའ་གནད་ཀྱི་མཐའ་དཔྱད་མུན་སེལ།;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་དཀའ་གནད་ཀྱི་མཐའ་དཔྱད་མུན་སེལ།

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Gharungpa Lhai Gyaltsen: Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum Entitled Illumination of Reality

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Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i TIk+ka de nyid snang ba;Gharungpa Lhai Gyaltsen;གྷ་རུང་པ་ལྷའི་རྒྱལ་མཚན་;gha rung pa lha'i rgyal mtshan;'ja' rong pa lha'i rgyal mtshan;འཇའ་རོང་པ་ལྷའི་རྒྱལ་མཚན་;theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i TIk+ka de nyid snang ba;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་ཊཱིཀྐ་དེ་ཉིད་སྣང་བ།;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་ཊཱིཀྐ་དེ་ཉིད་སྣང་བ།

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Seventh Drikung Chetsang Könchok Tenzin Trinle Lhundrup: Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum Called the Words of Asaṅga

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A commentary on the Ultimate Continuum by living master Seventh Drikung Chetsang, it follows the mainstream Kagyu interpretation of Buddha-Nature as a union of emptiness and luminosity endowed with latent qualities of the Buddha. He rejects both the understanding of Buddha-Nature as emptiness of mere negation and an absolute and truly existent entity. The commentary was finished in 2008, probably in Lhasa, and he also wrote a long preface underscoring the importance of studying the Ultimate Continuum in the Kagyu tradition to its publication in 2017.

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi mchan 'grel legs bshad thogs med zhal lung;Seventh Drikung Chetsang Könchok Tenzin Trinle Lhundrup;དཀོན་མཆོག་བསྟན་འཛིན་འཕྲིན་ལས་ལྷུན་གྲུབ་;dkon mchog bstan 'dzin 'phrin las lhun grub;theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi mchan 'grel legs bshad thogs med zhal lung;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་མཆན་འགྲེལ་ལེགས་བཤད་ཐོགས་མེད་ཞལ་ལུང་།;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་མཆན་འགྲེལ་ལེགས་བཤད་ཐོགས་མེད་ཞལ་ལུང་།

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Zhangtön Sönam Drakpa: Elucidating the Essence: A Commentary on the Tathāgatagarbhasūtra

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Perhaps the first and only Tibetan commentary on the Tathāgatagarbhasūtra, Zhangtön Sonam Drakpa interprets the sūtra according to theory of Other-emptiness and also carries out refutation of those who identity Buddha-Nature with store-consciousness and consider Buddha-Nature sūtras as provisional teachings.

De bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po'i mdo'i 'grel pa snying po rab gsal;Zhangtön Sönam Drakpa;ཞང་སྟོན་བསོད་ནམས་གྲགས་པ་;zhang ston bsod nams grags pa;zhang ston rgya bo bsod nams grags pa;zhang ston byang sems bsod nams grags pa;ཞང་སྟོན་རྒྱ་བོ་བསོད་ནམས་གྲགས་པ་;ཞང་སྟོན་བྱང་སེམས་བསོད་ནམས་གྲགས་པ་;de bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po'i mdo'i 'grel pa snying po rab gsal;དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོའི་མདོའི་འགྲེལ་པ་སྙིང་པོ་རབ་གསལ།;དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོའི་མདོའི་འགྲེལ་པ་སྙིང་པོ་རབ་གསལ།

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Drakar Lobzang Palden Tenzin Nyendrak: Offering Clouds to Delight Our Protector Maitreya: A Commentary on the Treatise on the Ultimate Continuum of the Mahāyāna

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Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi 'grel pa byams mgon dgyes pa'i mchod sprin;Drakar Lobzang Palden Tenzin Nyendrak;བྲག་དཀར་བློ་བཟང་དཔལ་ལྡན་བསྟན་འཛིན་སྙན་གྲགས་;brag dkar blo bzang dpal ldan bstan 'dzin snyan grags;blo bzang dpal ldan;brag dkar sprul sku;བློ་བཟང་དཔལ་ལྡན་;བྲག་དཀར་སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་;theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi 'grel pa byams mgon dgyes pa'i mchod sprin;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་འགྲེལ་པ་བྱམས་མགོན་དགྱེས་པའི་མཆོད་སྤྲིན།;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་འགྲེལ་པ་བྱམས་མགོན་དགྱེས་པའི་མཆོད་སྤྲིན།

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 Supplement to Rongtön's Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum

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Rgyud bla rong ston 'grel pa'i kha skong;Sakya;Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra;Rangtong;rgyud bla rong ston 'grel pa'i kha skong;རྒྱུད་བླ་རོང་སྟོན་འགྲེལ་པའི་ཁ་སྐོང་།;རྒྱུད་བླ་རོང་སྟོན་འགྲེལ་པའི་ཁ་སྐོང་།

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Śākya Chokden: Opening the Hundred Doors to the Treasure of Ascertaining the Dharmadhātu

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Chos dbyings rnam par nges pa'i gter sgo brgya 'byed;Śākya Chokden;ཤཱཀྱ་མཆོག་ལྡན་;shAkya mchog ldan;chos dbyings rnam par nges pa'i gter sgo brgya 'byed;ཆོས་དབྱིངས་རྣམ་པར་ངེས་པའི་གཏེར་སྒོ་བརྒྱ་འབྱེད།;ཆོས་དབྱིངས་རྣམ་པར་ངེས་པའི་གཏེར་སྒོ་བརྒྱ་འབྱེད།

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Tsongkhapa: The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment

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Lam rim chen mo. In Tibetan, "Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path"; the abbreviated title for one of the best-known works on Buddhist thought and practice in Tibet, composed by the Tibetan luminary Tsong khapa Blo bzang Grags pa in 1402 at the central Tibetan monastery of Rwa sgreng. A lengthy treatise belonging to the lam rim, or stages of the path, genre of Tibetan Buddhist literature, the Lam rim chen mo takes its inspiration from numerous earlier writings, most notably the Bodhipathapradīpa ("Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment") by the eleventh-century Bengali master Atiśa Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna. It is the most extensive treatment of three

principal stages that Tsong kha pa composed. The others include (1) the Lam rim chung ba ("Short Treatise on the Stages of the Path"), also called the Lam rim 'bring ba ('"Intermediate Treatise on the States of the Path") and (2) the Lam rim bsdus don ("Concise Meaning of the Stages of the Path"), occasionally also referred to as the Lam rim chung ngu ("Brief Stages of the Path"). The latter text, which records Tsong kha pa's own realization of the path in verse form, is also referred to as the Lam rim nyams mgur ma ("Song of Experience of the Stages of the Path"). The Lam rim chen mo is a highly detailed and often technical treatise presenting a comprehensive and synthetic overview of the path to buddhahood. It draws, often at length, upon a wide range of scriptural sources including the Sūtra and śāstra literature of both the hīnayāna and Mahāyāna; Tsong kha pa treats tantric practice in a separate work. The text is organized under the rubric of the three levels of spiritual predilection, personified as "the three individuals" (skyes bu gsum): the beings of small capacity, who engage in religious practice in order to gain a favorable rebirth in their next lifetime; the beings of intermediate capacity, who seek liberation from rebirth for themselves as an arhat; and the beings of great capacity, who seek to liberate all beings in the universe from suffering and thus follow the bodhisattva path to buddhahood. Tsong kha pa's text does not lay out all the practices of these three types of persons but rather those practices essential to the bodhisattva path that are held in common by persons of small and intermediate capacity, such as the practice of refuge (śaraṇa) and contemplation of the uncertainty of the time of death. The text includes extended discussions of topics such as relying on a spiritual master, the development of bodhicitta, and the six perfections (pāramitā). The last section of

the text, sometimes regarded as a separate work, deals at length with the nature of serenity (śamatha) and insight (vipaśyanā); Tsong kha pa's discussion of insight here represents one of his most important expositions of emptiness (śūnyatā). Primarily devoted to exoteric Mahāyāna doctrine, the text concludes with a brief reference to Vajrayāna and the practice of tantra, a subject discussed at length by Tsong kha pa in a separate work, the Sngags rim chen mo ("Stages of the Path of Mantra"). The Lam rim chen mo's full title is Skyes bu gsum gyi rnyams su blang ba'i rim pa thams cad tshang bar ston pa'i byang chub lam gyi rim pa. (Source: "Lam rim chen mo." In The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 465-66. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)

Lam rim chen mo;Tsongkhapa;ཙོང་ཁ་པ་;tsong kha pa;tsong kha pa blo bzang grags pa;blo bzang grags pa'i dpal;blo bzang grags pa;ཙོང་ཁ་པ་བློ་བཟང་གྲགས་པ་;བློ་བཟང་གྲགས་པའི་དཔལ་;བློ་བཟང་གྲགས་པ་;lam rim chen mo;ལམ་རིམ་ཆེན་མོ།;བྱང་ཆུབ་ལམ་རིམ་ཆེན་མོ།

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Tsongkhapa: The Essence of the Explanation of the Provisional and True Meanings

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Drang nges legs bshad snying po;Tsongkhapa;ཙོང་ཁ་པ་;tsong kha pa;tsong kha pa blo bzang grags pa;blo bzang grags pa'i dpal;blo bzang grags pa;ཙོང་ཁ་པ་བློ་བཟང་གྲགས་པ་;བློ་བཟང་གྲགས་པའི་དཔལ་;བློ་བཟང་གྲགས་པ་;drang nges legs bshad snying po;དྲང་ངེས་ལེགས་བཤད་སྙིང་པོ།;དྲང་བ་དང་ངེས་པའི་དོན་རྣམ་པར་ཕྱེ་བའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ལེགས་བཤད་སྙིང་པོ།

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Tsongkhapa: The Thoroughly Clear Intention: A Detailed Explanation of the Madhyamakāvatāra

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This work is perhaps the most influential explanation of Candrakīrti's seventh-century classic Entering the Middle Way (Madhyamakāvatāra).

Written as a supplement to Nagarjuna’s Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way, Candrakīrti’s text integrates the central insight of Nagarjuna’s thought—the rejection of any metaphysical notion of intrinsic existence—with the well-known Mahayana framework of the ten levels of the bodhisattva, and it became the most studied presentation of Madhyamaka thought in Tibet.

Completed the year before the author’s death, Tsongkhapa’s exposition of Candrakīrti's text is recognized by the Tibetan tradition as the final standpoint of Tsongkhapa on many philosophical questions, particularly the clear distinctions it draws between the standpoints of the Madhyamaka and Cittamatra schools.

Written in exemplary Tibetan, Tsongkhapa’s work presents a wonderful marriage of rigorous Madhyamaka philosophical analysis with a detailed and subtle account of the progressively advancing mental states and spiritual maturity realized by sincere Madhyamaka practitioners. (Source: Thupten Jinpa, Illuminating the Intent, 2021.)

Dbu ma la 'jug pa'i rnam bshad dgongs pa rab gsal;Tsongkhapa;ཙོང་ཁ་པ་;tsong kha pa;tsong kha pa blo bzang grags pa;blo bzang grags pa'i dpal;blo bzang grags pa;ཙོང་ཁ་པ་བློ་བཟང་གྲགས་པ་;བློ་བཟང་གྲགས་པའི་དཔལ་;བློ་བཟང་གྲགས་པ་;dbu ma la 'jug pa'i rnam bshad dgongs pa rab gsal;དབུ་མ་ལ་འཇུག་པའི་རྣམ་བཤད་དགོངས་པ་རབ་གསལ།;དབུ་མ་ལ་འཇུག་པའི་རྒྱ་ཆེར་བཤད་པ་དགོངས་པ་རབ་གསལ།

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Tsongkhapa: Golden Garland of Excellent Explanation: A Commentary on the Abhisamayālaṃkāra

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Tsongkhapa's comprehensive treatise on both Maitreya's Abhisamayālaṃkāra and the commentary on this work by Haribhadra, the Abhisamayālaṃkāravrtti.

Legs bshad gser phreng;Tsongkhapa;ཙོང་ཁ་པ་;tsong kha pa;tsong kha pa blo bzang grags pa;blo bzang grags pa'i dpal;blo bzang grags pa;ཙོང་ཁ་པ་བློ་བཟང་གྲགས་པ་;བློ་བཟང་གྲགས་པའི་དཔལ་;བློ་བཟང་གྲགས་པ་;legs bshad gser phreng;ལེགས་བཤད་གསེར་ཕྲེང་།;ལེགས་བཤད་གསེར་ཕྲེང་།

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Tsele Natsok Rangdrol: Exegesis on the Intermediate State called the Mirror of Mindfulness Which Illuminates Everything

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The Mirror of Mindfulness is a presentation of Tibetan Buddhist teachings on the endless cycle of experience, the four bardos — life, death, after-death, and rebirth. It is aimed at inspiring and helping the practitioner achieve liberation from deluded existence and awaken to complete enlightenment for the benefit of others. (Source: Rangjung Yeshe Publications)

Bar do spyi'i don thams cad rnam pa gsal bar byed pa dran pa'i me long;Tsele Natsok Rangdrol;རྩེ་ལེ་སྣ་ཚོགས་རང་གྲོལ་;rtse le sna tshogs rang grol;bar do spyi'i don thams cad rnam pa gsal bar byed pa dran pa'i me long;བར་དོ་སྤྱིའི་དོན་ཐམས་ཅད་རྣམ་པ་གསལ་བར་བྱེད་པ་དྲན་པའི་མེ་ལོང་།;བར་དོ་སྤྱིའི་དོན་ཐམས་ཅད་རྣམ་པ་གསལ་བར་བྱེད་པ་དྲན་པའི་མེ་ལོང་།

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 de bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po bstan pa zhes bya ba'i bstan chos kyi 'grel pa don gsal lung gi 'od zer

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གཞི་ཁམས་བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོའི་ཚུལ་ཚིག་བསྡུས་ལ་དོན་ཟབ་པ་སྟོན་པའི་རྗེ་རང་བྱུང་རྡོ་རྗེས་མཛད་པའི་བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོ་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་འགྲེལ་པ་གློ་བོ་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་ཤེས་རབ་རིན་ཆེན་གྱིས་མཛད་པ།

De bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po bstan pa zhis bya ba'i bstan bcos kyi 'grel pa don gsal lung gi 'od zer;Karma Kagyu;Vajrayana;Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra;de bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po bstan pa zhes bya ba'i bstan chos kyi 'grel pa don gsal lung gi 'od zer;དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་བསྟན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་བསྟན་ཆོས་ཀྱི་འགྲེལ་པ་དོན་གསལ་ལུང་གི་འོད་ཟེར།;དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་བསྟན་པའི་བསྟན་བཅོས།

Yongdzin Ayang Thubten: Rays of Sunlight: A Commentary on the Heart of the Mahāyāna Teachings

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Ayang Thubten Rinpoche’s Rays of Sunlight is a commentary on Zhedang Dorje’s The Heart of the Mahayana Teachings (Theg chen bstan pa'i snying po'i gzhung), a detailed guide to the stages of the path to awakening. Containing all of the Drikung Kagyu tradition’s essential teachings on sutra and tantra, Rays of Sunlight is one of the most treasured works in the Drikung Kagyu tradition. Like Gampopa's Jewel Ornament of Liberation, the text Rays of Sunlight begins with a discussion of Buddha-nature, the nascent buddha within all beings, before presenting the sequential practices we must cultivate to fully awaken its transcendent qualities. With its lucid explanation of how a single individual can uphold the pratimoksha vows, bodhisattva precepts, and tantric samaya without contra-diction, Rays of Sunlight is sure to be of interest to dedicated practitioners of all traditions. And for those with an affinity for the profound path of meditation, the text closes with an extraordinary explanation of “The Fivefold Path of Mahamudra.” (Source: Edition Garchen Stiftung)

Yongdzin Ayang Thubten;ཡོངས་འཛིན་ཨ་དབྱངས་ཐུབ་བསྟན་;yongs 'dzin a dbyangs thub bstan;theg chen bstan pa'i snying po'i 'grel pa nyi ma'i 'od zer;ཐེག་ཆེན་བསྟན་པའི་སྙིང་པོའི་འགྲེལ་པ་ཉི་མའི་འོད་ཟེར།

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

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་

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་

nirmāṇakāya - An fully enlightened Buddha is said to have the power to manifest in many forms in order to help the sentient beings. The emanation body of a buddha, as the third of the three bodies of a buddha, refers to the many forms in which a buddha can manifest and which are accessible to ordinary sentient beings. Buddhist scholars present four types of emanation bodies: emanation as supreme being, emanation as rebirth, emanation as artisan and emanation in diverse forms. Skt. निर्माणकाय Tib. སྤྲུལ་སྐུ། Ch. 化身

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

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།

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།

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

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.

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།

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

Kagyu - The Kagyu school traces its origin to the eleventh-century translator Marpa, who studied in India with Nāropa. Marpa's student Milarepa trained Gampopa, who founded the first monastery of the Kagyu order. As many as twelve subtraditions grew out from there, the best known being the Karma Kagyu, the Drikung, and the Drukpa. Tib. བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་

sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt. सूत्र Tib. མདོ། Ch. 佛经

Sakya - The Sakya tradition developed in the eleventh century in the Khön family of Tsang, which maintained an imperial-era lineage of Vajrakīla and which adopted a new teaching from India known as Lamdre. Tib. ས་སྐྱ་

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

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་

Jonang - The Jonang tradition was established by Dölpopa Sherab Gyaltsen, a thirteenth-century Sakya monk famous for his Zhentong teachings. The Jonang teachings and monasteries were suppressed in Tibet in the seventeenth century but survived in Amdo. Tib. ཇོ་ནང་

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་

In Sanskrit, "Stainless Light," the most important commentary on the Kālacakra Tantra',' attributed to Puṇḍarīka.

Kālacakra - Can refer to either the Kālacakra Tantra and its derivative texts or to the systematic tantric tradition based on these texts, as well as the deity Kālacakra upon which the associated practices are centered. Skt. कालचक्र Tib. དུས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོ། Ch. 時輪

Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to Buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have Bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt. बोधिसत्त्व Tib. བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ། Ch. 菩薩

In Sanskrit, "Stainless Light," the most important commentary on the Kālacakra Tantra',' attributed to Puṇḍarīka.

In Sanskrit, "Stainless Light," the most important commentary on the Kālacakra Tantra',' attributed to Puṇḍarīka.

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

Great Madhyamaka - The term Great Madhyamaka is utilized in different contexts depending on the tradition. In the Jonang tradition, it generally refers to the Zhentong Madhyamaka philosophy as it was developed and systematized by Dölpopa. In this context, the Great Madhyamaka refers to the presentation of ultimate truth, while Madhyamaka describes the emptiness of the relative level of truth. In the Nyingma tradition, Great Madhyamaka refers to the subtle, inner Madhyamaka that unifies the philosophical positions of Nāgārjuna and Asaṅga. This is presented in opposition to the coarse, outer Madhyamaka that is the dialectic approach of Prāsaṅgika and Svātantrika. In the Kagyu tradition, the term is used in a similar vein in that Madhyamaka is used to refer to philosophical inquiry, while Great Madhyamaka is used to refer to the view arrived at through yogic accomplishment. However, in all of these traditions, Great Madhyamaka is heavily associated with buddha-nature (tathāgatagarbha) and the definitive status of these teachings. Skt. महामध्यमक Tib. དབུ་མ་ཆེན་པོ་

Kagyu - The Kagyu school traces its origin to the eleventh-century translator Marpa, who studied in India with Nāropa. Marpa's student Milarepa trained Gampopa, who founded the first monastery of the Kagyu order. As many as twelve subtraditions grew out from there, the best known being the Karma Kagyu, the Drikung, and the Drukpa. Tib. བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་

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་

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་

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

sems nyid - Commonly found in Dzogchen and Mahāmudrā literature, this term denotes the true, natural state of mind as it is. Often used in these traditions as a synonym for buddha-nature. Skt. चित्तत्व Tib. སེམས་ཉིད་

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

Rong ston shes bya kun rig. Erudite Commentary on the Treatise of the Sublime Continuum of the Mahayana

Rong ston shes bya kun rig. Erudite Commentary on the Treatise of the Sublime Continuum of the Mahayana

sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt. सूत्र Tib. མདོ། Ch. 佛经

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

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

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

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

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།

The Third Karmapa's treatise on buddha-nature written in verse.

The Third Karmapa's treatise on buddha-nature written in verse.

nītārtha - Refers to a teaching that is literally true. Skt. नीतार्थ Tib. ངེས་དོན་

bhūmi - A plateau of spiritual development. Skt. भूमि Tib. ས་

Jamgön Kongtrul's commentary on the Third Karmapa's verse treatise on buddha-nature.

Jamgön Kongtrul's commentary on the Third Karmapa's verse treatise on buddha-nature.

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་

Dolpopa's commentary on the Uttaratantra.

Dolpopa's commentary on the Uttaratantra.

byams chos sde lnga - This refers to a series of five texts that, according to the Tibetan tradition, Asaṅga received directly from Maitreya in the pure realm of Tuṣita. Tib. བྱམས་ཆོས་སྡེ་ལྔ་

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་

Mönlam Tsültrim's pith instructions on the Uttaratantra, which he claims to have copied from a manuscript that was passed down in a lineage that goes back to Maitrīpa.

Mönlam Tsültrim's pith instructions on the Uttaratantra, which he claims to have copied from a manuscript that was passed down in a lineage that goes back to Maitrīpa.

This brief text contains the instructions on attaining Mahāmudrā in the intermediate state based on the Atyayajñānasūtra.

This brief text contains the instructions on attaining Mahāmudrā in the intermediate state based on the Atyayajñānasūtra.

Kadam - The Kadam tradition, which traces its origin to the teachings of Atiśa, was the first of the so-called New Schools of Tibetan Buddhism, traditions which arose during or after the Second Propagation of Buddhism (phyi dar) in the tenth century. Tib. བཀའ་གདམས་

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

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

vajrapada - Literally, vajra-footing, or base. In the context of the Ratnagotravibhāga, this is the name given to the seven subjects that are addressed in the treatise. These seven are the buddha, dharma, saṅgha, the element (dhātu), enlightenment (bodhi), enlightened qualities (guṇa), and enlightened activities (karman). Skt. वज्रपद Tib. རྡོ་རྗེའི་གནས་

A 14th Century commentary on Uttaratantra from the Kadam tradition.

A 14th Century commentary on Uttaratantra from the Kadam tradition.

A 14th Century commentary on Uttaratantra from the Kadam tradition.

Ngok Tradition - Ngok Lotsāwa Loden Sherab's "analytic tradition" of exegesis of the Uttaratantra; one of two major Tibetan traditions of exegesis, both stemming from students of Sajjana. Tib. རྔོག་ལུགས་

Ngok Tradition - Ngok Lotsāwa Loden Sherab's "analytic tradition" of exegesis of the Uttaratantra; one of two major Tibetan traditions of exegesis, both stemming from students of Sajjana. Tib. རྔོག་ལུགས་

śrāvaka - The disciples of the Buddha who aspire to attain individual liberation or nirvāṇa. The final goal of the Hearers is to become an arhat, a state in which one has totally eliminated the inner problems of attachment, hatred and ignorance, the main causes for rebirth in this cycle of existence. There are four stages of a śrāvaka path including eight phases. Skt. श्रावक Tib. ཉན་ཐོས། Ch. 聲聞

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

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

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

Descent into Laṅka Sūtra, a very influential text in East Asia and Nepal.

One of the tathāgatagarbha sūtras.

prasajyapratiṣedha - A negation that merely denies the existence of something without implicitly suggesting an alternative. Skt. प्रसज्यप्रतिषेध Tib. མེད་དགག་

sugatagarbha - Literally, the "essence" or "heart of the Bliss Gone One(s)," a synonym for tathāgatagarbha that is likewise often rendered into English by the term buddha-nature. Though it is often back translated into Sanskrit as sugatagarbha, this term is not found in Sanskrit sources. Skt. सुगतगर्भ Tib. བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོ་

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

Sangpu Neutok - Sangpu Neutok is an important monastery in central Tibet, just south of Lhasa, that was founded in 1072 by Ngok Lekpai Sherab, a disciple of Atiśa, and developed by his nephew, Ngok Lotsāwa Loden Sherab. Originally a Kadam monastery with two colleges, it evolved into a monastery that includes both Sakya and Geluk traditions. At its peak in the 11th to 14th centuries, it was one of the most highly esteemed centers for monastic education and the study of Buddhist philosophy in all of the Tibetan plateau. Many influential philosophers of the time studied there. Tib. གསང་ཕུ་ནེའུ་ཐོག་

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

Mahāyānottaratantraśāstravyākhyā - This is the title of Asaṅga's commentary to the Gyü Lama that is given by Tibetan sources instead of the Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā. Skt. महायानोत्तरतन्त्रशास्त्रव्याख्या Tib. ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་རྣམ་པར་བཤད་པ།

According to the Tibetan tradition this is Asaṅga's commentary to the Uttaratantra.

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

RGV - Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra

Mahāyānottaratantraśāstravyākhyā - This is the title of Asaṅga's commentary to the Gyü Lama that is given by Tibetan sources instead of the Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā. Skt. महायानोत्तरतन्त्रशास्त्रव्याख्या Tib. ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་རྣམ་པར་བཤད་པ།

According to the Tibetan tradition this is Asaṅga's commentary to the Uttaratantra.

RGVV - Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā

According to the Tibetan tradition this is Asaṅga's commentary to the Uttaratantra.

According to the Tibetan tradition this is Asaṅga's commentary to the Uttaratantra.

According to the Tibetan tradition this is Asaṅga's commentary to the Uttaratantra.

An important sūtra source for the Ratnagotravibhāga, particularly for its discussion of the nine examples that illustrate how all sentient beings possess buddha-nature.

"This sūtra became an important scriptural source for the discussion of buddha-nature in China and is famous for associating the term buddhadhātu with tathāgatagarbha.

byams chos sde lnga - This refers to a series of five texts that, according to the Tibetan tradition, Asaṅga received directly from Maitreya in the pure realm of Tuṣita. Tib. བྱམས་ཆོས་སྡེ་ལྔ་

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

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

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

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

lam rim - Lam rim refers to the stages on the path and, by extension, more commonly to the genre of teachings which contain practical instructions for training on the stages of the path to enlightenment. Related to the blo sbyong practice, it is particularly known among the Kadampa and Geluk schools. Tsongkhapa's Byang chub lam rim chen mo is the most well known in this genre and the term lam rim is often used specifically to refer to this text. Skt. मार्गक्रम Tib. ལམ་རིམ།,ལམ་གྱི་རིམ་པ།

lam rim - Lam rim refers to the stages on the path and, by extension, more commonly to the genre of teachings which contain practical instructions for training on the stages of the path to enlightenment. Related to the blo sbyong practice, it is particularly known among the Kadampa and Geluk schools. Tsongkhapa's Byang chub lam rim chen mo is the most well known in this genre and the term lam rim is often used specifically to refer to this text. Skt. मार्गक्रम Tib. ལམ་རིམ།,ལམ་གྱི་རིམ་པ།

Gampopa's famous work on the stages of the Buddhist path.

Gampopa's famous work on the stages of the Buddhist path.

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

bodhicitta - The altruistic thought to seek enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. It is said to have two aspects: compassion aimed at sentient beings and their problems and the wisdom of enlightenment as the solution. Skt. बोधिचित्त Tib. བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས། Ch. 菩提心

tridharmacakrapravartana - Three successive stages of the Buddhist teachings. Though they are traditionally attributed to the historical Buddha, modern scholarship tends to view them as developmental stages that occurred over the course of an extended period of time, with interludes of several centuries, in which we see major doctrinal shifts often based on seemingly newly emergent scriptural sources. Skt. त्रिधर्मचक्रप्रवर्तन Tib. ཆོས་འཁོར་རིམ་པ་གསུམ་

ātman - Though it can simply be used as the expression "I" or "me", in Indian thought the notion of self refers to a permanent, unchanging entity, such as that which passes from life to life in the case of people, or the innate essence (svabhāva) of phenomena. Skt. आत्मन् Tib. བདག་ Ch. 我,灵魂

Cittamātra - Though it is sometimes used synonymously with Yogācāra, it is in fact one of the more prominent philosophical theories associated with this school. It asserts that the objects in the external world with which we interact are actually mentally created representations appearing as those objects. The character of these perceptions is predetermined by our own karmic conditioning that is stored in the ālayavijñāna. Skt. चित्तमात्र Tib. སེམས་ཙམ་

Great Madhyamaka - The term Great Madhyamaka is utilized in different contexts depending on the tradition. In the Jonang tradition, it generally refers to the Zhentong Madhyamaka philosophy as it was developed and systematized by Dölpopa. In this context, the Great Madhyamaka refers to the presentation of ultimate truth, while Madhyamaka describes the emptiness of the relative level of truth. In the Nyingma tradition, Great Madhyamaka refers to the subtle, inner Madhyamaka that unifies the philosophical positions of Nāgārjuna and Asaṅga. This is presented in opposition to the coarse, outer Madhyamaka that is the dialectic approach of Prāsaṅgika and Svātantrika. In the Kagyu tradition, the term is used in a similar vein in that Madhyamaka is used to refer to philosophical inquiry, while Great Madhyamaka is used to refer to the view arrived at through yogic accomplishment. However, in all of these traditions, Great Madhyamaka is heavily associated with buddha-nature (tathāgatagarbha) and the definitive status of these teachings. Skt. महामध्यमक Tib. དབུ་མ་ཆེན་པོ་

dharmadhātu - The fundamental expanse from which all phenomena emerge. Skt. धर्मधातु Tib. ཆོས་དབྱིངས་ Ch. 法界

dharmadhātu - The fundamental expanse from which all phenomena emerge. Skt. धर्मधातु Tib. ཆོས་དབྱིངས་ Ch. 法界

paramārthasatya - "Ultimate truth" or "absolute truth"; the reality of things as they truly are. Skt. परमार्थसत्य Tib. དོན་དམ་བདེན་པ་ Ch. 第一義諦,眞諦

The Awakening of Faith is a key source text for buddha-nature theory in East Asian Buddhism.

The Awakening of Faith is a key source text for buddha-nature theory in East Asian Buddhism.

original enlightenment - According to East Asian Buddhism, the intrinsic enlightenment of all sentient beings. This is obscured by the many stains present in the ālayavijñāna. When these are purified, the natural state of enlightenment is recovered, a status known as "actualized enlightenment." Ch. 本覺

ālayavijñāna - A neutral base consciousness that is posited as the storehouse for the seeds of past karmic actions in which they remain in a latent state until the circumstances arise for them to ripen as karmic consequences. Skt. आलयविज्ञान Tib. ཀུན་གཞིའི་རྣམ་ཤེས་ Ch. 藏識,阿賴耶識

avidyā - Literally "unknowing," it refers to a lack of knowledge or misunderstanding of the nature of reality. As such, it is considered to be the root cause of suffering and the basis for the arising of all other negative mental factors. Skt. अविद्या Tib. མ་རིག་པ་ Ch. 無明

The Awakening of Faith is a key source text for buddha-nature theory in East Asian Buddhism.

actualized enlightenment - Actualized enlightenment is enlightenment that is attained through practice. It is contrasted with original enlightenment, which is the mind's innate purity in its natural state. Ultimately, there is no difference between them. Because of the presence of ignorance, sentient beings are blind to their true nature. By removing that ignorance, one actualizes enlightenment. Ch. 始覺

The Awakening of Faith is a key source text for buddha-nature theory in East Asian Buddhism.

The Awakening of Faith is a key source text for buddha-nature theory in East Asian Buddhism.

gzhi - The foundational basis of both saṃsāra and nirvāṇa. It is often used as a synonym for tathāgatagarbha and dharmadhātu. Tib. གཞི་

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་

byams chos sde lnga - This refers to a series of five texts that, according to the Tibetan tradition, Asaṅga received directly from Maitreya in the pure realm of Tuṣita. Tib. བྱམས་ཆོས་སྡེ་ལྔ་

Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to Buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have Bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt. बोधिसत्त्व Tib. བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ། Ch. 菩薩

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

trikāya - The three enlightened forms of a buddha one attains when one becomes fully enlightened. They include the truth body (dharmakāya), enjoyment body (saṃbhogakāya), and the emanation body (nirmāṇakāya). The three bodies comprise the many qualities and powers associated with buddhahood and thus are the result sought through Mahāyāna Buddhist practice. Skt. त्रिकाय Tib. སྐུ་གསུམ། Ch. 三身

pāramitā - The six or ten types of practices which lead an individual to Buddhahood. The practice of perfections is particularly important in Mahāyāna Buddhism in which the entire path of the Bodhisattva to reach full enlightenment is included in the six or ten perfections. The six perfections are that of giving, of discipline, patience, zeal, meditation, and wisdom. The perfection of skill-in-means, aspirations, power, and pristine wisdom are added to them to make ten perfections. Skt. पारमिता Tib. ཕར་ཕྱིན།,ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ། Ch. 波羅蜜

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. ཤེར་ཕྱིན་,ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་ Ch. 般若波羅蜜多

pāramitā - The six or ten types of practices which lead an individual to Buddhahood. The practice of perfections is particularly important in Mahāyāna Buddhism in which the entire path of the Bodhisattva to reach full enlightenment is included in the six or ten perfections. The six perfections are that of giving, of discipline, patience, zeal, meditation, and wisdom. The perfection of skill-in-means, aspirations, power, and pristine wisdom are added to them to make ten perfections. Skt. पारमिता Tib. ཕར་ཕྱིན།,ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ། Ch. 波羅蜜

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. ཤེར་ཕྱིན་,ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་ Ch. 般若波羅蜜多

byams chos sde lnga - This refers to a series of five texts that, according to the Tibetan tradition, Asaṅga received directly from Maitreya in the pure realm of Tuṣita. Tib. བྱམས་ཆོས་སྡེ་ལྔ་

Pañcaviṃśati - Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā

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. ཤེར་ཕྱིན་,ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་ Ch. 般若波羅蜜多

trisvabhāva - According to the Yogācāra school, all phenomena can be divided into three natures or characteristics: the imaginary nature (parikalpitasvabhāva), the dependent nature (paratantrasvabhāva), and the perfect or absolute nature (pariniṣpannasvabhāva). Skt. त्रिस्वभाव Tib. རང་བཞིན་གསུམ་

trisvabhāva - According to the Yogācāra school, all phenomena can be divided into three natures or characteristics: the imaginary nature (parikalpitasvabhāva), the dependent nature (paratantrasvabhāva), and the perfect or absolute nature (pariniṣpannasvabhāva). Skt. त्रिस्वभाव Tib. རང་བཞིན་གསུམ་

pratipakṣa - An antidote or remedy that contributes or supports the elimination or pacification of a particular ailment or affliction. Skt. प्रतिपक्ष Tib. གཉེན་པོ་ Ch. 對治

parikalpitasvabhāva - The first of the three natures, according to the Yogācāra school. It is the imaginary nature which is falsely projected onto an object out of confusion. Skt. परिकल्पितस्वभाव Tib. ཀུན་བཏགས་ཀྱི་རང་བཞིན་

parikalpitasvabhāva - The first of the three natures, according to the Yogācāra school. It is the imaginary nature which is falsely projected onto an object out of confusion. Skt. परिकल्पितस्वभाव Tib. ཀུན་བཏགས་ཀྱི་རང་བཞིན་

svabhāva - The nature or essence of a thing, which originates only from itself and is not dependent on any external entities, causes, or conditions. Skt. स्वभाव Tib. རང་བཞིན་ Ch. 自性

svabhāva - The nature or essence of a thing, which originates only from itself and is not dependent on any external entities, causes, or conditions. Skt. स्वभाव Tib. རང་བཞིན་ Ch. 自性

paratantrasvabhāva - The second of the three natures, according to the Yogācāra school. It is the dependent nature that is used to describe the relationship between mind and its objects, though there is a clear emphasis on the latter. Hence, this nature is concerned with the nature of seemingly external objects that arise in dependence upon causes and conditions. Skt. परतन्त्रस्वभाव Tib. གཞན་དབང་གི་རང་བཞིན་

paratantrasvabhāva - The second of the three natures, according to the Yogācāra school. It is the dependent nature that is used to describe the relationship between mind and its objects, though there is a clear emphasis on the latter. Hence, this nature is concerned with the nature of seemingly external objects that arise in dependence upon causes and conditions. Skt. परतन्त्रस्वभाव Tib. གཞན་དབང་གི་རང་བཞིན་

pariniṣpannasvabhāva - The third of the three natures, according to the Yogācāra school. It is the perfect nature that represents the most authentic understanding of phenomena, which is classically defined as the complete absence of the imaginary nature within the dependent nature. Skt. परिनिष्पन्नस्वभाव Tib. ཡོངས་སུ་གྲུབ་པའི་རང་བཞིན་

āvaraṇa - Literally, that which obscures or conceals. Often listed as a set of two obscurations (sgrib gnyis): the afflictive emotional obscurations (Skt. kleśāvaraṇa, Tib. nyon mongs pa'i sgrib pa) and the cognitive obscurations (Skt. jñeyāvaraṇa, Tib. shes bya'i sgrib pa). By removing the first, one becomes free of suffering, and by removing the second, one becomes omniscient. Skt. आवरण Tib. སྒྲིབ་པ་

dharmatā - The true nature of phenomenal existence. Skt. धर्मता Tib. ཆོས་ཉིད་ Ch. 法性

śrāvaka - The disciples of the Buddha who aspire to attain individual liberation or nirvāṇa. The final goal of the Hearers is to become an arhat, a state in which one has totally eliminated the inner problems of attachment, hatred and ignorance, the main causes for rebirth in this cycle of existence. There are four stages of a śrāvaka path including eight phases. Skt. श्रावक Tib. ཉན་ཐོས། Ch. 聲聞

Pratyekabuddha - Pratyekabuddhas are saints who, in their last birth in the cycle of existence, are said to become enlightened through solitary practice on the nature of dependent ordination. These saints are said to appear when there is no buddha around and work either alone or in small groups. Skt. प्रत्येकबुद्ध Tib. རང་སངས་རྒྱས།,རང་རྒྱལ། Ch. 緣覺

tathatā - Suchness itself, absolute reality, or thusness, as in the ultimate state of being of phenomena. Skt. तथता Tib. དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་

tathatā - Suchness itself, absolute reality, or thusness, as in the ultimate state of being of phenomena. Skt. तथता Tib. དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་

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

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

kleśa - Often referred to as poisons, these are a class of disturbing or disruptive emotional states that when aroused negatively affect or taint the mind. Skt. क्लेश Tib. ཉོན་མོངས་ Ch. 煩惱

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

rgyu'i rgyud - The mind's natural mode that abides as suchness, which remains unchanged from the state of an ordinary being up until enlightenment. Tib. རྒྱུའི་རྒྱུད་

dhātu - A fundamental component or essential constituent. Skt. धातु Tib. ཁམས་ Ch. 界

kleśa - Often referred to as poisons, these are a class of disturbing or disruptive emotional states that when aroused negatively affect or taint the mind. Skt. क्लेश Tib. ཉོན་མོངས་ Ch. 煩惱

prasajyapratiṣedha - A negation that merely denies the existence of something without implicitly suggesting an alternative. Skt. प्रसज्यप्रतिषेध Tib. མེད་དགག་

paramārthasatya - "Ultimate truth" or "absolute truth"; the reality of things as they truly are. Skt. परमार्थसत्य Tib. དོན་དམ་བདེན་པ་ Ch. 第一義諦,眞諦

sugatagarbha - Literally, the "essence" or "heart of the Bliss Gone One(s)," a synonym for tathāgatagarbha that is likewise often rendered into English by the term buddha-nature. Though it is often back translated into Sanskrit as sugatagarbha, this term is not found in Sanskrit sources. Skt. सुगतगर्भ Tib. བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོ་

tridharmacakrapravartana - Three successive stages of the Buddhist teachings. Though they are traditionally attributed to the historical Buddha, modern scholarship tends to view them as developmental stages that occurred over the course of an extended period of time, with interludes of several centuries, in which we see major doctrinal shifts often based on seemingly newly emergent scriptural sources. Skt. त्रिधर्मचक्रप्रवर्तन Tib. ཆོས་འཁོར་རིམ་པ་གསུམ་

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

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།

The Eighth Karmapa's commentary on Candrakīrti's Madhyamakāvatāra (Entry into the Middle Way), presented as the oral instructions of the First Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa.

The Eighth Karmapa's commentary on Candrakīrti's Madhyamakāvatāra (Entry into the Middle Way), presented as the oral instructions of the First Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa.

bīja - A seed, commonly used figuratively in the sense of something which has the potential to develop or grow, and likewise as the basic cause for this development or growth. Skt. बीज Tib. ས་བོན་ Ch. 無漏種

Ngok Tradition - Ngok Lotsāwa Loden Sherab's "analytic tradition" of exegesis of the Uttaratantra; one of two major Tibetan traditions of exegesis, both stemming from students of Sajjana. Tib. རྔོག་ལུགས་

sugatagarbha - Literally, the "essence" or "heart of the Bliss Gone One(s)," a synonym for tathāgatagarbha that is likewise often rendered into English by the term buddha-nature. Though it is often back translated into Sanskrit as sugatagarbha, this term is not found in Sanskrit sources. Skt. सुगतगर्भ Tib. བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོ་

advaya - Literally, "without duality," it refers to that which is indivisible, in that it is not divided into two. Skt. अद्वय Tib. གཉིས་མེད་ Ch. 不二

paramārthasatya - "Ultimate truth" or "absolute truth"; the reality of things as they truly are. Skt. परमार्थसत्य Tib. དོན་དམ་བདེན་པ་ Ch. 第一義諦,眞諦

saṃvṛtisatya - "Relative truth" or "conventional truth"; the erroneously perceived reality common to the unenlightened. Skt. संवृतिसत्य Tib. ཀུན་རྫོབ་བདེན་པ་ Ch. 世俗諦,俗諦

saṃvṛtisatya - "Relative truth" or "conventional truth"; the erroneously perceived reality common to the unenlightened. Skt. संवृतिसत्य Tib. ཀུན་རྫོབ་བདེན་པ་ Ch. 世俗諦,俗諦

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

Cittamātra - Though it is sometimes used synonymously with Yogācāra, it is in fact one of the more prominent philosophical theories associated with this school. It asserts that the objects in the external world with which we interact are actually mentally created representations appearing as those objects. The character of these perceptions is predetermined by our own karmic conditioning that is stored in the ālayavijñāna. Skt. चित्तमात्र Tib. སེམས་ཙམ་

ātman - Though it can simply be used as the expression "I" or "me", in Indian thought the notion of self refers to a permanent, unchanging entity, such as that which passes from life to life in the case of people, or the innate essence (svabhāva) of phenomena. Skt. आत्मन् Tib. བདག་ Ch. 我,灵魂

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

buddhadhātu - A synonym for tathāgatagarbha widely used throughout the East Asian Buddhist traditions, as found in its translations as the Chinese term fó xìng and Japanese term busshō. Skt. बुद्धधातु Tib. སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་ཁམས་ Ch. 佛性

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

A commentary on the Ratnagotravibhāga by a fourteenth century Kadam scholar.

A commentary on the Ratnagotravibhāga by a fourteenth century Kadam scholar.

svabhāva - The nature or essence of a thing, which originates only from itself and is not dependent on any external entities, causes, or conditions. Skt. स्वभाव Tib. རང་བཞིན་ Ch. 自性

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་

Cittamātra - Though it is sometimes used synonymously with Yogācāra, it is in fact one of the more prominent philosophical theories associated with this school. It asserts that the objects in the external world with which we interact are actually mentally created representations appearing as those objects. The character of these perceptions is predetermined by our own karmic conditioning that is stored in the ālayavijñāna. Skt. चित्तमात्र Tib. སེམས་ཙམ་

guṇa - The qualities or attributes of an enlightened being. Skt. गुण Tib. ཡོན་ཏན་ Ch. 功德

avidyā - Literally "unknowing," it refers to a lack of knowledge or misunderstanding of the nature of reality. As such, it is considered to be the root cause of suffering and the basis for the arising of all other negative mental factors. Skt. अविद्या Tib. མ་རིག་པ་ Ch. 無明

advaya - Literally, "without duality," it refers to that which is indivisible, in that it is not divided into two. Skt. अद्वय Tib. གཉིས་མེད་ Ch. 不二

ātman - Though it can simply be used as the expression "I" or "me", in Indian thought the notion of self refers to a permanent, unchanging entity, such as that which passes from life to life in the case of people, or the innate essence (svabhāva) of phenomena. Skt. आत्मन् Tib. བདག་ Ch. 我,灵魂

ātman - Though it can simply be used as the expression "I" or "me", in Indian thought the notion of self refers to a permanent, unchanging entity, such as that which passes from life to life in the case of people, or the innate essence (svabhāva) of phenomena. Skt. आत्मन् Tib. བདག་ Ch. 我,灵魂

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

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

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་

lam rim - Lam rim refers to the stages on the path and, by extension, more commonly to the genre of teachings which contain practical instructions for training on the stages of the path to enlightenment. Related to the blo sbyong practice, it is particularly known among the Kadampa and Geluk schools. Tsongkhapa's Byang chub lam rim chen mo is the most well known in this genre and the term lam rim is often used specifically to refer to this text. Skt. मार्गक्रम Tib. ལམ་རིམ།,ལམ་གྱི་རིམ་པ།

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

arhat - A person who has reached nirvāṇa by eliminating the three poisons of attachment, hatred and ignorance having followed the path of seeking individual liberation as a Śrāvaka or a Pratyekabuddha. An arhat, thus, is a person who has overcome the cause of rebirth in the cycle of existence and will not take an ordinary birth again. Skt. अर्हत् Tib. དགྲ་བཅོམ་པ། Ch. 阿羅漢

Commentary to The Third Karmapa's fammouse treatise on buddha-nature.

sugatagarbha - Literally, the "essence" or "heart of the Bliss Gone One(s)," a synonym for tathāgatagarbha that is likewise often rendered into English by the term buddha-nature. Though it is often back translated into Sanskrit as sugatagarbha, this term is not found in Sanskrit sources. Skt. सुगतगर्भ Tib. བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོ་

Commentary to The Third Karmapa's fammouse treatise on buddha-nature.