Property:Description
From Buddha-Nature
This is a property of type Text.
T
Madhyamaka is a potent and universally accessible means of calming out suffering and awakening to our innate wisdom. ''The Center of the Sunlit Sky'' artfully rescues this brilliant teaching from its unwarranted reputation for intellectual opacity and reinstates it as a supremely practical toolkit for everyday living. The aim of this book is to take Mahyamaka out of the purely intellectual corner into which it–unjustly–gets boxed. It is an attempt to show how Madhyamaka actually addresses and works with all of our experiences in life.
The book follows the original Indian sources as well as the standard commentaries on Madhyamaka in the Kagyü School of Tibetan Buddhism. At the same time, these materials are adapted for a contemporary audience, combining the familiar sharpness of Madhyamaka reasonings (launching a massive assault on our cherished belief systems) with exploring the practical relevance of the Madhyamaka way of mind training.
'''Part One''' of the book, "The General Presentation of Madhyamaka in the Kagyü Tradition," provides an overview of the transmission of Madhyamaka from India to Tibet and its relation to Vajrayāna and Mahāmudrā, followed by a general presentation of Madhyamaka in terms of ground, path, and fruition. Further chapters are devoted to the Autonomist-Consequentialist distinction, the controversial issue of "Shentong-Madhyamaka," the distinction between expedient and definitive meaning, and a penetrating presentation of the major differences between the Eight Karmapa's and Tsongkhapa's interpretations of Madhyamaka.
'''Part Two''' consists of a brief introduction to the ''Bodhicaryāvatāra'' and a translation of the Second Pawo Rinpoche's commentary on its ninth chapter (on knowledge).
(Source: book jacket) +
Lord Buddha taught the dharma in three main phases of teaching called the three dharmachakras or the three 'turnings of the wheel of dharma'. The first dharmachakra expounded the 'Four Truths of the Realised', the 'Eightfold Path of the Realised' and other fundamental principles, thereby making clear what suffering is, what causes such suffering, what really constitutes a definitive end (cessation) to suffering and what the means are for achieving this definitive end. The teachings given in this first phase are the easiest to understand.<br>
The second dharmachakra, also referred to as the 'middle turning' or the 'dharmachakra of no-characteristics', demonstrated the illusory nature of everything and placed the teachings of the first dharmachakra in a much less concrete perspective; suffering was no longer something to be doted with existential reality and the fundamental statements of voidness (śūnyatā) - 'form not existing', 'sound not existing' etc. - were postulated to show the void nature of everything. In the third dharmachakra the 'true nature' of everything was explained - not just voidness, in the sense of complete absence or
negation, but a void nature, resplendent with all qualities, naturally present, which is the essence of all beings; their buddha-nature. Since this is the very nature of ''all'' beings then by working on it anyone of them can reveal the enlightened wisdom that is inherent to that
nature.<br>
The subject matter of these three dharmachakras was commented upon and cross-referenced in the many treatises (śāstra) composed by
buddhist scholars after the Buddha's parinirvāṇa. Maitreya composed five encyclopaedic śāstra of which this Mahāyāna Uttara Tantra Śāstra is one. Its teachings are those of the third dharmachakra. Many commentaries have been written for Maitreya's text, transmitted into
this world by Aćarya Asaṅga. and the one chosen for this translation's standpoint is that of Jamgön Kongtrül the Great, whose commentary is in two main parts: an introduction to Maitreya's work and a commentary on the actual text of the original. (Kenneth and Katia Holmes, translator's introduction, 3–4)
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. Choying Tobden Dorje’s magnum opus appears in English here for the first time.
''An Overview of Buddhist Tantra'' is the fourteenth volume from this collection and the first in the series to focus on tantra. Whereas previous volumes presented the general exoteric teachings of Buddhism, this work outlines the esoteric practice of tantra according to the Nyingma system. The author defines the parameters of tantra by dividing the work into outer and inner tantras, and concludes with explaining the result of the tantric path—enlightenment itself. Designed to be a companion for dedicated practitioners who receive direct instructions from a qualified teacher, this work is a comprehensive manual that provides the foundation for understanding the genuine and profound teachings of Buddhist tantra. (Source: [https://www.shambhala.com/the-complete-nyingma-tradition-from-sutra-to-tantra-book-14.html Shambhala Publications]) +
In 1838, Choying Tobden Dorje, a yogin and scholar of northeastern Tibet, completed a multivolume masterwork that traces the entire path of the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism from beginning to end. Written by a mantra practitioner for the benefit of mantra practitioners living among the lay community, it was intended to be 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. Choying Tobden Dorje’s magnum opus appears in English here for the first time.
''Books 15 to 17: The Essential Tantras of Mahayoga'' is presented in two volumes and concerns the first of the three classes of inner tantra. It presents the entire text of the ''Guhyagarbha Tantra'', in Tibetan and English, together with the interlinear sections of one of its most important commentaries, ''Dispelling the Darkness of the Ten Directions'', by the outstanding fourteenth-century master Longchen Rabjam. Also included is Choying Tobden Dorje’s rewriting of Candragomin’s inspirational ''Extensive Commentary on the Sublime Litany of the Names of Manjushri''. (Source: [http://shambhala.com/the-complete-nyingma-tradition-from-sutra-to-tantra-books-15-to-17-3407.html Shambhala Publications]) +
In the past European scholars have tended to treat both Madhyamaka and Yogācāra as separate and fundamentally opposed trends in Mahāyāna Buddhist thought. Drawing heavily on early textual evidence this work questions the validity of such a 'Mahāyāna schools' hypothesis.<br>
By down-playing the late commentorial traditions, the author attempts a general reappraisal of the epistemological and ontological writings of Nāgārjuna, Asaṅga and Vasubandhu. He concludes that the overlap in all areas of doctrine is significant, but particularly with respect to the teachings on the levels of truth, the enlightened and unenlightened states, the status of language and the nature of reality<br>
It is hoped that such investigations may provide the basis for a new theory on the proliferation of Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism as an organic process of assimilation to new audiences, and specific contemporary problems, rather than in the more schismatic manner favoured by past researchers. (Source: [https://brill.com/view/title/720 Brill]) +
''The Crystal Mirror of Philosophical Systems'', by Thuken Losang Chökyi Nyima (1737–1802), is arguably the widest-ranging account of religious philosophies ever written in pre-modern Tibet. Like most Tibetan texts on philosophical systems, this work covers the major schools of India, both Buddhist and non-Buddhist, but then goes on to discuss in detail the entire range of Tibetan traditions as well, with separate chapters on the Nyingma, Kadam, Kagyü, Shijé, Sakya, Jonang, Geluk, and Bön schools. Not resting there, Thuken goes on to describe the major traditions of China—Confucian, Daoist, and the multiple varieties of Buddhist—as well as those of Mongolia, Khotan, and even Shambhala. ''The Crystal Mirror of Philosophical Systems'' is unusual, too, in its concern not just to describe and analyze doctrines, but to trace the historical development of the various traditions. ''The Crystal Mirror of Philosophical Systems'' is an eloquent and erudite presentation exploring the religious history and philosophical systems of an array of Asian Cultures—and offering evidence that the serious and sympathetic study of the history of religions has not been a monopoly of Western scholarship. (Source: [https://wisdomexperience.org/product/crystal-mirror-philosophical-systems/ Wisdom Publications]) +
Buddhism in China during the late Qing and Republican period remained a powerful cultural and religious force. Francesca Tarocco is a rising star in this field and offers an innovative high-quality piece of work that presents a new perspective on the influence of Buddhism on Chinese culture. Drawing on scarcely analyzed historical and archive sources, including photographs and musical scores, Tarocco adeptly argues that Chinese Buddhism played a more vital role in shaping Chinese culture than previously assumed.
This enlightening study fills a significant gap in the field of Chinese Buddhist history. Focusing on the cultural side of Buddhism, it adds breadth and balance to studies in Buddhism as a whole, appealing to professionals and academics with an interest in Buddhism and Chinese Buddhist history. (Source: [https://www.routledge.com/The-Cultural-Practices-of-Modern-Chinese-Buddhism-Attuning-the-Dharma/Tarocco/p/book/9780415596176 Routledge]) +
The Fourteenth Dalai Lama speaks at UCSB on the Nyingma Dzogchen nature of the mind in 2009, with translation by Thupten Jinpa. +
Karl Brunnhölzl discusses why there has historically been such debate over the teaching of buddha-nature. He suggests that one of the main points of contention has not been whether buddha-nature is considered a Buddhist teaching or not. Rather, the debate has centered around interpretations of what buddha-nature actually means or implies. Does it imply a truly existent nature, or something that has always been there from the beginning? Or does it resemble something more akin to a nonaffirming negation that implies that buddha-nature is ultimately empty. Brunnhölzl explains that many Tibetan thinkers fall somewhere between these two poles. +
Attributed to the thirteenth-century Zen Master Keizan (1268-1325), the Denkoroku tells of the enlightenment of the fifty-three masters, beginning with Shakyamuni Buddha and concluding with the twelfth-century Zen Master Ejyo, who was Dogen's dharma heir. Keizan explores how the personal koan (spiritual question) of the various disciples was resolved so that they fully realized their inherent enlightenment. By use of his kaleidoscopic view of Buddhist teachings, Keizan reveals the myriad ways in which the Unborn has been experienced and how these experiences relate to one's daily practice.
The translator, Rev. Hubert Nearman, is a senior disciple of the late Rev. Master Jiyu-Kennett, first Abbess of Shasta Abbey in California, and founder of the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives. Prior to becoming a monk, he was a scholar and translator of medieval Japanese texts and was a recipient of a grant for his translation work from the National Endowment for the Humanities. ([https://www.amazon.com/Denkoroku-Record-Transmission-Light/dp/0930066227 Source Accessed June 28, 2021]) +
This book contains diplomatic and critical editions of a newly discovered Sanskrit manuscript of the famed praise attributed to Nāgārjuna known as the ''Dharmadhātustava'' or ''Dharmadhātustotra'' (''In Praise of Dharmadhātu''). Prior to this discovery the text was only available in one Tibetan and three Chinese translations. Also included are critical editions of the Tibetan and Chinese translations. +
This book investigates Mikyö Dorje’s biographies and carries out case studies of some of his mahāmudrā (Great Seal) teachings, Buddhist instructions for the acquisition of meditative insight. After surveying a variety of textual sources for the study of the Karmapa’s life and works, this book shows how he developed into one of the most productive scholars of his tradition, who, located within the shifting religious and political hegemonies of his time, managed to acquire a status of singular importance to his school. Rheingans then goes on to analyse Mikyö Dorje’s mahāmudrā teachings by examining selected texts that contain such instructions in historical and doctrinal context. This study contends that the Kagyüpa mahāmudrā constitutes less a static system than an independent key instruction to be adapted by the guru to different students’ requirements and are thus chiefly characterised by didactic pragmatism. (Source: [https://www.projektverlag.de/schriftenreihen/Hamburg-Buddhist-Studies/the-eighth-karmapas-life-and-his-Interpretation-of-the-great-seal Projekt Verlag]) +
Jamgön Kongtrül's ''Treasury of Knowledge'' in ten volumes is a unique encyclopedic masterpiece embodying the entire range of Buddhist teachings as they were presented in Tibet. Tibetan Buddhist teachers expected their students to study Buddhist philosophical texts as well as practice reflection and meditation; present-day students have also realized that awakening has its source in study as well as in reflection and practice. ''The Elements of Tantric Practice'' sets forth the essential components of the path of highest yoga tantra, a system of meditation that unites wisdom and compassion in its two phases of practice. The first phase, that of creation, relies primarily on the use of the imagination to effect personal transformation. The phase of completion allows the practitioner to perfect the process of transformation by training in methods that manipulate the energies and constituents of the mind and body. The result of this path is the direct experience of the fundamental nature of mind and phenomena. ''The Elements of Tantric Practice'' concerns the meditative processes of the inner system of secret mantra—that of highest yoga tantra—and is based primarily on tantric sources. The author introduces the subject by describing the path of tantra and its underlying principles. The main body of the book deals with two major elements essential to all highest yoga tantras: the practice of the creation phase and that of the completion phase. For the first phase, Kongtrül describes the visualization sequences in which ordinary perceptions are transformed into the forms of awakening and explains how these practices purify the stages of cyclic existence—life, death, and rebirth. The creation phase prepares the practitioner for the techniques of the completion phase, which entail focusing directly on the channels, winds, and vital essences that form the subtle body. Kongtrül presents the key elements of a variety of tantras, including the Guhyasamaja and Yamari, belonging to the class of father tantras and the Kalachakra Hevajra Chakrasamvara Mahamaya Buddhakapala and Tara mother tantras. All these tantras share a common goal: to make manifest the pristine awareness that is the union of emptiness and bliss. (Source: [https://www.shambhala.com/the-treasury-of-knowledge-book-eight-part-three-2406.html Shambhala Publications])
This thesis includes a translation of The Third Karmapa [[Rangjung Dorje]]'s work on Tathāgatagarbha, the ''Pronouncement on the Enlightened Heart of Buddhahood'' (''[[De bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po gtan la dbab pa]]'') along with notes from the Fifth Shamar, [[Kongchog Yenlag]] (1525-1583). Kurtis Schaeffer analyzes the thought and language of the text and presents the key points cogently.
Also included is a diplomatic edition of the Tibetan text in Wylie along with seven appendixes, including [[Jamgon Kongtrul]]'s outline of Rangjung Dorje's text, a song on buddha-nature, and information from the ''[[Zab mo nang don]]'' related to the heart of Buddhahood. +
Jeffrey Hopkins continues his groundbreaking exploration of the Jo-nang-ba sect of Tibetan Buddhism with this revelatory translation of one of the seminal texts from that tradition. Whereas Dol-bo-ba's massive Mountain Doctrine authenticates the doctrine of other-emptiness through extensive scriptural citations and elaborate philosophical arguments, Taranatha's more concise work translated here situates the doctrine of other-emptiness within the context of schools of tenets, primarily the famed four schools of Tibetan Buddhism, through comparing the various schools' opinions on the status of the noumenon and phenomena. Also included is a supplementary text by Taranatha which presents the opinions of a prominent fifteenth-century Sakya scholar, Shakya Chok-den, and contrasts them with those of the leading Jo-nang-ba scholar Dol-bo-ba. (Source: Back Cover) +
Known in Chinese as ''Hua-yen'' and in Japanese as ''Kegon-kyo'', the ''Avatamsaka Sutra'', or ''Flower Ornament Scripture'', is held in the highest regard and studied by Buddhists of all traditions. Through its structure and symbolism, as well as through its concisely stated principles, it conveys a vast range of Buddhist teachings.<br>
This one-volume edition contains Thomas Cleary's definitive translation of all thirty-nine books of the sutra, along with an introduction, a glossary, and Cleary's translation of Li Tongxuan's seventh-century guide to the final book, the ''Gandavyuha'', "Entry into the Realm of Reality." (Source: [https://www.shambhala.com/the-flower-ornament-scripture-618.html Shambhala Publications]) +
This book contains an extensive study and a translation of the ''Vajrasamādhi Sūtra'' and makes a convincing argument to rethink the "national lines of argument" that had previously dominated discussions of East Asian Buddhist traditions. Buswell shows how Chan developed in multiple communities; it was not a Chinese phenomenon that was then exported to Korea and Japan. He also shows how the scripture is firmly in the Chinese Yogācāra tradition of Paramārtha, containing an extensive discussion of "immaculate consciousness" (''amalavijñāna''), the ninth consciousness which unites saṃsāra and nirvāṇa in a "single taste." Buswell draws on Japanese scholarship, such as that by Mozuno Kōgen, who first concluded that the sūtra was an apocryphon. +
The Dalai Lama delivers an address entitled "Buddha-Nature" to members of the Theosophical Society in America at the Society's headquarters at Olcott (named for the founder of the Theosophical Society, Colonel Henry Steel Olcott), in Wheaton, Illinois, on July 21st, 1981. The Dalai Lama's comments on buddha-nature come after a series of preliminary remarks at 14 min, 23 secs. +
Media/The Furthest Everlasting Continuum and Three Principal Aspects of the Path by the 14th Dalai Lama (Part 1 of 3) +
His Holiness the Dalai Lama's three-day teaching on ''The Furthest Everlasting Continuum'' (Sanskrit - ''Uttaratantra''; Tibetan - ''Gyü Lama'') and Tsongkhapa's ''Three Principal Aspects of the Path'' at the request of Russian Buddhists at the Main Tibetan Temple in Dharamsala, HP, India on May 10–12, 2019. On the third day His Holiness conducts the ceremony for generating the awakening mind (''bodhichitta''). His Holiness speaks in Tibetan followed by an English translation.
Note: In the first 27 minutes of part 1, there are technical difficulties with the English translation. +
''Tantra in Tibet'' is the first volume in ''The Great Exposition of Secret Mantra'' series in which the Dalai Lama offers illuminating commentary on Tsongkhapa’s seminal text on Buddhist tantra. It is followed by ''Volume II: Deity Yoga'' and ''Volume III: Yoga Tantra''.
This revised work describes the differences between the Great Vehicle and Lesser Vehicle streams in the sutra tradition, and between the sutra tradition and that of tantra generally. It includes highly practical and compassionate explanations from H.H. the Dalai Lama on tantra for spiritual development; the first part of the classic ''Great Exposition of Secret Mantra'' text; and a supplement by Jeffrey Hopkins on the difference between the Vehicles, emptiness, psychological transformation, and the purpose of the four tantras. (Source: [https://www.shambhala.com/the-great-exposition-of-secret-mantra-volume-1-3660.html Shambhala Publications]) +
