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From Buddha-Nature
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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. +
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]]''. +
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. +
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. +
Mahāmeghasūtra. (T. Sprin chen po'i mdo; C. Dafangdeng wuxiang jing/Dayun jing; J. Daihōdō musōkyō/Daiungyō; K. Taebangdǔng musang kyǒng/Taeun kyǒng 大方等無想經/大雲經). In Sanskrit, the "Great Cloud Sūtra"; it is also known in China as the ''Dafangdeng wuxiang jing''. The ''Mahāmeghasūtra'' contains the teachings given by the Buddha to the bodhisattva "Great Cloud Secret Storehouse" (C. Dayunmizang) on the inconceivable means of attaining liberation, ''samādhi'', and the power of ''dhāraṇīs''. The Buddha also declares that tathāgatas remain forever present in the dharma and the saṃgha despite having entered ''parinirvāṇa'' and that they are always endowed with the four qualities of nirvāṇa mentioned in the ''Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra'', namely, permanence, bliss, purity, and selfhood (see ''guṇapāramitā''). The ''Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra''<i>'</i>s influence on the ''Mahāmeghasūtra'' can also be witnessed in the story of the goddess "Pure Light" (C. Jingguang). Having heard the ''Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra'' in her past life, the goddess is told by the Buddha that she will be reborn as a universal monarch (''cakravartin''). The sūtra is often cited for its prophecy of the advent of Nāgārjuna, as well as for its injunctions against meat-eating. It was also recited in order to induce rain. In China, commentators on the ''Mahāmeghasūtra'' identified the newly enthroned Empress Wu Zetian as the reincarnation of the goddess, seeking thereby to legitimize her rule. As Emperor Gaozong (r. 649–683) of the Tang dynasty suffered from increasingly ill health, his ambitious and pious wife Empress Wu took over the imperial administration. After her husband's death she exiled the legitimate heir Zhongzong (r. 683–684, 703–710) and usurped the throne. One of the many measures she took to gain the support of the people was the publication and circulation of the ''Mahāmeghasūtra''. Two translations by Zhu Fonian and Dharmakṣema were available at the time. Wu Zetian also ordered the establishment of monasteries called ''Dayunsi'' ("Great Cloud Monastery") in every prefecture of the empire. (Source: "Mahāmeghasūtra." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 500. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)
Jñānavajra's commentary on the ''Laṅkāvatārasūtra'', which is one of two Indian commentaries on the Sūtra that has survived only in Tibetan translation. +
Yuanren lun. (J. Genninron; K. Wǒnin non 原人論). In Chinese, "Treatise on the Origin of Humanity"; by the eminent Huayan and Chan scholiast Guifeng Zongmi. A preface to this relatively short treatise was prepared by Zongmi, as was another by his lay disciple Pei Xiu (787?-860). The treatise largely consists of four chapters: exposing deluded attachments, exposing the partial and superficial, directly revealing the true source, and reconciling root and branches. In his critique of deluded attachments, Zongmi offers a response to the different Confucian and Daoist theories of the way (dao), spontaneity (ziran), primal pneuma (yuanqi), and the mandate of heaven (tianming). Zongmi then briefly summarizes the teachings of the different vehicles of Buddhism, such as hīnayāna and Mahāyāna, and expounds their different approaches to reality. Relying on the teachings of the ''Avataṃsakasūtra'', Zongmi finally offers a Buddhist alternative to the theories of the Confucian and Daoist critics: the tathāgatagarbha as the origin of humanity. (Source: "Yuanren lun." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 1041. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.) +
''The Play in Full'' tells the story of how the Buddha manifested in this world and attained awakening, as perceived from the perspective of the Great Vehicle. The sūtra, which is structured in twenty-seven chapters, first presents the events surrounding the Buddha’s birth, childhood, and adolescence in the royal palace of his father, king of the Śākya nation. It then recounts his escape from the palace and the years of hardship he faced in his quest for spiritual awakening. Finally the sūtra reveals his complete victory over the demon Māra, his attainment of awakening under the Bodhi tree, his first turning of the wheel of Dharma, and the formation of the very early saṅgha. (Source: [https://read.84000.co/translation/UT22084-046-001.html 84000]) +
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''. +
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. +
Texts/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. +
Verses of praise to sugatagarbha, or buddha-nature, composed by Dölpopa. +
Verses of benediction to invoke the auspiciousness of sugatagarbha composed by Dölpopa. +
Texts/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. +
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.) +
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. +
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. +
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: [https://www.shambhala.com/the-third-karmapa-s-mahamudra-prayer-2401.html Shambhala Publications]) +
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. +
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.)
