Property:Description
From Buddha-Nature
This is a property of type Text.
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. +
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. +
A commentary on the Ultimate Continuum by Drikung Rase Könchok Gyatso (Dagpo Chenga Rinpoche), 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. +
Texts/Bstan bcos mngon par rtogs pa'i rgyan 'grel pa dang bcas pa'i rnam bshad rnam pa gnyis kyi dka' ba'i gnad gsal bar byed pa legs bshad skal bzang klu dbang gi rol mtsho zhes bya ba las rigs kyi spyi don +
Jetsun Chokyi Gyaltsen's text on the disposition (''gotra'', ''rigs'') +
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. +
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. +
''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''<i>'</i>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.)
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) +
Tsongkhapa's comprehensive treatise on both Maitreya's ''Abhisamayālaṃkāra'' and the commentary on this work by Haribhadra, the ''Abhisamayālaṃkāravrtti.'' +
The ''Hevajratantra'' is the most important scripture of the ''yoginītantra'' class. Shortly after its appearance around 900 CE in East India, it engendered - or promoted in a codified form - a widespread and influential cult of its eponymous deity and his retinue; its teachings became of such authority that there were hardly any esoteric Buddhist authors who could afford to ignore them. While the text continued the antinomian tradition set out in the ''Guhyasamājatantra'' and the ''Sarvabuddhasamāyogaḍākinījālaśaṃvara'', it also introduced a number of innovations - most importantly the doctrine of the four blisses - and it is noted for skillfully blending the world of tantric ritual practice and non-esoteric Mahāyāna doctrine. Compared to the other emblematic ''yoginītantra'',
the ''Herukābhidhāna'', the ''Hevajratantra'' can be said to contain much more theological and philosophical material, showing a confident grounding in the Buddhist world. (Source: ''Brill's Encyclopedia of Buddhism: Literature and Languages'', edited by Jonathan A. Silk, Oskar von Hinüber, and Vincent Eltschinger, 334. Leiden: Brill, 2015.) +
One of the seventeen tantras belonging to the Unsurpassable Secret Cycle (ཡང་གསང་བླ་མེད་ཀྱི་སྐོར་) or Seminal Heart (སྙིང་ཐིག་) series of the Secret Instruction Class (མན་ངག་སྡེ་) of Dzogchen teachings, this was considered to have been passed down from Vimalamitra in the 8th century although modern scholars consider this be a Tibetan composition of later period. The tantra discusses luminosity and awareness. +
One of the seventeen tantras belonging to the Unsurpassable Secret Cycle (ཡང་གསང་བླ་མེད་ཀྱི་སྐོར་) or Seminal Heart (སྙིང་ཐིག་) series of the Secret Instruction Class (མན་ངག་སྡེ་) of Dzogchen teachings, this was considered to have been passed down from Vimalamitra in the 8th century although modern scholars consider this be a Tibetan composition of later period. The tantra has six chapters and discusses awareness and luminosity. +
One of the seventeen tantras belonging to the Unsurpassable Secret Cycle (ཡང་གསང་བླ་མེད་ཀྱི་སྐོར་) or Seminal Heart (སྙིང་ཐིག་) series of the Secret Instruction Class (མན་ངག་སྡེ་) of Dzogchen teachings, this was considered to have been passed down from Vimalamitra in the 8th century although modern scholars consider this be a Tibetan composition of later period. The tantra explains the different manners in which empirical experiences appear from the ground reality or luminous awareness, also called the youthful vase body. +
One of the seventeen tantras belonging to the Unsurpassable Secret Cycle (ཡང་གསང་བླ་མེད་ཀྱི་སྐོར་) or Seminal Heart (སྙིང་ཐིག་) series of the Secret Instruction Class (མན་ངག་སྡེ་) of Dzogchen teachings, this was considered to have been passed down from Vimalamitra in the 8th century although modern scholars consider this be a Tibetan composition of later period. The tantra explains how the myriad phenomenological world arises from luminosity or Buddha-Nature. +
One of the seventeen tantras belonging to the Unsurpassable Secret Cycle (ཡང་གསང་བླ་མེད་ཀྱི་སྐོར་) or Seminal Heart (སྙིང་ཐིག་) series of the Secret Instruction Class (མན་ངག་སྡེ་) of Dzogchen teachings, this was considered to have been passed down from Vimalamitra in the 8th century although modern scholars consider this be a Tibetan composition of later period. The tantra explains how Buddha-Nature abides at the heart of a person, in the midst of five coloured lights, like 'a vase body' along with the peaceful deities, from which pristine wisdom shines forth to the crown where the wrathful deities abide. +
One of the seventeen tantras belonging to the Unsurpassable Secret Cycle (ཡང་གསང་བླ་མེད་ཀྱི་སྐོར་) or Seminal Heart (སྙིང་ཐིག་) series of the Secret Instruction Class (མན་ངག་སྡེ་) of Dzogchen teachings, this was considered to have been passed down from Vimalamitra in the 8th century although modern scholars consider this be a Tibetan composition of later period. The tantra discusses the dissolution of human body at the time of death and the various funerary practices in detail. +
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: [http://www.rangjung.com/book_title/mirror-of-mindfulness/ Rangjung Yeshe Publications]) +
The ''Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines'', like other sūtras on the Perfection of Wisdom, deals with the topic of emptiness and the understanding of the ultimate truth or the way things are. Modern scholars date the sūtra roughly to the 2nd and 1st century BC and consider it to be the earliest sūtra on which other Perfection of Wisdom sūtras are based. Its adherents claim the sūtra to be a part of the words of the Buddha. It is believed to have been taken to the subterranean world and brought back to the human world by Nāgārjuna. It is sometimes known as the ''Condensed Mother'' (ཡུམ་བསྡུས་པ་), the term ''Mother'' referring to the Perfection of Wisdom which gives rise to all buddhas and bodhisattvas. It is said to be the condensed version of the long version in one hundred thousand lines and the middle version in twenty-five thousand lines. Having spread across Asia and beyond and having been translated into many languages, it is one of the most common books to be found in the Buddhist Himalayas.
The sūtra takes the form of a series of dialogues between the Buddha Śākyamuni, Subhūti, Śāriputra, and others, such as Indra, the king of gods, and a goddess of the Ganges. In the final chapters, the sūtra contains the inspirational narratives of Sadāprarudita and his quest for the teachings on the Perfection of Wisdom from the Bodhisattva Dharmodgata. The sūtra is also one of the earliest Mahāyāna sources proclaiming the luminous nature of the mind. +
Texts/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''. +
Ayang Thubten Rinpoche’s ''Rays of Sunlight'' is a commentary on Zhedang Dorje’s ''The Heart of the Mahayana Teachings'' ''([https://research.tsadra.org/index.php?curid=526057 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: [https://www.garchen-stiftung.de/en/edition-garchen-stiftung-49.html Edition Garchen Stiftung]) +
