The Buddha from Dolpo (2010)

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Citation

A Historical Survey of the Shentong Tradition in Tibet

Book Excerpt

ContentsAbout the Book

• Preface to the Revised Editionvii
• List of Illustrations xi
• List of Plates xiii
• Introduction 1

• PART ONE: The Life and Teachings of the Omniscient Dölpopa
• Chapter One: The Life of the Buddha from Dölpo 9
  • 1. Childhood and Early Education 10
  • 2. Studies at the Great Monastery of Sakya 11
  • 3. The Move to Jonang 15
  • 4. Raising Mount Meru and Revealing the Shentong View 19
  • 5. The Initial Reception of the Shentong Teachings 22
  • 6. The New Jonang Translation of the Kālacakra Tantra and the Stainless
        Light24
  • 7. Years of Retreat and Teaching 29
  • 8. Invitation to China by the Yüan Emperor Toghon Temür 29
  • 9. Changes in the Jonang Leadership and the Beginning of the Journey to
        Lhasa31
  • 10. Teachings in Central Tibet and the Return to Tsang 33
  • 11. The Aborted Meeting with Butön Rinchen Drup 35
  • 12. The Last Months at Jonang 36
• Chapter Two: A Historical Survey of the Shentong Tradition in Tibet 41
  • 1. The Shentong Tradition in Tibet before Dölpopa 42
  • 2. Dölpopa and the Shentong View 46
  • 3. The Shentong Tradition after Dölpopa 55
• Chapter Three: The Doctrine of the Buddha from Dölpo 85
  • 1. Emptiness of Self-nature and Emptiness of Other 87
  • 2. A Redefinition of Cittamātra and Madhyamaka 91
  • 3. Two Approaches to Enlightenment 103

• PART TWO: Texts in Translation
• Introduction to the General Commentary on the Doctrine 113
• 1. Supplication Entitled General Commentary on the Doctrine 119
• Introduction to the Fourth Council and the Autocommentary to the
  "Fourth Council"131
• 2. Great Calculation of the Doctrine That Has the Significance of a Fourth Council 135
• 3. Autocommentary to the "Fourth Council"205
• Notes 313
• Bibliography 413
• Index 449

This is essential reading for understanding Dölpopa's position 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་

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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་

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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་

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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

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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

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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་

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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

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