Mipham's Sword of Wisdom

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• Translator's Introduction vii
• The Sword of Wisdom that Ascertains Reality by Jamgön Mipham1
• The Radiant Light of the Sun and Moon by Khenchen Palden Sherab17
• 1. Prelude: Preliminary Verses of Homage 19
• 2. The Validity of the Teachings and Teacher 25
• 3. The Two Truths 39
• 4. An Explanation of Causality through Interdependent Appearances 43
• 5. Overview ofthe Four Reasonings and the Reasonings of Causal
      Efficacy and Dependency 51
• 6. The Six Causes, Five Effects, and Four Conditions 63
• 7. The Reasoning of the Nature 75
• 8. Valid Cognition 81
• 9. Direct Perception 87
• 10. The Reasoning of a Valid Proof: Inference Based on Evidence 101
• 11. Correct Signs and False Signs 109
• 12. The Ways Inference Is Presented 113
• 13. Conventional and Ultimate Valid Cognition 119
• 14. The Four Reliances 141
• 15. The Definitive Meaning: The Eight Intentions 153
• 16. The Definitive Meaning in the Vajrayana 161
• 17. Rely on Wisdom to Reach the Eight Great Treasures 171
• 18. Conclusion 181
• Appendix A. Jamgon Mipham's Annotated Verses: The Sword of Wisdom That
  Ascertains Reality 191
• Appendix B. Outline of Jamgon Mipham's Verses 217
• Appendix C. Outline of Khenchen Palden Sherab's Commentary 219
• Notes 229
• Glossary of Sanskrit and Tibetan Terms 259
• Bibliography 263
• Sources Cited in the Commentary 265
• Index 269
• About the Author 295

Mipham's Sword of Wisdom explores the Nyingma-lineage understanding of valid cognition in Vajrayana Buddhism. This translation, a clear and concise primer on higher realization through valid cognition in Buddhist philosophy, presents these ideas in English for the very first time and includes the sutra presentation of the two truths and the tantra teachings of the two truths as the purity and equality of all phenomena. (Source: back cover)

Inferential valid cognition comes down to valid direct perception, and valid direct perception comes down to the valid self-aware direct perception, which clearly experiences the mind itself as its object. Therefore all the classifications in the world of what is true and what is false would have no logical basis without self-awareness on the relative level.  

~ in Mipham's Sword of Wisdom, page(s) 100

We should understand that the refutation of self-awareness in the Madhyamaka treatises uses reasoning on the absolute level only to refute self-awareness's true existence. Madhyamaka philosophy does not refute self-awareness on the relative level.  

~ in Mipham's Sword of Wisdom, page(s) 100

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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་

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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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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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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

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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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rang stong - The state of being empty of self, which references the lack of inherent existence in relative phenomena. Tib. རང་སྟོང་

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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

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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

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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

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