Download or read book Stages of the Path and the Oral Transmission written by and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2022-12-20 with total page 939 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A major contribution to the literature on Buddhist practice according to the Geluk school of Tibetan Buddhism from its foremost interpreter. Although it was the last major school to emerge in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, the Geluk school has left an indelible mark on Buddhist thought and practice. The intellectual and spiritual brilliance of its founder, the great Tsongkhapa (1357–1419), has inspired generations of scholars and tantric yogis to place him at the heart of their daily meditative practice. The Geluk tradition’s close ties to the Dalai Lamas have also afforded it an outsized influence in all aspects of Tibetan life for centuries. At its peak its combined monasteries boasted a population in the tens of thousands, and its sway encompassed the religious landscape of Mongolia and much of Central Asia. This widespread religious activity fostered a rich literary tradition, and fifteen seminal works are featured here representing four genres of that tradition. They include works on the stages of the path, or lamrim, the genre for which the Geluk is most renowned; works on guru yoga, centered around the core Geluk ritual Offering to the Guru (Lama Chöpa); teachings from the unique oral transmission of Geluk mahamudra, meditation on the nature of mind; and instructions on the three essential points—what to practice in life, at death, and in the bardo. Your guide to these riches, Thupten Jinpa, maps out their historical context and spiritual significance in his extensive introduction.

Download or read book Enlightened Rainbows written by Jean-Luc Achard and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2008-05-31 with total page 530 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shardza Tashi Gyeltsen (1859-1934) is one of the most important luminaries of the Bon tradition of Tibet and certainly the most striking recent master of the teachings of the Great Perfection. Throughout his life, he applied the principles of the Great Perfection in numerous isolated retreats and perfected both spiritual realization and scholarly erudition. His works have nowadays become immensely important references for the modern Bon tradition, even if, for some lineage holders of this Tibetan school, he is best associated with the movement known as "New Bon". This widely diffused view, however, is wrong as is clearly shown by the analysis of Shardza Rinpoche's Collected Works in the present volume.

Download or read book Stairway to Nirv na written by James B. Apple and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: James B. Apple examines one of the formative subjects in traditional Buddhist studies, the Twenty Varieties of the Saṃgha. The Saṃgha (community) is one of the Three Jewels (Buddha, Dharma, Saṃgha) universally revered by all Buddhists. While the Saṃgha is generally understood as the community of Buddhist ordained monks and nuns, along with lay adherents, the Twenty Varieties of the Saṃgha concerns an exemplary community of the twenty types of Noble Beings (ārya-pudgala) who embody the Buddha's teachings. Focusing on the interpretation of the Saṃgha given by the fourteenth-century Tibetan scholar Tsong kha pa, Apple provides a comprehensive typology and analysis of the stages through which Noble Beings pass in their progress toward enlightenment through multiple lifetimes in various cosmological realms. He explains the cosmographic formations and complex structures of Buddhist spiritual cultivation, illustrating how Tibetan and Indian Buddhists conceptualize all possible states on the path to enlightenment.

Download or read book Primary Sources and Asian Pasts written by Peter C. Bisschop and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2020-11-09 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This conference volume unites a wide range of scholars working in the fields of history, archaeology, religion, art, and philology in an effort to explore new perspectives and methods in the study of primary sources from premodern South and Southeast Asia. The contributions engage with primary sources (including texts, images, material artefacts, monuments, as well as archaeological sites and landscapes) and draw needed attention to highly adaptable, innovative, and dynamic modes of cultural production within traditional idioms. The volume works to develop categories of historical analysis that cross disciplinary boundaries and represent a wide variety of methodological concerns. By revisiting premodern sources, Asia Beyond Boundaries also addresses critical issues of temporality and periodization that attend established categories in Asian Studies, such as the “Classical Age” or the “Gupta Period”. This volume represents the culmination of the European Research Council (ERC) Synergy project Asia Beyond Boundaries: Religion, Region, Language and the State, a research consortium of the British Museum, the British Library and the School of Oriental and African Studies, in partnership with Leiden University.

Download or read book Apparitions of the Self written by Janet Gyatso and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-11-10 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Apparitions of the Self is a groundbreaking investigation into what is known in Tibet as "secret autobiography," an exceptional, rarely studied literary genre that presents a personal exploration of intimate religious experiences. In this volume, Janet Gyatso translates and studies the outstanding pair of secret autobiographies by the famed Tibetan Buddhist visionary, Jigme Lingpa (1730-1798), whose poetic and self-conscious writings are as much about the nature of his own identity, memory, and the undecidabilities of autobiographical truth as they are narrations of the actual content of his experiences. Their translation in this book marks the first time that works of this sort have been translated in a Western language. Gyatso is among the first to consider Tibetan literature from a comparative perspective, examining the surprising fit--as well as the misfit--of Western literary theory with Tibetan autobiography. She examines the intriguing questions of why Tibetan Buddhists produced so many autobiographies (far more than other Asian Buddhists) and how autobiographical self-assertion is possible even while Buddhists believe that the self is ultimately an illusion. Also explored are Jigme Lingpa's historical milieu, his revelatory visions of the ancient Tibetan dynasty, and his meditative practices of personal cultivation. The book concludes with a study of the subversive female figure of the "Dakini" in Jigme Lingpa's writings, and the implications of her gender, her sexuality, and her unsettling discourse for the autobiographical subject in Tibet.

Download or read book Vajradhara in Human Form The Life and Times of Ngor chen Kun dga bzang po written by Jörg Heimbel and published by Jörg Heimbel. This book was released on 2017 with total page 708 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The present book presents a detailed study of the life and times of the tantric expert Ngorchen Kunga Zangpo (Ngor chen Kun dga’ bzang po, 1382–1456), who was one of the most outstanding and influential Sakya masters of fifteenth-century Tibet. Among his many influential activities, Ngorchen is best remembered for his founding of the monastery of Ngor Ewam Choden (Ngor E waṃ chos ldan) in 1429. Withdrawing from the worldly distractions of the bustling town of Sakya (Sa skya) and sectarian conflicts, he left his traditional alma mater, the monastery of Sakya, and established his own monastic seat in the remote Ngor valley, some 30 kilometres southwest of modern Shigatse (gZhis ka rtse) in the central Tibetan province of Tsang (gTsang). There, based on the observance of a strict monastic discipline, Ngorchen hoped to return to traditional Sakya teaching and practice in a more supportive environment. Ngor immediately became a new centre for tantric training within the monastic circles of the Sakya school. As the leading tantric expert, Ngorchen trained a whole new generation of young students, producing some of the brightest minds of the Sakya school. At his monastic seat, Ngorchen and his abbatial successors established one of the most prominent subdivisions of the Sakya school, the Ngor tradition (ngor lugs), based on Ngorchen’s distinctive understanding of tantric ritual and practice. The religious influence of Ngor and its abbots extended to far-western Tibet (mNga’ ris), including Mustang (Glo bo), Purang (sPu hrang), Guge (Gu ge), Spiti (sPyi ti), and Ladakh (La dwags). In the following centuries, Ngor’s influence also extended eastwards to Khams, where the tradition became very influential in Derge (sDe dge), Lingtsang (Gling tshang), and Gapa (sGa pa). From the 17th century onward, the Ngorpa enjoyed the patronage of the ruling house of Derge, whose successive kings called upon retired abbots of Ngor to serve as their court chaplains (dbu bla).

Download or read book The Many Faces of King Gesar written by Matthew T. Kapstein and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2022-01-31 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Tibetan Gesar epic has known countless retellings, translations, and academic studies. The Many Faces of Ling Gesar, presents its historical, cultural, and literary aspects for the first time in a single volume for both general readers and specialists.

Download or read book St pa and Its Technology written by Pema Dorjee and published by Motilal Banarsidass Publ.. This book was released on 1996 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Among all the religious monuments of the world, the stupa has the longest uninterrupted historical development. Though modelled after the Indian prototype, the stupa architecture was developed in all the countries where Buddhism had flourished. Over time, the structural shape of the stupa underwent significant modifications in India and the other Asian Buddhist countries.The present study shows how Tibet became a treasure house of Buddhist culture and literature--highlighting important texts dealing with stupa architecture. Various ritual activities associated with the construction of the stupa are described along with the eight fundamental types of Tibeto-Buddhist stupas and their main structural components. A survey of the stupas found in the upper Indus Valley in the Leh region of Ladakh shows their similarity to the Tibeto-Buddhist tradition. The value of the book is enhanced by an appendix with English translation of four important Tibetan texts preceded by transliteration.This monograph is the first in the new sub-series of the IGNCA on the Buddhist stupas, which would not be restricted to India alone. It is hoped that such studies will enable the art-historians and archaeologists to understand this important structural form in totality in relation to its wide geographical spread and the distinctive features of particular developments in different countries.

Download or read book The Sovereign All Creating Mind The Motherly Buddha written by Eva K. Neumaier-Dargyay and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 1992-01-01 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What distinguishes this Buddhist text from so many others is the timelessness of its ideas. It constitutes a radical attempt toward deconstructing Buddhist philosophy, and presents a feminist perspective on Buddhist spirituality. The text holds that being is the center and depth of existence, and is therefore accessible in everyday experience. The fleeting existence (samsara) is in its depth being, i.e. a state of complete integration (nirvana) which may well be described as divine reality of a feminine dimension This book presents the first English translation of an eighth century Tibetan Buddhist text. Despite its centuries-old origin, the kun byed rgyal po'i mdo addresses themes of great concern to the present, including how to achieve a holistic world-view that integrates the peripheral nature of existence with the ground of being; and the interrelatedness of periphery and center, of individual and universe. From a contemporary viewpoint this can be seen to engender a feminist understanding of the ground of being. Unlike other Buddhist texts, the kun byed rgyal po'i mdo invites the reader to rejoice in this world as beautified and intelligible, and thus the innate purity of the intelligent potency, the motherly Buddha, will be experienced. In addition to the translation, the book also includes a discussion of the conceptual and historical contexts of the text, an examination of its leading ideas, and an assessment of the challenges related to the translation.

Download or read book Tibetan Literature written by Leonard van der Kuijp and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 1996-01-01 with total page 555 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tibetan Literature addresses the immense variety of Tibet's literary heritage. An introductory essay by the editors attempts to assess the overall nature of 'literature' in Tibet and to understand some of the ways in which it may be analyzed into genres. The remainder of the book contains articles by nearly thirty scholars from America, Europe, and Asia—each of whom addresses an important genre of Tibetan literature. These articles are distributed among eight major rubrics: two on history and biography, six on canonical and quasi-canonical texts, four on philosophical literature, four on literature on the paths, four on ritual, four on literary arts, four on non-literary arts and sciences, and two on guidebooks and reference works.

Download or read book Early Buddhist Block Prints from Mang Yul Gung Thang written by Franz-Karl Ehrhard and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this 3 volumes the great figures of Tibetan Buddhism and its literature a special place is held by Klong-chen Rab-byams-pa (1308-1364) of the rNying-ma-pa school. He is known for having tirelessly pursued all Buddhist learning available during his time and for having systematized the teachings of the "Great Perfection" or "Great Completeness" (rdzogs chen). Nevertheless, it seems that his writings were never collected together by his followers, as those of his contemporaries such as Bu-ston Rin-chen grub (1290-1364) have been.

Download or read book The Philosophical View of the Great Perfection in the Tibetan Bon Religion written by Donatella Rossi and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 2000-01-01 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dzogchen, or the Great Perfection, is considered by both the Bonpos and the followers of the Nyigma school in Tibet to be the culmination of all spiritual teachings. The philosophical view of the Great Perfection introduces the individual to the knowledge of reality, which is one with the enlightened state of all beings. In this book the Dzogchen view is presented in two Bonpo texts belonging to the revered terma (treasure) and oral traditions, here for the first time translated and critically edited in their entirety.

Download or read book Unearthing Himalayan Treasures written by Volker Caumanns and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2019-04-08 with total page 518 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Festschrift celebrates Franz-Karl Ehrhard, Professor of Tibetan and Buddhist Studies at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich from 2003 to 2019. Offered on the occasion of his 65th birthday, it comprises 26 papers by friends and colleagues to honour his outstanding and far-reaching contributions to the field of Tibetan Studies. Mirroring Franz-Karl Ehrhard's research interests, the papers centre on the religious and literary traditions of Tibet and the Himalayas, including sacred geography, religious history, philosophy, and studies in textual production and transmission.

Download or read book King of the Empty Plain written by Cyrus Stearns and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 2007-11-09 with total page 1137 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: King of the Empty Plain is familiar to every Tibetan yet nearly unknown in the rest of the world. Tangtong Gyalpo's incredible lifespan, profound teachings, unprecedented engineering feats, eccentric deeds, and creation of Tibetan opera have earned this fascinating figure a unique status in Tibetan culture. Believed to be the great Indian master Padmasambhava appearing again in the world to benefit living beings, he discovered techniques for achieving longevity that are still held in highest esteem and are frequently taught six hundred years later. His construction of fifty-eight iron suspension bridges, sixty wooden bridges, 118 ferries, 111 stupa monuments, and countless temples and monasteries in Tibet and Bhutan remains an awe-inspiring accomplishment. This book is a detailed study of the life and legacy of this great master. An extensive introduction discusses Tangtong Gyalpo's Dharma traditions, the question of his amazing longevity, his "crazy" activities manifested to enhance his own realization and to benefit others, and his astonishing engineering and architectural achievements. The book includes a complete translation of the most famous Tibetan biography of Tangtong Gyalpo, as well as the Tibetan text and English translation of a unique early manuscript describing his miraculous death. The text is further enriched with ten color plates and seventy-seven black-and-white illustrations.

Download or read book Naked Seeing written by Christopher Hatchell and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2014-09-03 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Buddhism is in many ways a visual tradition, with its well-known practices of visualization, its visual arts, its epistemological writings that discuss the act of seeing, and its literature filled with images and metaphors of light. Some Buddhist traditions are also visionary, advocating practices by which meditators seek visions that arise before their eyes. Naked Seeing investigates such practices in the context of two major esoteric traditions, the Wheel of Time (Kalacakra) and the Great Perfection (Dzogchen). Both of these experimented with sensory deprivation, and developed yogas involving long periods of dwelling in dark rooms or gazing at the open sky. These produced unusual experiences of seeing, which were used to pursue some of the classic Buddhist questions about appearances, emptiness, and the nature of reality. Along the way, these practices gave rise to provocative ideas and suggested that, rather than being apprehended through internal insight, religious truths might also be seen in the exterior world-realized through the gateway of the eyes. Christopher Hatchell presents the intellectual and literary histories of these practices, and also explores the meditative techniques and physiology that underlie their distinctive visionary experiences. The book also offers for the first time complete English translations of three major Tibetan texts on visionary practice: a Kalacakra treatise by Yumo Mikyo Dorjé, The Lamp Illuminating Emptiness, a Nyingma Great Perfection work called The Tantra of the Blazing Lamps, and a Bön Great Perfection work called Advice on the Six Lamps, along with a detailed commentary on this by Drugom Gyalwa Yungdrung.

Download or read book Moonbeams of Mahamudra written by Dakpo Tashi Namgyal and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 2019-03-12 with total page 857 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new translation of Tibet's most important manual for Mahāmudrā view and meditation This classic Buddhist work, written in the sixteenth century, comprehensively presents the entire scope of the Tibetan Kagyu Mahāmudrā tradition. These profound yet accessible instructions focus on becoming familiar with the nature of one’s mind as the primary means to realize ultimate reality and thus attain buddhahood. Dakpo Tashi Namgyal’s manual for the view and practice of Mahāmudrā is widely considered the single most important work on the subject, systematically introducing the view and associated meditation techniques in a progressive manner. Moonbeams of Mahāmudrā, along with the Ninth Karmapa Wangchuk Dorje’s Dispelling the Darkness of Ignorance, are to this day some of the most studied texts on Mahāmudrā in the Kagyu monasteries throughout Tibet and the Himalayas. Elizabeth M. Callahan, a renowned translator of classical Kagyu literature, has provided new translations of these two texts along with ancillary materials and annotations, making this a genuine resource for both scholars and students of Tibetan Buddhism. This historic contribution therefore offers the necessary tools to properly study and apply the Mahāmudrā teachings in a modern context.

Download or read book The Complete Works of At a r D pa kara J na Jo bo rje written by Atīśa and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 632 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: These translations of the 11th century Tibetan texts of Atisa open important charismatic documents for the general reader of Buddhism.Although these texts have been acknowledged for centuries as the source and inspiration of the Dge- lugs-pa and Bka?-gdams-pa monastic orders? in Tibet and Central Asia,the writings of Atisa have only recently found more interest among Western scholars. The Lamp for the Path and its Commentary were translated and published in 1983 by Richard Sherburne,and are included in this book,but newly added are his translations of the Twenty-five Key Texts authored by Atisa himself.The Key Texts are found in the Tibetan Tengyur in a collection called the The Hundred Root Texts (rtsa brgya )which were preserved by Atisa s followers as fundamental for a proper study of Buddhist theory and practice.