Download or read book Elaborations on Emptiness written by Donald S. Lopez, Jr. and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2016-11-22 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Heart Sutra is perhaps the most famous Buddhist text, traditionally regarded as a potent expression of emptiness and of the Buddha's perfect wisdom. This brief, seemingly simple work was the subject of more commentaries in Asia than any other sutra. In Elaborations on Emptiness, Donald Lopez explores for the first time the elaborate philosophical and ritual uses of the Heart Sutra in India, Tibet, and the West. Included here are full translations of the eight extant Indian commentaries. Interspersed with the translations are six essays that examine the unusual roles the Heart Sutra has played: it has been used as a mantra, an exorcism text, a tantric meditation guide, and as the material for comparative philosophy. Taken together, the translations and essays that form Elaborations on Emptiness demonstrate why commentary is as central to modern scholarship on Buddhism as it was for ancient Buddhists. Lopez reveals unexpected points of instability and contradiction in the Heart Sutra, which, in the end, turns out to be the most malleable of texts, where the logic of commentary serves as a tool of both tradition and transgression.
Download or read book Facets of Emptiness written by James Wilson and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2022-08-07 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Heart Sutra is a short, one page, Buddhist scripture that is chanted in countless monasteries, temples, practice centers, and at many home altars. The Heart Sutra focuses on the nature of emptiness and the salvific nature of the experience of emptiness. Understandings of the nature of emptiness have varied over the centuries. This commentary, Facets of Emptiness, offers an introduction to many of these facets, as well as poetic and intuitive elaborations on emptiness.
Download or read book Mipham s Dialectics and the Debates on Emptiness written by Karma Phuntsho and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2005-03-31 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is an introduction to the Buddhist philosophy of Emptiness Useful for scholars of Tibetan studies and Buddhist philosophy Explores the theories of Emptiness in an easy narrative style This is a compelling account of Emptiness
Download or read book Poetics of Emptiness written by Jonathan Stalling and published by Fordham Univ Press. This book was released on 2011-10-03 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Poetics of Emptiness uncovers an important untold history by tracing the historically specific, intertextual pathways of a single, if polyvalent, philosophical term, emptiness, as it is transformed within twentieth-century American poetry and poetics. This conceptual migration is detailed in two sections. The first focuses on "transpacific Buddhist poetics," while the second maps the less well-known terrain of "transpacific Daoist poetics." In Chapters 1 and 2, the author explores Ernest Fenollosa's "The Chinese Written Character as a Medium for Poetry" as an expression of Fenollosa's distinctly Buddhist poetics informed by a two-decade-long encounter with a culturally hybrid form of Buddhism known as Shin Bukkyo ("New Buddhism"). Chapter 2 explores the classical Chinese poetics that undergirds the lost half of Fenellosa's essay. Chapter 3 concludes the first half of the book with an exploration of the didactic and soteriological function of "emptiness" in Gary Snyder's influential poetry and poetics. The second half begins with a critical exploration of the three-decades-long career of the poet/translator/critic Wai-lim Yip, whose "transpacific Daoist poetics" has been an important fixture in American poetic late modernism and has begun to gain wider notoriety in China. The last chapter engages the intertextual weave of poststructural thought and Daoist and shamanistic discourses in Theresa Hak Kyung Cha's important body of heterocultural productions. By formulating interpretive frames as hybrid as the texts being read, this book makes available one of the most important yet still largely unknown stories of American poetry and poetics.
Download or read book Religions of Tibet in Practice written by Donald S. Lopez, Jr. and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2018-06-05 with total page 435 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally published in 1997, Religions of Tibet in Practice is a landmark work--the first major anthology on the topic ever produced. This new edition--abridged to further facilitate course use--presents a stunning array of works that together offer an unparalleled view of the Tibetan religious landscape over the centuries. Organized thematically, the twenty-eight chapters are testimony to the vast scope of religious practice in the Tibetan world, past and present. Religions of Tibet in Practice remains a work of great value to scholars, students, and general readers.
Download or read book The Heart Sutra Explained written by Donald S. Lopez and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 1988-01-01 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Renowned for its terse declaration of the perfection of wisdom, the Heart Sutra is the most famous of Buddhist scriptures. The author draws on previously unexamined commentaries, preserved only in Tibetan, to investigate the meanings derived from and invested into the sutra during the later period of Indian Buddhism. The Heart Sutra Explained offers new insights on "form is emptiness, emptiness is form," on the mantra "gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha," and on the synthesis of Madhyamika, Yogacara, and tantric thought that characterized the final period of Buddhism in India. It also includes complete translations of two nineteenth century Tibetan commentaries demonstrating the selective appropriation of Indian sources.
Download or read book Resurrecting Candrakirti written by Kevin A. Vose and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-09-29 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The seventh-century Indian master Candrakirti lived a life of relative obscurity, only to have his thoughts and writings rejuvenated during the Tibetan transmission of Buddhism. Since then, Candrakirti has been celebrated as offering the most thorough and accurate vision of Nagarjuna's view of emptiness which, in turn, most fully represents the final truth of the Buddha's teaching. Candrakirti's emptiness denies the existence of any "nature" or substantial, enduring essence in ourselves or in the phenomenal world while avoiding the extreme view of nihilism. In this view, our false belief in nature is at the root of our ignorance and is the basis for all mental and emotional pain and disturbance. For many Tibetan scholars, only Candrakirti's Middle Way entirely overcomes our false belief in inherent identity and, consequently, alone overcomes ignorance, delivering freedom from the cycle of uncontrolled death and rebirth known as samsara. Candrakirti's writings have formed the basis for Madhyamaka study in all major traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. In Resurrecting Candrakirti, Kevin Vose presents the reader with a thorough presentation of Candrakirti's rise to prominence and the further elaborations the Tibetans have made on his presentation of emptiness. By splitting Madhyamaka into two subschools, namely the Svatantrika and Prasangika, the Tibetans became pioneers in understanding reality and created a new way to define differences in interpretation. Resurrecting Candrakirti provides the historical and philosophical context necessary to understand both Madhyamaka and its importance to Tibetan Buddhist thought.
Download or read book The Meaning of Life written by Jeffrey Hopkins and published by ReadHowYouWant.com. This book was released on 2011-07 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Each of us struggles with the existential questions of meaning, purpose, and responsibility. In The Meaning of Life, the Dalai Lama examines these questions from the Buddhist perpective, skillfully guiding us to a clearer understanding that can li...
Download or read book Perfecting Wisdom written by The Dalai Lama and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 2019-07-16 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on a lecture given by the Dalai Lama on the wisdom chapter of A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life, this book comments on Tibetan Buddhist philosophy in a clear and direct way. Shantideva’s A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life is one of the most important texts in the Mahayana tradition of Buddhist practice. Its ninth chapter, the section on transcendent wisdom, is known among Buddhist scholars as a challenging exposition of Madhyamika philosophy and difficult to understand without a commentary. This extraordinarily clear discussion of the wisdom chapter is based on an oral teaching given by His Holiness the Dalai Lama before an audience of thousands of Tibetans and Westerners. This invaluable volume with its precise explanation of core issues of Tibetan Buddhism stands as a key work in Buddhist literature. This book was previously published under the title Transcendent Wisdom.
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 Appearing and Empty written by Dalai Lama and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2023-08-29 with total page 547 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this final volume on emptiness, the Dalai Lama skillfully reveals the Prasangikas’ view of the ultimate nature of reality so that we will gain the correct view of emptiness, the selflessness of both persons and phenomena, and have the means to eliminate our own and others’ duhkha. In this last of three volumes on emptiness, the Dalai Lama takes us through the Sautrantika, Yogacara, and Svatantrika views on the ultimate nature of reality and the Prasangikas’ thorough responses to these, so that we gain the correct view of emptiness—the selflessness of both persons and phenomena. This view entails negating inherent existence while also being able to establish conventional existence: emptiness does not mean nothingness. We then learn how to meditate on the correct view by cultivating pristine wisdom that is the union of serenity and insight as taught in the Pali, Chinese, and Tibetan traditions. Such meditation, when combined with the altruistic intention of bodhicitta, leads to the complete eradication of all defilements that obscure our minds. This volume also introduces us to the tathagatagarbha—the buddha essence—and how it is understood in both Tibet and China. Is it permanent? Does everyone have it? In addition, the discussion of sudden and gradual awakening in Zen (Chan) Buddhism and in Tibetan Buddhism is fascinating.
Download or read book The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows written by Tsering Wangchuk and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2017-02-21 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With its emphasis on the concept of buddha-nature, or the ultimate nature of mind, the Uttaratantra is a classical Buddhist treatise that lays out an early map of the Mahāyāna path to enlightenment. Tsering Wangchuk unravels the history of this important Indic text in Tibet by examining numerous Tibetan commentaries and other exegetical texts on the treatise that emerged between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries. These commentaries explored such questions as: Is the buddha-nature teaching found in the Uttaratantra literally true, or does it have to be interpreted differently to understand its ultimate meaning? Does it explicate ultimate truth that is inherently enlightened or ultimate truth that is empty only of independent existence? Does the treatise teach ultimate nature of mind according to the Cittamātra or the Madhyamaka School of Mahāyāna? By focusing on the diverse interpretations that different textual communities employed to make sense of the Uttaratantra, Wangchuk provides a necessary historical context for the development of the text in Tibet.
Download or read book A Study of Svatantrika written by Donald S. Lopez Jr. and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 2016-02-02 with total page 489 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An extensive presentation of Svatantrika Madhyamika that analyzes issues and positions central to Indian philosophy during the final development of Buddhist thought in India. Written by one of the leading scholars and presenters of Buddhism in both academia and popular culture, A Study of Svatantrika presents one of the most influential philosophical schools of Indian and Tibetan Buddhism, sometimes called the Autonomous School. For historical reasons, this school's voice was muted, but its impact on the articulation of Buddhist views throughout the Buddhist world of South and Central Asia cannot be overestimated.
Download or read book The Spirit of Tibetan Buddhism written by Sam van Schaik and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2016-05-28 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A leading writer and researcher on Tibet, Sam van Schaik offers an accessible and authoritative introduction to Tibetan Buddhism by examining its key texts, from its origins in the eighth century to teachings practiced across the world today. In addition to demonstrating its richness and historical importance, van Schaik’s fresh translations of and introductions to each text provide a comprehensive overview of Tibetan Buddhism’s most popular teachings and concepts—including rebirth, compassion, mindfulness, tantric deities, and the graduated path—and discusses how each is put into practice. The book unfolds chronologically, conveying a sense of this thousand-year-old tradition’s progress and evolution. Under the spiritual leadership of the Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhism has an estimated ten to twenty million adherents worldwide. Written for those new to the topic, but also useful to seasoned Buddhist practitioners and students, this much-needed anthological introduction provides the deepest understanding of the key writings currently available.
Download or read book Mipham s Beacon of Certainty written by John W. Pettit and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013-02-08 with total page 594 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For centuries, Dzogchen - a special meditative practice to achieve spontaneous enlightenment - has been misinterpreted by both critics and malinformed meditators as being purely mystical and anti-rational. In the grand spirit of Buddhist debate, 19th century Buddhist philosopher Mipham wrote Beacon of Certainty, a compelling defense of Dzogchen philosophy that employs the very logic it was criticized as lacking. Through lucid and accessible textural translation and penetrating analysis, Pettit presents Mipham as one of Tibet's greatest thinkers.
Download or read book Practicing Wisdom written by Dalai Lama and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-06-25 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Like the bestselling A Flash of Lightning in the Dark of the Night, Practicing Wisdom focuses on Shantideva's Way of the Bodhisattva. While the former includes only a brief introduction to Shantideva's complex and crucial ninth chapter on insight, Practicing Wisdom is a full and detailed follow-up commentary, making it an invaluable statement on the fundamental concept behind Buddhist thought and practice. Shantideva says at the beginning of the final chapter of his Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life: "All branches of the Buddha's teachings are taught for the sake of wisdom. If you wish to bring an end to suffering, you must develop wisdom." Shantideva's ninth chapter is revered in Tibetan Buddhist circles as one of the most authoritative expositions of the Buddha's core insight, and all other Buddhist practices are means to support the generation of this wisdom within the practitioner. In Practicing Wisdom, the Dalai Lama reaffirms his reputation as a great scholar, communicator, and embodiment of the Buddha's Way by illuminating Shantideva's verses, drawing on contrasting commentaries from the Nyingma and Gelug lineages, and leading the reader through the stages of insight up to the highest view of emptiness. These teachings, delivered in southern France in 1993, have been masterfully translated, edited, and annotated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, the Dalai Lama's primary translator and founder of the Institute of Tibetan Classics.
Download or read book Emptiness and Omnipresence written by Brook A. Ziporyn and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2016-05-02 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This “rich and rewarding work” explores the connections between ancient Buddhist doctrine and contemporary philosophy (Publishers Weekly). Tiantai Buddhism emerged in sixth century China from an idiosyncratic and innovative interpretation of the Lotus Sutra. It went on to become one of the most complete, systematic, and influential schools of philosophical thought developed in East Asia. In Emptiness and Omnipresence, Brook A. Ziporyn puts Tiantai into dialogue with modern philosophical concerns to draw out its implications for ethics, epistemology, and metaphysics. Ziporyn explains Tiantai’s unlikely roots, its positions of extreme affirmation and rejection, its religious skepticism and embrace of religious myth, and its view of human consciousness. Ziporyn reveals the profound insights of Tiantai Buddhism while stimulating philosophical reflection on its unexpected effects.
