Distinguishing Phenomena from Their Intrinsic Nature
Distinguishing Phenomena from Their Intrinsic Nature

Author: Jamgon Mipham

Publisher: Shambhala Publications

Published: 2021-09-07

Total Pages: 114

ISBN-13: 1559395028

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Outlining the difference between appearance and reality, this work shows that the path to awakening involves leaving behind the inaccurate and limiting beliefs we have about ourselves and the world around us and opening ourselves to the limitless potential of our true nature. By divesting the mind of confusion, the treatise explains, we see things as they actually are. This insight allows for the natural unfolding of compassion and wisdom. According to tradition, Maitreya, the Buddha's regent, taught the root text of Distinguishing Phenomena from Their Intrinsic Nature to Asanga, who recorded the verses. The text is part of a larger collection of philosophical works that have become classics of the Indian Buddhist tradition. This volume includes commentaries by Khenpo Shenga and Ju Mipham, whose discussions illuminate the subtleties of the root text and provide valuable insight into the nature of reality and the process of awakening. Khenpo Shenga and Ju Mipham were both among the most influential figures to come out of the Tibetan tradition in recent centuries. Their writings contributed tremendously to the flourishing of Buddhist philosophy and practice in Tibet.

Vajra Wisdom
Vajra Wisdom

Author: Shechen Gyaltsap IV

Publisher: Shambhala Publications

Published: 2013-04-08

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 0834829002

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Vajra Wisdom presents the commentaries of two great nineteenth-century Nyingma masters that guide practitioners engaged in development stage practice through a series of straightforward instructions. The rarity of this kind of material in English makes it indispensable for practitioners and scholars alike. The goal of development stage meditation in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition is to directly realize the inseparability of phenomena and emptiness. Preceded by initiation and oral instructions, the practitioner arrives at this view through the profound methods of deity visualization, mantra recitation, and meditative absorption.

Buddha Nature
Buddha Nature

Author: Maitreya

Publisher: Shambhala Publications

Published: 2018-08-14

Total Pages: 409

ISBN-13: 155939482X

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The Buddha's definitive teachings on how we should understand the ground of enlightenment and the nature and qualities of buddhahood. All sentient beings, without exception, have buddha nature—the inherent purity and perfection of the mind, untouched by changing mental states. Thus there is neither any reason for conceit nor self-contempt. This is obscured by veils that are removable and do not touch the inherent purity and perfection of the nature of the mind. The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra, one of the “Five Treatises” said to have been dictated to Asanga by the Bodhisattva Maitreya, presents the Buddha’s definitive teachings on how we should understand this ground of enlightenment and clarifies the nature and qualities of buddhahood. This seminal text details with great clarity the view that forms the basis for Vajrayana, and especially Mahamudra, practice.

The Treasury of Knowledge: Book One
The Treasury of Knowledge: Book One

Author: Jamgon Kongtrul

Publisher: Shambhala Publications

Published: 2003-06-05

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13: 1559398825

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In Tibetan religious literature, Jamgön Kongtrül's Treasury of Knowledge in ten books stands out as a unique, encyclopedic masterpiece embodying the entire range of Buddhist teachings as they were preserved in Tibet. In his monumental Treasury of Knowledge, Jamgön Kongtrül presents a complete account of the major lines of thought and practice that comprise Tibetan Buddhism. This first book of The Treasury which serves as a prelude to Kongtrul's survey describes four major cosmological systems found in the Tibetan tradition—those associated with the Hinayana, Mahayana, Kalachakra, and Dzogchen teachings. Each of these cosmologies shows how the world arises from mind, whether through the accumulated results of past actions or from the constant striving of awareness to know itself.

A Garland of Views
A Garland of Views

Author: Padmasambhava

Publisher: Shambhala Publications

Published: 2016-04-05

Total Pages: 153

ISBN-13: 0834840065

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A Garland of Views presents both a concise commentary by the eighth-century Indian Buddhist master Padmasambhava on a chapter from the Guhyagarbha Tantra on the different Buddhist and non-Buddhist philosophical views, including the Great Perfection (Dzogchen), and an explicative commentary on Padmasambhava’s text by the nineteenth-century scholar Jamgön Mipham (1846–1912). Padmasambhava’s text is a core text of the Nyingma tradition because it provides the basis for the system of nine vehicles (three sutra vehicles and six tantra vehicles) that subsequently became the accepted way of classifying the different Buddhist paths in the Nyingma tradition. Mipham’s commentary is the one most commonly used to explain Padmasambhava’s teaching. Mipham is well known for his prolific, lucid, and original writings on many subjects, including science, medicine, and philosophy, in addition to Tibetan Buddhist practice and theory.

The Foundation of Buddhist Practice
The Foundation of Buddhist Practice

Author: Thubten Chodron

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2018-05-15

Total Pages: 292

ISBN-13: 161429545X

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The second volume in the Dalai Lama’s definitive and comprehensive series on the stages of the Buddhist path, The Library of Wisdom and Compassion. Volume 1, Approaching the Buddhist Path, contained introductory material that set the context for Buddhist practice. This second volume, The Foundation of Buddhist Practice, describes the important teachings that will help us establish a flourishing Dharma practice. Traditional presentations of the path in Tibetan Buddhism assume the audience already has faith in the Buddha and believes in rebirth and karma, but the Dalai Lama realized early on that a different approach was needed for his Western and contemporary Asian students. Starting with the four seals and the two truths, His Holiness illuminates key Buddhist ideas, such as dependent arising, emptiness, and karma, to support the reader in engaging with this rich tradition. This second volume in the Library of Wisdom and Compassion series provides a wealth of reflections on the relationship between a spiritual mentor and student, how to begin a meditation practice, and the relationship between the body and mind.

Mipham's Sword of Wisdom
Mipham's Sword of Wisdom

Author: Khenchen Palden Sherab

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2018-06-26

Total Pages: 343

ISBN-13: 1614294402

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Presents the Nyingma-lineage understanding of valid cognition in Buddhism. Its core subject is the Buddhist view of the two truths—the relative truth of conventional appearances and the absolute truth of emptiness and buddha nature—and how the two truths are inseparable. The main questions posed are: How can we know the two truths and how can we be certain that our knowledge is accurate? “The great scholar and advanced spiritual master Jamgon Mipham’s Sword of Wisdom is a classic work that explicates valid cognition. I am happy to see it now available in English with commentary and scholarly appendices that will be very helpful for serious students in understanding this profound and important text.”—His Holiness the Sakya Trichen 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. When you’ve finished Mipham’s Sword of Wisdom, you’ll have rich insights into Nyingma teachings on valid cognition, a profound new understanding of the two truths and their inseparability, a solid foundation in valid cognition through direct perception and reasoning according to the traditional Indian treatises of Dharmakirti and Dignaga, and much more.

Ornament of Reason
Ornament of Reason

Author: Mabja Jangchub Tsondru

Publisher: Shambhala Publications

Published: 2011-04-16

Total Pages: 613

ISBN-13: 1559393688

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In the Root of the Middle Way, Nagarjuna presents a magical method of reasoning, inviting everyone who encounters these lucid and fearless contemplations to follow him on a journey to the heart of transcendent insight. Inspired by the Buddha's teachings on profound emptiness in the Prajnaparamita Sutras, Nagarjuna sets out to probe what appears to be the most fundamental facts of the world, challenging us to question even our most deeply ingrained ideas and what seem to be self-evident facts. In a series of unassuming and penetrating investigations, he asks basic questions such as: "What does it mean for something to occur? What is meant by 'going' or by 'coming'? Does the eye see? Does fire burn fuel? What is an example of being right? What does it mean to be wrong? Nagarjuna extends an invitation to open-minded and unprejudiced inquiry, and from his reader he asks for nothing more and nothing less than sincere and honest answers. Yet where are our answers? Once we begin to follow Nagarjuna's clear and direct steps, the gateway to the inconceivable emerges—perhaps unexpectedly. The present work contains Nagarjuna's verses on the Middle Way accompanied by Mabja Jangchub Tsöndrü's famed commentary, the Ornament of Reason. Active in the twelfth century, Mabja was among the first Tibetans to rely on the works of the Indian master Candrakirti, and his account of the Middle Way exercised a deep and lasting influence on the development of Madhyamaka philosophy in all four schools of Buddhism in Tibet. Sharp, concise, and yet comprehensive, the Ornament of Reason has been cherished by generations of scholar-practitioners. The late Khunu Lama Tenzin Gyaltsen Rinpoche, a renowned authority on the subject, often referred to this commentary as "the best there is." A visual outline of the commentary has been added that clearly shows the structure of each chapter and makes the arguments easier to follow.

Quantum Path to Enlightenment
Quantum Path to Enlightenment

Author: Graham Smetham

Publisher: Lulu.com

Published: 2014-11-24

Total Pages: 396

ISBN-13: 1326017675

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Researches inspired by the quantum Buddhist psycho-metaphysics of Michael Mensky.

Ornament of the Great Vehicle Sutras
Ornament of the Great Vehicle Sutras

Author: Maitreya

Publisher: Shambhala Publications

Published: 2014-11-11

Total Pages: 1042

ISBN-13: 083480011X

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The Buddhist masterpiece Ornament of the Great Vehicle Sūtras, often referred to by its Sanskrit title, Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra, is part of a collection known as the Five Maitreya Teachings, a set of philosophical works that have become classics of the Indian Buddhist tradition. Maitreya, the Buddha’s regent, is held to have entrusted these profound and vast instructions to the master Asaṅga in the heavenly realm of Tuṣita. The Ornament provides a comprehensive description of the bodhisattva’s view, meditation, and enlightened activities. Bodhisattvas are beings who, out of vast love for all sentient beings, have dedicated themselves to the task of becoming fully awakened buddhas, capable of helping all beings in innumerable and vast ways to become enlightened themselves. To fully awaken requires practicing great generosity, patience, energy, discipline, concentration, and wisdom, and Maitreya’s text explains what these enlightened qualities are and how to develop them. This volume includes commentaries by Khenpo Shenga and Ju Mipham, whose discussions illuminate the subtleties of the root text and provide valuable insight into how to practice the way of the bodhisattva. Drawing on the Indian masters Vasubandhu and, in particular, Sthiramati, Mipham explains the Ornament with eloquence and brilliant clarity. This commentary is among his most treasured works.