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The Great Perfection (rDzogs chen in Tibetan) is a philosophical and meditative teaching. Its inception is attributed to Vairocana, one of the first seven Tibetan Buddhist monks ordained at Samye in the eight century A.D. The doctrine is regarded among Buddhists as the core of the teachings adhered to by the Nyingmapa school whilst similarly it is held to be the fundamental teaching among the Bonpos, the non-Buddhist school in Tibet. After a historical introduction to Tibetan Buddhism and the Bon, the author deals with the legends of Vairocana (Part I), analysing early documents containing essential elements of the doctrine and comparing them with the Ch'an tradition. He goes on to explore i...
World-renowned Buddhist scholar Herbert V. Guenther here offers the first comprehensive study of the rDzogs-chen or Ati tradition of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. Matrix of Mystery explores man's ability to preserve as well as transmit essential insights into the structure of reality. Utilizing a key root Buddhist scripture, the Guhyagarbha ("Matrix of Mystery"), along with dozens of commentarial Tibetan textual sources, Guenther presents the most profound teachings of the Buddhist tradition, which represent the culmination of religious thought and practice in Tibet. In relating these teachings in modern scientific and humanistic perspectives, he demonstrates how, in many cases, th...
Writing in the language of the new sciences, Herbert Guenther traces the evolution of Buddhist views on cognition and points to their relevance in the contemporary world. The history of Buddhist thought is a unique example of the interplay between reductionism and creativity, between conservatism and innovation, and it is the author's purpose to examine the interaction between these complementary movements. Of decisive importance in this context is the idea of " mind, " which Buddhism recognized early on as a process rather than a thing. This recognition marked the transition from structure-oriented thinking to a vigorous process-oriented thinking, which climaxed in the holistic movement known as rDzogs-chen. Based on original texts in the Pali, Tibetan, and Sanskrit languages, the book develops the Buddhist ideas out of the context in which they originated.
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.
This book discusses meditation practice as a disciple of Christ through the lenses and inflexions of Asian spiritual traditions. Inspired by the author’s more than four decades of Buddhist spiritual formation and a transformative faith encounter with Jesus Christ during a sabbatical retreat, this book explores experiential, spiritual, and theological dimensions of contemplative practice for a Spirit-illumined, Spirit-transformed life towards spiritual maturity and Christlikeness. It is a book that cuts across religious boundaries while honoring the essence of tradition by foregrounding the praxis of contemplative spirituality. Part spiritual autobiography, part theological reflection, and part meditation instruction manual, this book invites Buddhist and Christian practitioners as well as meditators of diverse traditions to engage with the spirit and content of this book in a journey of gospel-shaped contemplative and interspiritual adventure.
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This volume consists of eight studies, each one bringing to light new material of use to comparative religionists and historians of religion, as well as to students of Tibetan Buddhism. These studies are based on critical scrutiny of indigenous sources and, in many cases, the learned opinion of native Tibetan scholars. The studies are organized around two dominant themes in Tibetan religious life — the quest for clarity and insight via visionary exploration and philosophical exploration.
For three decades, E. Gene Smith ran the Library of Congress's Tibetan Text Publication Project of the United States Public Law 480 (PL480) - an effort to salvage and reprint the Tibetan literature that had been collected by the exile community or by members of the Bhotia communities of Sikkim, Bhutan, India, and Nepal. Smith wrote prefaces to these reprinted books to help clarify and contextualize the particular Tibetan texts: the prefaces served as rough orientations to a poorly understood body of foreign literature. Originally produced in print quantities of twenty, these prefaces quickly became legendary, and soon photocopied collections were handed from scholar to scholar, achieving an almost cult status. These essays are collected here for the first time. The impact of Smith's research on the academic study of Tibetan literature has been tremendous, both for his remarkable ability to synthesize diverse materials into coherent accounts of Tibetan literature, history, and religious thought, and for the exemplary critical scholarship he brought to this field.
The Tibetan teaching of Dzog-chen (pronounced ZOAK-chen), also known as Ati yoga, is considered by its adherents to be the definitive and most secret teaching of the Buddha. Primordial Experience is a translation of a key text articulating the Dzog-chen teachings, "Gold Refined from Ore," by Mañjusrimitra, an Indian disciple of the first teacher of Ati yoga. According to the Dzog-chen teachings, purity of mind is always present and only needs to be recognized.