A Gathering of Brilliant Moons
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A Gathering of Brilliant Moons: Practice Advice from the Rimé Masters of Tibet
Book
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Description
This collection focuses on an influential and inspiring generation of Buddhist teachers: the nineteenth-century ecumenical, or rimé, tradition of eastern Tibet. A Gathering of Brilliant Moons provides lively translations of nineteen pithy and profound works by these great masters, along with essays by their translators which explore the aesthetic qualities of their chosen works, highlight their ecumenical features, and comment on the journey of translation.
Includes works from Jamgon Kongtrul, Dza Patrul Rinpoché, Ju Mipham Rinpoché, Dudjom Lingpa, The Third Dodrupchen, Do Khyentsé, Tokden Sakya Sri, Jikmé Lingpa, Shardza Tashi Gyaltsen, Getsé Mahapandita, Shangton Tenpa Gyatso, and Bamda Thupten Gelek Gyatso.
This book arose from a unique conference on Tibetan translation, where the fourteen translators shared their process with each other and received feedback from their peers with a special focus on the literary aspects of the source texts. As a reflection of this genesis, the accompanying essays in this volume by the translators explore the aesthetic qualities of their chosen works, highlight ecumenical features in them, and comment on the journey of translation. This unique book will be welcomed by religious scholars, Buddhist practitioners, and meditators. (Source: Wisdom Experience)
On the topic of buddha-nature, see especially Tina Draszczyk's translation of Jamgön Kongtrul's Immaculate Vajra Moonrays: An Instruction for the View of Shentong, the Great Madhyamaka in chapter 12, Putting Buddha Nature into Practice.
Citation
Gayley, Holly, and Joshua Schapiro, eds. A Gathering of Brilliant Moons: Practice Advice from the Rimé Masters of Tibet. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2017.
Publisher Link
Table of contents
- Foreword
- Ringu Tulkuix
- Prefacexi
- Introduction1
- Holly Gayley and Joshua Schapiro
- Part I: Worldly Counsel21
- 1. Facing Your Mind23
- Jamgön Kongtrul and Dudjom Lingpa
- Translated by John Canti
- Jamgön Kongtrul and Dudjom Lingpa
- 2. Playful Primers on the Path47
- Dza Patrul Rinpoché
- Translated by Joshua Schapiro
- Dza Patrul Rinpoché
- 3. Dictums for Developing Virtue83
- Shangtön Tenpa Gyatso
- Translated by Gedun Rabsal and Nicole Willock
- Shangtön Tenpa Gyatso
- 4. Bold Judgments on Eating Meat97
- Shardza Tashi Gyaltsen
- Translated by Geoffrey Barstow
- Shardza Tashi Gyaltsen
- 5. A Letter to the Queen109
- Jikmé Lingpa and Getsé Mahāpaṇḍita
- Translated by Jann Ronis
- Jikmé Lingpa and Getsé Mahāpaṇḍita
- 1. Facing Your Mind23
- Part II: Meditation Advice123
- 6. Advice for Solitary Retreat125
- Do Khyentsé, Dza Patrul Rinpoché, and the Third Dodrupchen
- Translated by Holly Gayley
- Do Khyentsé, Dza Patrul Rinpoché, and the Third Dodrupchen
- 7. Encouragement to Pursue the Path171
- Bamda Thupten Gelek Gyatso
- Translated by Michael Sheehy
- Bamda Thupten Gelek Gyatso
- 8. How to Practice When Ill191
- Jikmé Lingpa
- Translated by Wulstan Fletcher
- Jikmé Lingpa
- 9. An Intimate Exhortation201
- Tokden Śākya Śrī
- Translated by Amy Holmes-Tagchungdarpa
- Tokden Śākya Śrī
- 10. A Meditation Instructor's Manual211
- Dza Patrul Rinpoché
- Translated by Sarah Harding
- Dza Patrul Rinpoché
- 6. Advice for Solitary Retreat125
- Part III: Esoteric Instructions239
- 11. Pointing to the Nature of Awareness241
- Ju Mipham Rinpoché
- Translated by Douglas Duckworth
- Ju Mipham Rinpoché
- 12. Putting Buddha Nature into Practice251
- Jamgön Kongtrul
- Translated by Tina Draszczyk
- Jamgön Kongtrul
- 13. Instructions on the Great Perfection285
- Jamgön Kongtrul
- Translated by Marc-Henri Deroche
- Jamgön Kongtrul
- 11. Pointing to the Nature of Awareness241
- Glossary303
- Tibetan Proper Names317
- Contributors327
Interconnections
1 Full translation of
Shardza spends the bulk of his work criticizing meat. He calls meat "nauseating" and argues at length that eating it is sinful and leads to birth in hell. But then, on the final page of his treatise, Shardza abruptly reverses his position and claims that people must eat meat. Without it, he claims, the body will become weak, feeble, and, crucially, unable to practice religion. And practicing religion is a rare opportunity, available only when one achieves a human birth with all of the freedoms and riches intact. But Shardza's advocacy of meat eating does not negate his earlier concerns.
Instead, he is claiming that people should eat meat despite the fact that it is sinful. Further, he proposes that, in order to minimize the negative karma of meat eating, people should eat "suitable" meat. But what kind of meat is suitable? To this Shardza gives two examples: the meat of animals that have died naturally and meat purchased in a market. The first involves no act of killing, so is karmically pure. Shardza himself followed just such a diet, eating only the meat of animals that died naturally. Meat purchased in the market is more problematic, and Shardza clearly sees it as an inferior option. But he does include it, seeming to reflect the idea that meat purchased in the market is more distant from the act of killing than when someone either personally kills the animal or specifically asks someone else to do it for them. (Source: Barstow, The Faults of Meat, 237)
2 Contains chapter or part
The Faults of Eating Meat is a Tibetan-language text by Shardza Tashi Gyaltsen (1859–1935), the preeminent Bon scholar and practitioner of his era. Written in a colloquial style for a broad but literate audience, the text navigates the tension between the Buddhist and Bon ethical imperative of compassion toward all beings and the practical reality of the high-altitude Tibetan diet. Shardza opens with a forceful condemnation of meat eating, equating it with karmic consequences and a lack of compassion, before conceding that meat may be a medical necessity in the Tibetan context—a position rooted in the indigenous medical tradition's view that abstaining from meat weakens the body and compromises one's ability to practice the Dharma. His resolution invokes the Vinaya rule of threefold purity, permitting only meat not seen, heard, or suspected to have been killed for the consumer, and proposes the consumption of meat from animals that died naturally or accidentally as the only ethically defensible option for those unable to maintain a vegetarian diet. The text reflects the broader vegetarian movement that flourished in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Kham, particularly among non-Geluk practitioners associated with the rime (nonsectarian) movement, of which Shardza was an active participant. As a Bon contribution to an overwhelmingly Buddhist discourse on vegetarianism, The Faults of Eating Meat occupies a distinctive place in the corpus of Tibetan ethical literature on diet and animal welfare.
This chapter examines two pedagogical works by the nineteenth-century Tibetan master Dza Patrul Rinpoche that exemplify his distinctive teaching style—accessible yet profound, playful yet spiritually sophisticated. The Low-Born Sage Speaks: The Ladder to Liberation presents Buddhist categories through interlocking verses that ultimately reduce the entire path to simple practices like examining one's own mind. The Explanation of Chudrulü offers a tongue-in-cheek etymology of a colloquial Tibetan expression, functioning simultaneously as humor, critique of excessive scholasticism, and subtle allegory about Buddhist practice. Both texts frame themselves as performances responding to challenges, showcasing Patrul's virtuosity through puns, wordplay, and multilayered meanings. They demonstrate how Patrul's compositional skill made complex Buddhist teachings comprehensible to ordinary practitioners while embedding deeper significance for advanced students. The chapter also explores Patrul's ecumenical approach to Buddhist lineages and his critique of overly scholastic methods, situating these works within the broader context of nineteenth-century Kham and the rime (nonsectarian) movement.
Categories:
- Library Items
- Books
- Gayley, H.
- Schapiro, J.
- Fletcher, W.
- Harding, S.
- Draszczyk, M.
- Canti, J.
- Sheehy, M.
- Duckworth, D.
- Ronis, J.
- Deroche, M.
- Holmes-Tagchungdarpa, A.
- Willock, N.
- Barstow, G.
- 'jam mgon kong sprul
- Bdud 'joms gling pa
- 'jigs med gling pa
- Dpal sprul rin po che
- Mi pham rgya mtsho
- Dodrupchen, 3rd
- Mdo mkhyen brtse
- ShAkya shrI
- Shar rdza bkra shis rgyal mtshan
- Dge rtse ma hA paN+Di ta tshe dbang mchog grub
- Zhang ston bstan pa rgya mtsho
- Thub bstan dge legs rgya mtsho
- Wisdom Publications
- Decade: 2010s
