Mental Purification (Blo sbyong): A Native Tibetan Genre of Religious Literature

From Bodhicitta
< ArticlesArticles/Mental Purification (Blo sbyong): A Native Tibetan Genre of Religious Literature

🤓 Admin Zone 🛠️ hidden to non-admins
Mental Purification (Blo sbyong): A Native Tibetan Genre of Religious Literature
Chapter in a Book
Śāntideva's Life and Cultural World


Please note that many items in our library are simply pages that represent a detailed library catalog entry and citation of someone else's work, presentation, or performance. Read our General Disclaimer for more information.

Description

No abstract given. Here are the first relevant paragraphs:

The revival of Buddhism during the eleventh Century C.E. known to Tibetan historiography as the "latter dissemination of the Doctrine" (bstan pa'i phyi dar; see BA: 63-101) was motivated, to a large extent, by revulsion against the general breakdown of religious practice, discipline, and conduct which had prevailed during the preceding two centuries (Th'u bkwan: 96; Stein: 70-72). Consequently, in order to reestablish the faith on a firmer foundation, the reformist bKa' gdams pa sect founded by the followers of Atiśa (982-1054) undertook as one of its more important missions the presentation of the fundamentals of Buddhism in a manner easily accessible to the clergy and educated laity. One of the means by which this was accomplished was the development of succinct and useful guides to the essentials of Buddhist practice—the uniquely Tibetan literary genre of "Mental Purification" (blo sbyong). After an examination of the meaning of the term blo sbyong, and a general survey of the early history and sources of this genre, this paper will examine two of its most noteworthy examples: the Blo sbyong don bdun ma ("Seven-Topic Mental Purification") (LBDDM) originating in the bKa' gdams pa tradition, and the bLo sbyong mtshon cha 'khor lo ("Wheel Weapon Mental Purification") (LBTCK), whose provenance will be discussed below. (Sweet, introductory remarks, 244)

Citation
Sweet, Michael J. "Mental Purification (Blo sbyong): A Native Tibetan Genre of Religious Literature." In Tibetan Literature: Studies in Genre, edited by José Ignacio Cabezón and Roger R. Jackson, 244-60. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 1996.
Interconnections
2 Scholarship on
Shantideva high res brighter cropped.jpg
Classical WorksAbout this item
An "Introduction to Bodhisattva Practice," the Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra is a poem about the path of a bodhisattva, in ten chapters, written by the Indian Buddhist Śāntideva (fl. c. 685–763). One of the masterpieces of world literature, it is a core text of Mahāyāna Buddhism and continues to be taught, studied, and commented upon in many languages and by many traditions around the world. The main subject of the text is bodhicitta, the altruistic aspiration for enlightenment, and the path and practices of the bodhisattva, the six perfections (pāramitās). The text forms the basis of many contemporary discussions of Buddhist ethics and philosophy.
Muchen Sempa Chenpo Könchok Gyaltsen.jpg
Classical WorksAbout this item
Theg pa chen po blo sbyong rgya rtsa

Compiled by Shonu Gyalchok (ca. fourteenth-fifteenth centuries) and Konchok Gyaltsen (1388-1469)

Compiled in the fifteenth century, Mind Training: The Great Collection (Theg pa chen po blo sbyong rgya rtsa) represents the earliest anthology of a special genre of Tibetan spiritual literature known simply as "mind training" or lojong in Tibetan. Tibetans revere the mind training tradition for its pragmatic and down-to-earth advice, especially the teachings on "transforming adversities into favorable opportunities." This volume contains forty-three individual texts, including the most important works of the mind training cycle, such as Serlingpa's Leveling out All Conceptions, Atisa's Bodhisattva's Jewel Garland, Langri Thangpa's Eight Verses on Mind Training, and Chekawa's Seven-Point Mind Training, together with the earliest commentaries on these seminal texts as well as other independent works. These texts expound the systematic cultivation of such altruistic thoughts and emotions as compassion, love, forbearance, and perseverance. Central to this discipline are the diverse practices for combating our habitual self-centeredness and the afflictive emotions and way of being that arise from it. (Source: Mind Training: The Great Collection translated by Thupten Jinpa)