Perfecting Wisdom

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Perfecting Wisdom: How Things Appear and How They Truly Are - A commentary on the Wisdom Chapter of A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life

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Descriptionངོ་སྤྲོད།

This extraordinarily clear exposition on the wisdom section of A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life is based on an oral teaching given in Switzerland by H.H. the Dalai Lama before an audience of thousands of Tibetans and Westerners in 1979. 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 invaluable volume with its precise elucidation of the core issues of Tibetan Buddhism stands as a key work in Buddhist literature. (Source: Shambhala Publications)

Citation

Dalai Lama, 14th. Perfecting Wisdom: How Things Appear and How They Truly Are; A Commentary on the Wisdom Chapter of A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life. Translated, edited, and annotated by B. Alan Wallace. Core Teachings of the Dalai Lama. Boulder, CO: Shambhala Publications, 2019.

Publisher Link

https://www.shambhala.com/perfecting-wisdom-15300.html

Table of contents

Forewordvii
Acknowledgmentsix
Introduction: The Place of Wisdom in Spiritual Practice3

Part One: The Methods Needed for Cultivating Wisdom5
1. Introduction to the Two Truths that Comprise Reality7
- The Classification of the Two Truths7
- People Who Ascertain the Two Truths9
- Qualms Concerning the Lack of Intrinsic Existence11
2. Critique of the Idealist View17
3. The Necessity of the Centrist Path17
- The Necessity of Realizing Emptiness27

Part Two: Identitylessness45
4. Personal Identitylessness47
- Refutation of an Intrinsic "I"47
- Refutation of the Samkhya Theory of Self51
- Refutation of the Nyaya Theory of Self55
- Rebuttal of Arguments against Identitylessness56
5. Phenomenal Identitylessness61
- The Four Applications of Mindfulness61

Part Three: Refutation of True Existence79
6. Refutation of Others' Conceptions of True Existence81
7. Proofs of the Absence of True Existence83
- The "Diamond-Splinters" Argument83
- The Interdependence Argument95
- The Argument Concerning the Arising and Cessation of Entities and Non-Entities96
8. Encouragement to Strive to Realize Emptiness99

Notes105
Bibliography127
Books by the Dalai Lama129
Index131

Interconnections

Works related to this item

1 Partial translation of

Śāntideva (ཞི་བ་ལྷ་). Bodhicaryāvatāra [बोधिचर्यावतार]. byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa [བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་སྤྱོད་པ་ལ་འཇུག་པ།]. [The Way of the Bodhisattva]. Tengyur, RKTST 3216 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=3216&typ=2.

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.

2 Other editions

Dalai Lama, 14th. Transcendent Wisdom: A Commentary on the Ninth Chapter of Shantideva's Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life. Translated, edited, and annotated by B. Alan Wallace. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 1988.

Books1988About this item

A translation of a commentary by the 14th Dalai Lama on the ninth chapter of the Bodhicaryāvatāra, based on an oral teaching given in 1979 in Rikon, Switzerland.

Dalai Lama, 14th. Transcendent Wisdom: A Teaching on the Wisdom Section of Shantideva's Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life. Translated, edited, and annotated by B. Alan Wallace. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2009.

Books2009About this item

A translation of a commentary by the 14th Dalai Lama on the ninth chapter of the Bodhicaryāvatāra based on an oral teaching given in 1979 in Rikon, Switzerland.

1 Teaching based on

Śāntideva (ཞི་བ་ལྷ་). Bodhicaryāvatāra [बोधिचर्यावतार]. byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa [བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་སྤྱོད་པ་ལ་འཇུག་པ།]. [The Way of the Bodhisattva]. Tengyur, RKTST 3216 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=3216&typ=2.

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.