Searching for the Self

🤓 Admin Zone 🛠️ hidden to non-admins

view on research edit on research Add an excerpt Add a bilingual page Add full text subpage

Searching for the Self

Book

LibraryBooksBibliography PDF Link

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. You can find more information about this item on the publisher website.

Descriptionངོ་སྤྲོད།

In Searching for the Self the Dalai Lama leads us to delve deeply into the topic of the emptiness of inherent existence, presenting it from a variety of approaches while focusing on identifying our erroneous views and directing us to the actual mode of existence of all persons and phenomena.

Placing our study of reality within the auspicious context of a compassionate motivation to benefit all sentient beings, the Dalai Lama explains why realizing emptiness is important and what qualities are needed to do that, and he evaluates various tenet systems’ perspectives on this vast topic. He then helps us understand our perceptions and the mental states involved in both our ignorant and accurate cognitions. He examines inherent existence and other fantasized ways of existence that we seek to disprove through reasoned analysis and presents the Middle Way view that abandons all extremes. The closing chapters by Thubten Chodron discuss the three characteristics of impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and not-self as explained in the Pāli tradition and show how meditation on these can lead to the meditative breakthrough to realize nirvāṇa.

Engaging in this investigation with His Holiness will challenge our deepest-held beliefs and uproot false ways of viewing ourselves and the world that are so habitual we don’t even notice them. Get ready to be challenged and intrigued, for realizing the nature of reality has the power to cut our defilements at the root and free us from cyclic existence forever!

(Source: Wisdom Publications)

Citation

14th Dalai Lama and Thubten Chodron. Searching for the Self. The Library of Wisdom and Compassion 7. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publication, 2022.

Publisher Link

https://wisdomexperience.org/product/searching-for-the-self/

Table of contents

• Preface by Bhikṣuṇī Thubten Chodronxiii
• Abbreviationsxxi

• Introduction by His Holiness the Dalai Lama1
• 1. The Importance of Realizing the Ultimate Nature, Emptiness5
  • Why Realizing Emptiness Is Important5
  • What Is Emptiness?9
  • Emptiness, Its Nature, Its Purpose, and Its Meaning11
  • Suitable Vessels to Receive Teachings on Emptiness16
  • Prerequisites for Insight23

• 2. The Nālandā Tradition25
  • Illuminating the Threefold Faith: An Invocation of the Seventeen Great Scholar-Adepts of Glorious Nālandā26
  • Commentary on "Iluminating the Threefold Faith"32
  • Reliable Guides and Explanations35

• 3. Introduction to the Philosophical Tenet Systems39
  • The Value of Studying the Tenet Systems40
  • Buddhist Tenet Systems and Their Sages46

• 4. Overview of Buddhist and Non-Buddhist Tenet Systems51
  • The Worldly Person and the Yogī51
  • Non-Buddhist Tenet Systems54
  • Buddhist Tenet Systems56
  • Vaibhāṣika57
  • Sautrāntika59
  • Yogācāra (Cittamātra)64
  • Madhyamaka69

• 5. Comparing Assertions75
  • Levels of Selflessness of Persons77
  • Levels of Selflessness of Phenomena80
  • What Is the Middle Way?83
  • Gradually Leading Us to the Correct View86
  • Definitive and Interpretable92
  • Proving the Definitive Meaning100
  • The Three Doors of Liberation103
  • Nāgārjuna's Homage107

• 6. Cognizing Subjects and Cognized Objects111
  • The Steps ot Understand Emptiness111
  • The Process of Cognition114
  • Syllogisms and Consequences125

• 7. The Importance of Realizing Emptiness129
  • Who Am I?129
  • The Root of Saṃsāra132
  • How Ignorance Grasps Its Object135
  • The Development of Afflictions in Daily Life137
  • Inappropriate Attention and Distorted Conceptions139
  • Conceptualizations and Elaborations140
  • Ceasing Saṃsāra147
  • Emptiness Is a Nonaffirming Negative150
  • Realizing the Selflessness of Persons and Selflessness of Phenomena152
  • Characteristics of Reality156
  • The Object of Attainment158

• 8. Objects of Negation161
  • Objects Negated by the Path and Objects Negated by Reasoning161
  • The Importance of Correctly Identifying the Object of Negation164
  • What Is Not the Object of Negation168
  • The Valid Sense of I170
  • Inherent Existence171
  • Self of Persons176
  • Self of Phenomena187
  • The Heart Sutra189

• 9. The Middle Way View197
  • Settling the Object of Negation and the View of Selflessness197
  • Correctly Identifying the Object of Negation to Avoid the Two Extremes202
  • Confusing Existence with Inherent Existence and Emptiness with Nonexistence204
  • Madhyamaka's Unique Quality206
  • Saṃsāra and Nirvāṇa Are Empty and Dependent211
  • Madhyamikas Are Not Nihilists216
  • Emptiness Exists and Is Itself Empty221
  • Do Mādhyamikas Have Theses?223
  • Abandoning the Two Extremes226

• 10. The Extreme of Absolutism229
  • Buddhist Essentialists That Don't Refute Enough230
  • What Do Śrāvakas and Solitary Realizers Realize?232
  • The Fundamental Vehicle and the Universal Vehicle237
  • Examining Our Absolutist Beliefs238
  • A Creator or Prior Intelligence241
  • The Origin of the Universe246
  • Self and Soul247
  • Misunderstanding Buddha Nature249
  • Causes and Effects, Permanent and Impermanent251
  • Buddhism and Other Religions253
  • Awakening and Other Spiritual Traditions255
  • Free Will and Predetermination258

• 11. Pāli Tradition: Abandoning the Two Extremes261
  • Wisdom261
  • Penetrating the Four Truths262
  • Subduing Defilements265
  • The Importance of Realizing Selflessness268
  • Cultivating Wisdom and Gaining Realization272
  • Calming Reactivity ot Feelings274
  • Unique Qualities of the Buddha's Teaching277
  • Relinquishing Wrong Views279

• 12. Pāli Tradition: Cultivating Insight Knowledge285
  • Schemas to Use and Phenomena to Examine286
  • The Three Characteristics288
  • Abandon What Is Not Yours300
  • Insight Knowledge302
  • The Six Sets of Six303
  • Analysis of the Thirty-Six Factors as Not-Self308
  • Understanding Selflessness by Means of the Elements312
  • Understanding Selflessness by Means of Derived Forms317

• CODA: The Pāli Abhidharma321
  • Formulating a Philosophy Rooted in the Buddha's Teachings322
  • The Early Abhidharmikas324
  • The Dharma Theory326
  • The Development of the Dharma Theory329
  • Substance and Own-Nature332
  • Own-Characteristic334
  • Designation and Concepts338
  • The Two Truths340
  • The Theory of Form343
  • The Theory of Smallest Particles346
  • The Theory of Momentariness (Instantaneous Being)349
  • The Theory of Time351
  • The Theory of Space352
  • The Evolution of the Abhidharma353
  • Some Reflections355
  • The Abhidharmikas and Later Indian Philosophers358

• Notes361
• Glossary375
• Recommended Reading395
• Index399
• About the Authors423

Interconnections

Works related to this item

Śūnyatā - The state of being empty of an innate nature due to a lack of independently existing characteristics. Skt शून्यता  Tib སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་  Ch 空;空門  

Go to the page with the definition of 'emptiness'

Madhyamaka - Along with Yogācāra, it is one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Nāgārjuna around the second century CE, it is rooted in the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, though its initial exposition was presented in Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā. Skt मध्यमक  Tib དབུ་མ་  Ch 中觀見  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Middle Way'

Āvaraṇa - Literally, that which obscures or conceals. Often listed as a set of two obscurations (sgrib gnyis): the afflictive emotional obscurations (Skt. kleśāvaraṇa, Tib. nyon mongs pa'i sgrib pa) and the cognitive obscurations (Skt. jñeyāvaraṇa, Tib. shes bya'i sgrib pa). By removing the first, one becomes free of suffering, and by removing the second, one becomes omniscient. Skt आवरण  Tib སྒྲིབ་པ་  

Go to the page with the definition of 'defilements'

Yogācāra - Along with Madhyamaka, it was one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Asaṅga and Vasubandhu around the fourth century CE, many of its central tenets have roots in the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra and the so-called third turning of the dharma wheel (see tridharmacakrapravartana). Skt योगाचार  Tib རྣལ་འབྱོར་སྤྱོད་པ་  Ch 瑜伽行派  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Yogācāra'

Cittamātra - Though it is sometimes used synonymously with Yogācāra, it is in fact one of the more prominent philosophical theories associated with this school. It asserts that the objects in the external world with which we interact are actually mentally created representations appearing as those objects. The character of these perceptions is predetermined by our own karmic conditioning that is stored in the ālayavijñāna. Skt चित्तमात्र  Tib སེམས་ཙམ་  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Cittamātra'

Madhyamaka - Along with Yogācāra, it is one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Nāgārjuna around the second century CE, it is rooted in the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, though its initial exposition was presented in Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā. Skt मध्यमक  Tib དབུ་མ་  Ch 中觀見  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Madhyamaka'

Śrāvaka - The disciples of the Buddha who aspire to attain individual liberation or nirvāṇa. The final goal of the Hearers is to become an arhat, a state in which one has totally eliminated the inner problems of attachment, hatred and ignorance, the main causes for rebirth in this cycle of existence. There are four stages of a śrāvaka path including eight phases. Skt श्रावक  Tib ཉན་ཐོས།  Ch 聲聞  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Śrāvakas'

Abhidharma - Abhidharma generally refers to the corpus of Buddhist texts which deals with the typological, phenomenological, metaphysical, and epistemological presentation of Buddhist concepts and teachings. The Abhidharma teachings present a metaknowledge of Buddhist sūtras through analytical and systemic schemas and are said to focus on developing wisdom among the three principles of training. The Abhidharma is presented alongside Sūtra and Vinaya as one of the three baskets of the teachings of the Buddha. Skt अभिधर्म  Tib ཆོས་མངོན་པ།  Ch 阿毗达磨  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Abhidharma'