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A scholarly article by Dr. Alexander Berzin on Study Buddhism surveying how the four immeasurable attitudes — love, compassion, joy, and equanimity — are understood and formulated across Theravāda, Vaibhāṣika/Sautrāntika, Mahāyāna, and Bon traditions. Drawing on Indian sources including Vasubandhu, Asaṅga, and Maitreya as well as Tibetan masters from Longchenpa to Tsongkhapa to Pabongkha, the article examines variations in the definitions of each of the four, their sequential ordering, whether they precede or follow the development of bodhicitta, and the levels of meditative concentration required for them to be truly "immeasurable." The article concludes with a detailed summary of the full range of interpretive variations across traditions. +
The Four Immeasurables in the Bodhisattvabhūmi and Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra and Their Implementation in a Measuring Scale for a Study of Brain Imaging +
Firstly, this paper discusses the connotation of the Four Immeasurables (''catvāryapramāṇāni'') in the ''Bodhisattvabhūmi'' and ''Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra''. The conclusion is as follows: These two texts approach the four immeasurable states of mind from two different points of view, and based on the three categories of sentient beings, the immeasurables of kindness, compassion, and empathic joy arise accordingly when one is faced with sentient beings in states of neither-pain-nor-pleasure (kindness), pain (compassion), and pleasure (empathic joy) respectively. On the other hand, delusion, hatred, and greed can also be aroused when one is faced with these three kinds of states (neither-pain-nor-pleasure, pain, and pleasure). Consequently, bodhisattvas generate a strong intention (''adhyāśaya'') - the mind state of equanimity, the fourth immeasurable - to guide these three categories of sentient beings to abandon defilements. This interpretation goes beyond the traditional definition of the Four Immeasurables in earlier Buddhist thought.
Secondly, based on the aforementioned conclusion, in order to develop a measuring scale and study the brain imaging measurements of fMRI/DIT, we surveyed some relevant papers, and we found that there are five questions or topics which need to be discussed between Buddhists and researchers in psychological studies and neurosciences in the future.
Read the full article [https://spen.dila.edu.tw/journal_detail/959.htm here]. +
The ''Gaganagañjaparipṛcchā'' is a Mahāyāna ''dharmaparyāya'' and is the eighth chapter of the great canonical collection of Mahāyāna Buddhism, the ''Mahāsaṃnipāta''. The text is lost in the original Indic, but survives in Chinese and Tibetan translations, with several passages of the Sanskrit version preserved as quotations in later commentaries. It has been regarded as an authoritative canonical source throughout the intellectual history of Mahāyāna Buddhism, but scant scholarly attention has been paid to this important text. Thus, this paper aims to provide a concise yet comprehensive introduction of the ''Gaganagañjaparipṛcchā'', including its textual history, its basic structure, and its reception in Indian, Tibetan, and East Asian Buddhist traditions. It also examines how the fundamental concepts of Mahāyāna Buddhism, such as emptiness, endlessness, and imperishability, are signified
in the ''Gaganagañjaparipṛcchā'' by the image of the sky (Skt. ''gagana''), the central metaphor of the text. +
No abstract given. Here are the first relevant paragraphs:
In 1931 a local inhabitant of Gilgit made a discovery of great moment for the discipline of Buddhist textual studies. Casual foraging for firewood or, according to some, for birch-bark folios to use as roof caulking, from a series of ancient mounds that had
already been plundered for the same purpose, was a common way for local cowherds grazing their cattle in the area to spend their time.[1] Eventually, under the larger central mound, one such forager chanced upon well preserved remains of what was probably a small Buddhist monastic library. The manuscripts filled a box, which was quickly removed for safekeeping and very likely for profit. News of this truly exceptional find soon spread, the British explorer Aurel Stein being the first European on the scene, and the major part of the manuscripts were eventually acquired, by a variety of avenues and parties, to be preserved for posterity. Although folios from this collection are deposited in a number of institutions around the world, the great bulk are now held by the National Archive in New Delhi.[2] Collectively manuscripts from this source are known as 'the Gilgit manuscripts' and for present purposes references to the Gilgit 'manuscripts' or 'collection' are to the total body of materials recovered from this original source.[3]<br> The Gilgit manuscripts have inevitably been the subject of considerable attention, not least because they preserve texts in some cases either known only from relatively late Nepalese sources or known only from Tibetan and Chinese translations. A terminus ante quern of 630 C.E. for the collection has been suggested on palaeographic grounds by von Hinüber, who argues that one of the scripts employed in the collection became obsolete in the Gilgit region by this date.[4] Gilgit manuscripts thus give us insights into these texts as circulated in the 6th century C.E.. Our interest is further enhanced when a Gilgit ms. records a distinct recension
of a given text, as is the case with the ''Samādhirāja Sūtra''. The collection in its entirety is not catalogued, although the latest and most thorough description of the larger part was published by von Hinüber in 1979.[5] The same author, almost ten years later, declined to offer an exact figure for the number of texts preserved, even in the Delhi holding alone. Remarking upon recent progress in the identification of Gilgit material, he suggests that there are something in the region of 50 titles represented in the collection, if one treats all the ''avadāna'' stories as a single title.[6]<br> The ms. of the ''Samādhirāja Sūtra'' from Gilgit has been discussed in a variety of ways and circumstances. The first description, and we should be entitled to assume the most reliable, is that given by N. Dutt in his edition of the ''Samādhirāja Sūtra''.[7] Unfortunately this description is inadequate, and has been supplemented by descriptions from Schopen and Matsumura.[8] The purpose of the present article is to present a comprehensive and detailed account of the Gilgit ms. of the ''Samādhirāja Sūtra'', thereby clarifying the nature and extent of this particular manuscript and correcting a miscellaneous sprinkling of incorrect data that has been already published in connection with it. This attention is further justified by virtue of the manuscript being sole witness of a distinct recension of the text, and also of great antiquity. (Skilton, preliminary remarks, 1–3)
<h5>Notes</h5>
#The alarming roof-caulking motive is recounted in K. Jettmar, 'The Gilgit Manuscripts: Discovery by Instalments', ''Journal of Central Asia'' 4 (1981), pp. 1-18. (The substance of the present article is derived from A. Skilton, doctoral thesis: 'The ''Samādhirāja Sūtra'' :a study incorporating a critical edition and translation of Chapter 17', Oxford 1997.)
#Gilgit Materials are also held in Bombay, London, Fans, Foona, Kome, Srinagar and Ujjain. See O. von Hinüber, 'Die Bedeutung des Handschriftenfundes bei Gilgit', in F. Steppat, ed., XXL ''Deutscher Orientalistentag: Ausgewählte Vorträge'', (Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft: Supplement, 5), Wiesbaden 1983, pp. 48-49 for a brief summary of this disposition.
#Although the full story of this process, in so far as it is known, has not been related in any one place, it is not the purpose of the present article to do so. The reader is referred to the following for the circumstances of the initial discovery: S. Lévi, 'Notes sur les manuscrits Sanscrits provenant de Bamiyan (Afghanistan) et de Gilgit (Cachemire)', ''Journal Asiatique'' 220 (1932) pp. 1-45.
#Von Hinüber, 1983, pp. 47-66.
#O. von Hinüber, Die Erforschung der Gilgit-Handschriften, ''Nachrichten der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen'', I. Phil.-hist. Kl. Jg. 1979, Nr. 12 pp. 327-360; supplements: ''Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft'' Band 130, Heft 2 (1980) pp. *25* -*26*, ''Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft'' Band 131, Heft 2 (1981) pp. *9* -*11*. These publications cover the New Delhi and Srinagar holdings only. Earlier handlists of the New Delhi holdings are given in: L. Chandra, 'A Note on the Gilgit Manuscripts', ''Journal of the Oriental Institute'' (''Baroda''), 9 (1960) pp. 135-140, and L. Chandra, 'Unpublished Gilgit Fragment of the Prātimoksasūtra', ''Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde Süd- und Ost-asiens'' 4 (1960) pp. 1-13; and P. V. Bapat, 'Gilgit Manuscripts and Numerical Symbols', ''Journal of the Oriental Institute Baroda'') 11 (1961-1962) pp. 127-131.
#'Buddhism in Gilgit Between India and Central Asia', in ''The Countries of South Asia: Boundaries , Extensions , and Interrelations'', ed. P. Gaeffke and D. A. Utz, Philadelphia 1988, pp. 40-48.
The Gotra, Ekayāna and Tathāgatagarbha Theories of the Prajñāpāramitā according to Dharmamitra and Abhayākaragupta +
No abstract given. Here are the first relevant paragraphs:<br><br>In the course of his monumental work on the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras E. Conze has written: 'It is quite a problem how the Dharma-element which is common to all can be regarded as the source of a variety of "lineages" [''gotra'']'.[1] It has been the endeavour of the present writer in a series of publications starting in 1968 to shed light on this very fundamental and interesting question. An article in the ''Festschrift'' dedicated to the late E. Frauwallner was devoted to the interconnexion between the single, unique and undifferentiated ''dharmadhātu'', the naturally existent spiritual element or germ (''prakṛtisthaṃ gotram'') and the variously conditioned psycho-spiritual categories (''gotra'')[2] recognized by the Buddhist texts as explained by Ārya Vimuktisena (ca. 500 ?) and his successor Bhadanta Vimuktisena in their commentaries on the '''''Abhisamayālaṃkāra''''' (i. 37-39), which they correlate with the topics of the '''''Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā'''''.[3] And shortly afterwards there followed a more detailed study of this question as it relates to the notion of the ''tathāgatagarbha'' or buddha-nature in '''''[[La théorie du tathāgatagarbha et du gotra: Études sur ta sotériologie et la gnoséologie du bouddhisme]]''''' (Paris, 1969) and '''''[[Le traité du tathāgatagarbha de Bu ston Rin chen grub]]''''' (Paris, 1973). In the last publications Haribhadra's commentaries on the Prajñāpāramitā were discussed, and the importance of the doctrine of the One Vehicle (''ekayāna''), was taken up at some length not only from the point of view of soteriology but also from that of gnoseology<br> Between the two Vimuktisenas and Haribhadra (fl. c. 750-800) on the one side and the Tibetan exegetes on the other there lived a number of important Indian commentators whose work could be only briefly touched on in the '''''Théorie'''''. Amongst the most important of these later Indian masters of the Prajñāpāramitā are Dharmamitra and Abhayākaragupta, both of whom have been reckoned by Buddhist doxographers as being, for certain systematic reasons, close to the Svātantrika-Mādhyamika school, and Ratnākaraśānti (first half of the 11th century), a Vijñānavādin (of the Alīkākāravāda branch) who appears to have undertaken a harmonization of the Vijñānavāda and the Madhyamaka in the manner of the synthesizing movements especially characteristic of later Buddhist thought in India.<br> One of Ratnākaraśānti's main works on the Prajñāpāramitā—the ''Sārottamā'' (or ''Sāratamā'' ?), a Pañjikā on the '''''Aṣṭasāhasrikā''''', which until recently was known only by its Tibetan version in the Bstan 'gyur—has now been recovered in an incomplete Sanskrit manuscript. Since the promised publication of this text is awaited with keenest interest by students of this literature, his work must be left for another occasion.[4] The present paper will therefore consider the discussions by Dharmamitra and Abhayākaragupta of the relation between the ''gotra'', the ''dharmadhātu'', the ''ekayāna'', and the ''tathāgatagarbha''. (Ruegg, "The ''Gotra'', ''Ekayāna'' and ''Tathāgatagarbha'' Theories of the Prajñāpāramitā," 283–284)
<h5>Notes</h5>
#E. Conze, '''''The Large Sūtra on Perfect Wisdom''''' (London 1961), p. 105 note 2. References hereunder to the folios of Tibetan translations of Indian texts contained in the Bstan 'gyur relate to the Peking edition as reproduced in the Japanese reprint published by the Tibetan Tripiṭaka Research Institute (Tokyo and Kyoto). Prints of other editions of the Bstan 'gyur were unfortunately unavailable during the writing of the present paper.
#On the meanings of the term ''gotra'', and in particular on the two meanings '(spiritual) element, germ, capacity' and '(spiritual) lineage, class, category' which might be described respectively as the intensional and extensional meanings of the word when the ''gotra'' as germ determines the classification of persons possessing it in a ''gotra'' as category, see the present writer's article in ''BSOAS'' 39 (1976) p. 341sq.
#"Ārya and Bhadanta Vimuktisena on the ''gotra''-theory of the Prajñāpāramitā," '''''Beitriige zur Geistesgeschichte Indiens (Festschrift fur Erich Frauwallner)''''', ''WZKSO'' 12-13 (1968/1969), pp. 303–317.<br>4. Ratnākaraśānti's other work on the subject, a commentary on the ''AA'' entitled '''''Śuddhimatī''''', (or: '''''Śuddhamatī''''') will be referred to below.
No abstract given. Here are the first relevant paragraphs:
It would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to select one chapter from the voluminous ''Hwa Yen Sutra'' that would adequately represent both the deep religious spirit and the vast perspective of infinity portrayed in this work. However, if a choice must be made for this purpose, I would without hesitation choose the chapter on "The Bodhisattva Samantabhadra's Vows." According to the Mahayana tradition, there are three great Bodhisattvas—Avalokiteśvara, Mañjuśrī, and Samantabhadra—who represent respectively the great compassion, wisdom, and vows of all Buddhas. In the vows of Samantabhadra we witness the compassionate zeal of the ideal Bodhisattva whose only concern in life is to relieve the pains and burdens of all sentient beings, and to bestow upon them true happiness through the achievement of Buddhahood. (Chang, introduction, 187) +
No abstract given. Here are the first relevant paragraphs:
The ''Dasabhūmika-sūtra'' consists of two sections, the prose and the verse. The prose section was edited and published by Dr Johannes Rahder in 1926; the present text contains the verse section under the joint editorship of Susa-and-Rahder.<br> When Dr. Rahder was staying in Japan in 1929, he visited Kyoto during the summner and met Mr. Hokei Idzumi, the then professor of Sanskrit at Otani Buddhist College. When Dr Rahder learned that I was also engaged in the study of the verse section of the ''Daśabhūmika'', he suggested that we might work together so as to produce the best possible text with our resources. He added that he would send his manuscript as soon as [it was] ready. Surely enough, as he promised, it began to come in several sections to Professor D. T. Suzuki, editor of the ''Eastern Buddhist'', early in 1931. He expressed the desire to see the text published in the ''Eastern Buddhist'' when I finished collating it with the result of my study. The verse section of the ''Daśabhūmika-sūtra'' here published is thus the joint labour of Dr. Rahder and myself. (Susa, preliminary notes, 335) +
No abstract given. Here are the first relevant paragraphs:
The ''Dasabhūmika-sūtra'' consists of two sections, the prose and the verse. The prose section was edited and published by Dr Johannes Rahder in 1926; the present text contains the verse section under the joint editorship of Susa-and-Rahder.<br> When Dr. Rahder was staying in Japan in 1929, he visited Kyoto during the summner and met Mr. Hokei Idzumi, the then professor of Sanskrit at Otani Buddhist College. When Dr Rahder learned that I was also engaged in the study of the verse section of the ''Daśabhūmika'', he suggested that we might work together so as to produce the best possible text with our resources. He added that he would send his manuscript as soon as [it was] ready. Surely enough, as he promised, it began to come in several sections to Professor D. T. Suzuki, editor of the ''Eastern Buddhist'', early in 1931. He expressed the desire to see the text published in the ''Eastern Buddhist'' when I finished collating it with the result of my study. The verse section of the ''Daśabhūmika-sūtra'' here published is thus the joint labour of Dr. Rahder and myself. (Susa, preliminary notes, ''The Eastern Buddhist'' 5, no. 4 (1931): 335.) +
This article by Geoffrey Barstow challenges the widespread assumption that vegetarianism was absent from traditional Tibetan Buddhism. Drawing on biographical and textual sources, it documents more than 110 named lamas who abstained from meat prior to the Chinese invasion of the 1950s, including major figures such as Dolpopa, Jikten Gonpo, Shabkar, and Jigme Lingpa. These masters advocated vegetarianism primarily on grounds of compassion for sentient beings, while openly acknowledging the prevalent Tibetan medical view that a meatless diet was physically harmful. The article traces the key doctrinal debates surrounding meat consumption — including the rule of threefold purity and Tantric justifications for eating meat — and the vegetarian counter-arguments mounted against them. It concludes by situating this historical tradition within the context of a growing contemporary vegetarian movement in Tibet, arguing that the movement reflects indigenous religious values rather than merely external Chinese or Western influence.
Read this article [https://tricycle.org/magazine/tibetan-vegetarians/ here]. +
The concept of Bodhisattva is present in all forms of Indian Buddhism, but it is not accepted or interpreted in the same way by all Buddhist traditions. Considerable doctrinal discrepancies developed within the early schools,[1] and later between the early schools and the Mahāyāna schools. In fact, the Bodhisattva's identity and career constitute one of the fundamental disagreements and dividing points between early and Mahāyāna forms of Buddhism. The controversy over the Bodhisattva’s nature and role still persists and divides the Theravāda tradition of Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia from the Mahāyāna traditions of Tibet, China, and Japan.
The major stages in the development of the Bodhisattva concept, from the time of its appearance in early Buddhism to the time of becoming a universal ideal in Mahāyāna Buddhism, can be demarcated with some certainty provided one is aware of certain lacunae in our knowledge of three crucial factors. First, the precise historical chronology of specific ideas advanced in different sources is somewhat complex because of difficulties involved in dating Buddhist texts and historical events. Second, certain ideas formulated about the Bodhisattva in later texts were imputed retrospectively and superimposed on the more primitive form of the Bodhisattva concept. Third, the vital factors, both historical and doctrinal, which induced the emergence of Mahāyāna as such and its formulation of the Bodhisattva ideal remain unknown or obscured. Thus, for instance, we cannot locate the precise origin of the Bodhisattva concept, and we do not possess the vital information on the intellectual and social milieu in which the Bodhisattva ideal of Mahāyāna Buddhism was formulated. In addition to that, it is also important to remember that the various ideas and formulations about the Bodhisattva do not readily blend together into one historically and conceptually coherent image. As we shall see, the content and structure of the Bodhisattva ideal and career did not evolve in neatly cut monolithic blocks that were eventually fitted together into a well designed edifice. On the contrary, as Buddhist history progressed, the doctrinal speculations about the Bodhisattva’s identity and career developed in different directions to the extent that the Bodhisattva’s identity and role, even in its mature Mahāyāna version, contains certain conflicting elements.
<h5>Notes</h5>
1. The terms early Buddhism and early schools are used here with reference to the Buddhist tradition, which stems directly from the historical Buddha, and which developed before the advent of Mahāyāna Buddhism some five hundred years after the Buddha's ''nirvāṇa''. Right from the early period, Buddhism recognised three paths to deliverance: Śrāvaka(yāna), Prateyka Buddha(yāna), and the Saṃyak Saṃbuddha(yāna). The Mahāyāna adepts clustered the first two ideals together under the name of Śrāvakayāna or Hīnayāna, and adopted the third one as their ideal.
The History of the *Kāśyapaparivarta in Chinese Translations and Its Connection with the Mahāratnakūṭa (Da Baoji jing 大寶積經) Collection +
The *''Kāśyapaparivarta'', an early Mahāyāna sūtra, has a complex history. Sanskrit and Tibetan versions, and some of its Chinese translations, have been available to scholars for almost a century, thanks to Staël-Holstein’s 1926 editio princeps. Yet no comprehensive survey of available sources, or critical appraisal of their antecedants, has been published, and most importantly, essential Chinese materials have long been overlooked. The present contribution focuses most centrally on the Chinese translations of the scripture. In addition, the relation of the sūtra to the Mahāratnakūṭa collection of forty-nine texts and the possible Indic origins of the latter are explored. +
No abstract given. Here are the first relevant paragraphs:
My object of editing the Hymn is to produce a perfect Sanskrit text as far as the present source of information and the facility of obtaining the material and the scholarship of the present editor permit. The importance of the text has been well known in Japan since early days, not only from the doctrinal point of view but as a piece of Buddhist Sanskrit literature accessible to Japanese scholars. Jiun 慈雲(1718-1804) and his followers were among the foremost students of the text. The one who brought it first from China was Kōbōdaishi (774-835). When the late Dr. Bunyiu Nanjio was studying Sanskrit under Max Müller of Oxford, he collected according to the advice of his teacher as many original Sanskrit texts as he could at the time; among those there were the ''Smaller Sukhāvatīvyūha'', ''Vajracchedikā'', ''Prajñāpāramitāhṛdaya'', and ''Bhadracarī''. Nanjio however did not have the chance to study the ''Bhadracarī'', and it was possible that his friend Kenju Kasawara was planning to take up this study himself. Dr. Kaikioku Watanabe was the first who made a thorough investigation of the text while he was studying in Germany (1900-1910), the result was published in Leipzig ;[1] but the pamphlet is almost inaccessible at present. All the problems that may be raised concerning the ''Bhadracarīpraṇidhāna'' are discussed in it. My partial study of the text took place in 1909 and a comparison of the different Chinese and Tibetan translations of the Hymn appeared in a Japanese magazine called ''Mujinto'', but I was unfortunately prevented from pusuing the study any further. (Idumi, introduction, 226)
<h5>Notes</h5>
#''Die Bhadracarī'', eine Probe buddhistisch-religiöser Lyrik untersucht und herausgegeben. Inaugural Dissertation zur Erlangung der Doktorwürde der philosophischen Fakultät der Kaiser Wilhelms-Universität zu Strassburg, vorgelegt von Kaikioku Watanabe aus Tokio. Leipzig, Druck von G. Kreysing, 1912.
The ''Bodhicaryāvatāra'' and the ''Śikṣāsamuccaya'' were composed in India in Sanskrit and made a significant impact on the understanding of Mahāyāna Buddhism and the bodhisattva path there. Both works spread beyond the Indian subcontinent and became especially important in Tibet, inspiring commentaries as well as other works by famous teachers. While it has been the ''Bodhicaryāvatāra'' that has received more adoration and attention historically, both texts continue to inspire scholars and practitioners around the globe. +
The notion of altruism is severely tested by the way we treat animals. When a society accepts as a given the outright use of other sentient beings for its own ends, and grants almost no consideration to the fate of those it instrumentalizes, then we can only speak of institutionalized selfishness. The massive exploitation of animals is accompanied by a degree of additional devaluation: they are reduced to the state of products for consumption, meat-making machines, living playthings whose suffering
amuses or fascinates the crowds. We knowingly ignore their nature as sentient beings and rank them among objects. This ruthless point of view was expressed by Émile Baudement, holder of the first chair of animal husbandry at the Agronomical Institute at Versailles in the mid-nineteenth century:
:Animals are living machines, not in the accepted sense of the word, but in its most rigorous sense as used in mechanics and industry.…They give milk, meat, strength: they are machines producing a return for a given expense.[1]
In the same line of thinking, a century later, the commentator in a televised report devoted to the establishment of industrial breeding in France announced with a certain pride in his voice: “Every action of their biological lives should correspond to our needs and our schedule.… The bovine becomes what we had hoped: an industrial product.”[2] Even more cynical, a manager of the American company Wall’s Meat recently declared:
:The breeding sow should be thought of, and treated as, a valuable piece of machinery whose function is to pump out baby pigs like a sausage machine.[3]
The vision of the system is summarized by the president of an American poultry company with 225,000 laying hens, Fred C. Haley: “The object of producing eggs is to make money. When we forget this objective, we have forgotten what it is all about.”[4]
Is it conceivable to desire the advent of a more altruistic society while closing our eyes to the fate we inflict on the billions of animals killed every year for our consumption?
In the system of industrial production, the lifespan of animals is only a fraction of their natural expectancy, 1/60th for poultry. It is as if a human’s life expectancy were only a year and four months.5 Animals are confined to cubicles where they can’t even turn around; castrated; separated at birth from their mothers; made to suffer for our amusement (bull fights, dogfights, cockfights); caught in traps that crush their limbs in steel jaws; skinned alive,6 crushed alive in giant screws (the fate reserved for hundreds of millions of male chicks every year).
In short, we decide when, where and how they are to die, without the slightest concern for what they feel.
The Bka’ gdams pa (pronounced “Kadampa”) emerged as a distinct tradition of Tibetan Buddhism in the 11th century CE. The most common understanding of the name in Tibetan sources is that this tradition taught the complete word of the Buddha (''bka<i>'</i>'') as explained in the instructions (''gdams'') of the Indian teacher Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna (982–1054). This is sometimes specified as referring to his instructions on the graded path (''lam rim'') toward Buddhahood that were later adopted and propagated by the Dge lugs pa (pronounced "Gelugpa") school, beginning with Tsong kha pa's (1357–1419) influential ''Lam rim chen mo''. It is commonly assumed that during the 15th century, the Bka' gdams pa were absorbed into Tsong kha pa’s reform movement of the "new Bka’ gdams pa" (''bka' gdams gsar ma''), later known as the Dge lugs pa, but further research is needed on this issue.
Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna, also known by his Indian honorific title Atiśa[ya] or Adhīśa, was invited to western Tibet by its rulers, and he arrived there in 1042. At the request of king Byang chub 'od (984–1078), he composed his famous "Lamp on the Path to Awakening" (''Bodhipathapradīpa'', Tib. ''Byang chub lam sgron'') which became an important model for Tibetan works on the graded path to awakening. He then accepted an invitation to central Tibet where he spent the rest of his life. He passed away in Snye thang near Lhasa in 1054.
Several of Atiśa's Tibetan students played an important role in the development of Buddhism on the Tibetan plateau. However, it is his student 'Brom ston Rgyal ba'i 'byung gnas (pronounced "Dromtön Gyelway Jungnay." 1004-1064) who is traditionally regarded as the founding father of the Tibetan Bka' gdams pa lineage since his students became instrumental in spreading the Bka' gdams pa teachings in central Tibet. In addition to ''lam rim'', they became famous for their instructions on "mental purification" or "mind training" (''blo sbyong'', pronounced "Lojong"), which is meant to free the mind from attachment to the ego and generate the attitude of the "awakening mind" (Skt. ''bodhicitta''). ''Lam rim'' and ''blo sbyong'' became highly popular doctrinal and didactic genres and have had an impact on Tibetan Buddhism far beyond the Bka’ gdams pa and Dge lugs pa traditions.
The Bka' gdams pa are often perceived as a tradition with an emphasis on monasticism and Mahāyāna ethics, rather than on yogic and tantric practice. However, it should be kept in mind that Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna himself had grown up in the tantric traditions of Bengal. His work on the stages of the path to awakening includes instructions on tantra, but states that tantric practice may not contradict the vows taken (thus excluding antinomian practices for monastics). The early Tibetan Bka' gdams pa masters take the same stance and promote the idea that Pāramitānaya (i.e., non-tantric Mahāyāna Buddhism) and tantra have the same validity and lead to the same goal, thus trying to strike a balance between the two approaches.
Keywords: Tibetan Buddhism, Bka’ gdams pa (Kadampa), lam rim, blo sbyong, Atiśa
Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna, ’Brom ston Rgyal ba’i ’byung gnas
This article serves as prolegomena to Bhikkhu Pāsādika's English translation of the ''Kāśyapaparivarta'' (Tib. ''<i>'</i>Od-srung-gi le'u''), an early Mahāyāna sūtra preserved in the Ratnakūṭa class. After surveying prior scholarship—including von Staël-Holstein's 1926 Sanskrit edition, Weller's Tibetan index, and translations and studies by Edgerton, de Jong, Conze, and Bendall/Rouse—Pāsādika situates the text's antiquity relative to the ''Aṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā'', arguing on linguistic and textual grounds (following de Jong, Lin Li-Kouang, and others) that the KP's prose likely dates to around the first century B.C., with its verses composed later in Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit. The article traces citations of the KP in later Mahāyāna and Madhyamaka literature (Candrakīrti, the ''Sūtrasamuccaya'', the ''Śikṣāsamuccaya'') and situates the text as a "New Wisdom School" root text for later Mādhyamika treatises.
The core of the article is a section-by-section synopsis of the KP's contents based on von Staël-Holstein's Sanskrit edition, covering its structure from the introductory setting on Vulture Peak through 166 sections addressing bodhisattva ethics, emptiness, the qualities of true versus false ascetics, and the concluding praise of the discourse's merit. A final section on "Some Doctrinal Points" reconsiders von Staël-Holstein's characterization of the text as harshly denunciatory of Śrāvakas, arguing instead that KP's criticism targets specific failings (escapist quietism, narrow-mindedness) rather than the śrāvakayāna as such, and that the text exemplifies a "peaceful coexistence" of śrāvaka, pratyekabuddha, and bodhisattva ideals consistent with later Tibetan monastic practice. +
This article, "Rin chen bzaṅ poの生涯とその活動" (The Life and Activities of Rin chen bzaṅ po), by Kawagoe Eishin, details the significant contributions of Rin chen bzaṅ po (958–1055) to the revival of Tibetan Buddhism during the later propagation (''phyi dar'') period. It highlights his pivotal role in reestablishing Buddhist teachings in Tibet after a period of decline following the suppression by King Langdarma in the mid-9th century. The article examines his extensive translation work, particularly of new tantras (''gSan snags gsar ma'') from Sanskrit into Tibetan, often in collaboration with Indian paṇḍitas. It also explores his connections with the mNah ris royal family, who were instrumental in supporting the Buddhist revival, and his interactions with key figures like Atīśa (Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna) in his later life.
The article traces Rin chen bzaṅ po's journey, including his three trips to Kashmir for study and the acquisition of Buddhist texts, emphasizing his focus on the Yoginī and Anuttarayoga Tantras, which were previously restricted in Tibet. It discusses his establishment of numerous monasteries in the mNah ris region, most notably Tho lin, which became a center for the integration of Kashmiri artistry and Buddhist practices in Western Tibet. Furthermore, the article delves into the lineage of his disciples and the impact of his translation and teaching activities, particularly concerning the Samvara tantras, which were introduced to Tibet through his efforts with Atīśa. The author concludes by acknowledging Rin chen bzaṅ po's historical significance as a "great translator" who paved the way for a new era of Tibetan Buddhism. +
This study concerns the biography and Collected Works of Tibetan Lojong master
Tokmé Zangpo (1295-1369). Among diverse Buddhist spiritual exercises, the cultivation of compassion explored in Tibetan Lojong, or mind training, literature is arguably the most prominent and popular teaching about compassion meditation. Beginning in the early twelfth century, texts about Lojong teachings gradually evolved into a category of Lojong literature, which became a shared heritage across various Tibetan Buddhist schools. Tibetan master Tokmé Zangpo is renowned for explaining this material in his Collected Works. Tokmé Zangpo’s biography also reflects his Lojong character. This dissertation examines how Tokmé Zangpo is portrayed as a unique compassionate personality in his biography. The research also explores his Collected Works as a source to understand the Lojong tradition.
Chapter 1 investigates the relations between the earliest three Tokmé Zangpo biographies. I compare related information in the contents of these three works, as well as other textual evidence to determine their composition times. In so doing, I discover the true identity of the biographer, Zhönnu Gyeltsen Pelzangpo, and that ''Guide to Your Devotion'' could be the earliest existing version of Tokmé Zangpo’s biography. Chapter 2 chooses three themes with which to analyze Tokmé Zangpo’s childhood, educational background, and compassionate actions as described in ''Guide to Your Devotion''. Chapter 3 contributes the first research on the authorship and editorship of four editions of Tokmé Zangpo’s Collected Works. This chapter investigates their compilation history. Chapter 4 analyzes the textual organization in ''Degé Collected Works'' and divides its one hundred and fourteen texts into ten different categories. This analysis discovers that ''Degé Collected Works'' functions as a central source for understanding Tokmé Zangpo’s Lojong philosophy. Chapter 5 shows that Tokmé Zangpo’s concept for his Lojong lineage was shaped by his involvement with Kadam masters and texts. I argue that the unique element of Tokmé Zangpo’s Lojong lineage is the inclusion of the five masters who are associated with Asaṅga. By so doing, Tokmé Zangpo created a better credibility for his Lojong lineage. In conclusion, this dissertation contributes to the study of Tokmé Zangpo’s biography and Collected Works as related to the subject on Lojong.
Beth Halford, an FPMT student who was staying at Root Institute in Bodhgaya, India, in March 2015, was fortunate to interview Ven. Thubten Tsewang, known as Baling Lama, a disciple of and attendant to the Indian Buddhist master Khunu Lama Tenzin Gyaltsen Rinpoche (1894-1977). Baling Lama . . . worked in radio broadcasting in Ladakh, India, before meeting Khunu Lama in 1954. After meeting Khunu Lama, Baling Lama ordained and became a devoted disciple for six years. He then became Khunu Lama's attendant in 1960.
During the interview, Baling Lama shared many vignettes of Khunu Lama that offer insight into the life and practices of this unusual and important Buddhist master. "Listening to Baling Lama recount his time spent with Khunu Lama with smiles breaking across his face and eyes sparkling with affection was incredibly inspiring," Beth told Mandala. "These highly realized lamas of the more modern times can be extremely motivating and powerful if we open our hearts to their stories and the meaning of their lives." +
In the following excerpt from ''The Wisdom Chapter: Jamgön Mipham's Commentary on the Ninth Chapter of "The Way of the Bodhisattva"'', Wulstan Fletcher and Helena Blankleder focus on Mipham's ''Light of the Day Star'', his response to Drakar Lobzang Palden Tenzin Nyendrak's criticism of his commentary on the ninth chapter of the ''Bodhicaryāvatāra''. The debate between Mipham, a Nyingma scholar, and Drakar Tulku, a Gelukpa scholar, regarding the interpretation of Śāntideva's "Wisdom Chapter" in the ''Bodhicaryāvatāra'' is discussed in detail. Their differing views on the nature of arhatship and the realization of emptiness in Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna traditions are explored along with biographical information on Drakar Tulku and his contributions to Buddhist scholarship.
This examination offers insight into the intellectual and cultural milieu of early twentieth-century Tibet, showcasing the interconnectedness of scholarship and religious practice. It is also valuable to better understand the complexities involved in interpreting Buddhist texts translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan. +
