Medicine Buddha Teachings

Medicine Buddha Teachings
One of the key deities in the intricate pantheon of Vajrayana Buddhism is the Medicine Buddha. A person who appropriately venerates this figure is promised to experience an "increase in healing powers... and a decrease in physical and mental illness and suffering." In 1999, Thrangu (Everyday Consciousness and Buddha-Awakening) led a retreat in Washington State where he explicated the Medicine Buddha Sadhana (traditional liturgy) and the Sutra of the Medicine Buddha. Chapters in the book are edited transcripts of his teaching sessions at this retreat. The first portion of the book is largely a detailed, verse-by-verse commentary on and guide to practicing the sadhana, highlighting such topics as the importance of visualization, making offerings to the deity and why certain symbolic objects are auspicious. The next section is the text of the sadhana itself, in Sanskrit and in translation. Thrangu then exegetes the sutra (scripture) underlying the liturgy, explaining the Medicine Buddha's 12 "aspirations"-the vows he made to illuminate, benefit, heal and prosper all beings-and describing the benefits of "recollecting" and supplicating him. Thrangu rounds out the book with a discussion of the Vajrayana view of gods and spirits. This is no introduction to Vajrayana Buddhism: a working knowledge of basic concepts is assumed, and the text is dense and often extraordinarily detailed. Yet the book is informative and conversational in tone, and may benefit advanced students specifically seeking to understand the Medicine Buddha practice.

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Buddhist Fasting Practice: The Nyungne Method of Thousand Armed Chenrezig

Buddhist Fasting Practice: The Nyungne Method of Thousand Armed Chenrezig
The Tibetan Buddhist practice of Nyungne (nyoong-nay) has been gaining increased attention in Buddhist centers across North America; participants say the practice purifies them both physically and spiritually. This volume is one of the few comprehensive treatments in English of these powerful teachings. Nyungne is a profound two-and-a-half-day practice, whose length of time is especially helpful for people whose schedules cannot accommodate a long-term retreat. It involves the keeping of strict vows; the second day is devoted to complete silence and fasting. The meditation centers on the recitations, mantras, and guided visualizations of the Thousand-Armed Chenrezig, the embodiment of all the buddhas' loving-kindness and compassion. Translated as abiding in the fast, Nyungne is said to be effective in the healing of illness, the nurturing of compassion, and the purification of negative karma meditation.

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The Union of Bliss and Emptiness: Teachings on the Practice of Guru Yoga

The Union of Bliss and Emptiness: Teachings on the Practice of Guru Yoga
Guru Yoga is an important aspect of the tantric practice of Mahayana Buddhism and the foundation on which the whole tantric structure is built; it is also the force that gives vitality to a practitioner's meditation. Unlike other systems, tantric meditation depends largely upon inspiration transmitted in an unbroken lineage through a living person, the teacher. Who better than the Dalai Lama can pre a proper understanding of this practice for Tibetan Buddhists.

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Absorption in No External World: 170 Issues in Mind Only Buddhism

Absorption in No External World: 170 Issues in Mind Only Buddhism
This book examines a plethora of fascinating points raised in six centuries of Tibetan and Mongolian commentary concerning the first two sections of Dzong-ka-ba's The Essence of Eloquence, the Prologue and the section on the Mind-Only School. By providing vivid detail, Jeffrey Hopkins reveals the liveliness of Tibetan scholastic controversies, showing the dynamism of thoughtful commentary and stimulating the reader's metaphysical imagination. In the process of examining 170 issues, this volume treats many engaging points on Great Vehicle presentations of the three natures and the three non-natures, including how to apply these to all phenomena, the selflessness of persons, and the emptiness of emptiness. It concludes with a delineation of the approaches through which the Mind-Only School interprets scriptures.

This stand-alone book is the final volume of a trilogy on Mind-Only that Hopkins composed over the last twenty-two years. His heavily annotated translation of these sections in Dzong-ka-ba's text is contained in the first volume, Emptiness in the Mind-Only School of Buddhism, along with a historical and doctrinal introduction, a detailed synopsis of the text, and a critical edition. The second volume, Reflections on Reality: The Three Natures and Non-Natures in the Mind-Only School, provides historical and social context, a basic presentation of the three natures, the two types of emptiness in the Mind-Only School, and the contrasting views of Dol-bo-ba Shay-rap-gyel-tsen of the Jo-nang-ba order of Tibetan Buddhism.

In this volume Hopkins presents opinions on crucial issues from twenty-two commentaries on Dzong-ka-ba's The Essence of Eloquence, considered by his followers to be so challenging that it is called his steel bow and steel arrow, hard to pull but powerful when one succeeds. The careful analysis with which these scholar-yogis probe the issues provides an avenue into patterns of thought that constitute the environment of the text over this long period of intense interest to the present day. Hopkins' lively style draws the reader into the drama, revealing horizons of transformative meaning.
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Written especially for advanced scholars of Buddhism and its sacred texts, and featuring a delineation of the different approaches through which the Mind-Only School interprets scriptures, Absorption in No External World can be read as a stand-alone book or as the final volume in the author's trilogy on 'Mind-Only'

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Introduction to Emptiness

Introduction to Emptiness: As Taught in Tsong-Kha-Pa's Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path
Readers are hard-pressed to find books that can help them understand the central concept in Mahayana Buddhism—the idea that ultimate reality is "emptiness." In clear language, Introduction to Emptiness explains that emptiness is not a mystical sort of "nothingness," but a specific truth that can and must be understood through calm and careful reflection.

Newland's contemporary examples and vivid anecdotes will help readers understand this core concept as presented in one of the great classic texts of the Tibetan Tradition, Tsong-kha-pa's Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment. This new edition includes quintessential points for each chapter.

Guy Newland is Professor of Religion and Chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religion at Central Michigan University, where he has taught since 1988. He is a translator and co-editor of the three-volume translation Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, and is the author of several books on Tibetan Buddhism, including Appearance and Reality.

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The Treasury of Knowledge

The Treasury of Knowledge, Book 6, Part 3: Frameworks of Buddhist Philosophy
This volume from the sixth book of the Treasury is his masterful survey of broad themes and subtle philosophical points found in more than 1500 years of Buddhist philosophical writings. In a clear and systematic manner, he sets out the traditional framework of Buddhism's three vehicles and four philosophical sytems and provides an overview of the key points of each system. His syncretic approach, which emphasizes the strengths of each of the systems and incorporates them into a comprehensive picture of philosophical endeavour, is well suited for scholar-practitioners, who seek awakening through the combination of analytical inquiry and meditation.

"The Treasury of Knowledge excellently presents the entire corpus of the sutra and mantra traditions, from the path of the common sciences all the way up to the uncommon Great Perfection, or Atiyoga (Dzogchen), which is the culmination of the nine vehicles." Dudjom Rinpoche.

"Jamgon Kongtrul was a true saint, a great scholar, an exemplary teacher, a renowned physician, a peacemaker, and one of the most prolific writers of Tibet…the Five Great Treatises of Kongtrul..enshrine all the wisdom of Tibet." Ringu Tulku.

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Tsong-Kha-Pa's Final Exposition of Wisdom

Tsong-Kha-Pa's Final Exposition of Wisdom
If objects don't exist the way they appear, is mind itself an illusion, or is it merely empty of illusions? Is the reality of the mind already endowed with ultimate Buddha qualities, or is reality just the immaculate nature of the mind that allows for Buddha qualities to be developed? Tsong-kha-pa (1357-1419), the great Tibetan Buddhist master, had to address these and a host of other questions in order to formulate the nature of liberation in Buddhism. This volume presents the explanations found in Tsong-kha-pa's Medium-Length Exposition of the Stages of the Path and in a commentary Tsong-kha-pa supplied for Chandrakirti's supplement to Nagarjuna's Treatise on the Middle, contrasting them with views of his predecessor Dol-bo-ba Shay-rab Gyel-tsen (1292-1391), as found in Dol-bo-ba's Mountain Doctrine. The two systems--Dol-bo-ba's doctrine of other-emptiness and Tsong-kha-pa's doctrine of self emptiness--emerge more clearly, contributing to a fuller picture of reality as viewed in Tibetan Buddhism.

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