Madhyamaka & Other Tenets
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PROGRESSIVE STAGES OF MEDITATION ON EMPTINESS by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, trans. & arranged by Shenpen Hookham 98 pp., line drawings. #PRSTME - $ 18.95 Rinpoche presents the main schools of Buddhist philosophy with their progressively more subtle and refined views of reality. He provides the student the means to realize emptiness through a series of meditation practices--each stage in the process prepares the mind for the next more subtle step. | |
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RECOGNIZING REALITY: Dharmakirti's Philosophy and Its Tibetan Interpretations by Georges B.J. Dreyfus 622 pp. #RECRE - $ 39.95 Georges Dreyfus is a Tibetan geshe and also very knowledgeable of Western philosophy, Indian thought and other Tibetan schools--so he is able to adopt a fully critical approach and does not shy away from criticisms of the Gelug material. This makes him a scholar most qualified to write on the central ideas of Dharmakirti and their reception by Tibetan thinkers. | |
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REFLECTIONS ON REALITY: The Three Natures and Non-Natures in the Mind-Only School, v.2 by Jeffrey Hopkins 603 pp., cloth. #REONRE - $ 60.00 This is the second volume of Hopkins' series on the Mind-Only School (first volume is titled: Emptiness in the Mind-Only School of Buddhism). This volume contains the dynamic responses to Dzong-ka-ba's The Essence of Eloquence and places this influential exposition in its historical and philosophical contexts. It conveys the intellectual vibrancy of the different cultural interpretations of this text and expands the key issues it addresses. More ... | |
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RELATIVE TRUTH, ULTIMATE TRUTH: The Foundation of Buddhist Thought Volume 2 by Geshe Tashi Tsering 192 pp. #RETRAB - $ 14.95 In this explanation of the two "truths," or ways of viewing reality, Geshe Tashi Tsering describes how our perception of reality is obscured or clarified depending on the truth in which we perceive and believe. His systematic approach to Buddhist thought allows readers to gradually but surely enhance their knowledge of Buddhism without feeling overwhelmed. More ... | |
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RESURRECTING CANDRAKIRTI by Kevin A. Vose Pre-order Now--Available November 2008. 360 pp. #RECA - $ 34.95 Though his writings form the basis for studying the Middle Way in many Tibetan monasteries, the seventh century Indian master Candrakirti was widely unknown during his lifetime. Despite this lack of recognition, Candrakirti is now celebrated as offering the most thorough and accurate vision of Nagarjuna’s view of emptiness, which in turn most fully represents the final truth of the Buddha’s teaching. In Resurrecting Candrakirti, Kevin Vose examines Candrakirti’s rise to prominence and the further elaborations the Tibetans have made on his Madhyamaka school of thought. | |
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SCRIPTURE, LOGIC, LANGUAGE: Essays on Dharmakirti and his Tibetan Successors by Tom J. F. Tillemans 256 pp. #SCLOLA - regular price $ 32.95 Our Price $26.36 Dharmakirti, a sixth-century logician, was one of Indian Buddhism's most influential thinkers. Tillemans presents twelve articles that analyze such topics as deviant logic, subject failure in the Indo-Tibetan Buddhist logical tradition, and the logical and rational limits for the authority of Buddhist scripture. More ... | |
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SELF, REALITY AND REASON IN TIBETAN PHILOSOPHY: Tsongkhapa's Quest for the Middle Way by Thupten Jinpa 248 pp., paper. #SERERI - $ 37.95 This work deals extensively with one of Tsongkhapa's primary concerns, namely his attempts to demonstrate that the Middle Way philosophy's de-constructive analysis does not negate the reality of the everyday world. The central focus of the study is the question of the existence and the nature of self. This is explored in terms of both Tsongkhapa's de-construction of the self and his re-constructive theories of person. Finally, the work explores the concept of reality that emerges in Tsongkhapa's philosophy, and deals with his understanding of the relationship between critical reasoning, no-self, and religious experience. More ... | |
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THE SUN OF WISDOM: Teachings on the Noble Nagarjuna's Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso 208 pp. #SUWI - $ 18.95 Using The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way as a framework, Khenpo explains the concept of emptiness in terms that a contemporary Westerner can understand. In the process, he examines the nature of suffering, consciousness, karma, nirvana, and the four noble truths. | |
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THE SVATANTRIKA-PRASANGIKA DISTINCTION: What Difference Does a Difference Make? ed. By Sara McClintock & Georges Dreyfus 384 pp. #SVPR - $ 34.95 Madhyamaka, or "Middle Way," philosophy came to Tibet from India and became the basis of all of Tibetan Buddhism. The Tibetans, however, differentiated two streams of Madhyamaka philosophy -- Svatantrika and Prasangika. In this collection, leading scholars in the field address this Tibetan distinction on various levels, including the philosophical import for both Indian and Tibetan Madhyamaka and the historical development of the distinction. More ... | |
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THE TWO TRUTHS by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, fore. by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche 104 pp. #TWTRU - $ 19.95 The way to understand the Buddha's teachings is to see that they are divided into either the three yanas, or the four philosophical tenets. For those who wish to know the view or the philosophy of Buddhism then the best way to learn it is to know the differences between the views of the four philosophical tenets. When the Buddha made these presentations of the different philosophical views, the point was to allow people to investigate with their own intelligence the various teachings and in that way to become very skilled in the different philosophical views and to be able to learn how to analyze things for oneself. Therefore what Khenpo Tsultrim presents here is the path of reason, the presentation of the two truths by the different philosophical tenets which leads one from a common understanding of what is real to ever more subtle understandings which can eventually lead to that which is beyond the intellect. | |
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THE TWO TRUTHS DEBATE: Tsongkhapa and Gorampa on the Middle Way by Sonam Thakchoe 352 pp. #TWTRDE - $ 22.95 The idea of the Middle Way is upheld by all Buddhists, yet its meaning can be unclear. In Tibetan Buddhism, the interpretation of what are called the two truths—the deceptive truth of conventional appearances and the ultimate truth of emptiness—is especially divisive. This comparative analysis examines the differing approaches taken by two Buddhist scholars, Tsongkhapa and Gorampa, towards the Middle Way. It demonstrates how philosophical positions have dramatic implications for how one approaches Buddhist practice and even how one understands enlightenment itself. More ... | |
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THE UTTARATANTRA: A Treatise on Buddha-Essence by Ven. Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche 484 pp. #UTTRBU - $ 28.95 The Uttaratantra elucidates the inseparability of emptiness and luminosity, the bridge beween Sutra and Tantra, the view of Vajrayana and the ground of Mahamudra. A wonderful commentary by the tutor of the present Karmapa. | |