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Tsong-kha-pa's Final Exposition of Wisdom Book Preview

by Jeffrey Hopkins

Because Jeffrey Hopkins is considered one of America's foremost Tibetan Buddhist scholars, his new works are widely anticipated. So that our readers can get a sense of the scope of his newest title, Tsong-kha-pa's Final Exposition of Wisdom, the table of contents are being listed here.


410 pp., paper, TSFIEX
$29.95, Snow Lion special $23.96
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More about the book . . .

In fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Tibet there was great ferment about what makes enlightenment possible, since systems of self-liberation must show what factors preexist in the mind that allow for transformation into a state of freedom from suffering. This controversy about the nature of mind, which persists to the present day, raises many questions.

Contents
Preface
Technical Notes

PART ONE: Three Translations of Tsong-kha-pa's views
     Background

   Supramundane Special Insight

  1. The Source Tradition
  2. Root of Cyclic Existence
  3. Order of Realization
  4. Selflessness of Persons
  5. Illusory-Like Appearance
  6. Selflessness of Phenomena
  7. Basis of Division of the Two Truths
  8. Obscurational Truths
  9. Ultimate Truths
  10. Procedures of Special Insight
  11. The Way
   The Object of Negation
  1. Importance of Identifying What Is
         Negated in Emptiness
  2. Autonomy School on True Existence
  3. Consequence School on True Existence
   The Two Truths
  1. What the World Invalidates
  2. Obscurational Truths
    3. >
  3. Ultimate Truth
PART TWO: Comparing Dol-po-pa's and Tsong-kha-pa's Views
     Introduction

  1. Dol-po-pa Shay-rap-gyel-tsen's Views
  2. Tsong-kha-pa Lo-sang-drak-pa's Rebuttal
  3. Summary
Appendix: Mode of Analysis of Grossness / Peacefulness
List of Abbreviations
Bibliography
Index

This book first presents the final exposition of special insight by Tsong-kha-pa, the founder of the Ge-luk-pa order of Tibetan Buddhism, in his Medium-Length Exposition of the Stages of the Path, as well as the sections on the object of negation and on the two truths in his Illumination of the Thought: Extensive Explanation of (Chandrakirti's) "Supplement to (Nagarjuna's) 'Treatise on the Middle'". It then details the views of his predecessor Dol-po-pa Shay-rap Gyel-tsen, the seminal author of philosophical treatises of the Jo-nang-pa order, as found in his Mountain Doctrine, followed by an analysis of Tsong-kha-pa's reactions. By contrasting the two systems—Dol-po-pa's doctrine of other-emptiness and Tsong-kha-pa's doctrine of self-emptiness—both views emerge more clearly, contributing to a fuller picture of reality as viewed in Tibetan Buddhism.

Tsong-kha-pa's Final Exposition of Wisdom brilliantly explicates ignorance and wisdom, explains the relationship between dependent-arising and emptiness, shows how to meditate on emptiness, and explains what it means to view phenomena as like illusions.


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More about the author . . .

Jeffrey Hopkins is a seminal and influential scholar of Tibetan Buddhism. Professor Emeritus at the University of Virginia, he is the author and translator of over thirty-five books on Tibetan Buddhism, including Emptiness in the Mind-Only School of Buddhism: Dynamic Responses to Dzong-ka-ba's "The Essence of Eloquence"; Reflections on Reality: The Three Natures and Non-Natures in the Mind-Only School; Absorption in No External World; Mountain Doctrine: Tibet's Fundamental Treatise on Other-Emptiness and the Buddha Matrix; and, as translator-editor, His Holiness the Dalai Lama's How to Practice and How to See Yourself as You Really Are. His most recent publication is A Truthful Heart.

Books and Teachings by Jeffrey Hopkins