The Many Canons of Tibetan Buddhism PDF Download

Author: International Association for Tibetan Studies. Seminar
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9789004125957
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Book Description
The Many Canons of Tibetan Buddhism is one of the first publications to include scholarship on both the mainstream Tibetan canons of translated Buddhist classics, and the alternative canons of literature of the Nyingma sectarian traditions.

Author: Ronald M. Davidson
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 9780231134712
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 620

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Book Description
How did a society on the edge of collapse and dominated by wandering bands of armed men give way to a vibrant Buddhist culture, led by yogins and scholars? Ronald M. Davidson explores how the translation and spread of esoteric Buddhist texts dramatically shaped Tibetan society and led to its rise as the center of Buddhist culture throughout Asia, replacing India as the perceived source of religious ideology and tradition. During the Tibetan Renaissance (950-1200 C.E.), monks and yogins translated an enormous number of Indian Buddhist texts. They employed the evolving literature and practices of esoteric Buddhism as the basis to reconstruct Tibetan religious, cultural, and political institutions. Many translators achieved the de facto status of feudal lords and while not always loyal to their Buddhist vows, these figures helped solidify political power in the hands of religious authorities and began a process that led to the Dalai Lama's theocracy. Davidson's vivid portraits of the monks, priests, popular preachers, yogins, and aristocratic clans who changed Tibetan society and culture further enhance his perspectives on the tensions and transformations that characterized medieval Tibet.

Author: Tsong-kha-pa
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 1559394439
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 297

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Book Description
The second volume of the 15th-century spiritual classic that condenses Buddhist teachings into one easy-to-follow meditation manual The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment (Tib. Lam rim chen mo) is one of the brightest jewels in the world’s treasury of sacred literature. The author, Tsong-kha-pa, completed it in 1402, and it soon became one of the most renowned works of spiritual practice and philosophy in the world of Tibetan Buddhism. Because it condenses all the exoteric sūtra scriptures into a meditation manual that is easy to understand, scholars and practitioners rely on its authoritative presentation as a gateway that leads to a full understanding of the Buddha’s teachings. Tsong-kha-pa took great pains to base his insights on classical Indian Buddhist literature, illustrating his points with classical citations as well as with sayings of the masters of the earlier Kadampa tradition. In this way the text demonstrates clearly how Tibetan Buddhism carefully preserved and developed the Indian Buddhist traditions. This first of three volumes covers all the practices that are prerequisite for developing the spirit of enlightenment (bodhicitta).

Author: Anne C. Klein
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780195178500
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 430

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Book Description
Explaining Dzogchen teachings for the Western audience, this text provides a study and translation of the 'Authenticity of Open Awareness', a foundational text of the Bon Dzogchen tradition. This book provides an introductory and explanatory material that situates it in the context of Tibetan thought.

Author: Matthew T. Kapstein
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190288205
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
This book explores the Buddhist role in the formation of Tibetan religious thought and identity. In three major sections, the author examines Tibet's eighth-century conversion, sources of dispute within the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, and the continuing revelation of the teaching in both doctrine and myth.

Author:
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 1559398744
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 1649

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Book Description
The Life of Shabkar has long been recognized by Tibetans as one of the masterworks of their religious heritage. Shabkar Tsogdruk Rangdrol devoted himself to many years of meditation in solitary retreat after his inspired youth and early training in the province of Amdo under the guidance of several extraordinary Buddhist masters. With determination and courage, he mastered the highest and most esoteric practices of the Tibetan tradition of the Great Perfection. He then wandered far and wide over the Himalayan region expressing his realization. Shabkar's autobiography vividly reflects the values and visionary imagery of Tibetan Buddhism, as well as the social and cultural life of early nineteenth-century Tibet.

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Union catalogs
Languages : en
Pages : 614

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Author: Jörg Heimbel
Publisher: Jörg Heimbel
ISBN: 9937028493
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 708

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Book Description
The present book presents a detailed study of the life and times of the tantric expert Ngorchen Kunga Zangpo (Ngor chen Kun dga’ bzang po, 1382–1456), who was one of the most outstanding and influential Sakya masters of fifteenth-century Tibet. Among his many influential activities, Ngorchen is best remembered for his founding of the monastery of Ngor Ewam Choden (Ngor E waṃ chos ldan) in 1429. Withdrawing from the worldly distractions of the bustling town of Sakya (Sa skya) and sectarian conflicts, he left his traditional alma mater, the monastery of Sakya, and established his own monastic seat in the remote Ngor valley, some 30 kilometres southwest of modern Shigatse (gZhis ka rtse) in the central Tibetan province of Tsang (gTsang). There, based on the observance of a strict monastic discipline, Ngorchen hoped to return to traditional Sakya teaching and practice in a more supportive environment. Ngor immediately became a new centre for tantric training within the monastic circles of the Sakya school. As the leading tantric expert, Ngorchen trained a whole new generation of young students, producing some of the brightest minds of the Sakya school. At his monastic seat, Ngorchen and his abbatial successors established one of the most prominent subdivisions of the Sakya school, the Ngor tradition (ngor lugs), based on Ngorchen’s distinctive understanding of tantric ritual and practice. The religious influence of Ngor and its abbots extended to far-western Tibet (mNga’ ris), including Mustang (Glo bo), Purang (sPu hrang), Guge (Gu ge), Spiti (sPyi ti), and Ladakh (La dwags). In the following centuries, Ngor’s influence also extended eastwards to Khams, where the tradition became very influential in Derge (sDe dge), Lingtsang (Gling tshang), and Gapa (sGa pa). From the 17th century onward, the Ngorpa enjoyed the patronage of the ruling house of Derge, whose successive kings called upon retired abbots of Ngor to serve as their court chaplains (dbu bla).

Author: Helmut Eimer
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004502696
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
Subject of The Many Canons of Tibetan Buddhism are both the mainstream Tibetan canons of translated Buddhist classics (known as the Bka' 'gyur & Bstan 'gyur), and the alternative canons of literature of the Nyingma sectarian traditions (known as the Rnying ma rgyud 'bum). The first section discusses the formation and transmission of Tibetan "canonical" texts, but also includes important works of reference, such as a Bka' gdams pa handbook and several unique catalogues. It also features a first report on Tibetan textual transmission in Mongolia. The second section not only presents interpretative analysis of one of the most important alternative canons in Tibet, the Rnying ma rgyud 'bum, but also discusses essential issues of legitimacy, authority and lineage during the "gray" period of the tenth to twelfth centuries which laid the foundation for the formation of all ensuing Tibetan canons. The volume thus develops fresh perspectives on the nature, plurality and contents of canons in Tibetan Buddhism.

Author: Jacob Paul Dalton
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300153953
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 333

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Book Description
"The Taming of the Demons" examines mythic and ritual themes of violence, demon taming, and blood sacrifice in Tibetan Buddhism. Taking as its starting point Tibet's so-called age of fragmentation (842 to 986 C.E.), the book draws on previously unstudied manuscripts discovered in the "library cave" near Dunhuang, on the old Silk Road. These ancient documents, it argues, demonstrate how this purportedly inactive period in Tibetan history was in fact crucial to the Tibetan assimilation of Buddhism, and particularly to the spread of violent themes from tantric Buddhism into Tibet at the local and the popular levels. Having shed light on this "dark age" of Tibetan history, the second half of the book turns to how, from the late tenth century onward, the period came to play a vital symbolic role in Tibet, as a violent historical "other" against which the Tibetan Buddhist tradition defined itself.