Koṅ-sprul Blo-gros-mthaʼ-yas

Padma Sambhava

The role of a Vajra Master in a student's spiritual development to clear away hindrances on the path and enhance self-realization forms the core of this final volume in the Light of Wisdom series. Padmasambhava, the lotus-born founder of Vajrayana Buddhism, established Buddhist doctrine in Tibet during the eighth century. He concealed teachings in the form of hidden treasures, to be revealed at an appropriate time in the future. The book is a combination of three texts: the root text, The Gradual Path of the Wisdom Essence comprising oral instructions of Padmasambhava, recorded by his chief female disciple, Yeshe Tsogyal; The Light of Wisdom by Jamgön Kongtrül, one of the most prominent Buddhist masters of nineteenth-century Tibet, an extensive commentary on this sacred scripture; and Entering the Path of Wisdom, annotations on the commentary by Jamyang Drakpa, a student of Jamgön Kongtrül as dictated to the scholar Jokyab Rinpoche.

The Conclusion

The Light of Wisdom

Ritual for offering sacrificial cakes (gtor ma) in propitiation of the protective deities; Nyingmapa liturgy.

Rtsa gsum chos skyoṅ daṅ bcas pa la gtor ʼbul gyi rim pa khyer bde rig ʼdzin dgaʼ ston ces bya ba bźugs so

Drad sroṅ dri med kun tu dge bźi bai̕ sgo nas c̕hi med rdo rjei̕ srog sgrub bai̕ man ṅag rig pa d̕zin pai̕ sñiṅ tig

Describes four major cosmological systems found in the Tibetan tradition.

Buddhist Cosmology in Abhidharma, Kālacakra, and Dzog-chen

Myriad Worlds

Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye

Gyurme Dorje

Jamgön Kongtrul's encyclopedic Treasury of Knowledge presents a complete account of the major lines of thought and practice that comprise Tibetan Buddhism. Among the ten books that make up this tour de force, Book Six is by far the longest—concisely summarizing the theoretical fields of knowledge to be studied prior to the cultivation of reflection and discriminative awareness. The first two parts of Book Six, contained in this volume, respectively concern Indo-Tibetan classical learning and Buddhist phenomenology. The former analyzes the traditional subjects of phonology and Sanskrit grammar, logic, fine art, and medicine, along with astrology, poetics, prosody, synonymics, and dramaturgy. The principal non-Buddhist philosophical systems of ancient India are then summarized and contrasted with the hierarchical meditative concentrations and formless absorptions through which the “summit of cyclic existence” can genuinely be attained. Part Two examines the phenomenological structures of Abhidharma—the shared inheritance of all Buddhist traditions—from three distinct perspectives, corresponding to the three successive turnings of the doctrinal wheel.

Koṅ-sprul Blo-gros-mthaʼ-yas

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