Gone Beyond (Volume 2): The Prajnaparamita Sutras, The Ornament of Clear Realization, and Its Commentaries in the Tibetan Kagyu Tradition

by Karl Brunnhölzl (Translator), Karl Brunnhölzl (Introduction), The Seventeenth Karmapa (Foreword by), Dzogchen Ponlop (Foreword by)

Overview

The Abhisamayalamkara summarizes all the topics in the vast body of the Prajnaparamita Sutras. Resembling a zip-file, it comes to life only through its Indian and Tibetan commentaries. Together, these texts not only discuss the "hidden meaning" of the Prajnaparamita Sutras—the paths and bhumis of sravakas, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas—but also serve as contemplative manuals for the explicit topic of these sutras—emptiness—and how it is to be understood on the progressive levels of realization of bodhisattvas. Thus these texts describe what happens in the mind of a bodhisattva who meditates on emptiness, making it a living experience from the beginner's stage up through buddhahood.

Gone Beyond contains the first in-depth study of the Abhisamayalamkara (the text studied most extensively in higher Tibetan Buddhist education) and its commentaries in the Kagyu School. This study (in two volumes) includes translations of Maitreya's famous text and its commentary by the Fifth Shamarpa Goncho Yenla (the first translation ever of a complete commentary on the Abhisamayalamkara into English), which are supplemented by extensive excerpts from the commentaries by the Third, Seventh, and Eighth Karmapas and others. Thus it closes a long-standing gap in the modern scholarship on the Prajnaparamita Sutras and the literature on paths and bhumis in mahayana Buddhism.

The first volume presents an English translation of the first three chapters of the Abhisamayalamkara and its commentary by the Fifth Shamarpa. The second volume presents an English translation of the final five chapters and its commentary by the Fifth Shamarpa.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781559393577
Publisher:	Shambhala
Publication date:	05/16/2012
Series:	The Prajnaparamita Sutras , #2
Pages:	688
Sales rank:	301,730
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.90(d)

About the Author

Karl Brunnhölzl, MD, was trained as a physician and also studied Tibetology. He received his systematic training in Tibetan language and Buddhist philosophy and practice at the Marpa Institute for Translators, founded by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche. Since 1989 he has been a translator and interpreter from Tibetan and English. He is presently involved with the Nitartha Institute as a teacher and translator.

Table of Contents

An Aspiration by H.H. the Seventeenth Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje 11

Foreword by H.H. the Seventeenth Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje 13

Introduction 15

Overview of Chapters Four to Eight 18

The complete training in all aspects 18

The culminating training 20

The serial training 22

The instantaneous training 23

The dharmakäya 23

Translation: A Concise Elucidation of the Abhisamayälamkära (Topics Four To Eight) 25

The complete training in all aspects (familiarizing with the aspects of the three knowledges in a combined manner) 27

The aspects to familiarize with 28

The nature of the training 42

Knowing the qualities 44

Knowing the flaws 45

The defining characteristics to be known 47

Knowing the factors conducive to liberation 57

The levels of its arising 59

Explaining the supports that are the irreversible persons 61

The cause of the dharmakäya?the training in the equality of existence and peace 72

The cause of the sambhogakäya?the training in pure realms 73

The manner in which it becomes skill in means through being embraced by compassion 75

The culminating training (the consummation of the [complete training in all aspects]) 77

The culminating training of the path of preparation 77

Heat 78

Peak 78

Poised readiness 79

The supreme dharma 79

The culminating training of the path of seeing 80

The culminating training of the path of familiarization 92

The culminating training of the uninterrupted path 98

Removing qualms about the focal objects and aspects of this path 99

The serial training (familiarizing with the [aspects of the three knowledges] in a sequential manner) 103

The six päramitäs (the conduct, in which merit is primary) 103

The six recollections (the path of the union [of view and conduct]) 104

The training in equality (the view?primarily familiarizing with wisdom) 104

The instantaneous training (familiarizing with the [aspects of the three knowledges] in a simultaneous manner) 105

The instantaneous training in terms of nonmaturation (being in the process of becoming free from the stains of the impregnations of negative tendencies) 105

The instantaneous training in terms of maturation (being about to become buddha wisdom after being free from these [stains]) 106

The instantaneous training in terms of the lack of characteristics 107

The instantaneous training in terms of nonduality 107

Explaining the dharmakäya (the fruition) 109

Explaining the sväbhävikakäya 111

Explaining the sämbhogikakäya 117

Explaining the nairmänikakäya 125

Explaining enlightened activity 126

Appendix I: Selected General Topics From JNS 131

4) The training in the complete realization of all aspects 131

A) The focal objects and aspects of this training 131

B) Afflictive obscurations, cognitive obscurations, and obscurations of meditative absorption 134

C) The 110 aspects of the knowledge of all aspects 144

D) The signs of irreversibility 163

E) The twenty-two faculties 167

F) Ultimate reality and buddhahood as permanent entities that perform functions 172

1) Emptiness, the nature of phenomena, and the sugata heart as existing functional entities 172

2) Buddhahood and enlightened activity 174

G) Training in the equality of samsära and nirväna 182

H) The meaning of "vanquishing märas" 186

5 The culminating training 190

A The four conceptions to be relinquished on the path of seeing and their remedies 190

B Enlightenment 200

C The five great reasonings 202

D The four stages of yoga 207

E Dependent origination 226

F The nature of the path of familiarization (lion's sport and crossing in one leap) 246

G The six causes and the four conditions 266

6 The serial training 270

7 The instantaneous training 272

8 The dharmakäya 276

A The general presentation of the käyas 276

1 The nature of just the dharmakäya in general 277

2 The natures of the different käyas 279

3 The distinctions in terms of the käyas being fully qualified or nominal and the manner in which knowable objects are seen 285

B Enlightened activity 293

Appendix II Charts 295

Chart 22 The 173 aspects of the complete training in all aspects 296

Chart 23 The different models of the sequence of the samädhis of the preparatory lion's sport and the actual crossing in one leap on the path of familiarization 298

Chart 24 The six causes, four conditions, and five results 303

Chart 25 The change of state of the eight consciousnesses into the four (five) wisdoms and the three (four) käyas 306

Chart 26 Overview of the eight topics and the seventy points of the AA 308

Appendix III The Third Karmapa's Synopsis of the Eight Chapters of Prajñäpäramitä 313

Appendix IV The Third Karmapa's Stanzas That Express Realization 349

Appendix V The Definitions of the Eight Topics and the Seventy Points of the AA According to JG, JNS, CE, STT, SLG/PK, and LSSP/PSD 353

Appendix VI Tok's Presentation of the Paths, Bhümis, and Fruitions in the Causal Yäna of Characteristics 377

Appendix VII Short Biographies of the Third, Seventh, and Eighth Karmapas and the Fifth Shamarpa 465

Appendix VIII The Abhisamayälamkära 475

Glossary: English?Sanskrit?Tibetan 507

Glossary: Tibetan-Sanskrit-English 515

Bibliography 523

Notes 549

Index 677

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Concise, pithy, and easy to understand. That it has been augmented with commentaries by the Seventh and Eighth Karmapas makes this a valuable volume indeed, one that will benefit many people. I am grateful that this book has been published."—Thrangu Rinpoche, author of Medicine Buddha Teachings

"Maitreya's Ornament of Clear Realization, along with its commentaries, opens a window into the vast landscape of the Prajnaparamita Sutras territory that has been largely left unexplored by Western scholars and practitioners. . . . Karl Brunnhölzl's breathtaking scholarship, lucid translations, and deep insight into the meaning of these texts brings this vast body of teachings to life. Gone Beyond is bound to be an invaluable reference work for scholars and practitioners for years to come."—Andy Karr, author of Contemplating Reality

"In a stimulating and accessible way, Karl Brunnhölzl's Gone Beyond brings us into the vast and profound world of prajaparamita literature. In these two volumes of Gone Beyond (with a companion volume soon to follow), we discover the foundation of the Mahayana path in all its glory."—Elizabeth Callahan, translator of The Treasury of Knowledge: Book Six, Part Three

"These two volumes of Gone Beyond are a groundbreaking work and a great treasure for Western Buddhism."—Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, from the Foreword to Volume 1 "Prajnaparamita literature, which deals with the Mahayana doctrine of emptiness, is notoriously impenetrable, certainly not the sort of material that one can jump right into no matter how fine the translation. However, Brunnhölzl provides a masterful introduction that surveys the history of the text and its many Tibetan commentaries and makes sense of the complex subject matter."—Buddhadharma: The Practitioners Quarterly

Elizabeth Callahan

In a stimulating and accessible way, Karl Brunnholzl's Gone Beyond brings us into the vast and profound world of Prajnaparamita literature. In these two volumes of Gone Beyond (with a companion volume soon to follow) we discover the foundation of the Mahayana path in all its glory.

Thrangu Rinpoche

Understanding the prajnaparamita is very important for the development of wisdom, and the Abhisamayalankara is a principal text on that subject. The commentary by the Fifth Shamarpa which is translated here is concise, pithy, and easy to understand. That it has been augmented with commentaries by the Seventh and Eighth Karmapas makes this a valuable volume indeed, one that will benefit many people.

Editorial Reviews

"Concise, pithy, and easy to understand. That it has been augmented with commentaries by the Seventh and Eighth Karmapas makes this a valuable volume indeed, one that will benefit many people. I am grateful that this book has been published."—Thrangu Rinpoche, author of Medicine Buddha Teachings

"Maitreya's Ornament of Clear Realization, along with its commentaries, opens a window into the vast landscape of the Prajnaparamita Sutras territory that has been largely left unexplored by Western scholars and practitioners. . . . Karl Brunnhölzl's breathtaking scholarship, lucid translations, and deep insight into the meaning of these texts brings this vast body of teachings to life. Gone Beyond is bound to be an invaluable reference work for scholars and practitioners for years to come."—Andy Karr, author of Contemplating Reality

"In a stimulating and accessible way, Karl Brunnhölzl's Gone Beyond brings us into the vast and profound world of prajaparamita literature. In these two volumes of Gone Beyond (with a companion volume soon to follow), we discover the foundation of the Mahayana path in all its glory."—Elizabeth Callahan, translator of The Treasury of Knowledge: Book Six, Part Three

"These two volumes of Gone Beyond are a groundbreaking work and a great treasure for Western Buddhism."—Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, from the Foreword to Volume 1 "Prajnaparamita literature, which deals with the Mahayana doctrine of emptiness, is notoriously impenetrable, certainly not the sort of material that one can jump right into no matter how fine the translation. However, Brunnhölzl provides a masterful introduction that surveys the history of the text and its many Tibetan commentaries and makes sense of the complex subject matter."—Buddhadharma: The Practitioners Quarterly

From the Publisher

Maitreya's Ornament of Clear Realization, along with its commentaries, opens a window into the vast landscape of the prajnaparamita sutras, territory that has been largely left unexplored by Western scholars and practitioners. These sutras explicitly teach the nature of emptiness, but their hidden meaning—which is revealed in these texts—explains how the clear realization of emptiness progressively arises in the minds of practitioners as they cultivate increasingly subtler stages of insight into the true nature of phenomena. Karl Brunnholzl's breathtaking scholarship, lucid translations, and deep insight into the meaning of these texts, brings this vast body of teachings to life. Gone Beyond is bound to be an invaluable reference work for scholars and practitioners for years to come.

Andy Karr

In a stimulating and accessible way, Karl Brunnholzl's Gone Beyond brings us into the vast and profound world of Prajnaparamita literature. In these two volumes of Gone Beyond (with a companion volume soon to follow) we discover the foundation of the Mahayana path in all its glory.

Elizabeth Callahan

Understanding the prajnaparamita is very important for the development of wisdom, and the Abhisamayalankara is a principal text on that subject. The commentary by the Fifth Shamarpa which is translated here is concise, pithy, and easy to understand. That it has been augmented with commentaries by the Seventh and Eighth Karmapas makes this a valuable volume indeed, one that will benefit many people.

Thrangu Rinpoche

Prajnaparamita literature, which deals with the Mahayana doctrine of emptiness, is notoriously impenetrable, certainly not the sort of material that one can jump right into, no matter how fine the translation. However, Brunnholzl provides a masterful introduction that surveys the history of the text and its many Tibetan commentaries, and makes sense of the complex subject matter.

Alexander Gardner