Relative Truth, Ultimate Truth: The Foundation of Buddhist Thought, Volume 2

by Tashi Tsering, Thubten Zopa Rinpoche (Foreword by), Gordon McDougall (Editor)

Overview

Relative Truth, Ultimate Truth is a clear and remarkably practical presentation of a core Buddhist teaching on the nature of reality. Geshe Tashi Tsering provides readers with an excellent opportunity to enhance not only thier knowledge of Buddhism, but also a powerful means to profoundly enhance their view of the world.

The Buddhist teaching of the "two truths" is the gateway to understanding the often-misunderstood philosophy of emptiness. This volume is an excellent source of support for anyone interested in cultivating a more holistic and transformative understanding of the world around them and ultimately of their own conciousness.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780861719471
Publisher:	Wisdom Publications MA
Publication date:	10/10/2008
Series:	The Foundation of Buddhist Thought , #2
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	208
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Geshe Tashi Tsering was born in Tibet in 1958 and received his Geshe Lharampa degree (similar to a doctorate in divinity) from Sera Monastery in India in 1987. Since 1994, he has been the guiding teacher of the Jamyang Buddhist Centre in London, while also teaching at other Buddhist centers worldwide.

Gordon McDougall was director of Cham Tse Ling, the FPMT's Hong Kong center, for two years in the 1980s and worked for Jamyang Buddhist Centre in London from 2000 to 2007. He helped develop the Foundation of Buddhist Thought study program and administered it for seven years. Since 2008 he has been editing Lama Zopa Rinpoche's lamrim teachings for Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive's FPMT Lineage series.

Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche is the Spiritual Director of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a worldwide network of Buddhist centers, monasteries, and affiliated projects, including Wisdom Publications. Rinpoche was born in 1946 in the village of Thami in the Solo Khumbu region of Nepal near Mount Everest. His books include Transforming Problems into Happiness, How to Be Happy, and Ultimate Healing. He lives in Aptos, California.
Gordon McDougall was director of Cham Tse Ling, the FPMT's Hong Kong center, for two years in the 1980s and worked for Jamyang Buddhist Centre in London from 2000 to 2007. He helped develop the Foundation of Buddhist Thought study program and administered it for seven years. Since 2008 he has been editing Lama Zopa Rinpoche's lamrim teachings for Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive's FPMT Lineage series.

Table of Contents

Foreword Lama Zopa Rinpoche ix Preface xi Editor's Preface xv
1 The Evolution of Buddhist Thought 1 Logic and Emotion 1 The Long View 1 Harnessing Our Emotions 3 Listening, Contemplating, and Meditating 6 The Evolution of Buddhist Thought 8 Buddhism in India 9 The Four Schools 12 Buddhism in Tibet 14
2 The Base and the Path within the Four Schools 17 The Tibetan System of Study 17 The Base of the Path 18 The Two Truths as the Base 20 The Path 21 The Results of the Path 23 The Core Concepts of Tibetan Buddhism 23 Buddhist Tenets 23 Impermanence 26 Selflessness 27 Arriving at Right View 31
3 The Vaibhashika School 35 The Great Exposition 35 Divisions of Phenomena 36 Compounded and Uncompounded Phenomena 37 The Vaibhashika View of the Two Truths 39 Conventional Truth and Imputed Existence 42 Ultimate Truth and Substantial Existence 45 Ultimate Truth, Selflessness, and Emptiness 47 Partless Particles and Partless Moments of Consciousness 48
4 The Sautrantika School 53 The Sutra School 53 Existent Objects 55 Things and Nonthings 55 Specifically Characterized and Generally Characterized Phenomena 58 Real and Unreal Existent Objects 60 The Relationship of Mind and Object 64 The Reality of Material Objects 65 Ultimate Truth and Conventional Truth 69 Ultimate Truth in Sautrantika 69 Conventional Truth in Sautrantika 71
5 The Chittamatra School 75 The Texts Used in Chittamatra 75 Chittamatra's Base, Path, and Result 76 The Three Natures 79 Dependent Nature 80 Imputed Nature 80 Perfect Nature 82 The Mind-Basis-of-All 83 The Features of Mind-Basis-of-All 85 The Properties of Mind-Basis-of-All 88 Afflictive Mental Consciousness 90 How an Object Exists According to Chittamatra 92Ultimate Truth and Conventional Truth According to Chittamatra 94
6 The Madhyamaka School 99 The Major Texts and Teachers of the Madhyamaka School 99 The Two Subschools 101 The Importance of the Two Truths for Madhyamaka 102 Conventional Truth in Madhyamaka 105 The Meaning of Samvriti Satya 105 The Accuracy of Direct Valid Cognizers 109 How Inferences Realize an Object 111 The Existence of External Objects 114 Real and Unreal Conventional Truths 115 Ultimate Truth in Madhyamaka 116 Emptiness 116 The Meaning of Paramarta Satya 117 Ultimate Mind 119 Ultimate Existence 121 Ultimate Truth 123
7 Illusion and Reality 125 The Relationship Between the Two Truths 125 One Entity, Different Isolates 128 The Faults If the Two Truths Were Different Entities 129 How Things Exist 131 The Truth That Conceals 131 How Things Exist Conventionally 133 The Sequence of Realizing the Two Truths 136 How Realized Beings Perceive Relative Truths 139 Illusion and Reality 141 Wisdom or Dogma? 145 Glossary 149 Bibliography 157 Notes 161 Index 167 About the Authors 177 The Foundation of Buddhist Thought 179