12.07.2015 Views

PACIFIC WORLD - The Institute of Buddhist Studies

PACIFIC WORLD - The Institute of Buddhist Studies

PACIFIC WORLD - The Institute of Buddhist Studies

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

Studstill: Cybernetic Approach to Dzogchen 36982. Ibid., p. 55; see also Karmay, pp. 65 and 72.83. Karmay, p. 118.84. Karmay, p. 177; see also p. 215 and Eva K. Dargyay, “<strong>The</strong> Concept <strong>of</strong> a‘Creator God’ in Tantric Buddhism,” <strong>The</strong> Journal <strong>of</strong> the InternationalAssociation <strong>of</strong> <strong>Buddhist</strong> <strong>Studies</strong> 8/1 (1985): pp. 44–45.85. <strong>The</strong> Jonangpas distinguished two types <strong>of</strong> emptiness: “self-emptiness”(rangtong)and “emptiness <strong>of</strong> other” (shentong). <strong>The</strong> first represents the standard Madhyamakanegation <strong>of</strong> inherent existence, applicable to the phenomenal appearances <strong>of</strong>ordinary, samsaric consciousness. <strong>The</strong> second, “emptiness <strong>of</strong> other,” applies toReality itself, which is “empty” only in the sense that it lacks anything other thanitself. In other words, emptiness in the shentong sense affirms that there is apositively existing, pure and luminous Reality that is “empty” <strong>of</strong> adventitiousobscurations or defilements. For more on the Jonangpa school and the shentongapproach to emptiness, see S.H. Hookham, <strong>The</strong> Buddha Within: TathagatagarbhaDoctrine According to the Shentong Interpretation <strong>of</strong> the Ratnagotravibhaga(Albany, NY: SUNY, 1991). See also Keith Dowman, trans., <strong>The</strong> Flight <strong>of</strong> theGaruda: Teachings <strong>of</strong> the Dzokchen Tradition <strong>of</strong> Tibetan Buddhism (Boston:Wisdom Publications, 1994), p. 199.86. Dudjom Lingpa, Buddhahood without Meditation: A Visionary AccountKnown as Refining Apparent Phenomena (nang-jang), trans. RichardBarron (Junction City, CA: Padma Pub., 1994), p. 91. See also Samuel,p. 510; Guenther, Reductionism, pp. 228–9; Longchenpa, <strong>The</strong> Four-<strong>The</strong>medPrecious Garland: An Introduction to Dzog-ch’en, the Great Completeness,with explanation and oral commentary by Dudjom Rinpoche andBeru Khyentze Rinpoche, trans. and ed. Alexander Berzin in conjunctionwith Sherpa Tulku and Matthew Kapstein (Dharamsala: Library <strong>of</strong> TibetanWorks and Archives, [c1979] 1993), p. 33.87. Guenther, Reductionism, 203. Emptiness is <strong>of</strong>ten explained specificallyin relation to mind, where it is again emphasized that it is not a merevacuity or void. Though emptiness involves the “complete cessation <strong>of</strong> all[mental] elaborations,” this is a positive state “with all the auspiciousattributes <strong>of</strong> knowledge, mercy, and power spontaneously established.”Khetsun Sangpo Rinbochay, Tantric Practice in Nying-ma, trans. and ed.by Jeffrey Hopkins; co-edited by Anne Klein (London: Rider, 1982), p. 191;see also p. 186. As Shabkar Lama states, “<strong>The</strong> emptiness <strong>of</strong> the mind is notjust a blank nothingness, for without doubt it is the primal awareness <strong>of</strong>intrinsic knowledge, radiant from the first” (Dowman, p. 95). ChetsangpaRatna Sri Buddhi describes the “emptiness” <strong>of</strong> mind as “clear, shining,fresh, sharp, lucid…. In the real nature <strong>of</strong> emptiness, clarity is present likea manifesting essence” that is “pure and all-pervading.” In James Low,trans., Simply Being: Texts in the Dzogchen Tradition (London: VajraPress, 1994), pp. 62, and 56. See also Low, pp. 77–78; Samuel, p. 535.

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!