Thubten Cnodron - Realizing the Profound View: Dalai Lama

THE LIBRARY OF WISDOM AND COMPASSION

The Library of Wisdom and Compassion is a special multivolume series in which His Holiness the Dalai Lama shares the Buddhas teachings on the complete path to full awakening that he himself has practiced his entire life. The topics are arranged especially for people not born in Buddhist cultures and are peppered with the Dalai Lamas unique outlook. Assisted by his long-term disciple, the American nun Thubten Chodron, the Dalai Lama sets the context for practicing the Buddhas teachings in modern times and then unveils the path of wisdom and compassion that leads to a meaningful life, a sense of personal fulfillment, and full awakening. This series is an important bridge from introductory to profound topics for those seeking an in-depth explanation from a contemporary perspective.

Volumes:

1. Approaching the Buddhist Path

2. The Foundation of Buddhist Practice

3. Sasra, Nirva, and Buddha Nature

4. Following in the Buddhas Footsteps

5. In Praise of Great Compassion

6. Courageous Compassion

7. Searching for the Self

8. Realizing the Profound View

More volumes to come!

Realizing the Profound View is of signal importance, for it contains the Dalai Lamas most extensive and detailed exposition yet of the various ways in which Indian and Tibetan Mdhyamikas analyze persons and phenomena in order to realize their ultimate nature: the emptiness of inherent existence. Far from entailing nihilism, this Middle Way view assures the validity of dependently arisen conventional reality. Enriched by Ven. Chodrons skillful presentation of discussions from the Pli tradition, Realizing the Profound View is among the clearest and most detailed analyses of the Buddhist wisdom of no-self ever published and should be in the library of every serious student of Buddhism.

ROGER R. JACKSON, John W. Nason Professor of Asian Studies and Religion, Emeritus, Carleton College

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In Realizing the Profound View, the second of three volumes on the nature of reality in the Library of Wisdom and Compassion series, the Dalai Lama presents analysis and meditations that challenge the ways we view the self and the world, bringing us closer to realizing the ultimate nature of reality.

With attention to Ngrjunas five-point analysis, Candrakrtis seven-point examination, and Pli stras, the Dalai Lama leads us to investigate who or what is the person. As we explore this and other fascinating questions, he skillfully guides us along the path, avoiding the chasms of absolutism and nihilism, and introduces us to dependent arising. We find that although all persons and phenomena lack an inherent essence, they do exist dependently. We discover that all phenomena exist by being merely designated by term and concept. We come to understand that emptiness dawns as the meaning of dependent arising, and dependent arising dawns as the meaning of emptiness. The ability to posit subtle dependent arisings in the face of realizing emptiness and to establish ultimate and conventional truths as compatible brings us to the culmination of the correct view.

11ILLUSION-LIKE EXISTENCE

13THE PLI TRADITION: ELIMINATING DEFILEMENTS

SEARCHING FOR THE S ELF , the previous volume of the Library of Wisdom and Compassion , delved into the topic of the ultimate nature of reality that has been sprinkled throughout the books in this series. In our Dharma study and practice, it is important not only to understand cause and effect and how things function to produce happiness or suffering, but also to know their ultimate mode of existence, for it is such awareness that cuts self-grasping ignorance, the root of sasra.

In the previous volume we discussed the different levels of misconception and distorted grasping sentient beings hold regarding persons and other phenomena, as explained by the four tenet systemsVaibhika, Sautrntika, Yogcra, and Madhyamaka. Each system has its own way of asserting the Middle Way, in which it claims to fall neither to the extreme of absolutism that superimposes a mode of existence that phenomena lack nor to the extreme of nihilism that negates what exists. We also began to investigate the nature of the person, the I or self, that lies at the center of our being by examining the Buddhas famous refutation in the Pli stras, This is not I, not mine, not my self.

In the present volume, we will continue the search for the self and expand it to see the relationship between grasping an inherently existent I and mine, on the one hand, and grasping inherently existent phenomena, especially the aggregates that are the basis of designation of the I, on the other. We will also focus on the subtlest object of negationinherent existenceas rejected by the most sophisticated tenet system, the Prsagika Madhyamaka. To do this, we will investigate employing reasoning and logic, tools that His Holiness and the other great masters have emphasized to clarify the nature of reality. Emptiness is not realized by blind faith, foggy belief, or incorrect arguments, but only by being open-minded, using our intelligence, and having an earnest aspiration to attain liberation and full awakening.

As in the previous volume, you will encounter new vocabulary and concepts. We are not expected to understand everything at the first reading, or even at the tenth. Deepening our understanding depends also on purifying our mind, accumulating merit, listening to teachings, self-reflection, and study that is guided by qualified spiritual mentors. So dont feel despondent if everything isnt crystal clear at the beginning. Continue your daily practice and continue to study, listen to, and contemplate teachings. Slowly, gradually, your understanding will grow and youll come to realize the nature of reality and eliminate the scourge of dukha and its cause, ignorance, that have been plaguing us since beginningless time. Equally important is to cultivate compassion and bodhicitta, so that as our wisdom increases so does our appreciation of the kindness of all sentient beings and our heartfelt aspiration to benefit them and show them the path to full awakening.

We shared the story of the origins of the Library of Wisdom and Compassion in volume 1, Approaching the Buddhist Path, and elaborated on it in the seventh volume, Searching for the Self. The origins and the completion of this project span decades, and given the reality of impermanence and dependent arising, the old vanishes and its continuum carries on with the creation of something new.

My initial request to His Holiness was to write a short text that Tibetan lamas could use when teaching non-Tibetans, especially people from the West who come to the Dharma with very different preconceptions and assumptions than those who grew up as Tibetan Buddhists. At His Holinesss wish, this transformed into my editing some of his Dharma talks to make a longer book. That in turn became a long manuscript that would consist of a few books. When His Holiness said that he wanted the project to also include teachings from the Pli tradition and from Buddhism in China, it again expanded. To my objections, he also insisted that I be a coauthor, not an editor.