Dzochen and Tibetan Modernity
April 27-28, 2024: Rice University : Houston
Our Speakers
This is an interdisciplinary conference that takes an expansive look at one of the most celebrated esoteric systems of Buddhist practice, a creative furthering over more than a thousand years of the Indian Buddhist traditions received and translated from about the 8th to 11th centuries and still part of vibrant traditions throughout the Himalayas and beyond.
Khenpo Yeshi
I received a B.A. in Religious Studies from University of California Berkeley (2012), an M.A. in Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies from the University of California-Berkeley (2017). My research focus on the early development of the Dzogchen Heart Essence (Rdzogs chen snying thig) tradition, which is the Pith-Instruction Teaching (Man ngag sde) of the Four Cycles of Dzogchen (Rdzogs chen skor bzhi). My primary interest is on its view, path, conduct, and fruition, as well as broader issues in Dzogchen relations to other traditions in Tibetan and beyond.
Exploring Dzogchen Ground: Intersections of Theory, Practice, and Tradition
One unique feature that distinguishes Tibetan Buddhism among the broader Buddhist communities is its philosophical view on Dzogchen Ground – gzhi. This innovative philosophical concept of Ground builds upon traditional Mahāyāna ideas that establish saṃsāra and nirvāṇa as identical, and offers the Ground as a non-conceptual concept that underlies both and makes it unnecessary to escape saṃsāra and attain nirvāṇa. This presentation will explore how this unique articulation of Dzogchen Ground is taught by focusing on one of the Seventeen Tantras from the Dzogchen canon, The Great Tantra on the Exquisite Auspiciousness Beyond Glorious Space (bkra shis mdzes ldan chen po’i rgyud dpal nam mkha’ med pa). My presentation contextualizes this tantra, looking at influences on it from the past and treatments of it in later contemplative and philosophical writings, looking for shared themes and divergences. My discussion will illustrate how Dzogchen Ground bridges theory and practice, arguing that both aspects must be considered in unison for a full and more profound understanding of the Ground.
Sarah Jacoby
Sarah H. Jacoby is an associate professor in the Religious Studies Department at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. She specializes in Tibetan Buddhist studies, with research interests in Buddhist revelation (gter ma), religious auto/biography, Tibetan literature, gender and sexuality, translation studies, and the history of eastern Tibet. She is the author of Love and Liberation: Autobiographical Writings of the Tibetan Buddhist Visionary Sera Khandro (Columbia University Press, 2014), co-author of Buddhism: Introducing the Buddhist Experience (Oxford University Press, 2014), and co-editor of Buddhism Beyond the Monastery: Tantric Practices and their Performers in Tibet and the Himalayas (Brill, 2009). She has recently written articles on Buddhism and motherhood as well as the history of Vajrayāna sexuality, and she is currently finishing a complete Tibetan-English translation of Sera Khandro’s autobiography. At Northwestern she teaches a range of Buddhist Studies courses for both undergraduate and graduate students.
Sera Khandro Dewai Dorjé’s Peregrations to Adzom Gar
This paper seeks to enhance scholarship on the history of Dzogchen by exploring writings by prominent figures in early twentieth-century eastern Tibet, particularly those that orbited around Adzom Gar. The centerpiece of the paper will be writings by Sera Khandro Dewai Dorje (1892-1940) in which she recounts her interactions with prominent Adzom lineage holders, namely Adzom Drukpa Drondül Pawo Dorjé (1842-1924) and his son Gyurmé Dorjé (1895-1969). Through these writings, we will consider the power of prophecy and the essential component of tendrel, or auspicious connections (རྟེན་འབྲེལ།) for the process of Treasure revelation and the accomplishment of spiritual practice.
Anne Carolyn Klein
Anne Carolyn Klein, Rigzin Drolma, professor and former chair of Rice’s Department of Religion. Her scholarship focuses on Tibetan texts in tandem with Tibetan scholarly and instructional oral traditions related with them. Her recent work engages the granular descriptions of experience available through the methods of micro-phenomenology. Her eight books to date include Knowledge and Liberation, on Buddhist distinctions between intellectual knowing and direct experience, Meeting the Great Bliss Queen, contrasting Buddhist and feminist understandings of self, a translation of Khesun Sangpo Rinpoche’s Strand of Jewels on essential Dzogchen teachings he received, with Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche Unbounded Wholeness: The Logic of the Nonconceptual on Bon Dzogchen. Her most recent publication is Being Human and a Buddha Too: Longchenpa’s Sevenfold Mind Training. Forthcoming is Lamplight for your Path to Liberation, a translation of Adzom Drukpa’s Thar Lam gsal sgron
Her central theme throughout is the embodied integration of head and heart, that is, the the words of reasoned and poetic reflection with the non-conceptual heart of kindly wisdom, seeking the many ways that these combine throughout Indian and especially Tibetan Buddhist literary and contemplative traditions.
Foundation and Fruition in Dzogchen: Longchenpa, Jigme Lingpa, and the House of Adzom
How do the foundational practices of Dzogchen (Ngondro) speak to and further qualities needed for actual (dngos gzhi) practice of Dzgochen? And how does a Dzogchen-inflected sadhana help us understand this? I will identify a few distinguishing practice gestures Adzom Drukpa’s Lamplight for Liberation, and put them in conversation with related points from Longchenpa’s commentary on his Precious Treasury of the Dharmadhatu, and with a short excerpt from Adzom Paylo Rinpoche’s recently revealed Yeshe Tsogyal sådhana. In each case I am looking into the transitivity or lack thereof in these practices and the rhetoric and imaging by which Dzogchen's effortful foundational practices support its effortlessly fruitional ways of moving based binaries, softening and finally resolving the degrees of twoness by which ordinary experience unfolds.
David Germano
David Germano teaches and researches Tibetan and Buddhist Studies at the University of Virginia, where he is a professor, as well as directs the Tibet Center. He has lived for years in Tibetan communities, where he has studied Buddhist philosophy and contemplation, and done extensive community engagement work. For over a decade, he has explored contemplative ideas, values, and practices in relationship to scientific frameworks and creative applications in higher education in service of facilitating student flourishing. Currently he leads the Generative Contemplative Initiative, which explores contemplation as a generative capacity with distinctive lexicons, grammars, and contexts.
A Historical Methodology for Classifying the Variety of Great Perfection (rdzogs chen) Traditions
The Seminal Heart (snying thig) tradition of the Great Perfection (rdzogs chen) begins with revelations in the eleventh century, becomes the dominant Great Perfection tradition in the Nyingma school by the fourteenth century, and has continued as such right into the present. The difference, however, in narrative, philosophy, and practice between these two poles of eleventh century origins and twenty first century contemporary realities is extraordinary, though the tradition continues to rhetorically point to and value the original scriptural sources and stress fundamental continuity.
Scripturally, the basis of the eleventh and twelfth centuries are The Seventeen Tantras, their commentaries, and the diverse textual collections that came to be anthologized as The Seminal Heart of Vimalamitra, but early on was known as “the four volumes” (po ti bzhi) and “one hundred and nineteen experiential precepts” (man ngag brgya dang dgu bcu). These are narratively characterized by a focus on the Indian Vimalamitra in his visionary transmissions and appearances and have nothing whatsoever to do with Padmasambhava, while they fashion an elaborate cosmology unique to these texts grounded in stories of primordial and cosmological Buddhas, saints vanishing in light, a vast range of worlds in eons of dark and light, and three sources of the teachings in the form of a magical statue, vajra, and book. Philosophically, the tradition is dominated by elemental theory—earth, water, fire, and wind—with consequent interests in medical practices, astrology, and material substances, and by the creative primacy of gnosis in all aspects of human life. Contemplatively, the tradition offers new visionary practices of cultivated spontaneous experiences of luminosity, but also a variety of practices focused on experiencing material elements through recipes, sensory practices, and a great range of mantra practices. Ideologically, as well, there is an overarching nomadic imagery in these early origins, as well as an intertwined focus on Land, the sentient, agentive character of things we might consider inanimate, and the way in which souls (bla) are profoundly diverse, distributed, and located outside as much as inside the individual self.
By the fourteenth century, Padmasambhava had largely displaced Vimalamitra, the elaborate cosmology was on the decline, elemental theory was increasingly marginalized, and material, elemental meditations as well as mantra experimentation were vanishing. These changes accelerated over time, and a new dynamic increasingly focused on mainstream meditations of deity evocation by visualization according to practice handbooks (sādhana) emerged as well, while an increasing focus on exoteric Buddhist philosophy impacted upon the distinctive nature of Seminal Heart discourses. Meanwhile, ideologically, the deep nomadic imagery gets partially sublimated, and the deep interrelations of self, Land, and matter become sanitized. Two scriptural traditions, with their concomitant narratives, philosophies, and meditations—Mahāyoga and Kālacakra—have been dominant, if hidden, dialog partners for the Seminal Heart in its origins and over time, though the nature of the influence has been shifting and complex. In addition, discarded elements of the tradition possibly manifest in complex ways elsewhere, and separate histories of things such as dark retreats, amulets, contemplative material recipes, and so forth are necessary to fully understand these complex histories.
These striking transformations are not significantly acknowledged by Tibetan authors in the tradition, apart from scattered references to some practices no longer being done, texts being lost, and transmissions being attenuated; there is even less to no attempt to explain or theorize these vast differences. In addition, the early extraordinary innovations are deferred to Indian agency, and attempts to recover the agency of Tibetans, Tibetan culture, and Tibetan Land are dismissed due to concerns of lineal authenticity when Indian origins are the touchstone of legitimacy.
I will offer a history and theorization of these changes over eleven centuries that attempts to make sense of the drivers and significance of these dynamic patterns of profound continuity and discontinuity in a famous Tibetan religious tradition, as well as contextualize them within Tibetan agencies. This will include a suggested set of measures that could be utilized to assess any specific rdzogs chen cycle, text, or tradition in regards to the overall array of traditions that go under this banner within the Nyingma lineages.
Micheal R. Sheehy
Michael R. Sheehy is a Research Assistant Professor and the Director of Research at the Contemplative Sciences Center at the University of Virginia. His research gives attention to ever-evolving processes of contemplative practices detailed in Tibetan meditation manuals in dialogue with cultural psychology and the cognitive sciences. For over a decade, he conducted fieldwork with monastic communities across the Tibetan plateau to preserve rare manuscripts and for three years, he trained in a Buddhist monastery in Golok. He directs the CIRCL: Contemplative Innovation + Research Co-Lab and is editor-in-chief of the Journal of Contemplative Studies. He is co-editor of The Other Emptiness: Rethinking the Zhentong Buddhist Discourse in Tibet and author of a forthcoming book on the history and philosophy of the little-known Jonang tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.
Resting Ocean, Resting Mountain: “Open Presence” as a Framework for
Nondual Awareness (NDA) in Dzogchen and the Contemplative Sciences
Over the past two decades, there is increasing philosophical and scientific research on nondual awareness (NDA). A technical phrase that has gained currency in the contemplative sciences literature on NDA is “Open Presence,” a phrase that denotes non-referential meditation styles. This phrase is however riddled with problems because it’s poetic translation of the Tibetan phrase, rikpa chokzhag (rig pa cog bzhag), which is deeply embedded in Dzogchen presentations of pure awareness, and because it signifies different meanings in the neuroscientific discourse on meditation. In this talk, I discuss the usage of Open Presence in scientific meditation research as a descriptive category for open focus, fluid attention, and an analog with the well-defined contemplative style of Open Monitoring (OM). In contrast, I present the Dzogchen framework of fourfold resting (cog gzhag bzhi) or being imperturbably at ease as modular expressions of nondual awareness. To do so, I will draw from authors of the Longchen Nyingtik or Heart
Essence of the Vast Expanse, starting with Jigme Lingpa (1730-1798) up to Adzom Drukpa (1842-1924) and Kangsar Tenpai Wangchuk (b. 1938) to show how Tibetan contemplatives on the precipice of modernity – many of whom innovated, revived, and preserved Dzogchen’s literary and contemplative vitality – can contribute to contemporary NDA research.
Douglas Duckworth
Douglas Duckworth, Ph.D. (Virginia, 2005) is Professor at Temple University. Duckworth is the author of Mipam on Buddha-Nature: The Ground of the Nyingma Tradition (SUNY 2008) and Jamgön Mipam: His Life and Teachings (Shambhala 2011). He also introduced and translated Distinguishing the Views and Philosophies: Illuminating Emptiness in a Twentieth-Century Tibetan Buddhist Classic by Bötrül (SUNY 2011). He is a co-author of Dignāga’s Investigation of the Percept: A Philosophical Legacy in India and Tibet (Oxford 2016) and Knowing Illusion, vol. 1-2 (Oxford 2021). Duckworth is a co-editor of Buddhist Reponses to Religious Diversity: Theravāda and Tibetan Perspectives (Equinox 2020) and Readings of Śāntideva’s Guide to Bodhisattva Practice (Bodhicaryāvatāra) (CUP 2019). He also authored Tibetan Buddhist Philosophy of Mind and Nature (OUP 2019) and translated an overview of the Wisdom Chapter of the Way of the Bodhisattva by Künzang Sönam, entitled The Profound Reality of Interdependence (OUP 2019).
An Immanent and Transcendent Ground of Ethics in Prāsaṅgika and the Great Perfection
Candrakīrti’s interpretation of Madhyamaka emphasizes the empty nature of things, and without sufficient context, lends itself to nihilism. In contrast, Śāntideva fills out a gradual path of cultivation of the Madhyamaka view from the ground up. Śāntideva’s Bodhicaryāvatāra, read alongside Candrakīriti’s Madhyamaka, can provide a useful context to appreciate the radical nature of emptiness in Madhyamaka by showing how it supports a Buddhist path. This pairing has played an important role in Tibetan monastic education, particularly following the influence of Tsongkhapa. Another dimension of Candrakīrti can be found articulated in the works of Patrul Rinpoché and his students, in a Nyingma tradition that aligns Prāsaṅgika-Madhyamaka with the Great Perfection (rdzogs chen). This tradition roots the ultimate truth within a positive nature of mind that serves as both the starting point and culmination of this philosophy. In a way that parallels the way that Śāntideva, paired with Candrakīrti, can be seen to align Prāsaṅgika-Madhyamaka with an immanent world by supplying a groundless nature with an ethical ground, within the framework of the Great Perfection, Candrakīrti’s Madhyamaka is positioned to be in tune with the indivisible ground and fruition of Great Perfection, which plays a central role in shaping Nyingma monastic education.
Huatse Gyal
Huatse Gyal is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Rice University in Houston, Texas. He received his Ph.D. in Sociocultural Anthropology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Dr. Gyal has contributed peer-reviewed articles to international journals such as Critical Asian Studies, Nomadic Peoples, and Ateliers d’anthropologie. He is the co-editor of a volume, entitled, Resettlement among Tibetan Nomads in China (2015). He recently co-edited a special issue called, Translating Across the Bardo: Centering the Richness of Tibetan Language in Tibetan Studies (2024). Dr. Gyal released his first feature length documentary film, entitled, Khata: Poison or Purity? in 2023. His research explores the interdependent and intimate relationships between land, language, animals, and community, with concerns about state environmentalism and climate change on the Tibetan Plateau.
བོད་རིག་པའི་ཁྲོད་བོད་སྐད་ཡིག་གི་ཁྱད་ཉམས་གཙོ་སྙིང་དུ་འཛིན་པ།
Centering the Richness of Tibetan Language in Tibetan Studies
Dr. Lama Jabb’s publications on Tibetan language and literature and his series of lectures on translation in recent years have heightened Tibet scholars’ awareness of translation as a highly fraught, “liminal bardo zone” (2024) between languages, in which translators must navigate a life-and-death process of partially dismantling both languages in order to bring about the felicitous rebirth of new texts. He tells us that the journey of translation from the Tibetan language is like crossing the Bardo, full of potential pitfalls and even the possibility of destructive violence, the erasure of the very memory of an already threatened Tibetan language and culture. In this conversation, I would like to invite scholars of Tibetan studies, particularly Tibetan Buddhist studies to critically reflect on ways to center the richness of Tibetan language in Tibetan Studies (Gyal and Makley 2024).
Padma'tsho
Padma'tsho (Baimacuo) : A Professor in the Philosophy Department of Southwest Minzu University in Chengdu, China. She holds a Ph.D. from Sichuan University in Chengdu and M.A. from Central Nationalities University in Beijing. She published about 50 articles and two books of her research. Her areas of research and teaching include Tibetan Buddhism, ritual, Tibetan monasteries as well as the education of Buddhist nuns in Tibetan areas. Her main research articles is “How Tibetan Nuns Become Khenmos: The History and Evolution of the Khenmo Degree for Tibetan Nuns” ( Religion, 2021) , and other articles have appeared in journals as Contemporary Buddhism, China Tibetology, Journal of Ethnology, Sichuan Tibetan Studies, and Asian Highlands Perspective. Professor Padma 'tsho has spent time at several North American universities as a Visiting Research Scholar, including Harvard, Columbia, University of Virginia, and CU Boulder.
Contemporary Tibetan Nuns' Writings Create Literary Portraits in Gangka Lhamo
Larung Gar is located in Sertar County in Kham, the Eastern Tibetan area, and was set up by Khenchen Jigme Phuntsok (1933-2004) in 1980. Khenchen Jigme Phuntsok was recognized as a reincarnation of Terton Sogyel Lerab Lingpa (1856-1926), who was one important student of Adzom Drukpa (1842-1924). Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok started the new Tibetan Buddhist philosophy curriculum for nuns in the Tibetan area. There are many monks and nuns from Adzom Gar Monastery studying in Larung Gar. Jetsun Khacho Wangmo, who is the incarnation of Adzom Drukpa’s daughter, Yogini Chimey Wangmo, studied in Larung Gar 2001.
In the Tibetan traditional monasteries Tibetan nuns did not have access to an educational system to explore the higher Buddhist curriculum as the monks did, because they didn’t study the five major subjects of exoteric Buddhism in nunneries. As we know, there were not many well-known Tibetan women and their writings in Tibetan history, except for the famous Yeshe Tsogyal, Machig Labdron, and Sera Khandro who left their works. Many outstanding women did not leave any literature and they became invisible in this history. Since the 1990s, and based on the increasing educational opportunities, Tibetan nuns are gaining recognition and becoming well-known teachers and writers. A large number of publications by Larung Gar nuns have appeared in the last decade; the Ārya Tāre Book Association Editorial Office has published the sixteen-volume Garland of White Lotuses: The Biographies of the Great Female Masters of India and Tibet in 2013, and the fifty-three volume Ḍākinīs’ Great Dharma Treasury in 2017. A third example, the focus of this article, is the journal Gangkar Lhamo. Gangkar Lhamo (གངས་དཀར་ལྷ་མོ) is the first women's journal edited by Tibetan nuns. It was founded in 2011 by the khenmos (female cleric scholars) at Larung Gar and has been issued annually since then.
In this article, I explore Larong Gar nuns' writings that paint literary images and portraits of their lives, spiritual practices, and future nuns' lives in the patriarchal monastic system. According to nuns' previous and recent publications in the journal, some key points show how contemporary Tibetan nuns describe and accomplish both their practicalities and spiritual practices in their daily lives. The first element is their education and learning in Larong Gar. Khenmos and nuns describe their level of study and learning in the new Tibetan nuns’ education system, and the second key aspect is how to have a healthy life in Larong Gar. I will illustrate the latter with a Tibetan Khenmo's poem, "Calling for Women's Health in the Land of Snow (གངས་ལྗོངས་སྐྱེས་མའི་བདེ་ཐང་གི་འབོད་སྒྲ།)," to talk about Tibetan nuns thinking and views on the issue of women's health. The third aspect of Tibetan nuns' writing is how Tibetan nuns think about the issues of male and female equality, and the final aspect is how Larong Gar nuns evaluate and feel about the Buddhist vows and the disciplines they follow. These illustrations are all from the writings in the nuns’ journal, Gongkar Lhamo.
Jacob Dalton
Jacob Dalton is UC Berkeley’s Khyentse Foundation Distinguished University Professor in Tibetan Buddhism. He works on tantric ritual, Nyingma religious history, and the Dunhuang manuscripts. He is author of several books, most recently Conjuring the Buddha: Ritual Manuals in Early Tantric Buddhism (Columbia University Press, 2023).
Why Ordinary People Can See Extraordinary Visions: Patrul Namkha Jikmé's Defense of the Great Perfection
The relationship between the conventional and the ultimate is a question that has vexed Buddhist thinkers throughout history. In the context of the Great Perfection, it has played out around how an ordinary being with their fleshy eyes can directly encounter sublime buddhas in the sky. This paper considers Patrul Namkha Jikmé's (1888-1960) defense of the Great Perfection visions as immediate perceptions of saṃbhogakāya forms. In defending his tradition, Namkha Jikmé compares it to both the illusory body (sgyu lus) practices associated with the Ārya school of Guhyasamāja exegesis and the empty form (stong gzugs) visions of the Kālacakra. His early twentieth-century observations reflect a broad-based shift that unfolded within tantric Buddhist approaches to sensory experience some 1,000 years earlier.
Learned Foote
Learned Foote is currently a visiting assistant professor at Lawrence University, where he teaches courses on Buddhism, religious studies, and gender studies. In 2023, he completed his dissertation Tibetan Life Writings of Adzom Drukpa (1842-1924): Meeting the Lady of the Skies. He is a recipient of the Holstein Dissertation Fellowship for queer and trans studies in religion.
Yeshe Tsogyel as Wisdom Disguised in Adzom Drukpa's Life Writings (rnam thar)
This talk examines the complex role of Yeshe Tsogyel in the life writings (rnam thar) of Adzom Drukpa, contextualizing the narratives' descriptions of this female deity alongside other characterizations of human women in the life writings. Depictions of Yeshe Tsogyel in Adzom Drukpa's life writings are significant in part because they represent in the chronology of Adzom Drukpa's life the earliest examples of divine visions. These visions significantly shape the course of his life and they profoundly involve matters of gender. When the ḍākiṇī appears to him, he is a celibate monk. Yet she instructs him to find a woman consort. Her instructions are highly significant in the formation of Adzom Drukpa's subsequent identity as a non-celibate treasure revealer (gter ston) at the head of a family lineage. While Adzom Drukpa at first disregards the ḍākiṇī's advice, a host of terrifying and powerful visions convince him of her legitimacy, a conclusion supported by his teacher Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo (1820-1892)'s instructions to Adzom Drukpa to follow the ḍākiṇī's advice. I examine the ways the ḍākiṇī is treated subtly differently in the autobiography and biography. Whereas her identity is disguised within the autobiography, she is revealed to be Yeshe Tsogyel in the biography. I propose that Adzom Drukpa's connection with Yeshe Tsogyel is a central thread in his life writings. These scenes of divine pedagogy (as with other "ḍākiṇī dialogues" examined in the scholarship of Sarah H. Jacoby, Janet Gyatso, Suzanne Bessenger, Anne C. Klein and others) illustrate Adzom Drukpa's deepening relation to wisdom as he steps into his role as a Dzogchen master.
I juxtapose the life writings' narratives of Yeshe Tsogyel with their accounts of human women such as Sera Khandro (1892-1940), Sakya Jetsunma (1836-1896), and a young, talented student of Dzogchen, the Cakla princess Sonam Wangmo (dates unknown). I consider also other significant female students of Adzom Drukpa such as Dechen Chokyi Wangmo (1868-1927) and Lhundrup Tso (1864-1945). While Adzom Drukpa's social world is undeniably shaped by hierarchical and patriarchal structures (as seen in his commands to Sera Khandro), at the same time Adzom Drukpa's life writings demonstrate important ways women shaped these milieus. And while Tibetan Buddhist and Bön women's writings were less frequently canonized than men's, a number of women with significant literary output were Adzom Drukpa's associates. I juxtapose the often fraught yet courageous perspectives of many of these Tibetan women writers alongside Adzom Drukpa's fraught yet productive relations with Yeshe Tsogyel.
Full List of Abstracts
Adzom Gyalse Rinpoche
གསང་སྔགས་རྡོ་རྗེ་ཐེག་པའི་བསྟན་པ་ཇི་ལྟར་བྱོན་ཚུལ།
Ways of Teaching Secret Mantra: The Vajra Vehicle
གསང་སྔགས་ཀྱི་ཆོས་འཁོར་གང་དུ་གང་གིས་བསྐོར་བ། བསྡུ་བ་པོ་རྣམས་ཀྱིས་ཇི་ལྟར་བསྡུས་པ། བསྟན་པ་དེ་ཉིད་འཇིག་རྟེན་མི་ཡུལ་དུ་ཇི་ལྟར་འབྱུང་བའི་ཚུལ།
By what and where does the dharma wheel turn?
How is there gathering through what gets gathered?
What are the ways that teachings arise in the human world?
Kali Nyima Cape
Liberation in a Female Body: The Women of Early Dzogchen (rdzogs chen)
This research examines female disciples and consorts as portrayed in Great Perfection Seminal Heart (rdzogs chen snying thig) literature. It draws on a scripture detailing male and female disciples in The Seminal Heart of the Dakinis (mkha' 'gro snying thig, fourteenth century), a corpus of Great Perfection, within a chapter, The Prophecy of the Lineage Holder’s Disciples (brgyud 'dzin gyi slob bu'i lung bstan). This is a revealed scripture accredited to Pema Ledretsal (padma las ‘brel rtsal, 1291-1315/17) and adopted by Longchenpa (klong chen pa, 1308-1363), who was regarded as the most important author of classical Great Perfection literature. This research uses theory of taxonomies to analyze the soteriology, sexuality, and interpersonal relationships of women represented in this scripture. It demonstrates tensions between the disciples and their teacher, illustrating the complex negations of a small community of adepts practicing religious sexuality in multiple forms. Situating this text in its post-tantric innovations, this influential classical Great Perfection text is thus considered for its transformation of discourses about non-celibate women inherited from Buddhist literary pasts. Women were constructed as ideal adepts by the scriptures albeit through an instrumentalist and gender essentialist approach that frames their bodies and sexuality as particularly endowed with liberating potential, underscoring their soteriological equality and difference from the male disciples.
Jacob Dalton
Why Ordinary People Can See Extraordinary Visions: Patrul Namkha Jikmé's Defense of the Great Perfection
The relationship between the conventional and the ultimate is a question that has vexed Buddhist thinkers throughout history. In the context of the Great Perfection, it has played out around how an ordinary being with their fleshy eyes can directly encounter sublime buddhas in the sky. This paper considers Patrul Namkha Jikmé's (1888-1960) defense of the Great Perfection visions as immediate perceptions of saṃbhogakāya forms. In defending his tradition, Namkha Jikmé compares it to both the illusory body (sgyu lus) practices associated with the Ārya school of Guhyasamāja exegesis and the empty form (stong gzugs) visions of the Kālacakra. His early twentieth-century observations reflect a broad-based shift that unfolded within tantric Buddhist approaches to sensory experience some 1,000 years earlier.
Douglas Duckworth
An Immanent and Transcendent Ground of Ethics in Prāsaṅgika and the Great Perfection
Candrakīrti’s interpretation of Madhyamaka emphasizes the empty nature of things, and without sufficient context, lends itself to nihilism. In contrast, Śāntideva fills out a gradual path of cultivation of the Madhyamaka view from the ground up. Śāntideva’s Bodhicaryāvatāra, read alongside Candrakīriti’s Madhyamaka, can provide a useful context to appreciate the radical nature of emptiness in Madhyamaka by showing how it supports a Buddhist path. This pairing has played an important role in Tibetan monastic education, particularly following the influence of Tsongkhapa. Another dimension of Candrakīrti can be found articulated in the works of Patrul Rinpoché and his students, in a Nyingma tradition that aligns Prāsaṅgika-Madhyamaka with the Great Perfection (rdzogs chen). This tradition roots the ultimate truth within a positive nature of mind that serves as both the starting point and culmination of this philosophy. In a way that parallels the way that Śāntideva, paired with Candrakīrti, can be seen to align Prāsaṅgika-Madhyamaka with an immanent world by supplying a groundless nature with an ethical ground, within the framework of the Great Perfection, Candrakīrti’s Madhyamaka is positioned to be in tune with the indivisible ground and fruition of Great Perfection, which plays a central role in shaping Nyingma monastic education.
Learned Foote
Yeshe Tsogyel as Wisdom Disguised in Adzom Drukpa's Life Writings (rnam thar)
This talk examines the complex role of Yeshe Tsogyel in the life writings (rnam thar) of Adzom Drukpa, contextualizing the narratives' descriptions of this female deity alongside other characterizations of human women in the life writings. Depictions of Yeshe Tsogyel in Adzom Drukpa's life writings are significant in part because they represent in the chronology of Adzom Drukpa's life the earliest examples of divine visions. These visions significantly shape the course of his life and they profoundly involve matters of gender. When the ḍākiṇī appears to him, he is a celibate monk. Yet she instructs him to find a woman consort. Her instructions are highly significant in the formation of Adzom Drukpa's subsequent identity as a non-celibate treasure revealer (gter ston) at the head of a family lineage. While Adzom Drukpa at first disregards the ḍākiṇī's advice, a host of terrifying and powerful visions convince him of her legitimacy, a conclusion supported by his teacher Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo (1820-1892)'s instructions to Adzom Drukpa to follow the ḍākiṇī's advice. I examine the ways the ḍākiṇī is treated subtly differently in the autobiography and biography. Whereas her identity is disguised within the autobiography, she is revealed to be Yeshe Tsogyel in the biography. I propose that Adzom Drukpa's connection with Yeshe Tsogyel is a central thread in his life writings. These scenes of divine pedagogy (as with other "ḍākiṇī dialogues" examined in the scholarship of Sarah H. Jacoby, Janet Gyatso, Suzanne Bessenger, Anne C. Klein and others) illustrate Adzom Drukpa's deepening relation to wisdom as he steps into his role as a Dzogchen master.
I juxtapose the life writings' narratives of Yeshe Tsogyel with their accounts of human women such as Sera Khandro (1892-1940), Sakya Jetsunma (1836-1896), and a young, talented student of Dzogchen, the Cakla princess Sonam Wangmo (dates unknown). I consider also other significant female students of Adzom Drukpa such as Dechen Chokyi Wangmo (1868-1927) and Lhundrup Tso (1864-1945). While Adzom Drukpa's social world is undeniably shaped by hierarchical and patriarchal structures (as seen in his commands to Sera Khandro), at the same time Adzom Drukpa's life writings demonstrate important ways women shaped these milieus. And while Tibetan Buddhist and Bön women's writings were less frequently canonized than men's, a number of women with significant literary output were Adzom Drukpa's associates. I juxtapose the often fraught yet courageous perspectives of many of these Tibetan women writers alongside Adzom Drukpa's fraught yet productive relations with Yeshe Tsogyel.
Gesche Denma Gyaltsen
Bon Dzogchen Lineage Holders of the Zhang Zhung Nyengyud
The Dzogchen Zhang Zhung Nyengyud teachings are the oral transmission are the most powerful and precious teachings of Bön. They were transmitted from Kuntu Zangpo, the Dharmakaya, in an unbroken lineage to the present. The text was first written in the 8th century.
Alexander Gardner
Nonsectarianism, Inclusivism, and Nonduality: Jamgon Kongtrul's Use of 'Ris med'
Ris med is a term that can mean so much that it is difficult to translate. Scholars have tried nonsectarian, ecumenical, eclectic, inclusive, pluralistic, impartial, and so on, in presentations ranging from Gene Smith's nonsectarian institution-building "ris med movement" to Chogyam Trungpa's institution-destroying "practice lineage." We know, finally, that Jamgon Kongtrul did not invent the term, and that he intended neither to launch a movement nor tear down the walls of the religious institutions of his day. In this paper I will examine three instances in which Kongtrul used ris med to show that he too appreciated its multivalence. First is a short verse statement of his world view on the eve of embarking on his first retreat, in 1842, in which he bemoans the sectarian infighting from which he has suffered. Second, in the title of an undated overview of Tibetan religion, the Ris med chos 'byung, which might be translated as "An Inclusive Religious History," in which he defines Dzogchen as the pinnacle of Tibetan religion. Third, towards the end of his life he uses ris med to eulogize his dear friend Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, expressing with it a Dzogchen view of nonduality.
James Gentry
Dressing for Success in the Great Perfection: The Integration of Analytic Contemplation in Heart Essence Amulet Practice
Buddhist amulets have been a topic of scholarly research for decades. But scholarly presuppositions that amulets have circulated primarily in “popular” Buddhist milieus, related only tangentially to the pursuits of “elite” practitioners, has limited our appreciation of how amulets have inflected philosophical and contemplative concerns. This paper aims to challenge this lopsided perspective by showing how Buddhists in Tibet integrated analytic contemplation into the practice of writing down, wearing, and putting into practice short tantric scriptures that claim to liberate through wearing. The discussion argues that carving out a place for analysis in amulet-tantra use can be traced to the revelations of the thirteenth-century visionary scholar Guru Chöwang’s commentarial glosses on the phrase “liberation through wearing.” It contextualizes this change as a transition between the earlier Heart Essence of Vimalamitra revelations and the later Heart Essence of the Ḍākinī revelations, and in response to ongoing criticisms of the Great Perfection. It concludes that the Heart Essence of the Ḍākinī amulets drew from Guru Chöwang’s revelation to harmonize analytic inquiry with the earlier Vimalamitra dispensation in ways that blur the boundaries between embodied tantric practice and discursive philosophical inquiry, with ramifications for how we study, and practice, Buddhist Tantra and philosophy.
David Germano
A Historical Methodology for Classifying the Variety of Great Perfection (rdzogs chen) Traditions
The Seminal Heart (snying thig) tradition of the Great Perfection (rdzogs chen) begins with revelations in the eleventh century, becomes the dominant Great Perfection tradition in the Nyingma school by the fourteenth century, and has continued as such right into the present. The difference, however, in narrative, philosophy, and practice between these two poles of eleventh century origins and twenty first century contemporary realities is extraordinary, though the tradition continues to rhetorically point to and value the original scriptural sources and stress fundamental continuity.
Scripturally, the basis of the eleventh and twelfth centuries are The Seventeen Tantras, their commentaries, and the diverse textual collections that came to be anthologized as The Seminal Heart of Vimalamitra, but early on was known as “the four volumes” (po ti bzhi) and “one hundred and nineteen experiential precepts” (man ngag brgya dang dgu bcu). These are narratively characterized by a focus on the Indian Vimalamitra in his visionary transmissions and appearances and have nothing whatsoever to do with Padmasambhava, while they fashion an elaborate cosmology unique to these texts grounded in stories of primordial and cosmological Buddhas, saints vanishing in light, a vast range of worlds in eons of dark and light, and three sources of the teachings in the form of a magical statue, vajra, and book. Philosophically, the tradition is dominated by elemental theory—earth, water, fire, and wind—with consequent interests in medical practices, astrology, and material substances, and by the creative primacy of gnosis in all aspects of human life. Contemplatively, the tradition offers new visionary practices of cultivated spontaneous experiences of luminosity, but also a variety of practices focused on experiencing material elements through recipes, sensory practices, and a great range of mantra practices. Ideologically, as well, there is an overarching nomadic imagery in these early origins, as well as an intertwined focus on Land, the sentient, agentive character of things we might consider inanimate, and the way in which souls (bla) are profoundly diverse, distributed, and located outside as much as inside the individual self.
By the fourteenth century, Padmasambhava had largely displaced Vimalamitra, the elaborate cosmology was on the decline, elemental theory was increasingly marginalized, and material, elemental meditations as well as mantra experimentation were vanishing. These changes accelerated over time, and a new dynamic increasingly focused on mainstream meditations of deity evocation by visualization according to practice handbooks (sādhana) emerged as well, while an increasing focus on exoteric Buddhist philosophy impacted upon the distinctive nature of Seminal Heart discourses. Meanwhile, ideologically, the deep nomadic imagery gets partially sublimated, and the deep interrelations of self, Land, and matter become sanitized. Two scriptural traditions, with their concomitant narratives, philosophies, and meditations—Mahāyoga and Kālacakra—have been dominant, if hidden, dialog partners for the Seminal Heart in its origins and over time, though the nature of the influence has been shifting and complex. In addition, discarded elements of the tradition possibly manifest in complex ways elsewhere, and separate histories of things such as dark retreats, amulets, contemplative material recipes, and so forth are necessary to fully understand these complex histories.
These striking transformations are not significantly acknowledged by Tibetan authors in the tradition, apart from scattered references to some practices no longer being done, texts being lost, and transmissions being attenuated; there is even less to no attempt to explain or theorize these vast differences. In addition, the early extraordinary innovations are deferred to Indian agency, and attempts to recover the agency of Tibetans, Tibetan culture, and Tibetan Land are dismissed due to concerns of lineal authenticity when Indian origins are the touchstone of legitimacy.
I will offer a history and theorization of these changes over eleven centuries that attempts to make sense of the drivers and significance of these dynamic patterns of profound continuity and discontinuity in a famous Tibetan religious tradition, as well as contextualize them within Tibetan agencies. This will include a suggested set of measures that could be utilized to assess any specific rdzogs chen cycle, text, or tradition in regards to the overall array of traditions that go under this banner within the Nyingma lineages.
Huatse Gyal
བོད་རིག་པའི་ཁྲོད་བོད་སྐད་ཡིག་གི་ཁྱད་ཉམས་གཙོ་སྙིང་དུ་འཛིན་པ།
Centering the Richness of Tibetan Language in Tibetan Studies
Dr. Lama Jabb’s publications on Tibetan language and literature and his series of lectures on translation in recent years have heightened Tibet scholars’ awareness of translation as a highly fraught, “liminal bardo zone” (2024) between languages, in which translators must navigate a life-and-death process of partially dismantling both languages in order to bring about the felicitous rebirth of new texts. He tells us that the journey of translation from the Tibetan language is like crossing the Bardo, full of potential pitfalls and even the possibility of destructive violence, the erasure of the very memory of an already threatened Tibetan language and culture. In this conversation, I would like to invite scholars of Tibetan studies, particularly Tibetan Buddhist studies to critically reflect on ways to center the richness of Tibetan language in Tibetan Studies (Gyal and Makley 2024).
David Higgins
Great Perfection (Dzogchen) Syncretism in the Aftermath of Tibet’s Great Debate
There is a growing body of academic research devoted to clarifying various historical and doctrinal aspects of the “Great Debate” at Samyé monastery that is said to have hosted by the Tibetan emperor Tri Songdetsen (755–797) toward the end of the 8th century to decide the future of Buddhism in his country. Yet attention has only recently been directed to the long and vital history of critical responses by native Tibetan Buddhist scholars to the standard account debate and its rival positions. In reconsidering the central issue—the age-old Buddhist question of whether the goal of awakening (bodhi) is realized gradually through analytical meditation, as argued by the Indian participant Kamalaśīla, or all at once through perceiving the nature of mind, as proposed by his Chinese Chan (Zen) rival Heshang Moheyan (Tib. Hwa shang Mahāyāna)—certain Dzogchen thinkers proposed that the two positions are best regarded as complementary strains of Buddhist thought and practice rather than as mutually exclusive alternatives. Above all, they challenged the widely held assumptions that the gradualist and subitist paradigms advanced by the Indian and Chinese contestants were fundamentally incompatible so that if one is true, the other must be false. This article will explore how this nascent compatibilism shaped Dzogchen thought and practice from the Royal Dynastic Period onward as this tradition developed a syncretistic and decidedly non-sectarian model of the Buddhist path, one that was able to accommodate the complex diversity of Buddhist doctrines and practices that Tibet assimilated from its neighbouring civilisations.
Amy Holmes-Tagchungdarpa
Meditating with Dralha Yézu: Place, More-than-Human Relations, and Ritual Communication in Tokden Shakya Shri’s Collected Works
In the Collected Works of great Dzokchen masters, along with contemplative instructions there are often ritual texts dedicated to the protector deities of places, and specifically, sacred places (gnas bdag). In this contribution to the conference, I will look at two ritual texts that are part of the Collected Works of Adzom Drukpa’s colleague, friend, and teacher Tokden Shakya Shri (1853-1919) dedicated to the Dralha Yézu (dgra lha ye brdzu). Dralha Yézu is a dharma protector (chos skyong) who guards the secret valley of Lhadrak (lha brag) in Kham. What was the relationship between Tokden Shakya Shri’s contemplative practice and his knowledge and experience of place in Kham? How is ritual practice and place interwoven with meditative practice? And what do these forms of practice and experience tell us about relationships between human and more-than-human residents of the mountains and valleys of Tibet? When Dzokchen practices travel, how does space and place travel with them?
Sarah H. Jacoby
Sera Khandro Dewai Dorjé’s Peregrations to Adzom Gar
This paper seeks to enhance scholarship on the history of Dzogchen by exploring writings by prominent figures in early twentieth-century eastern Tibet, particularly those that orbited around Adzom Gar. The centerpiece of the paper will be writings by Sera Khandro Dewai Dorje (1892-1940) in which she recounts her interactions with prominent Adzom lineage holders, namely Adzom Drukpa Drondül Pawo Dorjé (1842-1924) and his son Gyurmé Dorjé (1895-1969). Through these writings, we will consider the power of prophecy and the essential component of tendrel, or auspicious connections (རྟེན་འབྲེལ།) for the process of Treasure revelation and the accomplishment of spiritual practice.
Justin Kelley
Transformative, Spacious Learning: A Pedagogical Look at Longchenpa
“From the perspective of the nature of fundamental expanse being the ground which abides
all-pervasively, the element of fundamental expanse that is the ground for arising is like a treasure of precious jewels: abiding as the ground for the arising of all desires, yet unfragmented as any "thing" whatsoever.”
- Longchen Rabjam, Precious Treasury of Philosophical Systems (Tibetan: Adzom Chogar’s (a
‘dzom chos sgar) publication, 86a; English: self translation)
This paper re-imagines fourteenth-century Tibetan Buddhist yogi-scholar Longchen Rabjam as a
pedagogue, highlighting how his corpus on the Great Completeness serves as a guidebook for
learning and teaching. Acting as a theoretical framework, I first consider core pillars of andragogy, focusing primarily on the work of two inter-related thinkers, Jack Mezirow and Patricia Cranton, and their pioneering work in transformative learning theory. Mezirow and Cranton are sympathetic to Buddhist-inspired projects such as mine insofar as they embrace non-traditional ways of learning and teaching in service of aiding their students in what they refer to as transformation. Using transformative learning theory as the basis for my analysis, I then turn to Longchenpa’s presentation, exploring the inter-related themes of space and effort. Taken in tandem, this pair constitutes one pillar of the frame of mind advocated for in the Great Completeness. More specifically, space serves as both a thematic entry point to open, receptive states of mind, as well as a descriptor of crucial meditative practices within the Great Completeness. For Longchenpa, space is the key to unlocking the transformation he presents in regard to the Great Completeness meditation system. Additionally, modes of being that I encapsulate here as being non-effortful, or trans-effortful are enacted within this spacious state and serve the practitioner in their cultivation of the enlightened way of being. I end my presentation with a brief example from the Tergar Schools project where contemporary Dzogchen teacher, Mingyur Rinpoche is adapting these practices and principles for contemporary learning spaces.
Anne C. Klein
Foundation and Fruition in Dzogchen: Longchenpa, Jigme Lingpa, and the House of Adzom
How do the foundational practices of Dzogchen (Ngondro) speak to and further qualities needed for actual (dngos gzhi) practice of Dzgochen? And how does a Dzogchen-inflected sadhana help us understand this? I will identify a few distinguishing practice gestures Adzom Drukpa’s Lamplight for Liberation, and put them in conversation with related points from Longchenpa’s commentary on his Precious Treasury of the Dharmadhatu, and with a short excerpt from Adzom Paylo Rinpoche’s recently revealed Yeshe Tsogyal sådhana. In each case I am looking into the transitivity or lack thereof in these practices and the rhetoric and imaging by which Dzogchen's effortful foundational practices support its effortlessly fruitional ways of moving based binaries, softening and finally resolving the degrees of twoness by which ordinary experience unfolds.
Jue Liang
Yeshe Tsogyel as Intra-textual Agent in Rigdzin Gödem’s Unimpeded Realization
As a practice and textual community that places significant emphasis on the participation of women, human or otherwise, how do female Buddhist figures represent themselves in the Nyingma Treasure tradition? As the first and foremost Buddhist woman in Tibet, Yeshe Tsogyel (Ye shes mtsho rgyal) is remembered not only as a disciple of Padmasambhava and a part of the imperial narrative of how Tibet became a land of Buddhism, she is also commemorated as a ḍākinī or khandroma (mkha’ ’gro ma) who is responsible for the future transmission of Padmasambhava’s teachings, and is frequently evoked in sādhana practices as a part of the enlightened vision.
This presentation is a case study of Yeshe Tsogyel’s role in the intra-textual references in a Great Perfection (Rdzogs chen) teaching cycle revealed by Rigdzin Gödem (Rigs ’dzin rgod ldem, 1337–1408) with the title Unimpeded Realization (Dgongs pa zang thal). A reproduction of blockprints was prepared by A ’dzoms ’Brug pa rin po che (1842–1924) in his own monastery in the early 1900s. This cycle contains five volumes. The fifth volume, titled “Self-Emergent, Self-Arisen Primordial Purity” (Ka dag rang byung rang shar), contains primarily sacred conversations (zhus lan) between various enlightened figures. Most of these question-and-answer sessions occur between Padmasambhava and his disciples, the foremost among which Yeshe Tsogyel. By examining how Yeshe Tsogyel is portrayed in these accounts, and her part in the literary function of these conversations within the larger corpus of Unimpeded Realization, especially the intra-textual references, I argue that Yeshe Tsogyel serves as an intra-textual agent that is at the same time a disciple within the imperial narrative of the transmission of teachings, a ḍākinī who transmitted the teaching to a predestined Treasure revealer (in this case Rigdzin Gödem), and a part of the enlightened assembly that inhabit the Great Perfection path within the same teaching cycle.
Padma'tsho
Contemporary Tibetan Nuns' Writings Create Literary Portraits in Gangka Lhamo
Larung Gar is located in Sertar County in Kham, the Eastern Tibetan area, and was set up by Khenchen Jigme Phuntsok (1933-2004) in 1980. Khenchen Jigme Phuntsok was recognized as a reincarnation of Terton Sogyel Lerab Lingpa (1856-1926), who was one important student of Adzom Drukpa (1842-1924). Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok started the new Tibetan Buddhist philosophy curriculum for nuns in the Tibetan area. There are many monks and nuns from Adzom Gar Monastery studying in Larung Gar. Jetsun Khacho Wangmo, who is the incarnation of Adzom Drukpa’s daughter, Yogini Chimey Wangmo, studied in Larung Gar 2001.
In the Tibetan traditional monasteries Tibetan nuns did not have access to an educational system to explore the higher Buddhist curriculum as the monks did, because they didn’t study the five major subjects of exoteric Buddhism in nunneries. As we know, there were not many well-known Tibetan women and their writings in Tibetan history, except for the famous Yeshe Tsogyal, Machig Labdron, and Sera Khandro who left their works. Many outstanding women did not leave any literature and they became invisible in this history. Since the 1990s, and based on the increasing educational opportunities, Tibetan nuns are gaining recognition and becoming well-known teachers and writers. A large number of publications by Larung Gar nuns have appeared in the last decade; the Ārya Tāre Book Association Editorial Office has published the sixteen-volume Garland of White Lotuses: The Biographies of the Great Female Masters of India and Tibet in 2013, and the fifty-three volume Ḍākinīs’ Great Dharma Treasury in 2017. A third example, the focus of this article, is the journal Gangkar Lhamo.
Gangkar Lhamo (གངས་དཀར་ལྷ་མོ) is the first women's journal edited by Tibetan nuns. It was founded in 2011 by the khenmos (female cleric scholars) at Larung Gar and has been issued annually since then.
In this article, I explore Larong Gar nuns' writings that paint literary images and portraits of their lives, spiritual practices, and future nuns' lives in the patriarchal monastic system. According to nuns' previous and recent publications in the journal, some key points show how contemporary Tibetan nuns describe and accomplish both their practicalities and spiritual practices in their daily lives. The first element is their education and learning in Larong Gar. Khenmos and nuns describe their level of study and learning in the new Tibetan nuns’ education system, and the second key aspect is how to have a healthy life in Larong Gar. I will illustrate the latter with a Tibetan Khenmo's poem, "Calling for Women's Health in the Land of Snow (གངས་ལྗོངས་སྐྱེས་མའི་བདེ་ཐང་གི་འབོད་སྒྲ།)," to talk about Tibetan nuns thinking and views on the issue of women's health. The third aspect of Tibetan nuns' writing is how Tibetan nuns think about the issues of male and female equality, and the final aspect is how Larong Gar nuns evaluate and feel about the Buddhist vows and the disciplines they follow. These illustrations are all from the writings in the nuns’ journal, Gongkar Lhamo.
Nathaniel Rich
In Its Own Place: Dzogchen and the Birth of the Nyingma Shedra (bshad grwa)
The modern shedra (bshad grwa) system of Buddhist scholastic education was established by the innovative 19th century Nyingma scholar-monk Gyalsé Shenpen Tayé (1800-ca.1855). Many of the most important Nyingma figures of the 19th and early 20th centuries, such as Patrul Rinpoche (1808-1887), Mipham Rinpoche (1846-1912), and Khenpo Shenga (1871-1927), were educated in the institutions founded by Shenpen Tayé using the curriculum and pedagogy that he first established. Drawing upon the writings of Shenpen Tayé himself, this presentation considers the place of Dzogchen in those institutions, in that curriculum, and in the work of Shenpen Tayé himself. It takes as its point of departure a remarkable set of verses in a brief work on Buddhist doctrine written “for the benefit of beginners,” in which Shenpen Tayé articulates the necessity of studying the most basic exoteric forms of Buddhist thought in order to understand and practice Dzogchen and thereby “achieve buddhahood in this very life.”
Michael R. Sheehy
Resting Ocean, Resting Mountain: “Open Presence” as a Framework for Nondual Awareness (NDA) in Dzogchen and the Contemplative Sciences
Over the past two decades, there is increasing philosophical and scientific research on nondual awareness (NDA). A technical phrase that has gained currency in the contemplative sciences literature on NDA is “Open Presence,” a phrase that denotes non-referential meditation styles. This phrase is however riddled with problems because it’s poetic translation of the Tibetan phrase, rikpa chokzhag (rig pa cog bzhag), which is deeply embedded in Dzogchen presentations of pure awareness, and because it signifies different meanings in the neuroscientific discourse on meditation. In this talk, I discuss the usage of Open Presence in scientific meditation research as a descriptive category for open focus, fluid attention, and an analog with the well-defined contemplative style of Open Monitoring (OM). In contrast, I present the Dzogchen framework of fourfold resting (cog gzhag bzhi) or being imperturbably at ease as modular expressions of nondual awareness. To do so, I will draw from authors of the Longchen Nyingtik or Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse, starting with Jigme Lingpa (1730-1798) up to Adzom Drukpa (1842-1924) and Kangsar Tenpai Wangchuk (b. 1938) to show how Tibetan contemplatives on the precipice of modernity – many of whom innovated, revived, and preserved Dzogchen’s literary and contemplative vitality – can contribute to contemporary NDA research.
Khenpo Yeshi
Exploring Dzogchen Ground: Intersections of Theory, Practice, and Tradition
One unique feature that distinguishes Tibetan Buddhism among the broader Buddhist communities is its philosophical view on Dzogchen Ground – gzhi. This innovative philosophical concept of Ground builds upon traditional Mahāyāna ideas that establish saṃsāra and nirvāṇa as identical, and offers the Ground as a non-conceptual concept that underlies both and makes it unnecessary to escape saṃsāra and attain nirvāṇa. This presentation will explore how this unique articulation of Dzogchen Ground is taught by focusing on one of the Seventeen Tantras from the Dzogchen canon, The Great Tantra on the Exquisite Auspiciousness Beyond Glorious Space (bkra shis mdzes ldan chen po’i rgyud dpal nam mkha’ med pa). My presentation contextualizes this tantra, looking at influences on it from the past and treatments of it in later contemplative and philosophical writings, looking for shared themes and divergences. My discussion will illustrate how Dzogchen Ground bridges theory and practice, arguing that both aspects must be considered in unison for a full and more profound understanding of the Ground.