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Effortless Spontaneity: The Dzogchen Commentaries by Nubchen Sangye Yeshe
Series: - Brill's Tibetan Studies Library, Volume: 54
Author:
The notion of effortlessness is central to the self-understanding of the Tibetan contemplative tradition known as Dzogchen. This book explores this key notion from a variety of perspectives, highlighting the distinctive role it plays in the Dzogchen approach’s doctrinal architecture and meditative programme.
The book’s focus is on the early development of the Dzogchen tradition, especially as codified in a set of hitherto unstudied commentaries by the 10th-century scholar and meditation master Nubchen Sangye Yeshe. A full annotated translation of the commentaries is provided, along with an edition of the Tibetan texts on facing pages.
The book’s focus is on the early development of the Dzogchen tradition, especially as codified in a set of hitherto unstudied commentaries by the 10th-century scholar and meditation master Nubchen Sangye Yeshe. A full annotated translation of the commentaries is provided, along with an edition of the Tibetan texts on facing pages.
Dylan Esler, PhD (2018), University of Louvain, MA (2005) SOAS, London, currently works as a researcher at the Center for Religious Studies (CERES) of the Ruhr-University Bochum. He has published numerous articles and translations relating to Tibetan Dzogchen and Tantra, including The Lamp for the Eye of Contemplation (Oxford University Press, 2023).
"...Effortless Spontaneity, is a fascinating composite work divided into two main parts centred around exegetical treatises authored by Nubchen Sangye Yeshe (gNubs chen Sangs rgyas ye shes, 844-?), an important Nyingma lineage holder who somehow stands as a link between the tradition connected to the dynastic period and the nascent Nyingmapa school starting to emerge as a more or less coherent system around the early 10th century. Esler’s contribution to Dzogchen studies therefore appears as a much welcome addition to our growing understanding of the “early days of the Great Perfection” itself." - Jean-Luc Achard Études mongoles et sibériennes, centrasiatiques et tibétaines [En ligne], 55 | 2024. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/emscat/6613
9789004534223 Acknowledgements
Conventions Used
Sigla
Introduction
1 Evoking Effortlessness
2 Effortlessness as a Trope of Demarcation
3 Looking Back: A Precedent in Nyak Jñānakumāra
4 An Internal Contradiction?
5 Coalescence of the Transcendence-Immanence Relational Polarity
6 Effortlessness as Path
7 Inwardness and Spaciousness
8 The Question of Method
9 Effortlessness and Conduct
10 Encounter and Transmission
Conclusion
Introductory Remarks
1 A Note on the Editions of the Orally Transmitted Injunctions of the Nyingma
2 Overview of the Root Texts in Their Various Versions
3 Categories of Variants
1 rJe btsan dam pa’i ’grel pa / Commentary on the Holy Revered One (JDG)
2 Byang chub sems bde ba ’phra bkod kyi don ’grel / Meaning Commentary on the Inlaid Jewel of Bliss, the Enlightened Mind (DPG)
3 rDo rje gzong phugs kyi ’grel pa / Commentary on the Adamantine Piercing Awl (DZG)
4 rTse mo byung rgyal ’grel pa / Commentary on the Victorious Peak (TBG)
Bibliography
Index
Conventions Used
Sigla
Introduction
Part 1 An Essay in Approaching Effortlessness
1 Evoking Effortlessness
2 Effortlessness as a Trope of Demarcation
3 Looking Back: A Precedent in Nyak Jñānakumāra
4 An Internal Contradiction?
5 Coalescence of the Transcendence-Immanence Relational Polarity
6 Effortlessness as Path
7 Inwardness and Spaciousness
8 The Question of Method
9 Effortlessness and Conduct
10 Encounter and Transmission
Conclusion
Part 2 The Texts
Introductory Remarks
1 A Note on the Editions of the Orally Transmitted Injunctions of the Nyingma
2 Overview of the Root Texts in Their Various Versions
3 Categories of Variants
1 rJe btsan dam pa’i ’grel pa / Commentary on the Holy Revered One (JDG)
2 Byang chub sems bde ba ’phra bkod kyi don ’grel / Meaning Commentary on the Inlaid Jewel of Bliss, the Enlightened Mind (DPG)
3 rDo rje gzong phugs kyi ’grel pa / Commentary on the Adamantine Piercing Awl (DZG)
4 rTse mo byung rgyal ’grel pa / Commentary on the Victorious Peak (TBG)
Bibliography
Index
scholars and students of Tibetan religion, as well as the wider community of Buddhist practitioners.