Publisher Description

Following the fall of the Tibetan empire and the ensuing "period of fragmentation," the twelfth and thirteenth centuries saw tremendous religious efflorescence in Tibet. Although the Tibetan scholars and adepts of this period continued to draw from the texts and practices of Indian Buddhism, they also began to craft distinctly Tibetan intellectual and spiritual traditions. Hundreds of important masters lived and worked during this time, some of whom founded institutions that still exist today. Equally important were the scholars who lived on the margins of institutionalized Buddhism, teachers and meditators whose works, despite their great creativity, never entered mainstream Tibetan Buddhism.Jose Cabezon offers a study of the life and most important extant work of one such figure, Rog Bande Sherab, also known as Rogben (1166-1244). Rogben studied under some of the greatest teachers of his day. An itinerant scholar and yogi, he devoted his life to collecting important textual cycles and meditation techniques. Rogben's most important work, The Lamp of the Teachings, cuts across the genres of history, doctrinal studies, and doxography. It is one of the earliest philosophically robust explanations of the "nine vehicle" system of the Ancient or Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism.The Buddha's Doctrine and the Nine Vehicles is the first scholarly study of Rog Bande Sherab, a pivotal figure in both the Pacification and Ancient traditions of Tibet, and one of the most original thinkers in Tibetan intellectual history.

Author Biography

Jose Ignacio Cabezon is Dalai Lama Professor of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Table of Contents

Introduction ; The Life of Rog Bande Sherab O ; A Lamp for the Teachings ; Part I: The Buddha and His Doctrine, What Is To Be Known ; Chapter One: Introduction ; Chapter Two: How the Buddha Was Enlightened ; Chapter Three: How the Dharma Was Taught and Compiled ; Chapter Four: The Categorization of the Dharma and the Dissemination of Tantra ; Chapter Five: Exoteric Scriptures and Treatises ; Chapter Six: The Esoteric Tradition ; Chapter Seven: Types of Tantras and Tantric Literature ; Chapter Eight: The Differences Between Various Doctrinal Categories ; Part II: The Nine Vehicles, Knowing Agents ; Chapter Nine: Non-Buddhists ; Chapter Ten: The Hinayana ; Chapter Eleven: The Mind Only School ; Chapter Twelve: The Madhyamaka ; Chapter Thirteen: The Outer Tantras ; Chapter Fourteen: The Inner Tantras ; Part III: The Nonduality of Knowledge and Known Things ; Chapter Fifteen: Nonduality and the Buddhist Path ; Appendix I: Teachings Rogben Received ; Appendix II: The Relationship of Rogben's Lamp to the Two Deu Histories ; Bibliography ; Index

Review

Among the teachings of the Nyingma or 'Ancient' school of Tibetan Buddhism, one of the most famous is the nine vehicles to enlightenment. With this translation of an important thirteenth-century Tibetan text, Jose Cabezon provides the most detailed exposition of the nine vehicles to appear in English. He does so with his characteristic clarity and insight. * Donald Lopez, Arthur E. Link Distinguished University Professor of Buddhist and Tibetan Studies, University of Michigan *

Long Description

Following the fall of the Tibetan empire and the ensuing "period of fragmentation," the twelfth and thirteenth centuries saw tremendous religious efflorescence in Tibet. Although the Tibetan scholars and adepts of this period continued to draw from the texts and practices of Indian Buddhism, they also began to craft distinctly Tibetan intellectual and spiritual traditions. Hundreds of important masters lived and worked during this time, some of whom foundedinstitutions that still exist today. Equally important were the scholars who lived on the margins of institutionalized Buddhism, teachers and meditators whose works, despite their great creativity, never entered mainstream Tibetan Buddhism. Jose Cabezon offers a study of the life and most important extant work of one such figure, Rog Bande Sherab, also known as Rogben (1166-1244). Rogben studied under some of the greatest teachers of his day. An itinerant scholar and yogi, he devoted his life to collecting important textual cycles and meditation techniques. Rogben's most important work, The Lamp of the Teachings, cuts across the genres of history, doctrinal studies, and doxography. It is one of the earliestphilosophically robust explanations of the "nine vehicle" system of the Ancient or Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. The Buddha's Doctrine and the Nine Vehicles is the first scholarly study of Rog Bande Sherab, a pivotal figure in both the Pacification and Ancient traditions of Tibet, and one of the most original thinkers in Tibetan intellectual history.

Review Quote

"Among the teachings of the Nyingma or 'Ancient' school of Tibetan Buddhism, one of the most famous is the nine vehicles to enlightenment. With this translation of an important thirteenth-century Tibetan text, JosCabezn provides the most detailed exposition of the nine vehicles to appear in English. He does so with his characteristic clarity and insight."--Donald Lopez, Arthur E. Link Distinguished University Professor of Buddhist and Tibetan Studies, University of Michigan

Details