Shifting nidānas in Buddhist scripture signal different possibilities for what it means to embody the time of liberation, in short, buddhahood. This paper provides a close reading of the nidāna of an important, never-before studied Dzogchen Heart Essence (Tib. Snying thig) tantra called Secret Tantra of the Sun: Blazing Luminous Matrix of Samantabhadrī (Tib. Kun tu bzang mo klong gsal…
Tag: Tibetan Buddhism
Review: Tibetan Buddhism among Han Chinese
Despite the rapid growth of Tibetan Buddhism in the last thirty years among Chinese peoples in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and throughout the international Chinese diaspora, Han practitioners and their Tibetan Buddhist teachers have remained a relatively understudied part of Chinese religious life. As the first monograph devoted to this subject in nearly a decade, Joshua Esler’s Tibetan Buddhism among Han Chinese marks an important step toward filling this gap in our understanding of the contemporary Chinese religious landscape. Rooted in extensive fieldwork, including more than eighty interviews con- ducted in Beijing, Dechen/Diqing, Lijiang, Hong Kong, and Taiwan in 2011, Esler provides an intimate and richly detailed account of some of the ways in which Tibetan Buddhist teachers and Han practitioners are adapting Tibetan Buddhism to contemporary Chinese societies.
Death Ritual Polemics: Bo dong Paṇ chen and Go rams pa on the Funerary Practices of the Sarvadurgatipariśodhana tantra
The Sarvadurgatipariśodhana tantra (SDP) has informed Tibetan Buddhist funerary practices since it was first translated into Tibetan in the late eighth century. One of its most influential interpreters was the Sa skya pa hierarch Rje btsun Grags pa rgyal mtshan (1147– 1216), whose Light Rays for the Benefit of Others: The Rituals of Sarvavid offers detailed instructions for performing the…