The Essence of Other-Emptiness

Description

"Jeffrey Hopkins continues his groundbreaking exploration of the Jo-nang-ba sect of Tibetan Buddhism with this revelatory translation of one of the seminal texts from that tradition. Whereas Dol-bo-ba's massive Mountain Doctrine authenticates the doctrine of other-emptiness through extensive scriptural citations and elaborate philosophical arguments, Taranatha's more concise work translated here situates the doctrine of other-emptiness within the context of schools of tenets, primarily the famed four schools of Tibetan Buddhism, through comparing the various schools' opinions on the status of the noumenon and phenomena. Also included is a supplementary text by Taranatha which presents the opinions of a prominent fifteenth-century Sakya scholar, Shakya Chok-den, and contrasts them with those of the leading Jo-nang-ba scholar Dol-bo-ba."

Jeffrey Hopkins, PhD, served for a decade as the interpreter for the Dalai Lama. A Buddhist scholar and the author of more than thirty-five books, he is Professor Emeritus at the University of Virginia, where he founded the largest academic program in Tibetan Buddhist studies in the West.

"Anyone eager to understand the currents and interpretation that flowed through Tibetan Buddhist literary culture and contemplative practice will be delighted by this excursion into the works of one of the more colorful and daring among Tibet's intellectual yogins."-Jules B. Levinson, Ph.D. "This book is lovingly translated and annotated. Jeffrey Hopkins likes nothing better than this sort of challenge of explication and here he once again comes up trumps."-The Middle Way "This short book contains two crucial texts on the Jonangpa School's controversial doctrine of 'other-emptiness' written by the Tibetan scholar Taranatha. . . J. Hopkins, the translator, is one of today's most insightful and prolific scholars of Tibet. . . . These texts provide a clear, concise, and approachable source for analysis of the central doctrine of a school that was, until recently, anathematized by the Tibetan Gelukpa establishment. Students and scholars of Tibetan thought will find the work a welcome addition."-Religious Studies Review