The Buddhist Philosophical Systems As Presented by the Omniscient Longchen Rabjampa in The Precious Treasury of Philosophical Systems
A Rime Shedra NYC Course based upon the book by Longchenpa
Many Tuesdays, September 15 to December 22, 2020, 7-9:15 pm
Online via Zoom Until Further Notice
The Precious Treasury of Philosophical Systems (PTPS) is one of the greatest expositions of the stages of the development of the ultimate view in the Tibetan Tradition. It is one of a set of works known as the Seven Treasuries, written in the 14th century by the incomparable master Gyalwa Longchenpa.
In this spectacular presentation of the extent and depth of the dharma, Longchenpa discusses the philosophical tenets of the entire spectrum of Buddhist teachings - Hinayana, Mahayana, Vajrayana, and Dzogchen. On the basis of his extensive research and nonsectarian viewpoint, he provides an invaluable perspective on the multifaceted nature of the Buddhist tradition in both India and Tibet.
In this course, we will focus on the first two thirds of the text which presents:
the nature of the Buddha and the extent of his teachings,
the stages of the development of the view or understanding of the nature of reality in the various philosophical systems of the tradition, and
the paths of the causal approaches, i.e. Hinayana and Mahayana, and those of the fruition based approached, i.e. Vajrayana, in general.
The PTPS is like the middle or the apex of a huge hourglass. Supporting it are the vast writings of the 600 some odd years of the establishment and development of Buddhist thought in Tibet and building on it are the 600-plus years of further development of Buddhist thought in Tibetan until the present day. The PTPS condenses and brings out the essence of all the writings before it and is a reference point for all the literature which follows. We are truly fortunate that this text is now available in a superb English translation by Chokyi Nyima (Richard Barron).
This text was one of two main sources that Trungpa Rinpoche used in presenting the vast wealth of material he shared over a period of thirteen years of seminary programs for advanced students, which are now encapsulated in The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma in three volumes. The other was The Treasury of Knowledge by Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye.