Seeking the Buddha’s Definitive Intent
The Progressive Stages of the Buddhist Philosophical Systems
Rime Shedra Foundation Course #104
Twelve of the Tuesdays from September 12 to December 19, 2023, 7-9:15 pm
Text: Science and Philosophy in the Indian Buddhist Classics Volume Three: Philosophical Systems, conceived & introduced by HH The Dalai Lama, compiled by The Compendium Compilation Committee, translated by Donald Lopez and Hyoung Seok Ham, edited by Thupten Jinpa, Wisdom Publications, 2023
The focus of this course is the true nature of reality. The method will be a detailed examination of the various ways that reality can be viewed. These views are condensed into the four major Buddhist philosophical systems. We will see that they can be understood as progressively sophisticated and subtle ways of understanding. In that way, they present us with a progressive path to the transcendence of our entire conceptual framework.
The text we are using in this course is an expanded commentary on the core points of each system presenting not only their essence but also their context, implications and their failings. In this way, this text presents each tradition on its own terms to see how it answers the fundamental issues of existence: what are the basic components of the world we experience, what is their relative nature and what is their ultimate reality, and how can we resolve the discrepancy between how things appear to us and how they really exist?
This is the fourth (and most essential) course in a series of foundational courses offered by Rime Shedra NYC as preparation for the study of the core text for the View segment of the shedra curriculum, Chandrakirti’s Madhyamakavatara, Introduction to the Middle Way, in January of 2024. That will be followed by a series of courses on the major Tibetan commentaries on that subject, one course for each of the major Tibetan traditions. The root text for the preparatory study of this topic, called Established Views, or Drubtha in Tibetan, is a summary of the tenets of the major philosophical systems and the text we are using in this course is an expanded commentary on the root text.
While it is not necessary to have taken the prior three foundational courses, it would be helpful to have some familiarity with their content. You can find this on our website in the materials for each of those courses (especially in their syllabi), which were: Knowing the Nature of the Objective World; Knowing the Nature of the Mind; and How to Really Know What Is.
Core Materials:
Class Recordings: