Matthew T. Kapstein > Quotes

“Atiśa, following Nāgārjuna’s commentator Candrakīrti, held that although our everyday language adequately describes apparent reality, philosophical discourse nevertheless has a necessary role: not system-building but the criticism of our presuppositions, dismantling them until we arrive at the profound realization of emptiness and the opening that this entails.”
― Matthew T. Kapstein, Tibetan Buddhism: A Very Short Introduction

“In Tibetan societies, the deference to social inferior to superior, junior to senior, mundane to sacred, spiritually immature to spiritually advanced and so forth is very strongly marked.

Basic formulas recited before tea or meals:
The supreme teacher is the precious Buddha.
The supreme protector is the precious Dharma.
The supreme guide is the precious Sangha.
I offer worship to these three Refuge-granting jewels!

Om mani padme hum, the natural voice of reality is uninterrupted.
Om still pride
Ma still jealous rage
Ni stills lust
Pad stills stupidity
Me stills greed
Hum stills hatred.
From the Mani Kabum.”
― Matthew Kapstein

“verbal tricks might be employed to trap an opponent; and the debate was always accompanied by vivid, ritualized gestures, partly contrived to mimic a combat in which one might be hard put to maintain his cool. (The point being, precisely, to learn to remain calm under pressure.)”
― Matthew T. Kapstein, Tibetan Buddhism: A Very Short Introduction