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Influence of Yogacara on Mahamudra
A unique and interesting look at how Yogacara philosophy influenced tantra and Mahamudra. Developed by Asanga and Vasubandhu as a reaction to over-theorization, Yogacara emphasizes that everything comes back to one's own practice, one's own experience.
- GenresBuddhism
141 pages, Paperback
First published October 5, 2010
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About the author
Traleg Kyabgon
38 books46 followersTraleg Kyabgon Rinpoche (1955–2012) was the ninth incarnation of the Traleg tulku line, a line of high lamas in the Kagyu lineage of Vajrayana. He was a pioneer in bringing Tibetan Buddhism to Australia.
Traleg Rinpoche was born in 1955 in Kham (Eastern Tibet), and two years later was recognized by HH 16th Gyalwa Karmapa as the ninth incarnation of the Traleg Tulkus and enthroned as the Abbot of the Thrangu monastery. He was taken to safety in India during the 1959 Chinese Communists invasion of Tibet. There he was given a traditional tulku education, supplemented by five years of schooling at Sanskrit University in Varanasi, India. He lived and studied for several years at Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim, the main seat in exile of the Kagyu Lineage. He died on July 24, 2012 in Melbourne, Australia.
In 1980 Rinpoche transmitted the Dharma in Australia where he established Kagyu E-vam Buddhist Institute in Melbourne. He relinquished his monastic vows, became a lay teacher and married. He earned a Masters degree in Comparative Philosophy from La Trobe University. In 1989, he taught extensively at Karma Triyana Dharmachakra, visiting the North American affiliates of HH Gyalwa Karmapa. In 2004 he established the Evam Institute in New York in Chatham, NY. He also taught extensively in the Karma Thegsum Choling network of the Karmapa's centers and at Shambhala Buddhist centers. His wife, Felicity Lodro, is also an active dharma teacher.
Traleg Rinpoche was born in 1955 in Kham (Eastern Tibet), and two years later was recognized by HH 16th Gyalwa Karmapa as the ninth incarnation of the Traleg Tulkus and enthroned as the Abbot of the Thrangu monastery. He was taken to safety in India during the 1959 Chinese Communists invasion of Tibet. There he was given a traditional tulku education, supplemented by five years of schooling at Sanskrit University in Varanasi, India. He lived and studied for several years at Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim, the main seat in exile of the Kagyu Lineage. He died on July 24, 2012 in Melbourne, Australia.
In 1980 Rinpoche transmitted the Dharma in Australia where he established Kagyu E-vam Buddhist Institute in Melbourne. He relinquished his monastic vows, became a lay teacher and married. He earned a Masters degree in Comparative Philosophy from La Trobe University. In 1989, he taught extensively at Karma Triyana Dharmachakra, visiting the North American affiliates of HH Gyalwa Karmapa. In 2004 he established the Evam Institute in New York in Chatham, NY. He also taught extensively in the Karma Thegsum Choling network of the Karmapa's centers and at Shambhala Buddhist centers. His wife, Felicity Lodro, is also an active dharma teacher.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 28, 2015
This is an almost perfect book in many ways. Its material is conveyed from a rigorously non-mythic postconventional perspective which explicitly refers to transrational experiences in the practice of Buddhadharma. The author speaks about the influence of Yogachara on Mahamudra, while offering useful perspectives on Buddhist tantra. This short book is so good, and I’m happy to have encountered it.
March 19, 2023
A Wonderful Little Book!
Traleg Kyabgon goes a long way with this book to right the long history of wrongs related to Yogacara interpretation and presentation (esp. by the Tibetan commentators who have misinterpreted it so thoroughly and obviously in their desire to present the Pasangika Madhyamika view as superior). He makes it clear that the yogacara position isn't an intellectual one, it's a meditative one, so one that is inherently inferential not literal. And Traleg has such a wonderful and immediate and intimate style, a lot like fellow Tibetan Chogyam Trungpa's, but without the big Trungpa ego.
The book is an equal mix of lecture and Q&A sessions, and so makes for a very immediate experience.
"In some ways, buddha nature or our basic intelligence, is much more intrinsic and close to us than the alayavijnana. In some ways though, they coexist. That is why the tantric tradition talks about coemergent wisdom, which means "wisdom and confusion coexist" they coemerge. Confusion, which consists of the the three levels of consciousness, is incidental rather than intrinsic. That which is intrinsic is wisdom or buddha nature. But confusion and wisdom have co-existed right from the beginning; it goes right back. While they have always co-existed, confusion has never been able to cloud the brilliance of our basic intelligence." (p.29)
Traleg Kyabgon goes a long way with this book to right the long history of wrongs related to Yogacara interpretation and presentation (esp. by the Tibetan commentators who have misinterpreted it so thoroughly and obviously in their desire to present the Pasangika Madhyamika view as superior). He makes it clear that the yogacara position isn't an intellectual one, it's a meditative one, so one that is inherently inferential not literal. And Traleg has such a wonderful and immediate and intimate style, a lot like fellow Tibetan Chogyam Trungpa's, but without the big Trungpa ego.
The book is an equal mix of lecture and Q&A sessions, and so makes for a very immediate experience.
"In some ways, buddha nature or our basic intelligence, is much more intrinsic and close to us than the alayavijnana. In some ways though, they coexist. That is why the tantric tradition talks about coemergent wisdom, which means "wisdom and confusion coexist" they coemerge. Confusion, which consists of the the three levels of consciousness, is incidental rather than intrinsic. That which is intrinsic is wisdom or buddha nature. But confusion and wisdom have co-existed right from the beginning; it goes right back. While they have always co-existed, confusion has never been able to cloud the brilliance of our basic intelligence." (p.29)
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews