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The Open Door to Emptiness
One of the most important concepts in Mahayana Buddhism is the concept of Emptiness. We have experiences that in fact appear, but when they are examined closely in four careful analyses of the Middle-way (Madhyamaka) they are found to have no substantiality or inherent reality. This fact has led the Buddha and many highly realized masters to declare that our reality is like a mirage, a dream, a drop of dew.
This is important because if we don't fully comprehend the insubstantiality of phenomena, we cannot really reduce our attachment to the world. Without this, we cannot develop true, universal compassion for all sentient beings.
In this book, Thrangu Rinpoche gives a careful evaluation of the four great analyses of Mipham Rinpoche in his Gateway to Knowledge in a simple, direct and practical manner.
Rinpoche has taught high lamas, ordinary monks, Western and Eastern lay practitioners for over 30 years in his centers in North America, Europe, India, Nepal, and Asia.
The teachings of Thrangu Rinpoche, the supreme lord of refuge and great abbot, are to be taken not as mere commentary upon the words and an explanation of their meaning, but rather as actual blessings and instructions drawn from his experience ornamented by love, compassion, and realization.
-Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche
This edition includes a translation of the source text.
This is important because if we don't fully comprehend the insubstantiality of phenomena, we cannot really reduce our attachment to the world. Without this, we cannot develop true, universal compassion for all sentient beings.
In this book, Thrangu Rinpoche gives a careful evaluation of the four great analyses of Mipham Rinpoche in his Gateway to Knowledge in a simple, direct and practical manner.
Rinpoche has taught high lamas, ordinary monks, Western and Eastern lay practitioners for over 30 years in his centers in North America, Europe, India, Nepal, and Asia.
The teachings of Thrangu Rinpoche, the supreme lord of refuge and great abbot, are to be taken not as mere commentary upon the words and an explanation of their meaning, but rather as actual blessings and instructions drawn from his experience ornamented by love, compassion, and realization.
-Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche
This edition includes a translation of the source text.
152 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1997
About the author
Khenchen Thrangu
80 books44 followersVery Venerable Ninth Khenchen Thrangu Tulku, Karma Lodrö Lungrik Maway Senge (Tibetan: ཁྲ་འགུ་, Wylie: khra 'gu) is a prominent tulku (reincarnate lama) in the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism.
At the age of four he was formally recognized by His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa and Eleventh Tai Situpa as the ninth incarnation of the great Thrangu tulku, the abbot of Thrangu Monastery, whose root incarnation was Shüpu Palgyi Sengé, one of the twenty-five disciples of Guru Rinpoche. Forced to flee to India in 1959, he went to Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim, where the Karmapa had his seat in exile. Thrangu Rinpoche then served as the main teacher of the four principal Karma Kagyü tulkus of that time—the four regents of the Karmapa (Shamar Rinpoche, Tai Situ Rinpoche, Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche, and Gyaltsab Rinpoche). In 1976 he began to teach in the West and became the abbot of Gampo Abbey—a Buddhist monastery in Nova Scotia, Canada—as well as to take charge of the three-year retreat centre at Samyé Ling in Scotland.
He is also the author of the widely studied The Practice of Tranquility and Insight, a commentary on the eighth chapter of Jamgön Kongtrul's Treasury of Knowledge, on shamatha and vipashyana.
At the age of four he was formally recognized by His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa and Eleventh Tai Situpa as the ninth incarnation of the great Thrangu tulku, the abbot of Thrangu Monastery, whose root incarnation was Shüpu Palgyi Sengé, one of the twenty-five disciples of Guru Rinpoche. Forced to flee to India in 1959, he went to Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim, where the Karmapa had his seat in exile. Thrangu Rinpoche then served as the main teacher of the four principal Karma Kagyü tulkus of that time—the four regents of the Karmapa (Shamar Rinpoche, Tai Situ Rinpoche, Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche, and Gyaltsab Rinpoche). In 1976 he began to teach in the West and became the abbot of Gampo Abbey—a Buddhist monastery in Nova Scotia, Canada—as well as to take charge of the three-year retreat centre at Samyé Ling in Scotland.
He is also the author of the widely studied The Practice of Tranquility and Insight, a commentary on the eighth chapter of Jamgön Kongtrul's Treasury of Knowledge, on shamatha and vipashyana.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 15, 2016
A practice that requires practice...
"To be intellectually thoroughly convinced that everything is empty is not enough to develop full realisation. Rather, we must also meditate on the mind to see for ourselves how outer phenomena register in the mind to see that the mind is truly empty."
"To be intellectually thoroughly convinced that everything is empty is not enough to develop full realisation. Rather, we must also meditate on the mind to see for ourselves how outer phenomena register in the mind to see that the mind is truly empty."
November 23, 2021
WOW : Womb of Wisdom
Such is awareness awakened of a sleeping consciousness, where mother of its emptiness is perceived and actualized in womb of wisdom.
Such is awareness awakened of a sleeping consciousness, where mother of its emptiness is perceived and actualized in womb of wisdom.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews