Perfect Wisdom: Four Early Tantras of the Great Perfection

by Christopher Wilkinson

During the latter part of the Eighth Century of our era, the Tibetan translator Vairochana went to India in search of the teachings on instantaneous enlightenment that are known as the Great Perfection. In India, Vairochana met his teacher, Sri Singha, and lived there in Dhahena, studying with him for many years. During this time they published translations into Tibetan of numerous important works, and these early translations became exemplars for the work that came later. It is clear that Vairochana’s translations were being read by members of the ex-patriot Tibetan community even before he returned to Tibet, and that copies of his translations were probably being read in Tibet even while he was still in India. The four Tantras translated in the present volume belong to this early period. We have The Tantra on Secret Wisdom, the Tantra on the Perfect Wisdom of the Bodhicitta, the Tantra on the Lamp for Secret Wisdom, and the Tantra that Displays the Precious Noble Path. According to the system that divides the Great Perfection scriptures into three The Mind Section, the Space Section, and the Upadeśa Instruction Section, these Tantras belong in the Space Section.

311 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 15, 2019

About the author

Christopher Wilkinson (M.A. Buddhist Studies, University of Calgary; B.A. Asian Languages and Literature, Comparative Religion, University of Washington, 1980) is a Buddhist monk, academic, and translator. He has been visiting professor of English Literature in Sulawesi, Indonesia (1990–1993); research fellow for the Shelly and Donald Rubin Foundation; research fellow at the Centre de Recherches sur les Civilisations de l'Asie Orientale, Collège de France; and Adjunct Professor at the University of Calgary. He is most closely associated with the Dzogchen tradition and the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism.