Dzong-ka-ba's (1357-1419) The Essence of Eloquence is the one book on wisdom that the Dalai Lama carries with him wherever he goes. Composed by Tibet's great yogi-scholar and founder of the Ge-luk-ba school, it stands as a landmark in Buddhist philosophy. In this first of a three-volume series, Jeffrey Hopkins focuses on how the conflict between appearance and reality is presented in the Mind-Only, or Yogic Practice, School.
The Essence of Eloquence is so rich that for the last six centuries numerous Tibetan and Mongolian scholars have been drawn into a dynamic process of both finding and creating consistency in Dzong-ka-ba's often terse and cryptic tract. Hopkins makes extensive use of these commentaries to annotate the translation. Included are historical and doctrinal introductions and a critical edition of the text, as well as a lengthy synopsis to aid the general reader. Specialists and nonspecialists alike will find this important book indispensable.
This book is the first of a three-volume series of related but stand-alone works on the first two sections of Dzong-ka-ba's The Essence of Eloquence. The focus of all three volumes is the exposition of emptiness in the Mind-Only School according to numerous Tibetan and Mongolian scholars over the last six centuries who have tried both to find and to create consistency in his often terse and cryptic tract.
This first volume is in four parts:
--A historical and doctrinal introduction
--A translation of the General Explanation and the Section on the Mind-Only School in The Essence of Eloquence with frequent annotations in brackets, footnotes, and backnotes
--A detailed synopsis of the translation
--A critical edition in Tibetan script of these sections in The Essence of Eloquence
目次
Preface vii Technical Notes xiii
PART ONE: Introduction 1. The Voice 3 2. The Text 6 3. The Worldview 26 4. The Context 39
PART TWO: Annotated Translation Remarks 59 Treatise Differentiating Interpretable And Definitive Meanings: The Essence of Eloquence 65 Prologue 65 The Sūtra Unraveling the Thought on Differentiating the Interpretable and the Definitive 73 1. Questioning Apparent Contradiction 75 2. Buddha’s Answer 82 3. The Three Natures 104 4. The Overal Meaning 114 Explications of the Sūtra Unraveling the Thought on Differentiating the Interpretable and the Definitive 133 5. The Importance of the Sūtra Unraveling the Thought 135 6. Asaṅga’s Grounds of Bodhisattvas 140 7. Asaṅga’s Compendium of Ascertainments 149 8. Maitreya’s Ornament for the Great Vehicle Sūtras 172 9. Maitreya’s Differentiation of the Middle and the Extremes and Other Scholars 182 10. Superimposition 194 11. Handling Objections 220 12. Differentiating Scriptures 234
PART THREE: Synopsis Remarks 249 Prologue 251 Mind-Only School: The Sūtra Unraveling the Thought on Differentiating the Interpretable and the Definitive 255 Overview of Chapters One through Four 257 1. Questioning Apparent Contradiction 258 2. Buddha’s Answer 261 3. The Three Natures 271 4. The Overall Meaning 274 Mind-Only School: Explications of the Sūtra Unraveling the Thought on Differentiating the Interpretable and the Definitive 281 Overview of Chapters Five through Tweleve 283 5. The Importance of the Sūtra Unraveling the Thought 284 Overview of Chapters Six through Nine 285 6. Asaṅga’s Grounds of Bodhisattvas 287 7. Asaṅga’s Compendium of Ascertainments 291 8. Maitreya’s Ornament for the Great Vehicle Sūtras 302 9. Maitreya’s Differentiation of the Middle and the Extremes and Other Scholars 305 10. Superimposition 319 11. Handling Objections 333 12. Differentiating Scriptures 342
PART FOUR: Critical Edition in Tibetan Script Preface to Critical Edition 355 Table of Contents for Critical Edition: Tibetan Style 359 The Tibetan Text 363
Appendix 1. Commentaries on the Sūtra Unraveling the Thought 453 Appendix 2. Chinese Translations of the Sūtra Unraveling the Thought 457 Backnotes 459 Bibliography 475 Detailed Contents 503 Index 515
