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Mountain Dharma: An Ocean of Definitive Meaning
Consummate, Uncommon Esoteric Instructions
Table of Contents
About The Book
The controversial master Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen shook Buddhist Tibet when he taught that an eternal enlightened essence, or buddha nature, exists in full form in all living beings. The ideas discussed in Mountain Dharma are still as provocative now as when Dolpopa first taught them, impacting Buddhism to this day. Dolpopa identified the ultimate with the buddha nature, or sugata essence, which he held to be eternal and not empty of self-nature. The buddha nature is perfect, with all its characteristics inherently present in all living beings. It is only the impermanent and temporary afflictions veiling the buddha nature that are empty of self-nature and must be removed through the practice of the path to allow it to manifest. Dolpopa establishes the validity of his theories with an ocean of quotations selected from Indian Buddhist scriptures and treatises of indisputable authority, showing us that the ultimate is a true, eternal, and established reality, empty merely of other relative phenomena.
Product Details
- Publisher: Wisdom Publications (April 29, 2025)
- Length: 720 pages
- ISBN13: 9780861714469
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Raves and Reviews
“Dölpopa Sherab Gyaltsen (1292–1361) is among the most admired and, at the same time, contested figures in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. His radical reinterpretation of the concept of ‘emptiness,’ grounded in the vision of a pervasive and permanent buddha nature, has provided a challenge to Tibetan thinkers of all schools and a continuing source of inspiration for practitioners of Buddhist tantric meditation and yoga. With Cyrus Stearns’s exemplary new translation of his masterwork, Mountain Dharma: An Ocean of Definitive Meaning, Dölpopa’s thought becomes accessible to contemporary readers as it has not been before.”
– Matthew T. Kapstein, professor emeritus, École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris
“Cyrus Stearns’s elegant translation of Mountain Dharma: An Ocean of Definitive Meaning reveals the brilliance of Dölpopa Sherab Gyaltsen, one of Tibet’s most profound yet controversial thinkers. Mountain Dharma showcases Dölpopa’s distinctive vision of an eternal buddha nature within all beings and his presentation of emptiness of other and emptiness of self-nature as complementary rather than opposing views. Stearns’s meticulously researched and highly readable translation of Dölpopa’s magnum opus will be treasured by scholars and practitioners alike.”
– Elizabeth Callahan, translator of Moonbeams of Mahamudra
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