“To the great emptiness free from the elaborations of the eight limits,
From the authentic logical path of the wise scholars,
That totally connects all beings to the ground of bliss and benefit,
I prostrate to those kind and sacred gurus.”
“It is not completely non-existent emptiness, mere nothingness like space, or the child of a barren woman.” –Khenpo Gangshar in The Magic Key commentary (tr. Tomlin, 2023)
“When we think about that emptiness of space what is it like? It is inanimate, there is no clarity to it in any way. But when we talk about the essence of the dharma expanse (cho-ying) and awareness (ye-she), these two are indivisible. So there is the expanse (ying) but it is permeated and pervaded by the awareness (yeshe), this is the clear aspect of the mind.”
–9th Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche (Magic Key teaching, 2009)
This last week was not only the parinirvana of the 19th Century master, Ju Mipham Gyatso Rinpoche (5th June) but also the one year parinirvana of Geshe Lharampa 9th Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche.
To commemorate the lives of both of these Tibetan Buddhist masters, here is a link to a series of transcripts of teachings I published last year on a nine-sessions teaching Thrangu Rinpoche gave in 2009 in the USA, on a renowned text by Mipham Gyatso Rinpoche called Entering the Gateway (or Door) to Knowledge (Khe-Jug), using the commentary called the Magic Key that Opens the Gate to Tenets (Drubtha) of the Definitive Middle Way by his Nyingma and Dzogchen teacher, Khenpo Gangshar.
Interestingly, Mipham Rinpoche wrote the first part of the text Entering the Gateway to Knowledge, the section of ten topics, while he was doing a five year retreat in a place just above Thrangu Monastery, Tibet (see photo), during the time of the previous Thrangu tulku.
Ju Mipham Rinpoche (འཇུ་མི་ཕམ་ or Jamgon Mipham Gyatso (འཇམ་མགོན་མི་ཕམ་རྒྱ་མཚོ་) (1846-1912) — a great Nyingma master and writer of the last century, student of Jamgön Kongtrul, Jamyang Khyentsé Wangpo and Patrul Rinpoche. He became one of the greatest scholars of his time and his collected works fill more than thirty volumes. Mipham Rinpoche was born in the region of Derge in eastern Tibet. At the age of fifteen he undertook eighteen months of intensive retreat on Manjushri. He later confided to some of his students that from then on he had always been able to understand any text he read. Patrul Rinpoche taught him on the famous ninth chapter of the Bodhicharyavatara, ‘Wisdom’, and himself confirmed that after just five days’ teaching, Mipham Rinpoche had completely mastered both the words and meaning of the text.
In this remarkable and important philosophical study text, Gateway to Knowledge, Ju Mipham gives a condensation of the Tripitaka and its accompanying commentaries. Consolidating the intent of Buddha Shakyamuni’s teachings into a unified body of textbooks, this rich source book embodies the basics of Prajnaparamita and Madhyamika as well as Abhidharma from both the Mahayana and Hinayana perspectives. Mipham explores the different tenet systems in Tibetan Buddhism, culminating in the ultimate and highest view of Zhentong (Empty-of-Other), not rang-tong, empty of self as advocated by the Gelugpas.
In 2009, Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche gave a series of teachings on the text, in which he also explains that the ultimate and highest view of emptiness in terms of the Sutra and Tantra teachings is Zhen-tong (Empty-of-Other). The links to the transcripts of those teachings are here:
- PART I: THE DIFFERENT SCHOOLS/TENETS (DRUB-THA): The non-Buddhist schools and two “externalist” Buddhist schools of the Hinayana and Mind-Only
- PART II: THE THREE “MIDDLE WAY” (MĀDHYAMIKA) SCHOOLS: Overview of the three Middle Way schools and explanation of the first, the Autonomist Mādhyamika (Rang-Gyupa) and the Three ‘Autonomist’ Eastern Abbots: Bhāviveka, Śāntarakṣita and Kamalaśīla
- PART III: CONSEQUENTIALIST MIDDLE WAY SCHOOL. The Consequentialist (Prasangika) Middle Way school and the fault of negating everything into empty-of-self (rang-tong) without asserting the ultimate “basis” and qualities of Buddha Nature, the union of clear awareness-emptiness
- PART IV: SUGATAS GONE TO BLISS, THE EMPTY-OF-OTHER (ZHEN-TONG) VIEW. Buddha Nature bliss beyond suffering and clarity awareness-emptiness indivisible union ultimate nature
- PART V: BUDDHA NATURE IS NOT LIKE A CHILDLESS WOMAN’S CHILD: THE CLARITY ASPECT OF BUDDHA NATURE AND MIND: The importance of bodhicitta, devotion and recognising the nature of mind as a union of clarity-emptiness
- PART VI: THE PROFOUND INTENT OF MANTRA, ‘FIRE PEAK’ ORNAMENT OF THE DHARMATA: ATIYOGA (DZOGCHEN). The supreme pinnacle path of Atiyoga (Dzogchen), the non-duality of creation and completion
May it be of benefit in helping us all understand the Buddhist philosophical views leading to the ultimate view, beyond words, concepts and debate, the endless expanse of the bliss-emptiness Buddha Nature!
Music? Thrangu Rinpoche by Raju Lama, UnMind: Meditative Sitar Music by Niladri Kumar
Written and compiled by Adele Tomlin, 6th June 2024.