Tibetan Buddhism Archives - Journal of Contemplative Studies

Review of Being Human and a Buddha Too: Longchenpa’s Seven Trainings for a Sunlit Sky

Being Human and a Buddha Too is a seemingly simple yet penetrating introduction to the all-encompassing wholeness of being. This wholeness constitutes the core teaching of the Great Completeness (Dzogchen), the epitome of all Buddhist paths for the ancient Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. As a comprehensive look at Tibetan Buddhist perspectives on mind and reality, this book will certainly yield helpful clarifications to philosophically-inclined scholars—however, it is first and foremost a practice manual for those who seek to pierce the mystery that guided the author’s own journey within this wisdom tradition: How can one be at once human and a buddha too?

Sky Divination: An Elemental Practice from the Unimpeded Sound Tantra

This article comprises an introduction to and annotated translation of passages from the Unimpeded Sound Tantra (Sgra thal ‘gyur) and one of its earliest known commentaries from the twelfth century. The passages describe divination practices involving the interpretation of elemental signs that manifest as omens in the sky to determine a community’s collective karma and destinies. The article explores how these materials invite reconsiderations of Buddhist contemplatives as world-abdicating renunciates, emphasizing instead a vision of contemplative life immersed within the overlapping social domains of human, non-human, and more-than-human beings.

Review of The Words and World of Ge bcags Nunnery

Elizabeth McDougal’s The Words and World of Ge bcags Nunnery: Tantric Meditation in Context is a pioneering ethnographic study of a Nyingma nunnery located in the Eastern Tibet region of Nangchen, in present-day Qinghai province in China.

The Philosophy and Practice of Amulets in Tibetan Buddhist Tantra: Wearing, Analyzing, and Recognizing Your Way to Liberation

Buddhist amulets have been a topic of academic research for decades. But scholarly presuppositions that amulets have circulated primarily in popular Buddhist milieus, related only tangentially to the pursuits of elite practitioners, has limited our appreciation of how amulets have inflected philosophical and contemplative concerns. This article aims to challenge this lopsided perspective by showing how Buddhists in Tibet integrated analytic contemplation into the practice of writing down, wearing, and putting into practice short tantric scriptures that claim to liberate through wearing.