The Essence of the Ocean of Attainments

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THE ESSENCE OF THE OCEAN OF ATTAINMENTS

The Creation Stage of the Guhyasamaja Tantra according to Panchen Losang Chökyi Gyaltsen
Yael Bentor

A comprehensive guide to the creation stage of the Guhyasamāja.

The Essence of the Ocean of Attainments (Dngos grub rgya mtsho’i snying po) is a commentary on the creation stage of the Guhyasamaja Tantra written by the illustrious Panchen Lama, Losang Chökyi Gyaltsen (1570–1662). The practice of Guhyasamaja, one of the earliest and most influential of the highest Tantras, along with its remarkable hermeneutic system, created a framework that was applied to other so-called unexcelled Tantras. Still very much a living tradition, in our time the Fourteenth Dalai Lama confers its empowerment every year. In this work, the Panchen Lama not only clarifies each step of the sadhana meditation ritual, but he also offers general insights into the practice and its workings. It is an Essence because it distills the much longer Ocean of Attainments commentary on the practice composed by Khedrup Jé (1385–1438), one of two key disciples of Tsongkhapa, the founder of Tibetan Buddhism’s Geluk school. The Panchen Lama identifies core elements of sadhana and with unparalleled precision clarifies many seminal points.

In her introduction, Yael Bentor surveys the creation stage of unexcelled Tantra as presented by the founding fathers of the Geluk school and unpacks the contents of The Essence of the Ocean of Attainments for readers. The translation features both explanatory annotations for practitioners and ample references for scholars.

Learn more about the Studies in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism series.

About Author

Yael Bentor received her PhD in Tibetan Studies from Indiana University in 1991. Since then she has been teaching Classical Tibetan language as well as classes on Tibetan Buddhism and culture, at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Among her publications are Consecration of Images and Stūpas in Indo-Tibetan Tantric Buddhism (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1996); A Classical Tibetan Reader: Excerpts from Renowned Works with Custom Glossaries (Wisdom Publications); The Essence of the Ocean of Attainments: The Creation Stage of the Guhyasamāja Tantra According to Paṇchen Losang Chökyi Gyaltsen, translated with Penpa Dorjee (Wisdom Publications).

Book Information
  • Hardcover
  • 268 pages, 6 x 9 inches
  • $44.95
  • ISBN 9781614294825
  • eBook
  • 268 pages
  • $19.99
Praise

Just to state two reasons why this work should be read by all those aspiring to pursue the yoga practices of tantric Buddhism: First, in her introduction Yael Bentor has provided one of the clearest and best explanations of the exclusive technique of Unexcelled Mantra by which wisdom and method are combined within a single cognition. This fundamental practice is the very essence of Unexcelled Mantra. Second, in these times of fascination for high tantric practices, especially those of the completion stage, it is refreshing, and indeed necessary, to see a highly competent translation of the prerequisite creation stage, delivered with the academic professionalism and the high-level scholarship of Professor Bentor.

Gavin Kilty, translator, the Library of Tibetan Classics

This translation of the Panchen Rinpoche’s seventeenth-century condensed exposition of the creation stage in meditative practice, following the foundational Guhyasamāja Tantra, is a great gift to scholars of Tibetan Buddhist thought and practice. Lucidly translated and superbly annotated, it provides a detailed account of the stages in which a practitioner dissolves ordinary reality into emptiness, out of which an identification with divine beings can be achieved through disciplined visualization. This book should fascinate not only specialists but also philosophers of consciousness and the mind, since the medieval Tibetan schools offer by far the most far-reaching and daring experiments with mental processes in the history of human civilization.

David Shulman, Professor Emeritus, Hebrew University

The Guhyasamāja is a fundamental tantra in Tibetan Buddhism. Yael Bentor’s translation of the commentary written by the first Panchen Lama, Losang Chökyi Gyaltsen, is a brilliant piece of scholarship, the fruit of intensive study of Tibetan tantric ritual and meditation. The translation is rendered with exemplary clarity and a readable style that does full justice to the intellectual sophistication both of the Tibetan author and his translator. The Essence of the Ocean of Attainments will therefore delight anyone who wishes to explore Tibetan interpretations of Indian Buddhist tantric practice.

Per Kvaerne, professor emeritus, University of Oslo

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