Contributions to the development of Tibetan Buddhist epistemology: from the eleventh to the thirteenth century. By Leonard W. J. van der Kuijp. (Alt- und Neu- Indische Studien herausgegeben vom Seminar für Kultur und Geschichte Indiens an der Universität Hamburg, 26.) pp. ix, 330. Wiesbaden, Franz Steiner Verlag GmbH, 1983. DM 42.

1985 ◽  
Vol 117 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-115
Author(s):  
Paul Williams
Keyword(s):  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Tibetan Buddhist ◽  
Buddhist Epistemology

Experimental and Cross-Cultural Epistemology

2021 ◽  
pp. 210-232
Author(s):  
Jonathan Stoltz
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Philosophy ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Tibetan Buddhist ◽  
Buddhist Epistemology ◽  
Experimental Epistemology ◽  
Tacit Assumptions ◽  
Is Value ◽  
The Way

Chapter 10 examines how contemporary trends in experimental philosophy can benefit from the study of Buddhist epistemology. In particular, it explores the question of whether an appreciation of Buddhist epistemology could inform philosophers about both the merits of experimental epistemology and experimental philosophy’s emphasis on probing intuitions about knowledge. The second half of the chapter steps back from this examination of experimental philosophy and argues that there is value to be found in contemporary philosophers learning more about other traditions of epistemological theorizing, including the Indian and Tibetan Buddhist traditions of epistemology. Among other things, it can serve to change the way we view our own tradition of epistemology and lay bare the tacit assumptions that undergird contemporary discussions of knowledge.

scholarly journals Alchemical Gold and the Pursuit of the Mercurial Elixir

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-74
Author(s):  
Carmen Simioli
Keyword(s):  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Medical Knowledge ◽  
Herbal Extracts ◽  
Tibetan Buddhist ◽  
Purification Methods

This article focuses on the analysis of two Tibetan treatises on iatrochemistry,The Treatise on the Mercurial Elixir(Dngul chu grub pa’i bstan bcos) and theCompendium on the Transmutation into Gold(Gser ’gyur bstan bcos bsdus pa). These texts belong to therasaśāstragenre that were translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan by Orgyenpa Rinchenpel (O rgyan pa Rin chen dpal, 1229/30–1309) and integrated into the Tibetan Buddhist Canon of theTengyur(Bstan ’gyur). The treatises deal with the processing of mercury, which is indispensable to convert metals into gold (gser ’gyur) and to accomplish the ‘mercurial elixir’ (dngul chu’i bcud len). The texts start with the description of a ‘pink-coloured’ (dmar skya mdog) compound, which is described as the amalgam of ‘moonlight-exposed tin’ (gsha’ tshe zla ba phyogs), gold, and copper. According to the texts, mercury has to be ‘amalgamated’ (sbyor ba) with ‘minerals that devour its poisons’ (za byed khams) and with ‘eight metals that bind it’ (’ching khams brgyad); at the same time, mercury is cooked with ‘red substances’ (dmar sde tshan) and other herbal extracts, types of urine and salts, and reduced to ashes. Starting with an outline of the earliest Tibetan medical sources on mercury, I analyse the two treatises with regard to their entiremateria alchemicaand the respective purification methods aimed at ‘obtaining essences’ (snying stobs), which are then to be absorbed by mercury. I argue that the two thirteenth-century treatises were particularly significant in the process of consolidating pharmaceutical practices based on mercury and the merging of alchemical and medical knowledge in Tibet.

Relation of the Saccasa?khepa??k? Called S?ratthas?lin? to the Vinayavinicchaya??k? Called Vinayas?ratthasand?pan?

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 189-223
Author(s):  
Petra Kieffer-Pülz
Keyword(s):  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Present Contribution ◽  
The Common ◽  
Literary Histories ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Parallel Texts

The present contribution suggests the common authorship of three P?li commentaries of the twelfth/thirteenth centuries CE, namely the Vinayavinicchaya??k? called Vinayas?ratthasand?pan? (less probably Vinayatthas?rasand?pan?), the Uttaravinicchaya??k? called L?natthappak?san?, and the Saccasa?khepa??k? called S?ratthas?lin?. The information collected from these three commentaries themselves and from P?li literary histories concerning these three texts leads to the second quarter of the thirteenth century CE as the period of their origination. The data from parallel texts explicitly stated to having been written by V?cissara Thera in the texts themselves render it possible to establish with a high degree of probability V?cissara Thera as their author.

Contemplative Principles of a Non-dual Praxis: the Unmediated Practices of the Tibetan ‘Heart Essence’ (sNying thig) Tradition

2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-240
Author(s):  
Eran Laish
Keyword(s):  
Contemplative Practice ◽  
Tibetan Buddhist ◽  
Buddhist Tradition ◽  
The Common

This article focuses on the main contemplative principles of the ‘Heart Essence’ (sNying thig), a Tibetan Buddhist tradition that is characterized by a vision of non-duality and primordial wholeness. Due to this vision, which asserts an original reality that is not divided into perceiving subject and perceived object, the ‘Heart Essence’ advocates a contemplative practice that undermines the usual intuitions of temporality and enclosed selfhood. Hence, unlike the common principles of intentional praxis, such as deliberate concentration and gradual purification, the ‘Heart Essence’ affirms four contemplative principles of non-objectiveness, openness, spontaneity and singleness. As these principles transcend intentionality, temporality, and multiplicity, they are seen to directly disclose the nature of primordial awareness, in which the meanings of knowing and being are radically transformed. Therefore, the article will also consider the role of these non-dual contemplative principles in deeply changing our understanding of being and knowing alike.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document