Longchenpa : The Precious Treasury of Philosophical Systems

The latest book translated from Longchen Rabjam's renowned "Seven Treasuries", this is a treatise on the major philosophical systems in Tibetan Buddhism.

Longchenpa discusses the philosophical tenets of the entire spectrum of Buddhist teachings - Hinayana, Mahayana, Vajrayana, and Dzogchen. He begins with the Indian origins of the Buddhist tradition, including an examination of the Buddha from various perspectives and the historical development of the teachings in India. Having briefly reviewed the tenets of the five major non-Buddhist schools of ancient India, he presents a developmental treatment of the principles underlying all of the approaches found in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism. His treatment of the sutra tradition of Hinayana (including the shravaka and pratyekabuddha approaches) and Mahayana (Chittamatra - or Mind Only school, Svatantrika Madhyamika and Prasangika) also involves detailed discussions of the paths and goals of these approches. On the basis of his extensive and nonsectarian approach to the study of the traditions extant during his lifetime, Longchenpa discusses the Vajrayana according to both the Sarma (Kagyu, Sakya, and Gelug) and Nyingma interpretations, concluding with a treatment of the innermost teachings of the Dzogchen approach. His emphasis throughout is on the principles that underlie specific practical methods, rather than on the methods themselves, and provides an invaluable perspective on the multifaceted nature of the Buddhist tradition.

"Readers might wonder, why do I need to study various tenets that focus on the accumulation of merit? I am interested only in wisdom, emptiness, and Dzogchen. The reason is that although both merit and wisdom are indispensable for reaching and realizing the ultimate wisdom of Dzogchen, we must start our journey from where we are…we need merit to first tame our afflictive mental states and emotions so that we may then concentrate on realizing the wisdom that destroys these at the root." Tulku Thondup.