Ocean of Attainments by Yael Bentor
This commentary on Guhyasamaja tantra is the seminal guide to deity yoga and tantric visualization for the Geluk school of Tibetan Buddhism. The>Guhyasamaja Tantra, called the king of all tantras, is revered in Tibet, especially by the Geluk school. Ocean of Attainments, a commentary on Guhyasamaja practice, was composed by Khedrup J Gelek Palsang (1385-1438), a key disciple of the Geluk school founder, Tsongkhapa Losang Drakpa. It explores the creation stage, a quintessential Buddhist tantric meditation that together with the completion stage comprises the path of unexcelled tantra. In the creation stage, meditators visualize themselves as buddhas at the center of the celestial mandala, surrounded in all directions by male and female buddhas, bodhisattvas, and other enlightened beings. Yet creation-stage practice is not merely visualization but deity yoga--indivisibly uniting the meditation on emptiness with the visualization of the mandala. The creation stage uses the conceptualization in visualization to overcome conceptualization, thereby creating a nonconceptual and nonerroneous direct perception. Such a mind, profound and vast, can bring about a transformation that stops samsaric suffering. How can visions generated as mental constructs not be erroneous? To the awakened eye, the buddhas and other beings who dwell in the mandala are reality, and in a sense they are more than real. While the previously published>Essence of the Ocean of Attainments is a concise exposition on the practice of the Guhyasamaja sadhana, Ocean of Attainments is far more detailed, providing extensive scriptural citations, clear explanation of the body maanala, arguments on points of contention, reference to other tantric systems, and critiques of misinterpretations. With its extensive and clear introduction, this volume is a vital contribution to the growing body of scholarship on Guhyasamaja and on Buddhist tantra in general.
Yael Bentor, professor emerita at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is a scholar of Tibetan Tantric Buddhism. Her research focuses on the crystallization of tantric traditions among the Geluk and Sakya schools around the fifteenth century in Tibet. Currently she is working on the different choices made by Tsongkhapa and his disciples vis-ü¾Œ†”¼-vis those of Ngorchen and Redawa in their efforts to create their respective comprehensive systems. She lives in Jerusalem, Israel.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781614298304 |
| ISBN 10 | 1614298300 |
| Title | Ocean of Attainments |
| Author | Yael Bentor |
| Series | Studies In Indian And Tibetan Buddhism Ser |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Wisdom Publications,U.S. |
| Year published | 2024-05-16 |
| Number of pages | 784 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |