Mountain Doctrine: Tibet's Fundamental Treatise on Other-Emptiness and the Buddha Matrix [Hardcover]

Jeffrey Hopkins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 11, 2006

The fundamental text of the most controversial view of reality found in Tibetan Buddhism.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Another astonishing translation from J. Hopkins...represents a major advance...relevant, expressive and readable." -- Religious Studies Review, March 2008

Contains mountains of material for deep philosophical reflection...A magnificent volume. -- Georg Feuerstein, PhD in Traditional Yoga Studies

Jeffrey Hopkins deserves our sincere gratitude for making this profound message finally available to students of the Dharma outside Tibet. -- Cyrus Stearns, author of The Buddha from Dolpo

This monumental publication will serve as an invaluable source on emptiness and buddhanature for generations to come. -- Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Quarterly

From the Back Cover

Translated here for the first time into any language, Mountain Doctrine, Ocean of Definitive Meaning: Final Unique Quintessential Instructions is a seminal fourteenth-century Tibetan text on the nature of reality. The author, Dol-bo-ba Shay-rap-gyel-tsen, was one of the most influential figures of that dynamic period of doctrinal formulation and his text is a sustained argument about the buddha-nature, also called the matrix-of-one-gone-thus.

Dol-bo-ba recognizes two important types of emptiness--self-emptiness and other-emptiness--and shows how other-emptiness is the actual ultimate truth. He justifies this controversial formulation by arguing that it was the favored system of all the early outstanding figures of the great vehicle and by showing how important these doctrines were in India.

The translator's introduction includes a short biography of Dol-bo-ba and an exposition of nine focal topics in his religious philosophy.

"At long last a translation of one of the great classics of Tibetan Buddhism, Dolpopa's Mountain Doctrine. Hopkins' many years of careful study of this important work makes it the most detailed, extensive and accurate treatment in a Western language of the Jo nang pa's influential interpretation of emptiness, the 'emptiness of what is other'... A landmark in the study of Tibetan Buddhist thought."--José Ignacio Cabezón, XIVth Dalai Lama Professor of Tibetan Buddhism and Cultural Studies, University of California Santa Barbara

"This monumental publication will serve as an invaluable source on emptiness and buddhanature for generations to come."--Buddhadharma magazine

"The Mountain Doctrine of Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen is one of the great monuments of Tibetan philosophical literature. For nearly 700 years Dolpopa's work has been a fundamental source of inspiration for practitioners attracted to the definitive meaning of the Buddha's teachings. Jeffrey Hopkins deserves our sincere gratitude for making this profound message finally available to students of the Dharma outside Tibet."--Cyrus Stearns, author of The Buddha from Dolpo

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 832 pages
• Publisher: Snow Lion Publications (July 11, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 155939238X
• ISBN-13: 978-1559392389
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.5 x 2.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,063,108 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars At Last! Dolpopa in English!, May 20, 2008

By 

Linda Johnsen "author" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mountain Doctrine: Tibet's Fundamental Treatise on Other-Emptiness and the Buddha Matrix (Hardcover)

Here is a book I never expected to find in English in my lifetime. Dolpopa (1292-1360) was one of the most brilliant and influential Buddhist monks in Tibetan history, yet till recently his contributions have been largely ignored by scholars. Dolpopa was aligned with the Jonangpa lineage, an unpopular sect in western Tibet since the time of the 5th Dalai Lama. This was due to its political connections with Mongolia, and because its doctrines veered dangerously close to Hindu Vedanta. Yet in their heyday, the Jonangpas were famous as Tibet's most advanced yogis and accomplished meditators.
I've always had reservations about the Buddhist understanding of "ultimate reality." It was a relief to discover that a master of Dolpopa's caliber shared the same qualms. He argued that some Buddhist philosophers took the concept of the "emptiness" of reality to a unrealistic extreme. He urged them to penetrate more deeply into the insights of the Buddha to discover a more profound truth.
My one complaint about Hopkins' translation is that an English and Sanskrit glossary of Buddhist terminology would have gone far in helping non-Buddhists understand specific technical points.
If you're not highly literate in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, you'll want to read Cyrus Stearns' superb "The Buddha from Dolpo" first. If the length or cost of "Mountain Doctrine" turns you off, try Hopkins' "The Essence of Other-Emptiness" in which the 17th century sage Taranatha summarizes Dolpopa's most important teachings.
As a student of comparative religions, I find Dolpopa's beliefs to be the most interesting and exciting of any major Buddhist thinker. He steers students away from over-reliance on verbal sophistry, into the living truth we experience in our meditation practice. In so doing he comes daringly close in some respects to the equally fascinating insights of Hindu meditation masters like the Kashmiri Shaivites and Shakta Advaitins.