Customer Reviews

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

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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.