Absorption in No External World

January 15, 2006
This is the last volume -after Reflections on Reality (2002) and Emptiness in Mind-Only School (2003) -of a trilogy explicating Dzong-ka-ba's (1357 -1419) The Essence of Eloquence, still considered so important to Tibetan Buddhists that the Dalai Lama keeps a copy with him wherever he goes. Noted translator and scholar Hopkins (religious studies, emeritus, Univ. of Virginia; Cultivating Compassion) has spent more than two decades researching and writing about this philosophy text of the -Mind-Only, - or Yogic, practice school of Tibetan Buddhism. In this final standalone volume, he considers 173 issues that arise in Dzong-ka-ba's text and cites opinions on those issues from 22 commentaries. For each issue, relevant works are explained and a conclusion is drawn as to the nature of the text's teachings. Hopkins maintains that to understand these teachings, the reader must do as monastic students do and become immersed in the worldview. No comparable work exists on this topic, which is highly important but indeed specialized. Enhanced by an extensive bibliography, comprehensive notes, and an English/Tibetan/Sanskrit glossary, which researchers will appreciate, this work is best suited for academic and Buddhist religious collections." -Jerry Shuttle, East Tennessee State Univ. Lib., Johnson City"

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