A RIME SHEDRA PROGRESSIVE CURRICULUM: FALL 2022 TO SPRING 2025
OVERVIEW
The focus of the Rime Shedra curriculum for the next few years will be the interpretation and resolution of the variety of ways of understanding the View of the Middle Way as presented by a number of great Tibetan Masters.
As in traditional shedra study, we will begin by laying a foundation with introductory materials. At the start of the traditional shedra curriculum there are a series of introductory texts, or “primers,” which present the terms, definitions, relationships, and nuances of the key topics within each of the shedra areas. Each of the five shedra topics has a root text, shared by all shedra schools. These root texts are very brief, and consist of a set of definitions on its respective topic, arranged thematically and hierarchically.
Additionally, each shedra would develop its own commentarial literature to accompany these root texts. The root texts and their commentaries are introductory texts, which provide a good foundation for the study of the five core texts of the shedra curriculum. We will be using a version recently produced by HH the Dalai Lama and his main translator, Thubten Jinpa, and a group of scholars from various Gelukpa shedras.
After studying those primers, we will focus on the central topic of the shedra curriculum, the View of the Middle Way, Madhyamaka. Instead of going thru the major Indian texts on the view, which we have done extensively in prior Rime Shedra NYC courses, here we will focus our study on a series of the key texts on the Middle Way View by the main Tibetan Madhyamaka masters. These scholars are all commenting on the major Indian texts on the View, collectively.
While the foundation curriculum is cumulative and best approached from start to finish, and the core curriculum is best approached after having completed the foundation curriculum, students are invited to join in at any time in the sequence. Materials on prior courses will be available on the website at all times if one wishes to fill in any gaps in one’s preparation.
Please join us for this exciting exploration!
The Foundational Texts
The Collected Topics, or Dudra in Tibetan. This presents the universe of knowables, or knowable objects, ranging from matter, to mind, to mental states and non-associated formations, as well as the way that objects are ascertained by subjects, that is, minds. This text provides an entry into the deeper study of Abhidharma, encapsulated in the core shedra text Abhidharmakosha by Vasubandhu. This material will be the focus of the first course in this new three-year progression, which will be held this Fall, 2022. This first year provides a foundation for the genuine understanding of the advanced texts. Without this foundation it is very hard to really understand the meaning of them. The description of this course is located here.
The Classification of Mental States, or Lorik in Tibetan and The Classification of Reasons, or Tarik, in Tibetan. The Classifications of Mental States presents a schematic map of the key aspects of cognition, the types of cognition, and the variety of cognitive states; while The Classification of Reasons presents the reasons employed within logical statements which are used to understand the nature of the world and our experience of it. There are “main” types of reason or logic, and also a number of branches. These branches include, in particular, the reason of the non-appearance of anything supporting the affirmation of a statement. Together, these two texts provide the entrance into the deeper study of Pramana, encapsulated in the core shedra text Pramanavartikka by Dharmakirti.
Philosophical Tenets, or Drubtha in Tibetan. This presents the ground, path, and fruition of the four major philosophical systems of Indian Buddhism according to the Tibetan doxographical tradition. This text provides an entrance into the deeper understanding of the view of the middle way which is encapsulated in the core shedra text Madhyamakavatara by Chandrakirti.
Grounds and Paths, or Salam in Tibetan. This presents the details of the traditional scheme of the path as having five stages, with the fourth stage having ten sublevels, or grounds (Skt. bhumis). This text serves as the entrance into the deeper study of the path of progress toward Buddhahood, encapsulated in the core shedra text Abhisamayalankara by Maitreya.
The Major Indian Madhyamaka Core Texts
Nagarjuna’s Stanzas on the Middle Way (Madhyamakarika) and the rest of his so called Six Treatises on Reasoning (although there are usually considered to be only five of these), and Aryadeva’s the Four Hundred Verses (Catushataka) are considered to be the root texts for the view of the middle way in all traditions of Mahayana Buddhism. These two masters are considered to be the root, or model, exponents of the Middle Way since they do not veer into either of the two ways of presenting the view which were developed by their descendants. These two alternate systems are called the Svatantrika and Prasangika branches of the Madhyamaka tradition. They are represented by Bhavaviveka, author of the Madhyamakahṛdaya and the Tarkajvala, and Buddhapalita, author of the Buddhapalitavrtti, respectively. The Tibetan tradition favors the latter branch which was codified by Chandrakirti, especially in his text Introduction to the Middle Way (Madhyamakavatara), which became the core root text for the view topic in the shedra curriculum throughout all traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. And Shantideva, in his well-known text Bodhicharyavatara or Entry into the Way of the Bodhisattva, furthers the presentation of this branch, the Prasangika Madhyamaka.
However, there was another major way to understand the view of the middle way, presented by 10th Bhumi bodhisattva, and next in line to be Buddha, Maitreya in two of his five texts, the Distinction between Dharma and Dharmadhatu, (Dharmadharmata-vibhanga) and the Distinction between the Element and the Matrix, (Ratnagotra-vibhanga, often known as the Uttaratantra). His student Asanga as well as his brother Vasubandhu propagated this version of the middle way view and together they wrote a number of commentaries on it generally as well as specifically on those two texts.
And the last development in the Indian tradition of the Middle Way is a synthesis of these two systems, Prasangika and Svatantrika, presented by Shantarakshita in his Ornament of the Middle Way (Madhayamakalankara).
The Major Tibetan Madhyamaka Texts
After the foundational texts, we will proceed into study of a series of core Tibetan Mahdyamaka texts. We will begin with Tsongkhapa’s presentation in his famous Essence of Eloquence (Lekshe Nyingpo), representing the root text of the view in what becomes the Gelukpa school, which becomes known as Rangtong Madhyamaka – Self Emptiness Middle Way View.
Next, we will study the almost opposite presentation by Dolpopa in his Mountain Doctrine, which becomes known as the Shentong, Other Empty or Emptiness of Other Middle Way View.
Subsequently we will study how these two very different versions of the Middle Way view are either chosen or reconciled or synthesized by two of the major schools of Tibetan Buddhism: the Sakyapa masters Gorampa and Shakya Chogden, and the Nyingma master Mipham and his descendent Botrul. (We have recently studied how this middle way version of the Middle Way view is presented in the Kagyu Tradition with our course on the works of Rangjung Dorje, the Third Karmapa.)