Beacon of Certainty
The Beacon of Certainty (Tib. ངེས་ཤེས་སྒྲོན་མེ་, Ngeshé Drönmé; Wyl. nges shes sgron me) — a commentary by the Tibetan scholar Mipham Rinpoche that elucidates the view of the Dzogchen teachings of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism.[1] The title, The Beacon of Certainty, refers to the fact that unwavering certainty in the view of the indivisible union of appearance and emptiness is a shining beacon that illuminates the spiritual path.
An anonymous introduction to a particular edition of a commentary by Khenpo Kunpal states:
- This Precious Beacon of Certainty is like an eye that brings all the difficult points of sutra and tantra into focus. Externally, it accords with Prasangika; internally, it accords with the Sutra that Gathers all Intentions and the Guhyagarbha Tantra; secretly, it accords with the Great Perfection.[2]
In his own introduction to the text, Khenpo Jamyang Drubpé Lodrö states:
- This sacred work, The Precious Beacon of Certainty, sheds its light of definitive understanding on important points from our own and other tenet systems.
- It is a dragon’s roar to wake us from the sleep of foolish meditation,
- And a sword to cut through error and wrong view.
- With crucial points drawn from sutras and tantras of definitive meaning,
- Showing the progressive stages on the Great Vehicle’s general path of sutra and mantra,
- For the Ancient Translation School, the unique tradition of the Lake-born Buddha.[3]
The text can be considered as a bridge between sutra and tantra.[3]
Because of its thoroughness in addressing the foundations of the Nyingma tradition, from Madhyamika philosophy to the view of Dzogchen, it is a key text studied in virtually all Nyingma shedras.[3]
Structure of the text
The text is structured as answers to the following seven questions:[3]
- According to which of the two negations do you explain the view?
- Do arhats realize the two types of selflessness?
- Does meditation involve grasping at an object?
- Should we do analytical meditation or settling meditation?
- Which of the two truths is most important?
- What is the common object of disparate perceptions?
- Does Madhyamaka have a position or not?
Translations
- John W. Pettit, Mipham's Beacon of Certainty: Illuminating the View of Dzogchen, the Great Perfection, Studies in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism (Wisdom Publications, 1999).
English commentaries
- John W. Pettit, Mipham's Beacon of Certainty: Illuminating the View of Dzogchen, the Great Perfection, Studies in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism (Wisdom Publications, 1999).
- Anyen Rinpoche, Journey to Certainty: The Quintessence of the Dzogchen View: An Exploration of Ju Mipham's Beacon of Certainty, Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2012
Tibetan commentaries
- Khenpo Kunpal, ངེས་ཤེས་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་སྒྲོན་མེའི་ཚིག་དོན་གསལ་བའི་འགྲེལ་ཆུང་བློ་གྲོས་སྣང་བའི་སྒོ་འབྱེད་, nges shes rin po che'i sgron me'i tshig gi don gsal ba'i 'grel chung blo gros snang ba'i sgo 'byed
- Khenpo Nüden, ངེས་ཤེས་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་སྒྲོན་མེའི་འགྲེལ་ཆུང་ཟབ་དོན་སྣང་བའི་འཆར་སྒོ་ཡིད་དཔྱོད་ཚིག་གི་མེ་ལོང་, nges shes rin po che'i sgron me'i 'grel chung zab don snang ba'i 'char sgo yid dpyod tshig gi me long
- Troshul Jamdor, རྣམ་བཤད་འོད་ཟེར་དྲི་མེད་, rnam bshad 'od zer dri med
- Khenpo Jamyang Drubpé Lodrö, ངེས་ཤེས་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་སྒྲོན་མེའི་རྣམ་པར་བཤད་པ་ངེས་དོན་སྤྲིན་དཀར་གླལ་བའི་གྲ་དབྱངས་, nges shes rin po che'i sgron me'i rnam par bshad pa nges don sprin dkar glal ba'i sgra dbyangs
It is also said that Pöpa Tulku's Distinguishing Views and Tenets is a 'meaning commentary' on Beacon of Certainty.[3]
Notes
- ↑ Pettit 1999, Section 1.1.
- ↑ Pettit 1999, Section 6.2.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4
Beacon of Certainty, Rigpa Shedra Wiki
Sources
Pettit, John Whitney (1999), Mipham's Beacon of Certainty: Illuminating the View of Dzogchen, the Great Perfection, Wisdom Publications- Anyen Rinpoche, Journey to Certainty: The Quintessence of the Dzogchen View: An Exploration of Ju Mipham's Beacon of Certainty, Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2012
