Sun-like Instructions of a Sage

Sun-like Instructions of a Sage: A Clarification of Faith which Purifies the Pure Land, the Land of Bliss (T. bde ba can gyi zhing sbyong ba i dad pa gsal bar byed pa drang srong lung gi nyi ma). A commentary by Mipam Gyatso on the process of taking rebirth in Sukhavati (the buddha field of Amitabha).

This text examines "self-power" and "other-power" in a Tibetan Buddhist context.

The tension between self power and other-power concerns the process of rebirth in the pure land Sukhavati; that is, whether rebirth is achieved through one s own volition (self-power) or, conversely, through an external force such as the supernatural powers of Amitabha (other-power). Self-power and other-power are discussed at length in Japanese Buddhist Studies where they are called jiriki and tariki, respectively, and even has some distant parallels in Christian theology (namely, works and grace). Nevertheless, these two terms appear to go unmentioned in Tibetan Buddhist literature with one exception. The only Tibetan author to explicitly discuss self-power and other-power is the ecumenical scholar-practitioner Ju mi pham (1846-1912) in his work, Sun-like Instructions of a Sage: A Clarification of Faith which Purifies the Pure Land, the Land of Bliss (Bde ba can gyi zhing sbyong ba i dad pa gsal bar byed pa drang srong lung gi nyi ma).

This fourteen-folio treatise affirms that faith and aspiration (dad dun) are the primary cause for rebirth in Sukhavati and defends this position in a series of polemics against detractors of other-power.

Translation

• "Sun-like Instructions of a Sage: A Clarification of Faith which Purifies the Pure Land, the Land of Bliss", in Tibetan Pure Land Buddhism: Mipham Rinpoche on Self-Power and Other-Power. Translated by Lowell Cook. Vajra Books, 2019.