A big box of emptiness- thanks to Wisdom Publications

Well BIG thanks to Joe Evans at Wisdom Publications for hearing my call for help on suggestions for books on emptiness and filling my mailbox with 3 great titles for me to bury my nose into during these chilly winter nights.

Most of you responded that Jeffrey Hopkins ‘Meditation on Emptiness’ was a must read on the topic and by glancing at the robust and exhaustive set of notes and index of terms at the back of the book, I have no doubt it is of high importance.

It also cinches it for me seeing that Rev. Danny Fisher (whose opinion I greatly respect) has said the following in reference to this book.

“A rich, comprehensive treatment of emptiness in the Indo-Tibetan Buddhist tradition by the remarkable Western scholar and frequent English translator for His Holiness the Dalai Lama. This is still the standard text on the subject, twenty-five years after its initial publication.”

Secondly, the team at Wisdom Publications sent along ‘Freedom from Extremes- Gorampa’s Distinguishing the Views and the Polemics of Emptiness‘ by Jose Ignacio Cabezon and Geshe Lobsang Dargyay. This book sounds fascinating in its exploration of Gorampa’s text which questions each of the views held by Tsongkhapa and Dölpopa (essentially the extremes of nihilism vs eternalism advocated in the works of each respectively). Gorampa steps in and presents a view more in line with the Middle Way and embracing a perspective relating to a ‘freedom from extremes’.

I’m looking forward to reading all about how Gorampa settles this ‘beef’ (translation of beef= what the hip hop community usually call these kinds of differences of opinion)!

To close out the ‘trifecta of emptiness’ (and tying it all together quite nicely) is Elizabeth Napper’s “Dependent Arising and Emptiness- A Tibetan Buddhist Interpretation of Madhyamika Philosophy’. The author cites much of Tsongkhapa’s understanding of emptiness as presented in his “Great Exposition on the Stages of the Path” (Lam rim chen mo) and I am looking forward to reading more on this topic which I’ve found somewhat difficult to grasp. This work relates how both Tibetan and Western scholars have interpreted Tsongkhapa’s ideas to delve into this concept.

Many, many, many thanks to Wisdom Publications for spreading the dharma by shipping it to my mailbox and in turn allowing me to share my thoughts about these publications with you.

Much metta!

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