Request the Uttaratantra Text   Learn About Special Grants   Read About a Special Painting   Listen to Classical Indian Buddhist Chants

In This Issue:

Rinpoche's New Book on Buddha Nature

Three Special Grants

The Story of a Painting

Vidya Rao's Extraordinary Dharma Nada CD

Rinpoche on Buddha Nature

The Mahayana-Uttaratantra-Shastra Text by Arya Maitreya, with commentary by Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche, is ready for download. The 392-page volume, edited by Alex Trisoglio, is available for download upon formal request, free of charge, and can be printed on standard U.S. Letter or A4 size paper. Submit your request directly to our sister organization Siddhartha's Intent. What follows is the introduction to the book.

Arya Maitreya's Mahayana-Uttaratantra-Shastra is one of the most important teachings on Buddha-nature and enlightenment.  It is revered by Buddhist masters as a very special text, one of the five great teachings given by Lord Maitreya to Asanga, and part of the third turning of the wheel of the Dharma.  Within the traditional Buddhist shedras for monastic education, it is often taught as the final text in the curriculum, and many masters say it can be considered a bridge between the sutras and tantra.  It provides an important philosophical foundation for understanding the workings of the Buddhist path, particularly for Vajrayana practitioners. We are particularly fortunate to have these teachings by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, rich with his usual clarity, warmth, humour and wisdom because, despite its beauty and profundity, this text is rarely taught in the West, and there are few translations.
 
Rinpoche gave these teachings on the Uttaratantra at the Centre d'Études de Chanteloube in Dordogne, France during the summers of 2003 and 2004, after completing a four-year teaching cycle on Chandrakirti's Madhyamakavatara.  He has often emphasised the value of a grounding in the Madhyamika or 'Middle Way' philosophy of emptiness, as without this foundation beginners can easily misunderstand Buddha's teaching that all sentient beings have Buddha-nature. For example, many of us who have grown up in a Western cultural context can easily confuse Buddha-nature with ideas like God or a personal soul or essence.  These teachings allow us to dispel these kinds of misunderstanding.  And despite their very different presentations, both the Madhyamika and Uttaratantra are teachings on the Buddhist view of emptiness.  As Rinpoche says, "You could say that when Nagarjuna explains the Prajñaparamita, he concentrates more on its 'empty' aspect ("form is emptiness" in the Heart Sutra), whereas when Maitreya explains the same thing, he concentrates more on the 'ness' aspect (emptiness is form)."  In showing us how emptiness and Buddha-nature are different ways of talking about the same thing, this text gives us the grounding we need to understand Buddha-nature.  

In this way, the Uttaratantra gives us another way to understand the Four Seals that comprise the Buddhist view, which Rinpoche teaches in his book "What Makes You Not a Buddhist."  It also offers a way to make sense of what modern physics has discovered about the magically "full" quality of "empty" space (e.g. vacuum particles and quantum optics).  But like all Buddhist philosophy, it is not intended simply to provoke an academic discussion that we leave behind as we return to our everyday lives.  It is taught as a path for us to attain liberation.  For practitioners, the Uttaratantra clearly explains what it means to accumulate merit and purify defilements, and it offers a safety net to protect our path from falling into all-too-common eternalist or nihilist extremes.  It also tackles many of the basic questions that practitioners ask as they consider the nature of the path, questions like: What is the ultimate destination of this path?  Who is this person travelling on the path?  What are the defilements that are eliminated on the path?  What is experience of enlightenment like?  Rinpoche answers these questions and many others in this commentary on the Uttaratantra-Shastra.  

© 2007 by Siddhartha's Intent

Khyentse Foundation has sponsored the printing of a limited number of copies of the Commentary to be made available free of charge to registrants at Rinpoche's Uttaratantra teachings in Vancouver in August, 2007.  If you are attending the teachings, you may request the text in Vancouver.

Recommended Reading:

Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra with Commentary

Use the Amazon link on the KF web site and support the Foundation with your purchase

The annual Young Bodhisattva Youth Leadership Training for Spiritual Resurgence and Social Innovation in Thailand

Three Special Grants Awarded
Khyentse Foundation recently awarded three special grants to support three very different projects undertaken by three worthy organizations.

Young bodhisattvas trained by INEB
The International Network of Engaged Buddhists (INEB) began in Thailand in 1989 and has expanded to include individuals and organizations from more than 20 countries in Asia, Europe, Australia, and the United States. Out of this diversity, an understanding of engaged Buddhism has emerged that  integrates the practice of Buddhism with social action for a healthy, just, and peaceful world. This commitment to global community, based on the universal truths of wisdom and compassion, guides all of INEB's activities. INEB's areas of concern are peace, human rights, gender issues, spirituality based development, diversity tolerance, and interfaith dialog.

Shamatha Project
In collaboration with the University of California at Davis, the Santa Barbara Institute, under the guidance of Dr. B. Alan Wallace, is organizing the Shamatha Project, a scientific study of the effects of sustained, intensive shamatha practice, together with the cultivation of the four immeasurables. This study will include two 97-day retreats, to take place at Shambhala Mountain Center this year. Khyentse Foundation's grant provides partial support for applicants who can't afford the full cost of the retreat. Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche has said that even if there is no scientific study on the effects of shamatha, encouraging 70 people to do two sets of three-month retreat will be of great benefit.

The latest update from Dr. Wallace: "On June 3, 2007, we successfully completed the first of the 3-month retreats, and it was evident to all 37 people who participated, as well as to the scientific team who studied the participants, that this retreat was of great benefit. We eagerly look forward to the second of these 3-month retreats, which is scheduled to begin on Sept. 3 with 36 participants The Santa Barbara Institute has granted almost $50,000 in scholarships to participants who could not afford the cost of room and board during these retreats. All the instruction is given to them free of charge. Thank you for your generous support of this project, which has enabled worthy candidates to participate in these retreats."

Translation projects by Rimé Foundation
Khyentse Foundation continues to support the Rimé Foundation's translation program, which was established to bring classic literature of the Buddhist tradition into the English language. These works will provide western Buddhist practitioners and scholars access to the collective wisdom of Buddhist traditions, helping them to deepen their personal practice and to create a thriving Buddhist community in the West. These works will also benefit the growing number of scientists and physicians who are conducting research into the workings of the human mind, as well as the members of other spiritual traditions who use Buddhist principles and meditations to enrich their own spiritual practice. The works chosen for translation represent the core of the Nyingma tradition, and were  selected for their importance and their ability to bring both immediate and lasting benefit to the spiritual community. The KF grant will partially support the translation of Jigmé Lingpa's writings on the Great Perfection preliminary practices. This volume will include three unique texts on these practices, as well as an introduction by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche.

Yu Chengyao "Landscape" Ink and colour on paper 119.3 x 59.7 cm (23 5/8 x 47 inches) Painted in 1984 Christie's images, © Christie's Inc. 2007

The Story of a Painting

Christie's Hong Kong sells Yu Chengyao painting donated to Khyentse Foundation. 

 
An anonymous donor recently enlisted Christie's Hong Kong to auction one of his prized paintings and offered all proceeds of the sale to Khyentse Foundation. "The needs of Khyentse Foundation were many and my personal enjoyment of the painting had become an attachment," he said.

The donor explained that he hoped the sale would help establish a fund to enable Buddhist scholars and monks to take residence at major universities in the west. A global fund raising campaign is currently underway for this project and the concept has received favorable response from the universities that have been approached.

Here is how the donor, who had owned the landscape painting by Yu Chengyao for more than 20 years, described it:  "Yu's approach to traditional Chinese san sui, (mountain/water) landscapes bordered on being almost Cubist without totally losing three dimensionality, quite unprecedented in Chinese scroll paintings.  I liked it because the bright green colors were welcoming and soothing."

"We are very thankful to this donor," said KF Executive Director, Cangioli Che.  "When patrons take the initiative like this it shows creativity, thoughtfulness, and obviously great generosity. I would like to encourage art collectors in the sangha to consider supporting Khyentse Foundation in the same way."

Dharma Nada

This collection of Buddhist sutras and mantras in Sanskrit, commissioned by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, is now available to support Deer Park Institute.

"Dharma Nada:  Resonance of Buddhist Sutras and Mantras," in Sanskrit by classical Indian singer Vidya Rao, is now available. This beautifully presented double CD set, commissioned and produced by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, includes 13 tracks and a 36-page booklet with sutras and mantras written in Roman and Devanagari script.  All donations received for the CD are dedicated to supporting the studies of Buddhism and classical Indian philosophy and culture organized by our sister organization Siddhartha's Intent India Society and Deer Park India. The image on the cover was taken by But-Sou Lai during the inauguration of Dzongsar Khyentse Chökyi Lödro Institute, in Chauntra, Himachal Pradesh, India.  Those who attended the inauguration will never forget Vidya's moving performance for His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who presided over the ceremony. Parts of this performance can be seen on the inauguration video on the KF web site. Only a limited number of CDs are available. Suggested donation: US$25. For more information about the activities of Deer Park and SI India, visit www.deepark.in.

ORDER THE CD SET

KF Fact

Monthly donations from Khyentse Foundation's Matching Funds Program represent 66% of the funds needed to meet our annual goals. Every year there is a difference between income generated by investments (which is estimated at 5%) and projected spending. Increased participation in the monthly donation program helps bridge that gap. Our deepest thanks go to all of the matching fund participants who've made this program such a success and we welcome new donors to join at any level. To participate, you can download the form, enroll online, or send an email to Louise Rodd for more information.