Emptiness: The Foundation of Buddhist Thought, Volume 5 (5) - Softcover

Tsering, Geshe Tashi

Softcover

ISBN 10: 086171511X ISBN 13: 9780861715114

Publisher: Wisdom Publications, 2009

Synopsis

In Emptiness, the fifth volume in The Foundation of Buddhist Thought series, Geshe Tashi Tsering provides readers with an incredibly welcoming presentation of the central philosophical teaching of Mahayana Buddhism. Emptiness does not imply a nihilistic worldview, but rather the idea that a permanent entity does not exist in any single phenomenon or being. Everything exists interdependently within an immeasurable quantity of causes and conditions. An understanding of emptiness allows us to see the world as a realm of infinite possibility, instead of a static system. Just like a table consists of wooden parts, and the wood is from a tree, and the tree depends on air, water, and soil, so is the world filled with a wondrous interdependence that extends to our own mind and awareness. In lucid, accessible language, Geshe Tashi Tsering guides the reader to a genuine understanding of this infinite possibility.

About this title

About the Author

Geshe Tashi Tsering was born in Tibet in 1958 and received his Geshe Lharampa degree (similar to a doctorate in divinity) from Sera Monastery in India in 1987. Since 1994, he has been the guiding teacher of the Jamyang Buddhist Centre in London, while also teaching at other Buddhist centers worldwide.

Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche is the Spiritual Director of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a worldwide network of Buddhist centers, monasteries, and affiliated projects, including Wisdom Publications. Rinpoche was born in 1946 in the village of Thami in the Solo Khumbu region of Nepal near Mount Everest. His books include Transforming Problems into Happiness, How to Be Happy, and Ultimate Healing. He lives in Aptos, California.

Gordon McDougall was director of Cham Tse Ling, the FPMT's Hong Kong center, for two years in the 1980s and worked for Jamyang Buddhist Centre in London from 2000 to 2007. He helped develop the Foundation of Buddhist Thought study program and administered it for seven years. Since 2008 he has been editing Lama Zopa Rinpoche's lamrim teachings for Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive's FPMT Lineage series.

Review

"Geshe Tashi's insights can be enjoyed by a wide audience of both specialists and newcomers to the Buddhist tradition. His presentations, never divorced from the basic humanity and warmth of his personality, combine rigor and accessibility." Author: Thupten Jinpa, principal translator for the Dalai Lama and director of the Institute of Tibetan Classics

"Although coming from a traditional Gelugpa presentation of the Buddhist path, these books are written for a modern western audience, and therefore 'happiness' is presented as a principle goal, alongside the more traditional goal of enlightenment. The author's personal tone and his fluent language, combined with his obvious mastery of the material, help to make the series a tremendously valuable resource for the study of basic Buddhist teachings from a Tibetan perspective." Source: Buddhadharma

"Geshe Tashi's systematic approach to Buddhist thought allows readers to gradually but surely enhance their knowledge of Buddhism without feeling overwhelmed." Source: Eastern Horizon

Edition details

• Publisher: Wisdom Publications
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 086171511X
• ISBN 13: 9780861715114
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 184
• Editor: McDougall Gordon