The Third Karmapa, a proponent of the Shentong Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, wrote 36 verses detailing the development of mind from ordinary consciousness to Spiritual wisdom.
This text explains the functioning of the eight consciousness and how they interact with one another to create Perception of the world. It is these consciousnesses that set the Stage for inner and outer Experiences Creating the illusion that outer World is Solid and real. Out of this mistaken belief arise the disturbing Emotions that then lead to the false belief in an Ego or a self.
After describing the eight consciousnesses, the author then gives an explanation of how the alaya consciousness is the Ground out of which arises relative reality. The Mind-only view holds that everything is created by mind and this text explains just how this happens.
The text then gives a detailed explanation of how these eight consciousnesses are transformed into each of the five wisdoms upon reaching enlightenment. The five wisdoms are described with an explanation of their Importance to Buddhist Practice.
Distinguishing Consciousness form Wisdom contains not only a translation of the root verses of the Third Karmapa, but also an extensive Commentary by Thrangu Rinpoche giving the background to each concept introduced by these verses. This allows the reader to understand the Psychology of Meditation and spiritual development without having an extensive background in Buddhist Philosophy and logic.
This text is a clear and helpful explanation of the process of how the mind works which giving what could be termed as the basis for Buddhist psychology. |
