Oxford University Press, USA
Naked Seeing: The Great Perfection, the Wheel of Time, and Visionary Buddhism in Renaissance Tibet
Naked Seeing: The Great Perfection, the Wheel of Time, and Visionary Buddhism in Renaissance Tibet
Regular price
$53.95 USD
Regular price
Sale price
$53.95 USD
Unit price
per
Shipping calculated at checkout.
Couldn't load pickup availability
Buddhism is in many ways a visual tradition, with its well-known practices of visualization, its visual arts, its epistemological writings that discuss the act of seeing, and its literature filled with images and metaphors of light. Some Buddhist traditions are also visionary, advocating
practices by which meditators seek visions that arise before their eyes. Naked Seeing investigates such practices in the context of two major esoteric traditions, the Wheel of Time (Kalacakra) and the Great Perfection (Dzogchen). Both of these experimented with sensory deprivation, and developed
yogas involving long periods of dwelling in dark rooms or gazing at the open sky. These produced unusual experiences of seeing, which were used to pursue some of the classic Buddhist questions about appearances, emptiness, and the nature of reality. Along the way, these practices gave rise to
provocative ideas and suggested that, rather than being apprehended through internal insight, religious truths might also be seen in the exterior world-realized through the gateway of the eyes. Christopher Hatchell presents the intellectual and literary histories of these practices, and also
explores the meditative techniques and physiology that underlie their distinctive visionary experiences.
The book also offers for the first time complete English translations of three major Tibetan texts on visionary practice: a Kalacakra treatise by Yumo Mikyo Dorjé, The Lamp Illuminating Emptiness, a Nyingma Great Perfection work called The Tantra of the Blazing Lamps, and a Bön Great Perfection work
called Advice on the Six Lamps, along with a detailed commentary on this by Drugom Gyalwa Yungdrung.
Author: Christopher Hatchell
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 10/01/2014
Pages: 496
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.40lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.10w x 1.40d
ISBN: 9780199982912
Review Citation(s):
Choice 05/01/2015 pg. 1517
practices by which meditators seek visions that arise before their eyes. Naked Seeing investigates such practices in the context of two major esoteric traditions, the Wheel of Time (Kalacakra) and the Great Perfection (Dzogchen). Both of these experimented with sensory deprivation, and developed
yogas involving long periods of dwelling in dark rooms or gazing at the open sky. These produced unusual experiences of seeing, which were used to pursue some of the classic Buddhist questions about appearances, emptiness, and the nature of reality. Along the way, these practices gave rise to
provocative ideas and suggested that, rather than being apprehended through internal insight, religious truths might also be seen in the exterior world-realized through the gateway of the eyes. Christopher Hatchell presents the intellectual and literary histories of these practices, and also
explores the meditative techniques and physiology that underlie their distinctive visionary experiences.
The book also offers for the first time complete English translations of three major Tibetan texts on visionary practice: a Kalacakra treatise by Yumo Mikyo Dorjé, The Lamp Illuminating Emptiness, a Nyingma Great Perfection work called The Tantra of the Blazing Lamps, and a Bön Great Perfection work
called Advice on the Six Lamps, along with a detailed commentary on this by Drugom Gyalwa Yungdrung.
Author: Christopher Hatchell
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 10/01/2014
Pages: 496
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.40lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.10w x 1.40d
ISBN: 9780199982912
Review Citation(s):
Choice 05/01/2015 pg. 1517
About the Author
Chris Hatchell teaches in the field of Asian religions, with particular interests in Tibetan religion. His research focuses on Tibet, particularly the Bön religion and the Great Perfection.
This title is not returnable
