Paths of Pure Vision: The Histories, Views, and Practices of Tibet's Living Spiritual Traditions

Paths of Pure Vision consolidates the multiple facets of spirituality in Tibet through elaborating three themes: historical developments, philosophical views and meditative practices. Narrating the historical processes of Buddhism developing in India and its transmission Tibet, this book gives us a rare glimpse into the major figures, thoughts and that comprise the spiritual heritage of Tibet. In this book, Shar Khentrul Jamphel Lodrö Rinpoché explains the indigenous Bon religion of Tibet, the four most widely known Tibetan Buddhism traditions, Nyingma, Sakya, Kagyu and Gelung, and the fifth Jonang Buddhist Tradition.

Table of Contents

Foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
Translator's Preface

Introduction: Tibet's Living Traditions

Chapter I: The Bon Tradition 

• Tibet's Indigenous Religion

• Early Translations and the Flourishing of Tibetan Buddhism 
• Views and Practices of the Early Translation Tradition

• History of the Sakya Tradition
• Views and Practices of the Sakya Tradition

• History of the Kagyu Tradition 
• Views and Practices of the Kagyu Tradition 

• History of the Jonang Tradition 
• Views and Practices of the Jonang Tradition 

• History of the Geluk Tradition
• Views and Practices of the Geluk Tradition 

Epilogue: The Inter-relationship of the Buddha's Essential Instructions

Instructions
Concluding Supplication
Bibliography
Glossary
About the Author and Translator
Rinpoche’s Vision

About the Author and Translator

The Author

Khentrul Rinpoche Jamphel Lodrö is the founder and spiritual director of Dzokden. Rinpoche spent the first 20 years of his life yak herding and chanting mantras in the highlands of Tibet. Encouraged by the bodhisattvas, he left his family to study in various monasteries under the guidance of more than twenty-five masters from all the Tibetan Buddhist traditions. His non-sectarian approach earned him the title of Rime (Unbiased) Master, and he was identified as the reincarnation of the famous Chakra Master Ngawang Chozhin Gyaco. While at the core of his teachings is the realization that the diversity of all spiritual traditions in the world is of great importance; he himself focuses on the Jsonang-Shambhala tradition. His teachings of Chakra (the Wheel of Time) contain profound methods for harmonizing our external environment with the inner world of the body and mind, and ultimately for achieving a golden age of peace and harmony (Dzokden).

The Translator

Michael R. Sheehy is a Ph.D. Candidate in Buddhist Studies at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) in San Francisco, CA. His doctoral dissertation research concentrates on the zhentong philosophical view formulated within modern Jonang Tibetan literature. He is the author of several articles on Tibetan Buddhism, and is the President of Jonang Foundation.