David Germano: "The Lamps of Gnosis: The Philosophy, Contemplation, and Narratives of Visionary Experience in Longchenpa’s 'The Treasury of the Supreme Vehicle (theg mchog mdzod)'"
BY INVITATION ONLY
Abstract:
The Treasury of the Supreme Vehicle (ཐེག་མཆོག་མཛོད་) is Longchenpa’s definitive work on the Great Perfection (རྫོགས་ཆེན་)—it is the longest single work in his corpus and offers the broadest scope, greatest detail, and most subtle nuance of any of his writings on the tradition. Longchenpa’s Great Perfection writings largely focus on the Seminal Heart (སྙིང་ཐིག་), at the heart of which is the visionary psycho-cosmogony know as the presencing or illumination of the ground (གཞི་སྣང་). This illumination of the ground centrally involves a threefold interrelationship between (i) emptiness—most typically evoked as the expanse (དབྱིངས་) or original purity (ཀ་དག་), (ii) light—referred to with various terms such as light (འོད་), spontaneous presence (ལྷུན་གྲུབ་), shining/radiance (གསལ་), effulgence (གདདངས་), glow (མདངས་), dynamism (རྩལ་), and adornment (རྒྱན་), and (iii) awareness (རིག་པ་)—deeply entangled with the term primordial knowing (ཡེ་ཤེས་), or gnosis. These relationships are theorized through the framework of four lamps (སྒྲོན་མ་བཞི་): which address these three core elements with three lamps of a network of luminous channels enabling vision, the pure expanse, and the self-emerging insight of awareness, as well as adding a fourth dimension, the creative matrices of genesis termed “nuclei” (ཐིག་ལེ་). In this seminar we will explore this threefold interrelationship in philosophy, contemplation, and narrative through examining three chapters from The Treasury: the thirteenth chapter on the four lamps, the tenth chapter on symbolic narratives of straying and liberation, and the twenty first topic on introduction rituals presented as an alternative to tantric initiatory empowerments.
Bio:
David Germano is Professor of Tibetan Buddhist Studies at the University of Virginia, where he has led many centers and projects over the years in software development, entrepreneurship, cultural documentation, scholarship, Tibetan literature, media production, student flourishing, educational reform, and contemplative sciences. He has a deep expertise in Tibetan Buddhist philosophy and meditation and in the tantric and Great Perfection (dzokchen) traditions in particular. Since 2011, he has drawn upon that expertise to extensively support the creation and application of new forms of contemplative practice, environments, and applications in education, architecture, entrepreneurship, engineering, and many other contexts. He founded the Contemplative Sciences Center at UVA in 2012 and currently directs the Generative Contemplation initiative, which brings together scholars, lineage holders, meditation teachers, and designers to explore the past and future of contemplation through an innovative blend of humanistic scholarship, scientific research, and creative design.
