Sword of Wisdom
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Sword of Wisdom (T. shes rab ral gri don rnam nges ཤེས་རབ་རལ་གྲི་དོན་རྣམ་ངེས་). A treatise by Mipham Rinpoche that explores the Nyingma lineage understanding of valid cognition in Vajrayana Buddhism.[1] The text, said to have been composed in a single day in 1885, consists of 104 verses, covering topics such as the two truths, the four principles of reasoning, valid cognition, the four reliances and the eight treasures of confidence.[2]
Anne Helm states:
- Perhaps the greatest value of this very rich, classical text is in being a clear and concise primer on Buddhist philosophy and valid cognition. It's core subject matter is the Buddhist view of the two truths – the relative truth of conventional appearances, and the absolute truth of emptiness and buddha nature, and how the two are inseparable. The main questions this text poses are: how can we actually know the two truths? And how can we be certain that our knowledge is accurate? Mipham's answer is that to know the truth we need pramāṇa or valid cognition, as demonstrated through reasoning, and to gain certainty, we need the four reliances. This is summed up in verse 92:
- The supreme, stainless cause
- Is the possession of the four reliances,
- Which come from contemplating how the dharma of the two truths
- Is established by the four types of reasoning.
- This book excels in giving an easily understandable overview of valid cognition. What is valid cognition? It is accurate knowing, which we experience through direct perception and correct inference. Valid cognition is a topic of Buddhism rarely taught to westerners, as it can seem either two simplistic or too complex, and it requires sustained study to get a good foundation in it. This text provides that foundation by explaining direct perception and inference according to the traditional Indian treaties of Dharmakirti and Dignaga, and then by laying out the four reasonings: the efficacy of cause, the dependency of effects, the relative and ultimate natures of things, and the construction of valid proofs.[1]
Translations
- Adam Pearcey (2004),
The Sword of Wisdom, Lotsawa House - Khenchen Palden Sherab (2018), Mipham’s Sword of Wisdom, Wisdom Publications.
Commentaries
- Mipham Rinpoche composed his own annotations commentary (མཆན་འགྲེལ་, mchan 'grel) in the Fire Horse year of 1906.
- Khenpo Dawé Özer དོན་རྣམ་འགྲེལ་པ་ལུང་རིགས་དོ་ཤལ་, don rnam 'grel pa lung rigs do shal (composed in 1982)
- Khenchen Palden Sherab, དོན་རྣམ་པར་ངེས་པ་ཤེས་རབ་རལ་གྲིའི་འགྲེལ་པ་ཤེས་རབ་ཉི་ཟླ་འབར་བའི་སྒྲོན་མེ་, don rnam par nges pa shes rab ral gri'i 'grel pa shes rab nyi zla 'bar ba'i sgron me.
- English translation: Khenchen Palden Sherab, Mipham’s Sword of Wisdom: The Nyingma Approach to Valid Cognition (Wisdom, 2018)
Tibetan text
Further reading
- Matthew T. Kapstein, 'Mi-pham's Theory of Interpretation' in Reason's Traces (Wisdom, 2001)
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Khenchen Palden Sherab (2018), Mipham’s Sword of Wisdom, Wisdom Publications.
- ↑
Sword of Wisdom for Thoroughly Ascertaining Reality, Rigpa Shedra Wiki
