Preface

"We thus see that all the wranglings about the nature of a thinking being, and its association with the material world, arises simply from our filling the gap, due to our ignorance, with paralogisms of reason, and by changing thoughts into things and hypostatizing them."
Kant : Critique of Pure Reason, A394.

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These studies take heed of the teachings of the Hînayâna or "Small Vehicle", are inspired by the compassion of the Mahâyâna or "Great Vehicle", and integrate desire into the path, as in the Vajrayâna, or "Diamond Vehicle". If desire is taken into the path, then Tantra cannot be avoided.

The connections between Western critical thought and the philosophy of the Buddha are given by the latter's unique approach of the word "śûnyatâ", the cornerstone and outstanding feature of this philosophy, particularly as expounded by Nâgârjuna and his followers. Placed in a soteriological context, the "Middle Way" develops the Kantian distinction between "noumenon" (ultimate truth) and "phenomenon" (relative truth) long before Kant (1724 - 1804), and so we may well ask whether the Buddha was not the first critical philosopher ?

"The Light of the Wish-Fulfilling Jewel will shine in the West."
Nechung Oracle to the XIVth Dalai Lama in 1956.

When the Muslims invaded North India, Buddhist universities (like Nâlandâ) were savagely destroyed. Multiple sources were lost. Fortunately, much earlier, translations had been made & treasure-texts had been buried in Tibet, and so after Buddhism went extinct in India, Tibetan Buddhism became the sole keeper of the Lesser Vehicle, Greater Vehicle & "Secret Mantra", another name for Buddhist Tantra. After 1959, when the XIVth Dalai Lama fled from the Chinese communists busy destroying Tibetan culture & spirituality, the "Wish-Fulfulling Jewel" (another one of his names) came to the West, and a new era of Buddhism was initiated.

Although the influence of Tibetan monasticism as a whole was crucial to keep & transmit the Buddhadharma in general and its Tantric teachings & practices in particular, I have no intention to interlace or spice these studies with Tibetan cultural traditions. In the West, we are fortunate to have a wide variety of English sources & Dharma centers available, making it possible to understand, reflect & meditate without having to learn Tibetan and incorporate the culture.

Bringing the Buddhadharma into the path of the Western mind calls for more than one Tibetan cultural element to be bracketed, in particular Guru worship.

Stressing the importance of individual practice, my presentation is in harmony with our contemporary Western emphasis on personal intention, motivation, education, action & responsibility. It takes a cheerful distance from outdated forms of collective devotion, but this without altogether eliminating the practice of Guru Yoga.

Enlightenment, the end of ignorance, reveals the true nature of phenomena. Reason-wise, this true nature is the universal absence of inherent existence. Experience-wise, it is each and every sentient being's Buddha-nature, or awakening-potential. The hub of the cycle of "samsâra" is a mind attributing self-power to phenomena. Wisdom, the opposite of ignorance, accepts conventional reality for what it is, namely a totality of functional, compounded, composed, contaminated entities, but negates the mind designating these realities as "cut off", independent, sovereign & substantial. It is thus necessary to realize a clear & distinct conceptual understanding of emptiness. Such a rational realization of the ultimate nature of phenomena is however impossible without a supple, acute & tranquil mind acting as its preliminary.

Understanding the actuality of process over substance, of other-power over self-power, of dynamism over stasis, etc. allows for a more reasonable understanding of change or process.

Although the view & the path depend on conditions, the fruit, enlightenment, once realized, does not. Beyond arising and cessation, its experience is utterly ineffable and object of un-saying & un-knowing. Not "invented", "assembled" or "created" by the Buddha, this Dharma was discovered and bestowed to all sentient beings wishing happiness and the causes of happiness.