Unbounded Wholeness: Dzogchen, Bon, and the Logic of the Nonconceptual [Paperback]

Even without the plethora of exerpts from Bon Dzogchen tantras, this text is worth its weight in gold. Many important questions relevant to Dzogchen practitioners are discussed including the role of virtue, the place of effort, and the nature of the base in the Dzogchen teachings.

If you're the kind of practitioner who likes to read the theory and dialectic of practice then this is a book for you. If you're looking for a conversaional book of teachings then look elsewhere.

This is a translation/commentary of "Authenticity of Open Awareness"--a Bon 8th c. Dzogchen (Dz) terma (discovered treasure--like the Dead Sea Scrolls). Bon Dzogchen is like Tibetan Nyingma Buddhist Dz; p. 308: "Bon & Dharma differ only in terms of their disciples; their meaning is inseparable, a single essence." The fine Preface discusses relationships among consciousness, cultural development, myths, & logic--p. viii: "logic alone cannot authenticate wholeness & it need not," p. 7: "Open awareness cannot validly or arithmetically be known conceptually," & p. 34: "The ultimate is...`immune to logic.'" This appropriately limits the value/applicability of rationalism epistemology (way of knowing/believing) as p. x: "The intended readers of this work were practitioners as well as scholars." But most of the book is commentary (287 pp. vs. 88 of root text) with some fine observations--p. 154: "Authentic scriptures are the direct expression from--not about--reality," p. 157: "God becomes God when creation says God, observed Master Eckhart," p. 171: "Tibetan literature has not been thematized along the lines of fact & fiction, & p. 182: "'Authenticity' can be read as a story of language." The authors provide web sites p. 332: comparing similar texts & history but say p. 146: "At this stage of our knowledge, we remain embarrassingly speculative." They elaborate on differences between insiders' (emic) & outsiders' (etic) views but overlook Jeffrey Rubin's Eurocentric vs. Orientocentric views ("Psychotherapy & Buddhism"). They say p. 162: "Reason is the fulcrum on which objectivity turns" w/o identifying it as the epistemology of rationalism (though using "epistemology" ad nauseam). But, science utilizes empiricism/data & rationalism/theory as checks/balances while Philosophy (rationalistic logic) lacks self-regulation. Most of the commentary is extremely academic, philosophical, boring, & difficult reading. The best part is its fine Tantra/Sutra quotations e.g. pp. 121-2: "Mirror of Miraculous Primordial Wisdom Sutra--Even the 84,000 afflictions are without ultimate production or cessation, hence the 3 poisons are neither abandoned, transformed, nor purified"--strongly differentiating Dz from other Vajrayana vehicles.

The root text relies on scripture=tradition/authority, direct perception=phenomenological empiricism, & logic=rationalism epistemologies. To the authors' credit, p. 229 note 66: "Here & elsewhere some liberties are taken with line arrangements for a more felicitous presentation in English" & p. 230 note 68: "As elsewhere, poetic license permits loose translation of non-technical terms." It is a dialog of Objections & Responses. The former IMHO are at a lower Level of Abstraction than the latter, like a Rinzai Zen Master (Response) & student (Objection) koan-like interview--a teaching mode more than a defense of Dz. The Objections have incorrect assumptions (see Elgin's "The Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense"). The first  of the text is more philosophical & difficult reading, but the 2nd  is far better--e.g. p. 245: "According to the Mindnature or Great Completeness system, objects are not included within mind...Therefore, we are not like the...followers of Madhyamika tenets" & per p. 280 note 317: "Madhyamika logic depends very much on the idea that if you accept one thing, you have to reject its opposite" per the Objections. This is an exclusive OR vs. inclusive OR (where a both condition is allowed e.g. exclusive OR parent: "Do you want waffles or eggs for breakfast?" Inclusive OR child, "yes" or "both"). Dz is inclusive & rejects pervasive, ingrained assumptions: p. 279: "Scripture of the Blissful Samantabhadra--Like a caterpillar ensnared in the thread it unravels, through the main & ancillary vows & so forth, thoughts arise & bind one ever faster! Asceticism & holding vows counter the principle of completeness." Per Master Eckhart's quote above, p. 269: `Song of Truth Sutra'--"Whatever the conventional nature, that itself is the ultimate meaning"--we make meaning (it's convention)--according with modern Knowledge Management, there's no meaning in data or information, only in contextual knowledge. And, p. 282: "If one does not have an eye for identifying jewels, they might as well be ordinary rocks."

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