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"This is a scholarly tour de force, the likes of which are rarely seen in the academy."—José Ignacio Cabezón, Illif School of Theology "An exceptionally clear and detailed account of a central debate in Tibetan Buddhist scholastic philosophy."—Matthew Kapstein, University of Chicago "This is without question the finest and most complete discussion of the renowned Mind-Only school and its Tibetan context."—Anne C. Klein, author of Knowledge & Liberation, Path to the Middle "An important new contribution to our understanding of the development of Buddhist philosophical thought in Tibet."—Matthew T. Kapstein, author of The Tibetan Assimilation of Buddhism: Conversion, Contestation, and Memory

Through engaging, contemporary examples, Making Sense of Mind Only reveals the Yogacara school of Indian Buddhism as a coherent system of ideas and practices for the path to liberation, contextualizing its key texts and rendering them accessible and relevant. The Yogacara, or Yoga Practice, school is one of the two schools of Mahayana Buddhism that developed in the early centuries of the common era. Though it arose in India, Mahayana Buddhism now flourishes in China, Tibet, Korea, Vietnam, and Japan. While the other major Mahayana tradition, the Madhyamaka (Middle Way), focuses on the concept of emptiness—that all phenomena lack an intrinsic essence—the Yogacara school focuses on the cognitive processes whereby we impute such essences. Through everyday examples and analogues in cognitive science, author William Waldron makes Yogacara’s core teachings—on the three turnings of the Dharma wheel, the three natures, the storehouse consciousness, and mere perception—accessible to a broad audience. In contrast to the common characterization of Yogacara as philosophical idealism, Waldron presents Yogacara Buddhism on its own terms, as a coherent system of ideas and practices, with dependent arising its guiding principle. The first half of Making Sense of Mind Only explores the historical context for Yogacara’s development. Waldron examines early Buddhist texts that show how our affective and cognitive processes shape the way objects and worlds appear to us, and how we erroneously grasp onto them as essentially real—perpetuating the habits that bind us to samsara. He then analyzes the early Madhyamaka critique of essences. This context sets the stage for the book’s second half, an examination of how Yogacara texts such as the Samdhinirmocana Sutra and Asanga’s Stages of Yogic Practice (Yogacarabhumi) build upon these earlier ideas by arguing that our constructive processes also occur unconsciously. Not only do we collectively, yet mostly unknowingly, construct shared realities or cultures, our shared worlds are also mediated through the storehouse consciousness (alayavijñana) functioning as a cultural unconscious. Vasubandhu’s Twenty Verses argues that we can learn to recognize such objects and worlds as “mere perceptions” (vijñaptimatra) and thereby abandon our enchantment with the products of our own cognitive processes. Finally, Maitreya’s Distinguishing Phenomena from Their Ultimate Nature (Dharmadharmatavibhaga) elegantly lays out the Mahayana path to this transformation. In Waldron’s hands, Yogacara is no mere view but a practical system of transformation. His presentation of its key texts and ideas illuminates how religion can remain urgent and vital in our scientific and pluralistic age.

A "lively and engaging" history of the Middle Ages (Dallas Morning News) from the acclaimed historian William Manchester, author of The Last Lion. From tales of chivalrous knights to the barbarity of trial by ordeal, no era has been a greater source of awe, horror, and wonder than the Middle Ages. In handsomely crafted prose, and with the grace and authority of his extraordinary gift for narrative history, William Manchester leads us from a civilization tottering on the brink of collapse to the grandeur of its rebirth: the dense explosion of energy that spawned some of history's greatest poets, philosophers, painters, adventurers, and reformers, as well as some of its most spectacular villains. "Manchester provides easy access to a fascinating age when our modern mentality was just being born." --Chicago Tribune

This is the second volume in Jeffrey Hopkins' valuable series on the Mind-Only School of Buddhism and a focal description of it in Dzong-Ka-ba's The Essence of Eloquence. Dzong-Ka-ba (1357-1419) is generally regarded as one of the greatest Tibetan philosophers, and his Mind-Only discourse on emptiness is considered a landmark in Buddhist philosophy. In Volume I, Emptiness in the Mind-Only School of Buddhism, Hopkins provided a translation of the introduction and the section on the Mind-Only School in The Essence of Eloquence. The present volume places this enigmatic and influential exposition in its historical and philosophical contexts. Reflections on Reality conveys the intellectual vibrancy of the different cultural interpretations of this text and expands the key philosophical issues it addresses. Hopkins, one of the leading scholarly voices in Tibetan studies, begins this volume with two introductory chapters contextualizing Tibetan scholarship in general. He then goes on to discuss in detail the religious significance of the central topic of the three natures in the Mind-Only School. He also considers various views on the status of reality, including the doctrine of other-emptiness promulgated by the fourteenth century Jo-nang savant Shay-rap-gyel-tsen. Presenting accurate and insightful translations of a large amount of material that has never been available in English before, he shows how these topics have been debated among scholars in Tibet over six centuries. Comparing these with presentations in Europe, Japan, and the United States today, he created a lively conversation between normally disparate voices.

Dzong-ka-ba's The Essence of Eloquence is still considered so important to Tibetan Buddhists that the Dalai Lama keeps a copy with him wherever he goes. This book examines many fascinating points raised in six centuries of Tibetan and Mongolian commentary concerning the first two sections of this text: the Prologue, and the section on the Mind-Only School. By providing vivid detail, Jeffrey Hopkins reveals the liveliness of Tibetan scholastic controversies, showing the dynamism of thoughtful commentary and stimulating the reader's metaphysical imagination. In the process of examining 170 issues, this volume treats many engaging points on Great Vehicle presentations of the three natures and the three non-natures, including how to apply these to all phenomena, the selflessness of persons, and the emptiness of emptiness. It concludes with a delineation of the approaches through which the Mind-Only School interprets scriptures.This stand-alone book is the final volume of a trilogy on Mind-Only that Hopkins composed over a period of twenty-two years. His heavily annotated translation of the first two sections of Dzong-ka-ba's text is contained in the first volume, Emptiness in the Mind-Only School of Buddhism, along with a historical and doctrinal introduction, a detailed synopsis of the text, and a critical edition. The second volume, Reflections on Reality: The Three Natures and Non-Natures in the Mind-Only School, provides historical and social context, a basic presentation of the three natures, the two types of emptiness in the Mind-Only School, and the contrasting views of Dol-bo-ba Shay-rap-gyel-tsen of the Jo-nang-ba order of Tibetan Buddhism.

In The Only Mind Worth Having, Fiona Gardner takes Thomas Merton's belief that the child mind is the only mind worth having and explores it in the context of Jesus' challenging, paradoxical, and enigmatic command to become like small children. Shedemonstrates how Merton's belief and Jesus' command can be understood as part of contemporary spirituality and spiritual practice. To follow Christ's command requires a great leap of the imagination. Gardner examines what it might mean to make this leap when one is an adult without it becoming sentimental and mawkish, or regressive and pathological. Using both psychological and spiritual insights, and drawing on the experiences of Thomas Merton and others, Gardner suggests that in some mysterious and paradoxical way recovering a sense of childhood spirituality is the path towards spiritual maturity. The move from childhood spirituality to adulthood and on to a spiritual maturity through the child mind is a move from innocence to experienceto organised innocence, or from dependence to independence to a state of being in-dependence with God.

Equal parts memoir and easy-to-follow guide for personal growth, It's Monday Only in Your Mind offers a fresh interpretation of the Twelve Steps used by many programmes. Here is a valuable toolkit for anyone interested in enhancing their spiritual life, repairing their relationships, finding calm, and attaining an inner sense of well-being.

MICHAEL CUPO thought he had everything hed always wanted: a beautiful wife, two wonderful children, a nice house, and a great job. By all outward appearances, hed made it. He should have been one very happy person. But Michael felt he was not good enough, ever since he was a child, and as an adult, he found himself addicted to drugs, alcohol, and gamblingand his behavior was killing him and harming those he loved. In this inspirational book, Michael shares the story of his journey of inner discoverieswith all its false starts, roadblocks, relapsing, and ultimately, an overwhelmingly uplifting state of surrender, acceptance, grace, and personal peace. Equal parts memoir and easy-to-follow guide for personal growth, Its Monday Only in Your Mind offers a startling, fresh interpretation of the Twelve Steps used by many programs. Here is a valuable toolkit for anyone interested in enhancing their spiritual life, repairing their relationships, finding calm, and attaining an inner sense of well-being. Included also are dozens of Michael Cupos original Daily Messages, which he shares via text message and e-mail with his ever-expanding circle of support, a growing community of fellow seekers around the world. Its Monday Only in Your Mind explores lifes deepest questions (as well as recognizable real-life issues) facing everyone, whether you want to enhance your spiritual life or not. It holds the vital power to transform all of our lives each day in the most profound of ways.

Human experience is not confined to waking life. Do experiences in dreams matter? Humans are not the only living beings who have experiences. Does nonhuman experience matter? The Buddhist philosopher Vasubandhu, writing during the late fourth and early fifth centuries C.E., argues in his work The Twenty Verses that these alternative contexts ought to inform our understanding of mind and world. Vasubandhu invites readers to explore experiences in dreams and to inhabit the experiences of nonhuman beings—animals, hungry ghosts, and beings in hell. Other Lives offers a deep engagement with Vasubandhu’s account of mind in a global philosophical perspective. Sonam Kachru takes up Vasubandhu’s challenge to think with perspective-diversifying contexts, showing how his novel theory draws together action and perception, minds and worlds. Kachru pieces together the conceptual system in which Vasubandhu thought to show the deep originality of the argument. He reconstructs Vasubandhu’s ecological concept of mind, in which mindedness is meaningful only in a nexus with life and world, to explore its ongoing philosophical significance. Engaging with a vast range of classical, modern, and contemporary Asian and Western thought, Other Lives is both a groundbreaking work in Buddhist studies and a model of truly global philosophy. The book also includes an accessible new translation of The Twenty Verses, providing a fresh introduction to one of the most influential works of Buddhist thought.