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Informationen zum Autor Rigdzin Jigme Lingpa (1730–1798) was a great master of the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. The root of the Khyentse lineage, he was a tertön, or discoverer of treasure teachings, and revealed the Longchen Nyingtik, one of the most important cycles of meditative practice in the Nyingma school. Klappentext This book is a translation of the second part of a commentary on the Treasury of Precious Qualities, the most celebrated work of Jigme Lingpa (1730-1798), one of the most important figures in the Nyingma lineage. In a slender volume of elegant verse, this root text (new in this revised edition) presents the entire Buddhist path according to the Nyingma school. Because it is so concise and makes use of elaborate poetic language, the commentary is indispensable. Chapter 1 The Value of Human Existence Samsaric Existence For ages we have lingered in samsara, unaware of its defects, believing that it is a wholesome, bene?cial place. And yet it is a state in which suffering and its causes abound and where the qualities of liberation languish and wither. It is a desolate wilderness in which many times in the past our bodies and minds have burned in agony and have endured the pains of mutilation and decapitation. Moreover, latent within us, there are still many karmic seeds that will provoke such sufferings in the future. Human beings generally do not see this and are thus not only without regret for their condition but actually crave the transient and futile pleasures of the higher realms. Totally unaware that they should engage in virtue and refrain from evil, they pass their lives sunk in negativity. Theirs is what is called a ‘‘mere human existence.’’ By their negative actions of thought and deed, they destroy themselves and render meaningless the freedoms and advantages of their human condition. From their lofty position in samsara they plunge again into evil circumstances. Thus they wander in the three lower realms, in the heavens of the insensate gods without perception, or in barbarous regions (where the Dharma is not heard); they are born physically or mentally handicapped, have wrong views, and take birth in places where no Buddha has appeared. Eight conditions in which there is no freedom to practice the Dharma On the ground of burning iron, without a single moment of relief, beings are slain again and again by the henchmen of the Lord of Death, who brandish frightful weapons, swords, and hammers and in?ict terrible pain. Until their evil karma has been exhausted, these beings in hell are unable to die, and, due to karmic effects resembling the cause—in other words, their compulsive tendency to negativity—they are caught in a web of evil karma inspired by hatred, and their infernal life span is measureless. Pretas generally are completely deprived of food and drink; they do not ?nd even the slightest ?lthy fragment of pus, blood, or excrement to eat. No need to say, then, that they are tormented by hunger and thirst. The cooling effect of the moon in summer and the warming effect of the sun in winter are all reversed; rain and hail are misperceived as lightning and thunderbolts; and the rivers are ?lled with pus and blood. For pretas that are afflicted outwardly, streams and orchards dry up as soon as they look at them. Those afflicted inwardly have heads that are not in proportion to their bodies: their mouths are as small as the eye of a needle, while their bellies are the size of an entire country. If they swallow a little food and drink, it scorches their intestines and they suffer intolerable pain. Their life span is uncertain, depending on the strength of obscurations due to former avarice. Generally speaking, one of their days is equal to a month by human reckoning, and they live for ?ve hundred of their own years. In the depths of the great oceans, ?sh and sea ...
