Transcending Ego: Distinguishing Consciousness from Wisdom

by Khenchen Thrangu

Distinguishing Consciousness from Wisdom is a translation of the root verses of the Third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje, accompanied by a line-by-line commentary by Thrangu Rinpoche, the foremost scholar of this tradition.

Rinpoche with his vast experience in meditation explains how the eight consciousnesses function and how they are transformed into the five wisdoms at enlightenment.

This is book on Buddhist psychology written 800 years ago by one of the greatest scholars and meditators of his time. Thrangu Rinpoche's very lucid commentary makes it clear that what Rangjung Dorje's text is extremely relevant and important to the meditator of today.

Genres: Buddhism

118 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Very Venerable Ninth Khenchen Thrangu Tulku, Karma Lodrö Lungrik Maway Senge (Tibetan: ཁྲ་འགུ་, Wylie: khra 'gu) is a prominent tulku (reincarnate lama) in the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism.

At the age of four he was formally recognized by His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa and Eleventh Tai Situpa as the ninth incarnation of the great Thrangu tulku, the abbot of Thrangu Monastery, whose root incarnation was Shüpu Palgyi Sengé, one of the twenty-five disciples of Guru Rinpoche. Forced to flee to India in 1959, he went to Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim, where the Karmapa had his seat in exile. Thrangu Rinpoche then served as the main teacher of the four principal Karma Kagyü tulkus of that time—the four regents of the Karmapa (Shamar Rinpoche, Tai Situ Rinpoche, Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche, and Gyaltsab Rinpoche). In 1976 he began to teach in the West and became the abbot of Gampo Abbey—a Buddhist monastery in Nova Scotia, Canada—as well as to take charge of the three-year retreat centre at Samyé Ling in Scotland.

He is also the author of the widely studied The Practice of Tranquility and Insight, a commentary on the eighth chapter of Jamgön Kongtrul's Treasury of Knowledge, on shamatha and vipashyana.

Reviews

[Sarah Macdonald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trungu Rinpoche has a direct and clear writing style, and as he delves into some of the weightier topics he does well to review as he goes along. This edition has helpful charts to help readers to understand the transformation from the consciousnesses to the wisdoms. He spilts the 6th consciousness into "nonconceptual" mind consciousness and "conceptual" mind consciousness, which is very helpful.

[Everett Grandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ego must Rest

Ego must rest to entertain pinning here for it is thoroughly engaged to its validity to be substantial before this realization