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Notes Introduction 1. Hereafter, I am using the simplified phonetic transcription of Tibetan based on the usage adopted by the Tibetan and Himalayan Library. For details, see http://www.thlib.org/reference/transliteration. When appropriate , it includes not only Tibetan words, but also Sanskrit words and names adopted by Tibetans, such as “Sakya Pendita” (sa skya pa£¿ita), “Taranatha” (Tåranåtha), and so forth, in order to approximate the way Tibetans themselves pronounce them. Also, depending on context, one and the same word or term can be rendered differently. For example, the phonetic transcription of pa£ chen is “penchen,” but when the word is translated into English, it is spelled as “great paˆ∂ita,” not “great pendita.” 2. I am presently writing a manuscript in which I explore, among other topics, Buddhist challenges and contributions to the issue of (un)mediated mystical experience that occupies contemporary scholars of religion. In large part this manuscript focuses on the different approaches to the nature of ultimate reality and the process of its realization advocated by rival Tibetan thinkers. As my interpretive tools, I heavily rely on Shakya Chokden’s ideas addressed in the current book. 3. For the discussion of life and teachings of this seminal Sakya thinker, see José Ignacio Cabezón and Geshe Lobsang Dargyay, Freedom from Extremes: Gorampa’s “Distinguishing the Views” and the Polemics of Emptiness (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2007). Hereafter, Freedom from Extremes. 4. See The Buddha from Dölpo: A Study of the Life and Thought of the Tibetan Master Dölpopa Sherab Gyaltsen, revised and enlarged edition (Ithaca, New York: Snow Lion Publications, 2010), 64 (hereafter, The Buddha from Dölpo) referring to Dongtok Tekchok Tenpé Gyeltsen (gdong thog theg mchog bstan pa’i rgyal mtshan), Pa£¿i ta chen po shå kya mchog ldan dri med legs pa’i blo gros kyi gsung rab rin po che par du bskrun pa’i tshul las brtsams pa’i gleng ba bstan pa’i nyi gzhon yid srubs sprin las grol ba’i dga’ ston tshangs pa’i bzhad sgra (Thimphu: Kunzang Tobgey, 1976), 22–23. But Volker Caumanns mentions that “one informant, namely Ngor mKhan po bSod nams rgya mtsho, 307 308 Notes to Introduction denies that Shåkya mchog ldan’s writings were banned in Tibet. According to bSod nams rgya mtsho, copies of Shåkya mchog ldan’s works were kept in the libraries of Ngor Ewaμ Chos ldan and rTa nag Thub bstan rnam rgyal monasteries, but scarcely anybody took an interest in these works.” Volker Caumanns, “Tibetan Sources on the Life of Serdog Paˆchen Shåkya Chogden (1428–1507),” in Lives Lived, Lives Imagined: Biography in the Buddhist Traditions, eds. Linda Covill, Ulrike Roesler, and Sarah Shaw (Boston: Wisdom Publications in collaboration with The Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, 2010), 207, note 8 (hereafter, “Tibetan Sources”) referring to Ronald M. Davidson’s “The N . or-pa Tradition,” in Wind Horse: Proceedings of the North American Tibetological Society, ed. Ronald M. Davidson (Berkeley: Asian Humanities Press, 1981), 97. Hereafter, “N . or-pa Tradition.” 5. This handwritten version was initially found in Bhutan in Pajoding Okmin Nyipa (pha jo sdings ‘og min gnyis pa), the hermitage of Shakya Rinchen (shåkya rin chen, 1710–1759), the ninth Jé Khenpo (rje mkhan po) of Bhutan. Leonard van der Kuijp, Contributions to the Development of Tibetan Epistemology (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner, 1983), 9–10. Hereafter, Contributions. On Shakya Rinchen’s role in preservation of Shakya Chokden writings in Bhutan, see Anne Burchardi, “Shakya mchog ldan’s Literary Heritage in Bhutan,” in John Ardussi and Sonam Tobgay (eds.), Written Treasures of Bhutan: Mirror of the Past and Bridge to the Futue. Proceedings of the First International Conference on the Rich Scriptural Heritage of Bhutan (Thimphu: The National Library of Bhutan, 2008), 25–34. 6. Chopgyé Trichen Ngakwang Khyenrap Tupten Lekshé Gyamtso (bco brgyad khri chen ngag dbang mkhyen rab thub bstan legs bshad rgya mtsho), Feast for Minds of the Fortunate: Brief History of the Glorious Sakyapas—Chariot of the Teachings of S¶tras and Tantras of the Land of Snows (Gangs ljongs mdo sngags kyi bstan pa’i shing rta dpal ldan sa skya pa’i chos ‘byung mdor bsdus skal bzang yid kyi dga’ ston, Dharamsala: Bod gzhung shes rig par khang, 1969), 47 (hereafter , Feast for Minds of the Fortunate). English translation in Chogay Trichen Rinpoche, The History of the Sakya Tradition (Bristol: Ganesha Press, 1983), 27. 7. For a brief...

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