Mountain Dharma

"The most famous (or infamous) book Dölpopa wrote to present his unprecedented interpretations of Buddhist doctrine is called Mountain Dharma: An Ocean of Definitive Meaning (Ri chos nges don rgya mtsho). Few controversial books remain controversial a hundred years after they were written. This one has. After nearly seven hundred years, the ideas discussed in Mountain Dharma are still as provocative as when Dölpopa first openly taught them in 1330. Written for learned practitioners of Vajrayāna Buddhism who were meditating in mountain retreats, Dölpopa's masterpiece is filled with an ocean of quotations selected from the Indian Buddhist scriptures and treatises translated into Tibetan and preserved in the canonical collections of the Kangyur and Tengyur. When deciphering the true intent of these passages of definitive meaning, he never mentions another Tibetan author or book. His only goal is to establish the validity of his theories based on Indian works of indisputable authority. The first section of the book concerns the ground and basis of all phenomena, that is, the awakened state of the ultimate Buddha known by many names, such as dharmakāya, tathāgata essence, ultimate luminosity, dharmadhātu, self-arisen primordial awareness, and great bliss. In the second section, he explains how the ultimate Buddha, the dharmakāya, the quintessence of limitless, inseparable qualities, is inherently present in all sentient beings. But this does not mean the path of the two assemblies of merit and primordial awareness is unnecessary, because one must remove the incidental stains, produce the relative rūpakāya, and act for the benefit of all sentient beings. Therefore, pure and excellent view, meditation, and conduct are necessary. The third section of Mountain Dharma begins with a general presentation of the Mahāyāna results. By means of correct view, meditation, and conduct, the path of the two assemblies of merit and primordial awareness is utterly completed and, through extinguishing the two obscurations that are to be abandoned, the result of buddhahood will be attained"--