On Tue, 31 May 1994, Michael Current wrote:
> I guess I misspoke myself. I was not in fact looking for secondary
sources, > having some familiarity with them. I was rather looking for
specific > texts to read with/against D&G. I think all the folks who
responded either > assumed that, or knew it was the right thing in any
case. > > Thank you all for your responses. Now that I have them, I feel
a bit > overwhelmed. Anyone have any suggestions as to where I should
start? > Almost everyone recommended the tibetian book of the dead - the
other > recommendations were quite disperate. >
Just to pile on the sutra reading list, I'd *heartily* recommend Robert
Thurman's translation of The Holy Teaching of Vimalakirti (Penn State).
It presents a particularly mischevious, non-dual, almost "Zen"
perspective, but it is a classical Indiana Mahayana sutra. It is full of
great philosophy and beefy footnotes, some beatuiful passages (like when
Buddha turns a parasol into a holographic canopy of multiple galaxies and
worlds, which gives you a taste of the extremely science-fiction elements
of Mahayana cosmology), and has a great central character: Vimalakirti, a
lay master and a wilely soul. There's even some gender-bending, full-on
becoming-woman.
Just a taste:
Manjushri: What is not produced? What is not destroyed?
Vimalakirti: Evil is not produced and good is not destroyed.
M: Wghat is the root of good and evil?
V: Materiality [the perspecitve of materialism, not matter per se] is the
root of good and evil.
M: What is the root of materiality?
V: Desire is the root of materiality.
M: What is the root of desire and attachment?
V: Unreal construction is the root of desire.
M: What is the root of unreal construction?
V: The false concept is the root.
M: What is the root of the false concept?
V: Baselessness.
M: What is the root of baselessness?
V: Manjushri, when something is baseless, how can it have any root?
Therefore, all things stand on the root which is baseless.
All things are rootless. Renunciation is not simple asceticism, a set of
can't-do's, but a commitment to dissolve the molar blocks that condition
reality, to never rest--'ahh, here we are, this is reality.' Here is a
picture of renunciation:
"In form, in feeling, will, perception and awareness
Nowhere in them they find a place to rest on.
Without a home they wander, dharmas never hold them,
Nor do they grasp at them--the Jina's Bodhi
[Buddhas enlightenment] they are bound to gain."
--The Ratnagunasamcayagatha, trans. Conze
Nomads on a pillow.
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