Changing Minds: Contributions to the Study of Buddhism and Tibet in Honor of Jeffrey Hopkins by Guy Newland (PDF)

Description

A repurposed and hearty tribute to the Western master of Tibetan Buddhism, Jeffrey Hopkins.This is a book offered in tribute to Jeffrey Hopkins by colleagues and former students. Hopkins has, in his several decades of work, made profound and diverse contributions to the understanding of Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism in the West. In his collaborations with the Dalai Lama, such as Kindness, Clarity, and Insight, and in books like Tibetan Arts of Love and Emptiness Yoga, Hopkins has reached out to the general reader, making the wisdom of Tibet accessible to all English speakers. Though there is never anything superficial about his work, his Emptiness in the Mind-Only School is a magisterial display of painstaking scholarly work.Changing Minds contains essays that reflect the breadth and influence of Hopkins’s work. Topics presented include the two truths, the object of negation, the results of anger, the founding of the Gelug order, Bon Dzogchen, mahamudra, foundational consciousness, altruism, and adversity. Contributors include John Buescher, Guy Newland, Donald Lopez, Elizabeth Napper, Daniel Cozort, John Powers, Roger Jackson, Gareth Sparham, Joe B. Wilson, José Cabezón, Harvey Aronson, and Paul Hackett.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: About the Author GUY NEWLAND is Professor of Religion and Chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religion at Central Michigan University, where he has taught since 1988. Newland studied under renowned Buddhist scholar Jeffrey Hopkins at the University of Virginia. He has authored, edited, and translated several books on Tibetan Buddhism, including the three-volume translation of The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐While it is true, as an another reviewer said, that this book is scholarly in nature, that should not be considered a criticism. Hopkins trained 18 doctoral students before retiring and naturally some of them and some other scholarly folk want to pay tribute as he retires. The book has a wide ranging collection of articles–something for every taste; in other words, not every article will suit every reader.Don Lopez’s article foreshadows his excellent Madman book; articles by Jose Cabezon on the concept of authorship in Tibet and Roger Jackson on mahamudra in Gelug are really unique and creative. Anne Klein’s piece on Bon mystical poetry is beautiful; Elizabeth Napper’s article on Tsongkhapa’s role as the “founder” of Gelug is an extraordinary piece of scholarship. My favorite piece is by John Buescher who works for Voice of America: Buddha’s Conventional and Ultimate Tooth. It cleverly weaves personal reflections about his work on a story at VOA about a mysterious buddha tooth relic with vivid portrayals of Hopkins teaching Madhyamaka.Also of interest is Newland’s brief introduction, which seems subtly designed to answer critiques of Hopkins.

⭐IMHO this work appeals primarily to a narrow academic audience interested in, per Roger Jackson p. 156: “A Tibetan school more often noted for gradualist scholasticism than for radical meditative practices, namely the dGelugs” & p. 180: “Some of it is no doubt scholastic hair splitting.” I bought it as it advertised inclusion of Dzogchen, Mahamudra, Anne Klein, & Harvey Aronson & per Rime, there’s value in exploring all 4 Tibetan Schools.. It might appeal to Myers-Briggs (Jungian Typology) Sensates enjoying detail-far less to Intuitives who don’t. As a scientist, I’m unattracted to heavy Gelugpa emphasis on Madhyamaka Philosophy. Per John Buescher, p. 22: “Aristotle…concludes that women are less intelligent because they have fewer teeth…Francis Bacon has the revolutionary idea that if you want to know how many teeth some person or animal’s got, don’t pray, or consult an oracle, scriptures, or ancient authorities, but open their mouth & count them.” Also, despite Paul Hackett’s assertion that p. 311: “Hopkins continued the trend he began…of moving to a more `personalized’ style rather than writing `as a voice for the tradition,'” the 11 authors (a chapter each) use transliterated Tibetan rather than phonetic, Anglicized spellings (i.e. dGe lugs vs. Gelugs & Gung thang & Sa bzang Ma ti Pan chen) which IMHO is annoying, but apropos for Hopkins & academics (vs. the Buddhist public). Some languaging is quite stilted as well.Despite my feeling of wading through mud reading this book, several authors made quite valuable observations: p. 127 note 16: Elizabeth Napper-“There is no true historical discussion. That the actual facts of the `Samye debate’ would seem to differ widely from how that debate Is renowned traditionally here; these `historical’ figures are ciphers, stock characters in a mystery play” & p. 125: [Gelug’s provide] “A limited role available to the lay practitioner…& very limited role for women,” pp. 157-8: Roger Jackson-“Within the scope of the whole history of Mahamudra, the dGe lugs tradition is, admittedly, a late & marginal development…Here, as so often when oral transmissions are involved, there is a discrepancy between the tradition’s claims & the overt historical evidence;” p. 205: Gareth Sparham-“Tsong kha pa is willing, like his teacher Nya dbon, to embrace inconsistencies in the received tradition;” p. 258 note 24: Jose Cabezon-“It is dangerous to argue from the contemporary usage of terms to their understanding in earlier historical periods;” & p. 292: Paul Hackett, “One of the hallmarks of the Buddhist religion is the apparently superfluous nature of its cultural trappings.” As opposed to the Gelugpa perspective Klein says pp. 145-8: “Dzogs chen points less to a phenomenon’s lack of inherent existence than to its being one in nature with its source, just as a wave arising from water can only be water …Madhyamaka holds that an inferential valid cognition of emptiness can transform into direct knowing, but in Dzogs chen, a consciousness cannot become an open awareness…[which] is neither subject nor object; it is the base, the natural condition of all things…Only rDzogs chen is deemed capable of this task; the lower 8 vehicles are like `blind persons [who] designate various names to the body of the sturdy elephant, but the elephant itself does not become altered in any way.”But IMHO Aronson is the star of the book; he succinctly analyzes the relationship between psychology & Tibetan Buddhism in a sensitive, balanced way–a joy to read. He describes dangers for certain students: pp. 272-4 “one must at least have enough real psychological self to commit to an ongoing discipline of practice. Furthermore, a danger exists that individuals lacking a clear sense of self who find the Buddhist religious language particularly resonant with their psychological status…can seek shelter in doctrines of selflessness & then inappropriately use such doctrines to maintain an undefined self. Engler found that in some cases doctrine is used to rationalize behavior. `The anatta (no-self) doctrine is taken to justify their premature abandonment of essential psychosocial tasks…Geshe Wangyal would not allow his Buddhist Center to become a refuge for individuals to use Buddhist language, as a cover for uncompleted psychological development. While he did not verbalize his reasons, he was in effect making behavioral assessments…Clearly it is a mistake for those individuals with severe impairment to confuse their psychological state with the ontological doctrine of selflessness in Buddhism…Buddhist religious development assumes a certain degree of psychological health.” But also, p. 286 note 9: “Dr. Marsha Lineham, a research clinical psychologist, using a highly structured group relational context, has successfully used introductory mindfulness practice on a daily basis, as opposed to in a retreat, as an adjunctive therapeutic intervention with severe borderline personality disordered clients…This says much about how the amount of meditation time & the relational context within which it is practiced may be significant with respect to the ultimate psychological outcome of practice.”

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