Description

Tibetan Pure Land Buddhism: Mipham Rinpoche on Self-Power and Other-Power. By Lowell Cook. Paperback: 94 pages.

Lowell Cook completed his MA in Translation, Textual Interpretation, and Philology at the Rangjung Yeshe Institute where he is a Tibetan language instructor. He translates canonical literature for the 84,000 Project and enjoys composing his own poetry in Tibetan.

Tibetan Pure Land Buddhism examines self-power and other-power in a Tibetan Buddhism context. The tension between self-power and other-power concerns the process of rebirth in the pure land Sukhavati; that is, whether rebirth is achieved through one’s own volition (self-power), or, conversely, through an external force such as the supernatural powers of Amitabha (other-power). The only Tibetan author to explicitly discuss self-power and other-power is the ecumenical scholar-practitioner ‘Ju mi pham (1846-1912) in his work, Sun-like Instructions of a Sage: A Clarification of Faith which Purifies the Pure Land, the Land of Bliss.

Proceeds from the sales of this book support the library of Nagi gompa nunnery.