Karmapa International Buddhist Institute (KIBI)

Buddhist Philosophy
We tend to assume that our conditioned view of things is reality. Buddhist philosophy shows us that such presumption is mistaken. Thus it gives us insight into the nature of phenomena. On the basis of that insight we can relinquish the obscuring states of mind that generate samsara s suffering and attain freedom from samsaric states.

First year students study The Jewel Ornament of Liberation (dwagspo thar tgyam) by Gampopa, the founding father of the Kagyu lineage. This text presents the different stages of the Mahayana path in detail. The author combines the teachings of Atisha and the Mahamudra instructions of the lineage of Marpa, the translator. Therefore, study of the Jewel Ornament is a must for a follower of the Kagyu lineage.

Second year students study the Madhyamaka Ornament (Madhyamakalankara; dbu ma rgyan), composed by Shantarakshita, one of the great Indian masters who brought Buddhism to Tibet. It discusses the absolute reality according to the Cittamatra and Madhayamaka systems within the framework of the Buddhist Theory of Knowledge.

Third year students study Engaging in the Middle Way(Madhyamakavatara; dbu ma la jug pa) by Chandrakirti, with commentaries by Chandrakirti and the eighth Karmapa, Mikyo Dorje. This treatise describes the ten bodhisattva levels, and buddha, the enlightened state, according to the Madhayamaka tradition. Chapter six is studied in great detail as it explains the paramita of wisdom, insight into emptiness, the fact that both the individual and all other phenomena are essenceless, insubstantial and unreal. Logic and analysis are the basis for generating a definitive understanding of emptiness. Thus, the process of reasoning is a distinct feature of this treatise.

The philosophy classes of the second and third years are taught alternately every second year so that the students of these two years study in one group.

Fourth year students study two texts: The Mahayana Uttara Tantra Shastra (rgyud bla ma) by Maitreya/Asanga with a commentary byJamgon Lodro Thaye. This treatise has five chapters comprising seven points: Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, Buddha-Nature, Enlightenment, Qualities of Enlightenment and Buddha Activity. The Uttara Tantra Shastra is regarded as a treatise that links the Sutrayana and the Tantrayana.