The Lamp for the Eye of Contemplation : The Samten Migdron by Nubchen Sangye Yeshe, a 10th-century Tibetan Buddhist Text on Meditation

The book provides a complete translation of a groundbreaking Tibetan treatise on contemplation, the Samten Migdron by Nubchen Sangye Yeshe (10th century). This is one of the principal sources for our understanding of the various currents of meditation transmitted to Tibet during the early spread of Buddhism to that country. It offers a detailed window into the ways in which one of the most learned masters of the early Tibetan Buddhist tradition made sense of the different forms of meditation practiced in his day.

This book presents an English translation of the Samten Migdron (Lamp for the Eye of Contemplation) by Nubchen Sangye Yeshe, a seminal 10th-century Tibetan Buddhist work on contemplation. This treatise is one of the most important sources for the study of the various meditative currents that were transmitted to Tibet from India and China during the early dissemination of Buddhism in Tibet. Written from the vantage point of the Great Completeness (Dzogchen) and its vehicle of effortless spontaneity, it discusses, in the manner of a doxography, both sutra-based-including Chan-and tantric approaches to meditation. The unabridged, annotated English translation of this Tibetan treatise is preceded by a general introduction situating the author-a pivotal figure in what would become the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism-and his work in historical and doctrinal context. The detailed annotations provide elucidating comments as well as crucial references to the numerous texts quoted by the Tibetan author. This book makes this groundbreaking Tibetan work on meditation accessible in English and opens fascinating windows on early forms of contemplative practice in Tibet.