- Approaching Aro
- Table of contents
- Introduction
- Approach
- Buddhism, Dzogchen, and Aro
- Truth and methods
- Principles and functions
- Visionary truth, objective truth
- The futile quest for certainty
- Yanas, contradictions, and understanding
- Essential Buddhism
- Uncontroversial Buddhist lineages
- Buddhism and football
- Yana shock
- Wrathful practice
- Why Dzogchen?
- The scarcity of Dzogchen
- Dzogchen: a controversial yana
- No holiness—vastness!
- No cosmic justice
- Yana slip
- Aro teachings
- Approaching teachers
- Special, ordinary, noble
- We matter to Buddhism
- Terma
- Aro history
- Ngak’chang Rinpoche
- Statements of support
- Lama Yeshé Dorje Rinpoche’s Proclamation
- Lama Yeshe Dorje Rinpoche’s Foreword
- Kyabjé Chhi-’mèd Rig’dzin Rinpoche’s Foreword
- Letter from Chhi’mèd Rig’dzin Rinpoche
- Letter about a student
- Doctoral recommendation
- Long-life prayer by Chhi’mèd Rig’dzin Rinpoche
- Long-life prayer by Lama Tharchin Rinpoche
- Gyaltsen Rinpoche’s Introduction
- Kyabjé Dung-sé Thinley Norbu Rinpoche’s Colophon
- Books

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Comments
your website generally and this bit particularly
23 Oct 2008
Hi, David,
Having, over the last few days, thoroughly perused this site, I want to thank you for all the work you have put into it, and all the light and fresh air let into all the half-seen obscurities.
But most of all, I want to thank you for being a persistent and wide-ranging reader as well as a practitioner of meditation-- and for SAYING so. It's something not so often acknowledged as useful, or even legitimate, by those who think of religion as prioritizing piety over insight.
Since I find myself incorrigibly amongst the tribe of readers (as well as those who appreciate a well-crafted line of reasoning), it's cheering to find company.
Thanks again; keep up the good work.
Kate Gowen
I concur
31 Dec 2008
I have had the great fortune somehow to have come across this website and it seems to address my needs at this time in my development. As Kate Gowan wrote, reading is something tribal and in the blood and I'd been trying to follow a teaching in the Theravada for 3 years now but the emphasis was most clearly on renunciation which kind of makes reading out to be a waste of time. Therefore I agree with you, and the Aro intellectual perspective, and really feel as if this is THE WEBSITE for me. I have been hugely encouraged and inspired the past few days, as if breathing out a sense of relief, so I leave you with this Great Big
AHHHHHHHHHHHHH
May many beings be granted a similar enpowerment soon,
and many thanks to you David
Anthony
3/4 Buddhist Sects
18 Nov 2010
Question: when you said, "The recommended books page on our public web site includes authors from three of the four major Tibetan Buddhist Schools, plus Zen and Bön."
do you mean that "Shin" Buddhism is not in the list of recommended readings?
Great article on the reading stuff. Thanks!
Shin is not a Tibetan School
18 Nov 2010
The four major Tibetan schools are Nyingma, Kagyud, Sakya, and Geluk. The one that happens not to be included in the public reading list is Sakya (probably because the Sakya school has had the least presence in the English-speaking world). There is a book by a Sakya author on the Aro apprentice reading list.
Shin, and Pure Land Buddhism more generally, never seems to have had any significant presence in Tibet. It's a Chinese development, and the Tibetans generally regarded Chinese Buddhism as invalid. They viewed India as the sole source of authentic Buddhism.
Tibetan Sects
18 Nov 2010
Thank you for clarifying. I missed the "Tibetan" aspect. That is what I get for reading at work. Likewise, at home I often read with kids running around wrestling -- please excuse my sloppy reading and writing. Your point about the Sakya school is interesting. I hope to visit a local Tibetan sitting group this weekend -- first time. Also thanks for the pointers on Pure Land. What does Aro (never mind Tibetans -- I use to live in Chengdu (part of greater Tibet)) think of Pure Land. I know that nothing good can come from Nazareth, but is it also so with China? (John 1: 46) Smile
Aro and Pure Land
19 Nov 2010
I don't think Aro has anything to say about Pure Land one way or another. Aro is part of the Nyingma tradition, which is defined in part by its refusal to get involved with Buddhist politics. The general Nyingma attitude is "you've got your thing, we've got our thing, we're really happy for you to do your thing, and we'd like it if you left us alone to do our thing."
I sometimes think of the landscape of Buddhism as roughly triangular. The three corners are Nyingma, Pure Land, and Theravada. This is a gross oversimplification, but those are probably the most-dissimilar Buddhist traditions. They have almost nothing in common; I'd say they are as different as Wahhabi Islam, Jewish Reconstructionism, and Roman Catholicism.
Apolitical Nyingma
21 Nov 2010
I totally agree again. I love the over-simplified but instructive triangle of Buddhism and the analogy to monotheists varieties. Very good. Interestingly, I just read (again -- how quickly I forget) about Nyingma's apolitical stance this morning in John Powers' book "Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism" (a favorite of mine which I refer to not infrequently)"
The Nyingma school, by contrast, has remained remarkably aloof from political intrigues." (pg 330)
BTW -- I have been considering for months now to teach myself the Tibetan script an phonetic system simply so I can better remember and wrestle with Tibetan terms. Do you recommend any books. (as background: I have studied Hindi, Urdu, Japanese and Chinese -- so am linguistically/orthographically flexible). I LOVE the script.
Learning Tibetan script and pronunciation
21 Nov 2010
Unfortunately, there is no really good "teach yourself Classical Tibetan" book (and there are quite a few direly bad ones). Stephen Hodge's book
is good-ish but incomplete.
If you just want to learn the script and pronunciation, you can probably find something on-line. Actually, I will send you some things I wrote myself, by email.
The script is easy. You know Devanagari (the Hindi script), and Tibetan is derived from the same ancestor (Brahimi); you'll laugh when you learn the Tibetan letters, because they are almost identical, but distorted differently from Brahimi.
The pronunciation is not so easy; there are moderately complex rules that relate spellings to pronunciations. It is definitely worth learning those, however, because you suddenly realize that words you thought distinct are actually alternate spellings of the same things.
If you can deal with the jargon of professional linguists, Stephen Beyer's book
is wonderful. It's not a language-learning primer, however.
Yes, John Powers' book
is an excellent overview of Tibetan Buddhism. Maybe not the first thing to read, but once one is intrigued enough to read something chewy, it gives context for more popular books.
Tibetan Script
21 Nov 2010
Thanks for the e-mails and suggestions. Yes, my Hindi background helps a little for orthographics, but the rest is tough! You kind notes should help.
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