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    Tibetan Sky-Gazing Meditation and the Pre-History of Great Perfection Buddhism

    The Skullward Leap Technique and the Quest for Vitality

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    Author(s)
    Geisshuesler, Flavio
    Language
    English
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    Abstract
    Through a rigorous analysis of original scriptures and later commentaries, this open access book unearths a cornucopia of idiosyncratic motifs pervading the famous Tibetan sky-gazing meditation known as “Skullward Leap” (thod rgal). Flavio Geisshuesler argues that these motifs suggest that the practice did not originate in the context of Buddhism, but rather within indigenous Tibetan culture and in close contact with the early Bön tradition. The book argues that Dzogchen once belonged to a cult centered on the quest for vitality, which involved the worship of the sky as primordial source of life and endorsed the hunting of animals, as they were believed to be endowed with the ability to move in between the divine realm of the heavens and the world of humans. The book also traces the historical development of the Great Perfection, delineating a complex process of buddhicization that started with the introduction of Buddhism in the 7th century, intensified with the rise of new schools in the 11th century, and reached its climax in the systematization of the teachings by the great scholar-yogi Longchenpa in the 14th century. The study advances an innovative model of meditation as an open-ended practice that animates practitioners to face the most challenging moments of their lives with courage and curiosity, imagination and creativity, and playfulness and excitement; qualities that are oftentimes overlooked in contemporary descriptions of contemplation. The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation.
    URI
    https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/88172
    Keywords
    rdzogs chen; thod rgal; tantra; esoteric; occult
    DOI
    10.5040/9781350428843
    ISBN
    9781350428829, 9781350428836, 9781350428829, 9781350428836
    Publisher
    Bloomsbury Academic
    Publisher website
    https://www.bloomsbury.com/academic/
    Publication date and place
    London, 2024
    Imprint
    Bloomsbury Academic
    Classification
    Tibetan Buddhism
    Pages
    240
    Rights
    https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
    • Imported or submitted locally

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    License

    • If not noted otherwise all contents are available under Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

    Credits

    • logo EU
    • This project received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 683680, 810640, 871069 and 964352.

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