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The causes of body and mind

02 Pramanavarttika with Geshe Yeshe Thabkhe

Part of a series of teachings by Geshe Yeshe Thabkhe on Dharmakirti’s commentary on Dignaga’s Compendium on Valid Cognition, with translation by Joshua Cutler from the Tibetan Buddhist Learning Center.

  • The conceptual mind that goes from life to life in this tenet system
  • Explanation of the meaning and role of the special indispensable cause
  • Connection of ordinary being’s mind at death with a subsequent mind
  • Mental consciousness does not arise from the sense faculties

Geshe Yeshe Thabkhe

Geshe Yeshe Thabkhe was born in 1930 in Lhokha, Central Tibet and became a monk at the age of 13. After completing his studies at Drepung Loseling Monastery in 1969, he was awarded Geshe Lharampa, the highest degree in the Geluk School of Tibetan Buddhism. He is an emeritus professor at the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies and an eminent scholar of both Madhyamaka and Indian Buddhist studies. His works include Hindi translations of The Essence of Good Explanation of Definitive and Interpretable Meanings by Lama Tsongkhapa and Kamalasila's commentary on the Rice Seedling Sutra. His own commentary, The Rice Seedling Sutra: Buddha’s Teachings on Dependent Arising, was translated into English by Joshua and Diana Cutler and published by Wisdom Publications. Geshela has facilitated many research works, such as a complete translation of Tsongkhapa’s The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, a major project undertaken by the Tibetan Buddhist Learning Center in New Jersey where he teaches regularly.