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Identifying the causes of samsara

06 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.

  • Identifying the cause of taking birth in a womb
  • Refuting the position that there is a partless gross body that is the special basis of mind
  • Three faults to the position that the body is a partless whole:
    • Contradictory on the basis of action
    • Contradictory on the basis of seeing
    • Contradictory on the basis of qualities

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.