View source for Beacon of Certainty

[[Image:Mipham.JPG|frame|[[Mipham Rinpoche]]]]
'''The Beacon of Certainty''' (Tib. ངེས་ཤེས་སྒྲོན་མེ་, ''Ngeshé Drönmé''; [[Wyl.]] ''nges shes sgron me'') — is a commentary composed by the 19th century scholar [[Mipham Rinpoche]] at a very young age <ref>According to [[Khenpo Jikmé Phuntsok]] and [[Troshul Jamdor]] Mipham Rinpoche composed ''The Beacon of Certainty'' at the age of six.</ref>. It is structured around seven questions including such practical issues of everyday practice as "Should one meditate analytically or in resting meditation?"  Because of its thoroughness in addressing the foundations of the Nyingma-pa tradition, from Madhyamika philosophy to the view of Dzogchen, it is a key text studied in virtually all Nyingma-pa shedras.   The title, "The Beacon of Certainty", refers to the fact that unwavering certainty in the view of the indivisible union of appearance and emptiness is a shining beacon that illuminates the spiritual path.

While giving insight into the key points of view and meditation on the level of [[madhyamaka]] and tantra, the main purpose of this text is to elucidate the teachings of [[Dzogchen]]<ref>John W. Pettit, ''Mipham's Beacon of Certainty: Illuminating the View of Dzogchen, the Great Perfection Studies in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism'' (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1999), page 5.</ref>, and the introduction to [[Khenpo Kunpal]]'s commentary reads:
:This ''Precious Beacon of Certainty'' is like an eye that brings all the difficult points of [[sutra]] and [[tantra]] into focus. Externally, it accords with [[Prasangika]]; internally, it accords with the ''[[Sutra that Gathers all Intentions]]'' (Tib. དགོངས་པ་འདུས་པའི་མདོ་, ''Gongpa Düpé Do'' ; Wyl. ''dgongs pa ’dus pa’i mdo'') and the ''[[Guhyagarbha Tantra]]''; secretly, it accords with the [[Great Perfection]]<ref>Ibid. page 128</ref>.

In his own introduction to the text, [[Khenpo Jamyang Drubpé Lodrö]] writes:

:This sacred work, ''The Precious Beacon of Certainty'', sheds its light of definitive understanding on important points from our own and other tenet systems.
:It is a dragon’s roar to wake us from the sleep of foolish meditation,
:And a sword to cut through error and wrong view.
:With crucial points drawn from [[sutra]]s and tantras of [[definitive meaning]],
:Showing the progressive stages on the [[mahayana|Great Vehicle]]’s general path of sutra and mantra,
:For the [[Nyingma|Ancient Translation School]], the unique tradition of the [[Padmasambhava|Lake-born Buddha]].

==Structure of the Text==
The text is structured as answers to the following seven questions:
#According to which of the [[negation|two negations]] do you explain the view?
#Do [[arhat]]s realize both types of [[selflessness]]?
#Does meditation involve grasping at an object?
#Should we do [[analytical meditation]] or [[settling meditation]]?
#Which of the [[two truths]] is most important?
#What is the common object of disparate perceptions?
#Does Madhyamaka have a position or not?

==Translations==
*John W. Pettit, ''Mipham's Beacon of Certainty: Illuminating the View of Dzogchen, the Great Perfection Studies in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism'', Wisdom Publications, 1999

==Commentaries==
*[[Khenpo Kunpal]], ངེས་ཤེས་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་སྒྲོན་མེའི་ཚིག་དོན་གསལ་བའི་འགྲེལ་ཆུང་བློ་གྲོས་སྣང་བའི་སྒོ་འབྱེད་, ''nges shes rin po che'i sgron me'i tshig gi don gsal ba'i 'grel chung blo gros snang ba'i sgo 'byed''
*[[Khenpo Nüden]]
*[[Troshul Jamdor]], རྣམ་བཤད་འོད་ཟེར་དྲི་མེད་, ''rnam bshad 'od zer dri med''
*[[Khenpo Jamyang Drubpé Lodrö]], ངེས་ཤེས་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་སྒྲོན་མེའི་རྣམ་པར་བཤད་པ་ངེས་དོན་སྤྲིན་དཀར་གླལ་བའི་གྲ་དབྱངས་, ''nges shes rin po che'i sgron me'i rnam par bshad pa nges don sprin dkar glal ba'i sgra dbyangs''

It is also said that [[Pöpa Tulku]]'s ''Distinguishing Views and Tenets'' is a 'meaning commentary' on ''Beacon of Certainty''. A commentary by the contemporary teacher [[Khangsar Tenpé Wangchuk]] is awaiting publication.

==Teachings given to the Rigpa Sangha==
*[[Khenchen Pema Sherab]], [[Khenchen Pema Sherab Shedra West 2010|Rigpa Shedra West 2010]], Teachings on the first, second and third of the seven questions. Lerab Ling, 26 May-5 June 2010.
*Khenchen Pema Sherab, [[Rigpa Shedra|Rigpa Shedra West 2011]], Teachings on the fourth, fifth, and sixth of the seven questions. Lerab Ling, 23 May to 2 June, 2011. 
*Khenchen Pema Sherab, [[Rigpa Shedra|Rigpa Shedra West 2012]], Teachings on the seventh question. Lerab Ling, September 2012.

==Notes==
<small><references/></small>

==Further Reading==
*Anyen Rinpoche, ''Journey to Certainty: The Quintessence of the Dzogchen View: An Exploration of Ju Mipham's Beacon of Certainty'', Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2012

[[Category:Texts]]
[[Category:Mipham Rinpoche]]