Tenet Systems

The contrast between the explanations of the two truths given by the Jetsunpa textbook tradition of the Gelug tradition and by the Sakya master Gorampa.

All Indian Buddhist tenet systems, except Vaibhashika, agree that the validly knowable “me” is not a self-sufficiently knowable phenomenon, it is imputedly knowable.

The Gelug presentation of meditations on the different Indian Buddhist tenet systems concerning the selflessness of persons and phenomena.

Tsongkhapa was a revolutionary reformer who reinterpreted and clarified many of the key Buddhist teachings, especially concerning the assertions of the Prasangika tenet system concerning voidness, the two truths, the two obscurations and cognition theory.

To know how to cognize voidness, both conceptually and non-conceptually, and thus how to rid ourselves of the true causes of our true sufferings, we need to know the steps that each Indian Buddhist tenet system explains for the meditative process for realizing voidness.

In “A Filigree of Realizations” (“Abhisamayalamkara”), Maitreya explains the progression of the five levels of mind we achieve that serve as pathways leading to liberation and enlightenment.

Learn why Study Buddhism prefers the term “voidness” over “emptiness.”

Understanding the Vaibhashika and Sautrantika assertions of the two truths serves as a steppingstone for understanding the assertions of the Chittamatra, Svatantrika and Prasangika tenet systems.

Karma refers to the compelling urges driving our behavior and the compulsive forms our behavior takes. Learn how each of the Buddhist tenet systems uses the basic terminology to describe the mechanism involved.