Radical Phenomenology

Tantric contemplative practices in Tibet, particularly the Great Perfection and Mahāmudrā, are deeply informed by the Mind-Only (Yogācāra) and Madhyamaka schools of Buddhist philosophy. These traditions extend Yogācāra's emphasis on contemplative practice and can be seen as iterations of it. They also incorporate the Madhyamaka principle of emptiness, with the "three greats"—Great Madhyamaka, Mahāmudrā, and the Great Perfection—explicitly blending features of both schools. Language plays a creative and liberating role in these tantric traditions.

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Abstract

This chapter considers tantra, and the contemplative practices in Tibet informed by Mind-Only and Madhyamaka, where language plays a more explicitly creative and liberating role. Tantric traditions, including the Great Perfection and Mahāmudrā, resonate deeply with Mind-Only. In significant ways, these traditions can even be said to be iterations of Yogācāra, as extensions of its contemplative (yoga) practice (ācāra). This chapter discusses the “radical phenomenology” of these traditions, as extensions of Mind-Only. It describes how the guiding principle of emptiness, a Madhyamaka forte, is embedded in these traditions as well. Indeed, the “three greats” of the Great Madhyamaka, the Great Seal (Mahāmudrā), and the Great Perfection explicitly incorporate features of Madhayamaka.