Effortless Spontaneity: The Dzogchen Commentaries by Nubchen Sangye Yeshe

Dylan Esler, PhD (2018), University of Louvain, MA (2005) SOAS, London, currently works as a researcher at the Center for Religious Studies (CERES) of the Ruhr-University Bochum. He has published numerous articles and translations relating to Tibetan Dzogchen and Tantra, including The Lamp for the Eye of Contemplation (Oxford University Press, 2023).

"...Effortless Spontaneity, is a fascinating composite work divided into two main parts centred around exegetical treatises authored by Nubchen Sangye Yeshe (gNubs chen Sangs rgyas ye shes, 844-?), an important Nyingma lineage holder who somehow stands as a link between the tradition connected to the dynastic period and the nascent Nyingmapa school starting to emerge as a more or less coherent system around the early 10th century. Esler’s contribution to Dzogchen studies therefore appears as a much welcome addition to our growing understanding of the “early days of the Great Perfection” itself." - Jean-Luc Achard Études mongoles et sibériennes, centrasiatiques et tibétaines [En ligne], 55 | 2024. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/emscat/6613

• 9789004534223AcknowledgementsConventions UsedSiglaIntroductionPart 1 An Essay in Approaching Effortlessness1 Evoking Effortlessness2 Effortlessness as a Trope of Demarcation3 Looking Back: A Precedent in Nyak Jñānakumāra4 An Internal Contradiction?5 Coalescence of the Transcendence-Immanence Relational Polarity6 Effortlessness as Path7 Inwardness and Spaciousness8 The Question of Method9 Effortlessness and Conduct10 Encounter and TransmissionConclusionPart 2 The TextsIntroductory Remarks1 A Note on the Editions of the Orally Transmitted Injunctions of the Nyingma2 Overview of the Root Texts in Their Various Versions3 Categories of Variants1 rJe btsan dam pa’i ’grel pa / Commentary on the Holy Revered One (JDG)2 Byang chub sems bde ba ’phra bkod kyi don ’grel / Meaning Commentary on the Inlaid Jewel of Bliss, the Enlightened Mind (DPG)3 rDo rje gzong phugs kyi ’grel pa / Commentary on the Adamantine Piercing Awl (DZG)4 rTse mo byung rgyal ’grel pa / Commentary on the Victorious Peak (TBG)BibliographyIndex