Among Western scholars, the Samye Debate has generated more speculation than any other single event in Tibetan history: Around 797 C.E., a philosophical debate is said to have taken place at Samye, the first Buddhist monastery in Tibet: The debate was held in order to decide, in effect, which form of Buddhism would be adopted by the Tibetan royal court - that of the Chinese

We will give next a general historical account of the chief branches of Buddhist thought in India such as Vaibhasikas, Sautrantikas, Yogacaras and Madhyamikas and briefly show their relation to the central teachings of the Buddha such as three fundamental principles of Impermanence (anitya), Sorrow (duhkha), and Non-self (anātman).

Hundred years after Buddha passed away, the first serious disagreements arouse between monks about the actual words of Buddha, and it was decided to hold the Second Buddhist Council. The main discussion objects in councils were Vinaya rules. Nowadays scholars believe the group known as Sthavira (Elders) wanted to tighten monastic discipline even more as it was given by Buddha himself and add more rules.

Buddha gave his first sermon in the Deer Park near Sarnath, trying to explain the fundamentals of his teaching.In course of this conversation, which later received the name of “First turn of the Wheel of Dharma”, Buddha expounded fundamentals of his teaching about Four Noble Truths. As many of you know, these Truths were: Truth of Suffering, Truth of Causality of Suffering, Truth of Cessation

During his Second Turning of Dharma Wheel in Rajagriha at Vulture Peak Mountain, Buddha represented his teaching with wisdom sutras, a collection of sutras known as Prajnaparamita (Ultimate Wisdom). These sutras were mostly explaining the notion of Emptiness and transcendental states of consciousness associated with realization of emptiness. The second turning of Dharma wheel is usually seen as revealing deeper meaning of the notions which

The Third Turning of the Dharma Wheel contain a number of various sutras, but the most significant among them is Tathāgatagarbha Sutra, which describes a primordial potentiality of awakening in each one of us, called Buddha Nature or Buddha-dhātu (element of Buddhahood). This sutra later has been the main source of inspiration for Nagarjuna’s Collection of Praises and for treatise of Maitreya “Upper Tantra” (Uttaratantra

To understand better Buddhist philosophy, Buddhist views and differences between different traditions and first of all between 3 yanas – Hinayana, Mahayana and Vajrayana – we have to speak about their philosophy. Generally there could be differentiated 4 schools of philosophy- Vaibhāṣika, Sautrāntika, Yogacara (Cittamatra in Tibetan sources) and Madhyamaka. All of them are based upon Buddha Shakyamuni teachings, Sutras and Abhidharma, and may share

Theory of valid cognition is a discipline that analyses statements of others by means of logical deliberation. And the same is true regarding Buddha. We should analyse statements of Buddha by means of logical deliberation and theory of cognition if they are correct or not. If a teaching is correct it should withstand threefold criteria of truthfulness

According to the Buddhism, each experience can be observed in a critical view as a complex consisting of: Conscious, sensible perceiving of something objectively existing Conscious psychic phenomena as emotions, memories, etc. If we separate in abstraction consciousness as such, a pure consciousness as a form from its content, we are getting 3 basic components: Consciousness Psychic phenomena in abstraction separated from consciousness