Maitripa's Writings on the View

Maitripa was a great Indian Buddhist master who was a contemporary of Naropa. He was regarded as one of the most knowledgeable people of his time on the Buddhist view. For that reason, Naropa told Marpa the Translator that he should not get the view from him but should go to Maitripa and get it from him. Thus Maitripa became the source of the view for the Kagyu lineage. Maitripa is also famous for having re-discovered the Uttaratantrashastra of Maitreya which had been lost till that time. Having recovered the text from an old stupa, Maitreya appeared to him and transmitted the profound meaning associated with that text. In that way, Maitripa became a central figure in the transmission of what is called "the profound meditation system of Maitreya". In many ways, he was the source of the Other Emptiness (gzhan stong) style teaching of Maitreya and Asanga that came into Tibet. A number of Maitripa's writings were included in a compilation of important Indian Buddhist texts which is simply called "The Main Texts of India". It is a very old compilation, dating from the early days of the second wave of dharma that came into Tibet. Maitripa's writings are mostly very short and pithy and have the quality of oral teaching. These writings always deal with the view and are very important to followers of the Other Emptiness teaching because they definitely show that view. This book is a compilation of several of these writings. They were selected from the whole set of Maitripa's writings because they very clearly show his presentation of the Other Emptiness view in both sutra and tantra contexts. There are texts on Madhyamaka, Co-emergence, Chakrasamvara practice, and so on. The book has the texts in translation with a full set of notes and commentary by the author to make the meaning of the very terse writing clear.