rDzogs chen, the "Great Perfection", is a philosophical and meditational system of Tibetan Buddhism. It is the counterpart of the Ch'an in Chinese Buddhism and Zen in Japan. Western writers on Tibetan Buddhism have viewed it as a survival of the Ch'an which was once known in Tibet in the eighth century A.D., but declined after the breakup of the Tibetan empire in the mid-ninth century A.D. This view is mainly derived from the attitude of the Tibetan Buddhist orthodox schools who regarded rDzogs chen as a resurrection of Ch'an the practice of which according to the Tibetan historical tradition was officially banned after the famous Sino-Indian Buddhist controversy around 790 A.D. in Tibet. The other interesting aspect of rDzogs chen is that it is a teaching adhered to by the Buddhist school, the rNying ma pa as well as by the Bonpo (followers of the Bon religion in Tibet). Although studies in Tibetan Buddhism have advanced much in recent years, the origin and historical development of rDzogs chen has remained totally unknown. The present Study therefore focuses mainly on the origin of its theories such as "Primordial Purity" which it sees as the basis for spiritual development, and its historical and literary development. The sources for this study are mainly ninth century documents from Central Asia and texts belonging to the tenth and eleventh centuries from Tibet itself. They shed new light on the origins of rDzogs chen and its philosophical conceptions.

Thesis (master's)--Mahāwitthayālai Thammasāt, 1988. / In Thai. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 216-234).

Thesis (master's)--Mahāwitthayālai Thammasāt, 1988. / In Thai. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 216-234).

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Sydney, 2007. / Title from title screen (viewed 26 March 2008). Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Dept. of Studies in Religion, Faculty of Arts. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print form.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Faculty of the Divinity School, June 2000. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Sydney, 2008. / Title from title screen (viewed June 16, 2009) Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Department of Studies in Religion, Faculty of Arts. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print form.

Revision and expansion of the author's Thesis (Ph. D.--Sichuan da xue, 2003). / "Sichuan da xue shi wu '211 gong cheng' zhong dian jian she xue ke xiang mu." 880-07 Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1987. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 656-681).

This thesis is based on a study of classical Pali texts and of materials gathered during a year spent in a village in central Ceylon. The material consists in particular of interviews with monks living in nearby village monasteries. My notes of these interviews, which cover more topics than could be discussed in the thesis, are reproduced in Appendix One, and some of my printed materials are summarily presented in Appendix Two. The circumstances of my field work are detailed in the last part of the Introduction. Factually, the thesis aims to give an account of the religious beliefs and ethos of Sinhalese (Kandyan) Buddhist villagers, expressed as far as possible in their own terms. As explained in chapter 1, Buddhism is a system of belief almost exclusively concerned with liberation from this world. It is therefore necessarily secretive, requiring supplementation by beliefs concerning other matters. Beliefs about Gods and demons and how they can help or hinder human beings which to a Western observer fall within the domain of religion are not seen in these terms by Buddhists. These are therefore only examined in so far as they are relevant to the understanding of Buddhism. Issue is taken, on the other hand, with the Western interpretation of Buddhism as an essentially nonreligious philosophy. Chapter 2 introduces the terms used by my informants in talking about their beliefs and institutions. The arrangement of chapters 3 to 8 is in some measure due to the formulation of the Buddhists themselves: they consider Buddhism in terms of the Three Jewels, which are the Buddha, the Doctrine, and the Order of monks, while their doctrinal emphasis is on the operation of karma and on ethical questions. Chapter 3 deals with the Buddha, chapter 4 with karma and the arrangement of the universe, chapter 5 with some problem in the doctrine of karma, chapter 6 with ethics, and chapters 7 and 8 with problems primarily concerning the Order. On the theoretical level the thesis is largely concerned with the interaction of belief and behaviour as an agent of religious change. My problem and concepts are presented in the first part of the Introduction. Although the general tenor of the thesis is to show that Sinhalese Buddhism has been remarkably conservative, if it is compared with the Pali Canon and its commentaries, there have been changes, and I suggest that some at least have arisen because of discrepancies between what people say and what they do: behaviour has affected doctrine, which in turn has affected behaviour. There are still in the religion as observable to-day discrepancies between what people eay and what they do; the thesis attempts to record both statement and performance, and suggests further that statements may vary with the context. Finally the thesis proposes that an acquaintance with Ceylonese Buddhism as a living system may provide insight into the workings of early Buddhism as described in the classical texts. In particular the last chapter suggests that scholars relying on texts and preconceptions have over-drawn the distinction between monks and laity as moral agents, and between Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism as ethical systems.