Reading list

The Nature of Mind

Dzogchen and Tiantai: two Buddhist teachings on the mind’s own nature, already complete in every moment.

Advanced. 7 steps

Dzogchen

Tradition
Dzogchen
The Great Perfection: awareness that is recognized rather than produced by effort.
Concept
Rigpa
Pure awareness, and how it differs from the ordinary grasping mind.
Text
Kindly Bent to Ease Us
Longchenpa, tr. Herbert V. Guenther, 1975
Longchenpa on finding ease in the mind’s nature, in meditation and in illusion.

Tradition
Tiantai
Zhiyi’s school: the Lotus Sūtra and the whole in a single thought.
Concept
Threefold truth
Emptiness, provisional existence and the middle, as one reality.
Text
The Great Calming and Contemplation
Zhiyi, tr. Neal Donner, Daniel B. Stevenson, 1993
The opening chapter of Zhiyi’s great treatise on calm and insight.

Concept
Buddha-nature
The teaching both schools presuppose: awakening as the mind’s own nature.

Cite this entry

Chicago (bibliography): “The Nature of Mind.” Reading list. The Library, Unitive Knowledge Society. Last modified November 7, 2026. https://www.unitiveknowledge.org/reading-lists/the-nature-of-mind.
Chicago (note): “The Nature of Mind,” reading list, The Library, Unitive Knowledge Society, last modified November 7, 2026, https://www.unitiveknowledge.org/reading-lists/the-nature-of-mind.
MLA: “The Nature of Mind.” The Library, Unitive Knowledge Society, 7 Nov. 2026, www.unitiveknowledge.org/reading-lists/the-nature-of-mind.
BibTeX: @misc{reading-lists-the-nature-of-mind, title = {{The Nature of Mind}}, howpublished = {The Library, Unitive Knowledge Society}, note = {Reading list. Last modified November 7, 2026}, year = {2026}, url = {https://www.unitiveknowledge.org/reading-lists/the-nature-of-mind} }