Entering the Way of the Great Vehicle: Dzogchen as the Culmination of the Mahayana

Rongzom Chökyi Zangpo (eleventh century) was an important translator and exegete of New Translation School literature and the first defender of the Old Translation School. His works, whether translations from Sanskrit, commentaries on canonical texts, or original compositions such as Entering the Way of the Great Vehicle, sit on both sides of the Old School/New School boundary. He is remarkable among Old School figures in that the majority of them confined their literary output to the esoteric traditions of their past, whereas Rongzom engaged extensively with the New School literature and philosophy. He is regarded as one of the two archetypal figures for the Nyingma by no less an authority than the nineteenth-century scholar and adept Ju Mipham.

Dominic Sur first studied with Tibetan masters in India, Nepal, and Tibet for several years before returning to the United States, where he was fortunate enough to study with several outstanding scholars of Buddhism at Sarah Lawrence College, Harvard Divinity School, and the University of Virginia. In 2015, he completed a PhD in Religious Studies from the University of Virginia and is an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Utah State University.