Clear Light
From LabelingThoughts
Clear Light is a term more commonly used by other Tibetan translators, for what is referred to as luminosity in Shambhala.
According to Francesca Freemantle (from her book Luminous Emptiness: Understanding the Tibetan Book of the Dead, publ Shambhala 2003, page 199):
Luminosity is often translated as "clear light," which is a literal rendering of the Tibetan rather than the Sanskirt. Trungpa Rinpoche did not like that term, although he did sometimes use it in his talks, which form that basis of his books, because it is so well known. He felt it had become inextricably associated with such notions as the light at the end of the tunnel in near-death experiences, and that it gave too much of an impression of ordinary, visual light, whereas what is meant is an extremely subtle concept that he thought would be conveyed better by "luminosity." The two terms luminosity and clarity are frequently not distinguished and are translated by the same word in English, so that we find "clear light," "luminosity," or "clarity" for both. They are certainly very close, since clarity here is not just clear and transparent, but also bright and luminous: the illuminating potential of the mind. In the Tibetan book of the Dead, we used only luminosity, but on looking at the text very carefully with this in mind, it is evident that it does distinguish between them, and so it now seems best to do so in the revised passages of translation that follow in part 2.
See also
Further reading
Other authors
Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche (2001) Progressive_Stages_of_Meditation_on_Emptiness
- pages 3, 4, 68, 69, 70, 72,73, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 84
Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche (2003) Ascertaining Certainty about the View
- page 105
