Gsang phu ba blo gros mtshungs med

Sangpuwa Lodrö Tsungme

གསང་ཕུ་བ་བློ་གྲོས་མཚུངས་མེད་

14th Century

A Kadam scholar from Sangpu Neutok Monastery that was known for his expertise in the Five Treatises of Maitreya. He was a senior contemporary of both Dölpopa and Butön and a teacher of the Sakya scholar Yakde Paṇchen and the Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje.

Philosophical positions of this person

Is buddha-nature considered definitive or provisional?

Definitive

Do all beings have buddha-nature?

Yes

"He claims that tathāgata-essence exists in all sentient beings in a fully enlightened form. He states that: the dharma-body is dharma-reality indivisible from [buddha] qualities. Since there is no objection to the fact that the dharma-body exists pervasively in all sentient beings, in the manner of one entity; it is unacceptable to present it, [i.e., the existence of the dharma-body in sentient beings] as [merely] imputed." Wangchuk, Tsering. The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows, p. 32.

"Blo-gros mtshungs-med asserts that... sentient beings truly possess the dharmakāya, which is the dharmadhātu inseparable from the qualities." Kano, K., Buddha-Nature and Emptiness, p. 329.

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To which "turning of the wheel" do the buddha-nature teachings belong?

Third Turning

"Sangpu Lodrö's commentary frames the Uttaratantra in a positive light, arguing that it is a commentary on definitive sutras included in the last-wheel teachings..." Wangchuk, Tsering. The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows, p. 31.

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Is buddha-nature equated with emptiness or alayavijnana?

Madhyamaka

"Nevertheless, even though the Uttaratantra and the sutras on which the Uttaratantra is based occupy a position of higher scriptural authority than the middle-wheel teachings of the Prajñāpāramitāsūtras, Sangpu Lodrö claims that both the middle-wheel scriptures and the Uttaratantra teach emptiness. He argues: 'The sutras for the Uttaratantra and the Uttaratantra [itself] do not contradict the Prajñāpāramitāsūtras because the emptiness of inherent existence of all phenomena taught there [in the Prajñāpāramitāsūtras] is the dharma-body explicated here [in the last wheel sutras and the Uttaratantra].'" Wangchuk, Tsering. The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows, p. 33.

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Do buddha-nature teachings belong to the zhentong or rangtong view of emptiness?

Are there one or three vehicles on the path to buddhahood?

"Blo-gros-mtshungs-med for his part is more intent on harmonizing the expression in the RGV with other scriptures, and probably was fully conscious of the fact that lack of reverence for śrāvakas contradicted his ekayāna stance." Kano, K., Buddha-Nature and Emptiness, p. 327.

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Do the author's writings belong to the analytic or meditative tradition of Uttaratantra exegesis?

What is Buddha-nature?

There are several types of Tathāgatagarbha

Wangchuk, Tsering. The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows, p. 32.

"One of the central doctrinal points of Blo-gros-mtshungs-med’s position is the two modes of Buddha-nature: the gnosis aspect and sphere aspect. Under the former, Buddha-nature is existent in terms of its qualities, while under the latter it is empty in terms of its mode of existence. Kano, K., Buddha-Nature and Emptiness, p. 336.

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Does the author advocate the Svatantrika or Prasangika view of emptiness?

Affiliations & relations

Kadam · religious affiliation
nil · student

Kadam - The Kadam tradition, which traces its origin to the teachings of Atiśa, was the first of the so-called New Schools of Tibetan Buddhism, traditions which arose during or after the Second Propagation of Buddhism (phyi dar) in the tenth century. Tib. བཀའ་གདམས་

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Sangpu Neutok - Sangpu Neutok is an important monastery in central Tibet, just south of Lhasa, that was founded in 1072 by Ngok Lekpai Sherab, a disciple of Atiśa, and developed by his nephew, Ngok Lotsāwa Loden Sherab. Originally a Kadam monastery with two colleges, it evolved into a monastery that includes both Sakya and Geluk traditions. At its peak in the 11th to 14th centuries, it was one of the most highly esteemed centers for monastic education and the study of Buddhist philosophy in all of the Tibetan plateau. Many influential philosophers of the time studied there. Tib. གསང་ཕུ་ནེའུ་ཐོག་

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Sakya - The Sakya tradition developed in the eleventh century in the Khön family of Tsang, which maintained an imperial-era lineage of Vajrakīla and which adopted a new teaching from India known as Lamdre. Tib. ས་སྐྱ་

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neyārtha - Refers to something that is taught for a specific reason, rather than because it is entirely true. Skt. नेयार्थ Tib. དྲང་དོན་

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dharmakāya - "Truth body" or "true being" — One of the three bodies of a buddha. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, it often refers to a kind of fundamental principle or the true nature of reality itself. Skt. धर्मकाय Tib. ཆོས་སྐུ་ Ch. 法身

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dharmadhātu - The fundamental expanse from which all phenomena emerge. Skt. धर्मधातु Tib. ཆོས་དབྱིངས་ Ch. 法界

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These are the root verses of the Uttaratantra attributed to Maitreya by the Tibetan tradition.

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These are the root verses of the Uttaratantra attributed to Maitreya by the Tibetan tradition.

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Uttaratantra - The Ultimate Continuum, or Gyü Lama, is often used as a short title in the Tibetan tradition for the key source text of buddha-nature teachings called the Ratnagotravibhāga of Maitreya/Asaṅga, also known as the Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra. Skt. उत्तरतन्त्र Tib. རྒྱུད་བླ་མ་ Ch. 寶性論

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śūnyatā - The state of being empty of an innate nature due to a lack of independently existing characteristics. Skt. शून्यता Tib. སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་ Ch. 空,空門

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Madhyamaka - Along with Yogācāra, it is one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Nāgārjuna around the second century CE, it is rooted in the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, though its initial exposition was presented in Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā. Skt. मध्यमक Tib. དབུ་མ་ Ch. 中觀見

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gzhan stong - The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature. Tib. གཞན་སྟོང་

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rang stong - The state of being empty of self, which references the lack of inherent existence in relative phenomena. Tib. རང་སྟོང་

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RGV - Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra

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These are the root verses of the Uttaratantra attributed to Maitreya by the Tibetan tradition.

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These are the root verses of the Uttaratantra attributed to Maitreya by the Tibetan tradition.

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ekayāna - The notion that ultimately there is only one vehicle, or means, of achieving enlightenment. Skt. एकयान Tib. ཐེག་པ་གཅིག་པ་ Ch. 一乘

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tathāgatagarbha - Buddha-nature, literally the "womb/essence of those who have gone (to suchness)." Skt. तथागतगर्भ Tib. དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་ Ch. 如来藏

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