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རྒྱལ་ཚབ་རྗེ་དར་མ་རིན་ཆེན་
Gyaltsap Je Dharma Rinchen(1364 - 1432) 
Buddhist Digital Resource Center

Gyaltsap Je Darma Rinchen was one of the chief disciples of Tsongkhapa. He was a prolific writer, composing on Madhyamaka and tantric topics, most famously a commentary on the Bodhicaryāvatāra. He served as the second abbot of Ganden Monastery, following the death of Tsongkhapa in 1419, and occupied the position, known as the Ganden Tripa, until the year before his own death.

... read more at The Treasury of Lives

Library Items

Book
The Sublime Continuum and Its Explanatory Commentary
The original Sublime Continuum Explanatory Commentary was written by Noble Asaṅga to explain the verses by the bodhisattva Maitreyanātha around the 4th CE century in North India. Here it is introduced and presented in an original translation from Sanskrit and Tibetan, with the translation of an extensive Tibetan Supercommentary by Gyaltsap Darma Rinchen (1364–1432 CE), whose work is considered to follow the view of his teacher, Tsong Khapa (1357–1419 CE).


Contemporary scholars have widely mis-understood the Buddhist Centrist teaching of emptiness, or selflessness, as either a form of nihilism or a radical skepticism. Yet Buddhist philosophers from Nāgārjuna on have shown that the negation of intrinsic reality affirms the supreme value of relative realities if accurately understood. Gyaltsap Darma Rinchen, in his Supercommentary, elucidates a highly positive theory of the “buddha-nature,” showing how the wisdom of emptiness empowers the compassionate life of the enlightened, as it is touched by its oneness with the truth body of all buddhas. With his clear study of Gyaltsap’s insight and his original English translation, Bo Jiang, Ph.D. completes his historic project of studying and presenting these works from Sanskrit and Tibetan both in Chinese and, now, English translations, in linked publications.

Marty Bo Jiang is a research fellow at the American Institute of Buddhist Studies at the Columbia University Center for Buddhist Studies. (Source: AIBS)
Jiang, Bo, trans. The Sublime Continuum and Its Explanatory Commentary. By Maitreyanātha and Noble Asaṅga. With The Sublime Continuum Supercommentary by Gyaltsap Darma Rinchen. Treasury of the Buddhist Sciences. New York: American Institute of Buddhist Studies, Columbia University Center for Buddhist Studies, and Tibet House US, 2017.
Book
The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows
With its emphasis on the concept of buddha-nature, or the ultimate nature of mind, the Uttaratantra is a classical Buddhist treatise that lays out an early map of the Mahāyāna path to enlightenment. Tsering Wangchuk unravels the history of this important Indic text in Tibet by examining numerous Tibetan commentaries and other exegetical texts on the treatise that emerged between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries. These commentaries explored such questions as: Is the buddha-nature teaching found in the Uttaratantra literally true, or does it have to be interpreted differently to understand its ultimate meaning? Does it explicate ultimate truth that is inherently enlightened or ultimate truth that is empty only of independent existence? Does the treatise teach ultimate nature of mind according to the Cittamātra or the Madhyamaka School of Mahāyāna? By focusing on the diverse interpretations that different textual communities employed to make sense of the Uttaratantra, Wangchuk provides a necessary historical context for the development of the text in Tibet. (Source: SUNY Press)
Wangchuk, Tsering. The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows: Tibetan Thinkers Debate the Centrality of the Buddha-Nature Treatise. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2017.
Text
Gyaltsap Je Dharma Rinchen: Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum of the Mahāyāna
Commentary on the Uttaratantra by a preeminent Geluk scholar that was a chief disciple of the school's founder, Tsongkhapa, as well as the Sakya scholar Rendawa Zhönu Lodrö, an outspoken critic of the treatise.

On the topic of this person

PhD Diss
Jiang, B.: Cataphatic Emptiness: rGyal-tshab on the Buddha-essence Theory of Asaṅga's Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā
Abstract


This doctoral dissertation studies the Ratnagotravibhāga (Uttaratantra), the only surviving Indian Buddhist treatise on the Buddha-essence doctrine, by way of one of its major Tibetan commentaries, rGyal-tshab Dar-ma-rin-chen (1364-1432)'s Theg pa chen po rGyud bla ma'i ṭīkā. This project consists of three parts: a special edition of the first chapter of the Theg pa chen po rGyud bia ma'i ṭīkā, an English translation of the selected sections of that commentary, and a comparative analysis which follows six distinct lines of inquiry.
      The six lines are: rGyal-tshab's doctrinal classification of the text; his critiques of absolutism, skepticism, and quietism in connection with diverse interpretations of the Buddha-essence doctrine in Tibetan traditions as well as a tentative comparison with critiques of the theory of "Original-enlightenment" in modern Chinese Buddhism; his analysis of the title of Tibetan version and the structure of the text; rGyal-tshab's

philosophical positions on reality, Element, and natural luminosity of the mind; his expositions of the tripartite Buddha-essence, its ten aspects, and the eighteen similes; and the notion "spiritual gene" understood by dGe-lugs-pas.
      This comparative approach will provide a broader synthetic understanding of the role that Buddha-essence played as a doctrinal genre in Tibetan intellectual history.
Jiang, Bo. "Cataphatic Emptiness: rGyal-tshab on the Buddha-Essence Theory of Asaṅga's Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā." PhD diss., Columbia University, 2008.
Article
Dolpopa and Gyaltsab Debate Tathāgatagarbha: Two Distinct Interpretations of Buddha-Nature in Tibet
Buddhists have discussed the concept of enlightenment since the time of the Buddha, but the notion that all sentient beings have buddha-nature is found in Mahāyāna Buddhism. For the Mahāyāna thinkers, one of the crucial questions at the center of how all beings can achieve enlightenment is this apparent paradox: frailty, ignorance, and delusions presumably exist concomitantly with buddha-nature in all sentient beings. This article provides a brief survey of the textual history of the buddha-nature literature followed by an in-depth discussion of buddha-nature in the terms set out by two influential Tibetan thinkers, Dolpopa and Gyaltsab; the debate between these thinkers is set in relation to extant discourses of Buddhist ontology, epistemology, and enlightenment within the Tibetan Buddhist scholastic tradition.
Wangchuk, Tsering. "Dolpopa and Gyaltsab Debate Tathāgatagarbha: Two Distinct Interpretations of Buddha-Nature in Tibet." Religion Compass 4, no. 11 (2010): 669–78.
Video
Geshe Ngawang Tsesang on Buddha-Nature in Gyaltsab Je's Commentary
རྒྱལ་ཚབ་རྗེའི་ཊཱིཀཱ་ལྟར་དུ་རི་བོ་དགེ་ལྡན་པའི་གཤེགས་སྙིང་གི་བཞེད་ཚུལ་སྐོར།
The Gelukpa Understanding of Buddha-Nature Based on Gyaltsab Je's Commentary


Geshe starts by stating the importance of making the Buddhist message easily accessible to a common listener. He expresses concern that scholars often discuss Buddhist topics using technical terms and do not consider the general audience who do not follow the technical vocabulary. Thus, he states that his aim is to present the Geluk understanding of buddha-nature in as simplest terms as he can, based on the writings of Tsongkhapa and his two main students, using mainly Gyaltsab Je's commentary on the Ultimate Continuum. Gyaltsab Je wrote his commentary having received teachings on the Ultimate Continuum from both Tsongkhapa and Rendawa.

He divides his presentation into three sections of (1) how the sūtras teach buddha-nature, (2) what is the essence or nature of buddha-nature, and (3) what is the benefit of such teachings on buddha-nature. Discussing the first part, he mentions how the first wheel mainly focused on the topic of the absence of a personal self as the clinging to self is the main cause of suffering. However, in the middle wheel, the Buddha not only negated the inherent existence of a personal self but also extended the application of emptiness to all five aggregates and all phenomena. Thus, all phenomena are established to be empty of inherent existence. In the third wheel, such emptiness of the mind or the lack of inherent or truly existent nature of the mind, which is luminous, is given the name buddha-nature.

Going on to explain the characteristics of buddha-nature, Geshe points out that in the Geluk tradition, it is the emptiness of the luminous mind which is buddha-nature. Emptiness of other things such as pillars and vases are not considered buddha-nature, although they are also empty of inherent nature. Buddha-nature pervades all minds, as all minds are luminous by nature, but not all emptiness qualifies as buddha-nature. If any emptiness would be buddha-nature, all inanimate objects would also have buddha-nature. Similarly, if buddha-nature is identical with the resultant dharmakāya, all sentient beings would be buddhas. Thus, buddha-nature refers only to the emptiness of the mind of the sentient beings.

Asked how the teachings on buddha-nature as emptiness can help in the pursuit of enlightenment and happiness, Geshe responds using the example of a plain screen. Just as multiple pictures appear on the screen, although they do not really exist, the diverse world appears in the state of emptiness although they do not really exist. The teachings on buddha-nature show how they do not truly exist. Responding to another question, he clarifies that the Ultimate Continuum in the Geluk tradition, according to Gyaltsab's commentary, is considered to align with the Prāsaṅgika Mādhyamika thought.
Ngawang Tsesang, Geshe. "Geshe Ngawang Tsesang at the 2023 Buddha-Nature Conference." Day 1, Talk 6. 2023 Buddha-Nature Conference, Shechen Monastery, Kathmandu. Produced by the Tsadra Foundation Research Department. Video, 1:09:44. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59TlNurZH74.
Article
Gyaltsap Je's Interpretation and the Trichiliocosmic Painting
Although Tsongkhapa did not author a commentary on the Ultimate Continuum, his main student and successor at his main seat of Ganden, Gyaltsap Je Darma Rinchen, composed an elaborate commentary on the Ultimate Continuum.
Phuntsho, Karma. "Gyaltsap Je's Interpretation and the Trichiliocosmic Painting." Recent Essays. Buddha-Nature: A Tsadra Foundation Initiative, January 21, 2022. https://buddhanature.tsadra.org/index.php/Articles/Gyaltsap_Je%27s_Interpretation_and_the_Trichiliocosmic_Painting
Book
Studies in Indian and Tibetan Madhyamaka Thought Part 1
Part I of these Studies in Indian and Tibetan Madhyamaka philosophy consists of three sections. The first outlines the history of the Madhyamaka school in Tibet from its origins toward the end of the eighth century until the time it fully assumed its classical form in the early fifteenth century owing to the efforts of Tson kha pa and other eminent masters of approximately that time. An earlier publication, The literature of the Madhyamaka school of philosophy in India (Wiesbaden, 1981), has traced the history of the Madhyamaka school in India beginning with its source, Nāgārjuna, and extending to the early part of the second millennium of the common era when it was establishing itself firmly in Tibet.



Section II investigates the complex, and controversial, problem of whether a (Prāsaṅgika) Mādhyamika may, within the frame of his school's philosophy, assert a thesis (pratijñā) and maintain a philosophical position (pakṣa, mata). It is a reworked and expanded version of an earlier study: 'On the thesis and assertion in the Madhyamaka/dBu ma' in E. Steinkellner and H. Tauscher (ed.), Contributions on Tibetan and Buddhist religion and philosophy (Proceedings of the Csoma de Korös Symposium held at Velm-Vienna, 13-19 September 1981 (Vienna, 1983), pp. 205-241).

Section III concerns the very significant place occupied in Tsoṅ kha pa's Madhyamaka philosophy by the ideas and methods of epistemological and logical system (pramāṇavidyā) of Dharmakīrti. It is an expanded version of a study first published in 1991: 'On pramāṇa theory in Tsoṅ khap pa's Madhyamaka philosophy' in E. Steinkellner (ed.), Studies in the Buddhist epistemological tradition (Proceedings of the Second International Dharmakīrti Conference, Vienna, 11-16 June, 1989, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophische-Historische Klasse, Denkschriften, 222. Band (Vienna, 1991), pp. 281-310).

Part II of these Studies will contain annotated translations of Candrakīrti's Sanskrit commentary on Madhyamakakārikā i.1 taken from his renowned Prasannapadā madhyamakavṛttiḥ and of rGyal tshab Dar ma rin chen's Tibetan Summary-Memorandum on the Eight Crucial Points in Madhyamaka philosophy (dKya' gnad/gnas brgyad kyi zin bris). (Source: foreword in Part I)

(Source: foreword in Part I)
Ruegg, David Seyfort. Three Studies in the History of Indian and Tibetan Madhyamaka Philosophy: Studies in Indian and Tibetan Madhyamaka Thought. Pt. 1. Wiener Studien zur Tibetologie und Buddhismuskunde 50. Vienna: Arbeitskreis für Tibetische und Buddhistische Studien Universität Wien, 2000. https://archive.org/details/madhyamikathreestudiesinhistoryofindiantibetanmadhyamakaphilosophydavidseyfortruegg_803_q/mode/2up.
Book
The Sublime Continuum and Its Explanatory Commentary
The original Sublime Continuum Explanatory Commentary was written by Noble Asaṅga to explain the verses by the bodhisattva Maitreyanātha around the 4th CE century in North India. Here it is introduced and presented in an original translation from Sanskrit and Tibetan, with the translation of an extensive Tibetan Supercommentary by Gyaltsap Darma Rinchen (1364–1432 CE), whose work is considered to follow the view of his teacher, Tsong Khapa (1357–1419 CE).


Contemporary scholars have widely mis-understood the Buddhist Centrist teaching of emptiness, or selflessness, as either a form of nihilism or a radical skepticism. Yet Buddhist philosophers from Nāgārjuna on have shown that the negation of intrinsic reality affirms the supreme value of relative realities if accurately understood. Gyaltsap Darma Rinchen, in his Supercommentary, elucidates a highly positive theory of the “buddha-nature,” showing how the wisdom of emptiness empowers the compassionate life of the enlightened, as it is touched by its oneness with the truth body of all buddhas. With his clear study of Gyaltsap’s insight and his original English translation, Bo Jiang, Ph.D. completes his historic project of studying and presenting these works from Sanskrit and Tibetan both in Chinese and, now, English translations, in linked publications.

Marty Bo Jiang is a research fellow at the American Institute of Buddhist Studies at the Columbia University Center for Buddhist Studies. (Source: AIBS)
Jiang, Bo, trans. The Sublime Continuum and Its Explanatory Commentary. By Maitreyanātha and Noble Asaṅga. With The Sublime Continuum Supercommentary by Gyaltsap Darma Rinchen. Treasury of the Buddhist Sciences. New York: American Institute of Buddhist Studies, Columbia University Center for Buddhist Studies, and Tibet House US, 2017.
PhD Diss
Wangchuk, Tsering: The Uttaratantra in the Age of Argumentation: Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen and His Fourteenth-Century Interlocutors on Buddha-Lineage
This dissertation examines the intellectual history of the Uttaratantra in Tibet from the 12th century to the early 15th century. It is between these centuries that the text, which is one of the most authoritative works on the notion of tathāgata-essence, takes its shape in Tibet through the writings of some of the most formidable Tibetan thinkers of the time.
Wangchuk, Tsering. "The Uttaratantra in the Age of Argumentation: Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen and His Fourteenth-Century Interlocutors on Buddha-Lineage." PhD diss., University of Virginia, 2009.
Book
The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows
With its emphasis on the concept of buddha-nature, or the ultimate nature of mind, the Uttaratantra is a classical Buddhist treatise that lays out an early map of the Mahāyāna path to enlightenment. Tsering Wangchuk unravels the history of this important Indic text in Tibet by examining numerous Tibetan commentaries and other exegetical texts on the treatise that emerged between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries. These commentaries explored such questions as: Is the buddha-nature teaching found in the Uttaratantra literally true, or does it have to be interpreted differently to understand its ultimate meaning? Does it explicate ultimate truth that is inherently enlightened or ultimate truth that is empty only of independent existence? Does the treatise teach ultimate nature of mind according to the Cittamātra or the Madhyamaka School of Mahāyāna? By focusing on the diverse interpretations that different textual communities employed to make sense of the Uttaratantra, Wangchuk provides a necessary historical context for the development of the text in Tibet. (Source: SUNY Press)
Wangchuk, Tsering. The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows: Tibetan Thinkers Debate the Centrality of the Buddha-Nature Treatise. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2017.

Philosophical positions of this person

Is buddha-nature considered definitive or provisional?
Definitive 
Do all beings have buddha-nature?
  Qualified Yes

"Gyeltsap thus shows that ultimately both buddhas and sentient beings share the same suchness of mind which is the ultimate nature of mind that is free from natural defilements. Because of this he argues that all sentient beings have tathāgata-essence, and it is through this that he establishes the connection between tathāgata-essence and the concept of one-vehicle, the notion that ultimately there is only the final goal of buddhahood."
Wangchuk, Tsering, The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows, p. 99.

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

"So, Gyeltsap claims that both the Madhyamakāvatāra and the Uttaratantra explain the same meaning of ultimate truth. Hence, they are both definitive works that explicate the intention of the middle wheel." Wangchuk, Tsering, The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows, p. 107.

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Is buddha-nature equated with emptiness or alayavijnana?
  Madhyamaka
  • "In his Uttaratantra commentary, Gyeltsap shows the strong influence of Tsongkhapa's Illuminating the Thoughts of the Madhyamaka. He criticizes those who propose that the Uttaratantra is a Cittamātra text, arguing that it explicates the ultimate truth presented in the Prāsaṅgika-Madhyamaka." Wangchuk, Tsering, The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows, p. 98.
  • "Gyeltsap says, "It is not to be asserted that Ācārya Asaṅga is described as a proponent of Vijñāptimātratā; otherwise it would completely contradict his detailed explanation of the one final vehicle and the presentation of subtle emptiness in his Uttaratantra commentary." Gyeltsap argues that the emptiness explained in the Uttaratantra and its commentary by Asaṅga is subtle emptiness, and it does not differ from the emptiness that is delineated in the Prajñāpāramitāsūtras." Wangchuk, Tsering, The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows, p. 100.
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Do buddha-nature teachings belong to the zhentong or rangtong view of emptiness?
Rangtong 
Are there one or three vehicles on the path to buddhahood?
  1

"Gyeltsap thus shows that ultimately both buddhas and sentient beings share the same suchness of mind which is the ultimate nature of mind that is free from natural defilements. Because of this he argues that all sentient beings have tathāgata-essence, and it is through this that he establishes the connection between tathāgata-essence and the concept of one-vehicle, the notion that ultimately there is only the final goal of buddhahood." Wangchuk, Tsering, The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows, p. 99.

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Do the author's writings belong to the analytic or meditative tradition of Uttaratantra exegesis?
 
What is Buddha-nature?
  Tathāgatagarbha as the Emptiness That is a Non-implicative Negation (without enlightened qualities)

"In brief, Gyeltsap argues that buddha-nature, or tathāgata-essence, does not refer to a fully enlightened entity covered by adventitious defilements. Rather it is the same as the emptiness of inherent existence that is explicated in texts such as the Prajñāpāramitāsūtras and Madhyamakāvatāra." Wangchuk, Tsering, The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows, p. 106.

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Does the author advocate the Svatantrika or Prasangika view of emptiness?
  Prāsaṅgika (ཐལ་འགྱུར་)
  • "In his Uttaratantra commentary, Gyeltsap shows the strong influence of Tsongkhapa's Illuminating the Thoughts of the Madhyamaka. He criticizes those who propose that the Uttaratantra is a Cittamātra text, arguing that it explicates the ultimate truth presented in the Prāsaṅgika-Madhyamaka." Wangchuk, Tsering, The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows, p. 98.
  • "In arguing that the emptiness expounded in the Prajñāpāramitāsūtras and the tathāgata-essence explicated in the Uttaratantra are the same, Gyeltsap accords the status to the Uttaratantra equal to that of Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, Candrakīrti's Madhyamakāvatāra, and other Madhyamaka treatises which present the ultimate view of Prāsaṅgika-Madhyamaka." Wangchuk, Tsering, The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows, p. 100.
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Other names

  • རྒྱལ་ཚབ་རྗེ་ · other names (Tibetan)
  • དགའ་ལྡན་ཁྲི་པ་༠༢་ · other names (Tibetan)
  • rgyal tshab rje · other names (Wylie)
  • dga' ldan khri pa 02 · other names (Wylie)
  • Ganden Tripa, 2nd · other names

Affiliations & relations

  • Geluk · religious affiliation
  • Tsong kha pa · teacher
  • Red mda' ba gzhon nu blo gros · teacher
  • 'jam dbyangs chos rje bkra shis dpal ldan · student
  • Dalai Lama, 1st · student
  • mkhas grub rje · student
  • 'dul 'dzin grags pa rgyal mtshan · student
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