Martina Draszczyk at the 2019 Tathāgatagarbha Symposium
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Martina Draszczyk discusses the early Kagyu masters and explores how their meditation-oriented approach is based in both affirming buddha-nature as the ground and goal of Buddhist soteriology and avoiding its reification into an entity with real properties.
Abstract from the Author
Buddha Nature as Seen by Early Bka’ brgyud Masters
Sgam po pa (1079-1153), whose way of teaching had such an impact on his disciples that the traditions evolving from them were all summed up under the umbrella Dwags po Bka’ brgyud, is well known for his Precious Ornament of Liberation (Thar pa rin po che’i rgyan). He begins this Mahāyāna manual by emphasizing that the very basis for the spiritual process culminating in awakening is *sugatagarbha and proceeds to identify buddha-nature with emptiness. On a first glance this seems to resemble presentations of buddha-nature from a negating perspective. However, in a number of his other teachings recorded by his disciples and collected in his gSung ‘bum, he is very specific in his understanding of mind’s emptiness. In his Excellent Qualities, Teachings to the Assembly (Tshogs chos yon tan phun tshogs), he points out that mind is not mere essencelessness, but rather coemergent wisdom which he in turn equates with natural awareness (tha mal gyi shes pa), both key terms of Bka’ brgyud Mahāmudrā. While Sgam po pa rather uses this terminology and hardly ever the term buddha-nature, La yag pa (12 c.), one of his immediate disciples, explicitly equates nonarising, coemergent wisdom and natural awareness with buddha-nature imbued with inconceivable buddha qualities. A century later, during the time of the Third Karma pa (1284–1339), it had become standard that Bka’ brgyud masters equated natural awareness with buddha-nature endowed with qualities while simultaneously refraining from attributing any substantial quality to it. This paper’s intention is to take a closer look at the early masters and explore how their meditation-oriented approach is based in both affirming buddha-nature as the ground and goal of Buddhist soteriology and avoiding its reification into an entity with real properties.
Sources Mentioned
Maitreya, Asaṅga: Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra
The Ratnagotravibhāga, commonly known as the Uttaratantra, or Gyu Lama in Tibetan, is one of the main Indian scriptural sources for buddha-nature theory. It was likely composed during the fifth century, by whom we do not know. Comprised of verses interspersed with prose commentary, it systematizes the buddha-nature teachings that were circulating in multiple sūtras such as the Tathāgatagarbhasūtra, the Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra, and the Śrīmaladevisūtra. The Tibetan tradition attributes the verses to the Bodhisattva Maitreya and the commentary to Asaṅga, and treats the two as separate texts, although this division is not attested to in surviving Indian versions. The Chinese tradition attributes the text to *Sāramati (娑囉末底), but the translation itself does not include the name of the author, and the matter remains unsettled. It was translated into Chinese in the early sixth century by Ratnamati and first translated into Tibetan by Atiśa, although this text is not known to survive. Ngok Loden Sherab translated it a second time based on teachings from the Kashmiri Pandita Sajjana, and theirs remains the standard translation. It has been translated into English several times, and recently into French. See the Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā, read more about the Ratnagotravibhāga, or take a look at the most complete English translation in When the Clouds Part by Karl Brunnholzl.
Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra;byams chos sde lnga;Uttaratantra;Maitreya;བྱམས་པ་;byams pa;'phags pa byams pa;byams pa'i mgon po;mgon po byams pa;ma pham pa;འཕགས་པ་བྱམས་པ་;བྱམས་པའི་མགོན་པོ་;མགོན་པོ་བྱམས་པ་;མ་ཕམ་པ་;Ajita; Asaṅga;ཐོགས་མེད་;thogs med;slob dpon thogs med;སློབ་དཔོན་ཐོགས་མེད་;Āryāsaṅga;Sajjana;ས་ཛ་ན་;sa dza na;paN+Di ta sa dza na;sa dzdza na;པཎྜི་ཏ་ས་ཛ་ན་;ས་ཛཛ་ན་;Ngok Lotsāwa Loden Sherab;རྔོག་བློ་ལྡན་ཤེས་རབ་;rngog blo ldan shes rab;rngog lo tsA ba;lo chen blo ldan shes rab;blo ldan shes rab;རྔོག་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་;ལོ་ཆེན་བློ་ལྡན་ཤེས་རབ་;Ngok Lotsāwa;Ngok Loden Sherab;Lochen Loden Sherab;Loden Sherab;Ratnamati;Rin chen blo gros;རིན་ཆེན་བློ་གྲོས;theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས།;Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra;究竟一乘寶性論;रत्नगोत्रविभाग महायानोत्तरतन्त्रशास्त्र;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས།
Laṅkāvatārasūtra
An important Mahāyāna sūtra that was highly influential in East Asia as well as in Nepal, where a manuscript was discovered that remains the only extant Sanskrit recension of this text. It is notable for its inclusion of many doctrinal features that would come to be associated with the Yogācāra philosophy of Mind-Only (Cittamātra), such as the ālayavijñāna, or store-house consciousness, that acts as a repository for the seeds of karmic actions. It also includes several lengthy discussions of tathāgatagarbha and, though it is never actually referenced in the Uttaratantra, it is often listed among the so-called tathāgatagarbha sūtras. While its lack of mention in the Uttaratantra has been interpreted by scholars as evidence that the sūtra postdates the treatise, it should be noted that the ways in which the tathāgatagarbha is discussed in the sūtra is often at odds with its presentation in the Uttaratantra.
Laṅkāvatārasūtra;Gö Chödrub;འགོས་ཆོས་གྲུབ་;'gos chos grub;Facheng; Bodhiruci;Guṇabhadra;Śikṣānanda;'phags pa lang kar gshegs pa'i theg pa chen po'i mdo;འཕགས་པ་ལང་ཀར་གཤེགས་པའི་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།;Laṅkāvatārasūtra;入楞伽經;लङ्कावतारसूत्र;འཕགས་པ་ལང་ཀར་གཤེགས་པའི་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
Tathāgatagarbhasūtra
The Tathāgatagarbhasūtra (TGS) is a relatively short text that represents the starting point of a number of works in Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism centering around the idea that all living beings have the buddha-nature. The genesis of the term tathāgatagarbha (in Tibetan de bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po, in Chinese rulai zang 如來藏, the key term of this strand of Buddhism and the title of the sūtra), can be observed in the textual history of the TGS. (Zimmermann, A Buddha Within: The Tathāgatagarbhasūtra, p. 7)
Tathāgatagarbhasūtra;Amoghavajra; Buddhabhadra;Śākyaprabha;ཤཱཀྱ་འོད་;shAkya 'Od;Yeshe De;ཡེ་ཤེས་སྡེ་;ye shes sde;sna nam ye shes sde;zhang ban+de ye shes sde;སྣ་ནམ་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྡེ་;ཞང་བནྡེ་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྡེ་;'phags pa de bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo;འཕགས་པ་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།;Tathāgatagarbhasūtra;大方廣如來藏經;तथागतगर्भसूत्र
Śrīmālādevīsūtra
One of the more prominent sūtra sources for the Ratnagotravibhāga, this text tells of the story of Śrīmālādevī taking up the Buddhist path at the behest of her royal parents based on a prophecy of the Buddha. It includes mention of important concepts related to the teachings on buddha-nature, such as the single vehicle and the four perfections, or transcendent characteristics, of the dharmakāya. It also mentions the notion that buddha-nature, which is equated with mind's luminous nature, is empty of adventitious stains but not empty of its limitless inseparable qualities. In his commentary on the Ratnagotravibhāga, Asaṅga quotes this sūtra more than any other source text. In particular, it is considered a source for the fifth of the seven vajra topics, enlightenment.
Śrīmālādevīsūtra;Bodhiruci; Jinamitra;ཇིནམིཏྲ;slob dpon dzi na mi tra;Surendrabodhi;lha dbang byang chub;Yeshe De;ཡེ་ཤེས་སྡེ་;ye shes sde;sna nam ye shes sde;zhang ban+de ye shes sde;སྣ་ནམ་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྡེ་;ཞང་བནྡེ་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྡེ་;Guṇabhadra;'phags pa lha mo dpal phreng gi seng ge'i sgra zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo;འཕགས་པ་ལྷ་མོ་དཔལ་ཕྲེང་གི་སེང་གེའི་སྒྲ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།;Śrīmāladevīsiṃhanādasūtra;勝鬘夫人會;श्रीमालदेवीसिंहनादसूत्र;འཕགས་པ་ལྷ་མོ་དཔལ་ཕྲེང་གི་སེང་གེའི་སྒྲ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
RKTSK 122
While the Buddha is residing in the Akaniṣṭha realm, the bodhisattva mahāsattva Ākāśagarbha asks him how to consider the mind of a bodhisattva who is about to die. The Buddha replies that when death comes a bodhisattva should develop the wisdom of the hour of death. He explains that a bodhisattva should cultivate a clear understanding of the non-existence of entities, great compassion, non-apprehension, non-attachment, and a clear understanding that, since wisdom is the realization of one’s own mind, the Buddha should not be sought elsewhere. After these points have been repeated in verse form, the assembly praises the Buddha’s words, concluding the sūtra. (Source: 84000 Reading Room)
RKTSK 122;'phags pa 'da' ka ye shes zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo;འཕགས་པ་འདའ་ཀ་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།;āryātyayajñānasūtra;འཕགས་པ་འདའ་ཀ་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
Gampopa: Excellent Qualities, Teachings to the Assembly (Tshogs chos yon tan phun tshogs)
In this text Gampopa points out that mind is not mere essencelessness, but rather coemergent wisdom which he in turn equates with natural awareness (tha mal gyi shes pa), both key terms of Bka’ brgyud Mahāmudrā.
external link
Pakmodrupa Dorje Gyalpo: Five Instructions on the Essential Meaning (Snying po don gyi gdams pa lnga)
Text which interprets Gampopa's thoughts on buddha-nature and contains the famous metaphor for buddha-nature as being akin to sesame oil which is naturally and fully contained in the sesame seed.
external link
Secondary Publications Mentioned
The Jewel Ornament of Liberation (Guenther)
In this skillful translation, Herbert Guenther offers English-speaking readers sGam.po.pa's comprehensive and authoritative exposition of the stages of the Buddhist path. A masterly survey of Tibetan Buddhism, The Jewel Ornament of Liberation explains how an enlightened attitude is strengthened by practicing the six perfections (generosity, discipline, patience, exertion, meditation, and knowledge) and offers a concise presentation of Buddhism as a living experience.
As Chögyam Trungpa writes in his foreword: "It is in the flow of karma that this book materialized in 1959 on the very eve of the destruction of the spiritual land of Tibet. Professor Guenther was instrumental in making available the only commentary and guide in English to the bodhisattva tradition of Tibet, Japan, and China. The book remains the classic text of all Buddhists."
sGam.po.pa, who lived in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, was the organizer of the Kagyü order of Tibetan Buddhism.
Herbert V. Guenther is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Far Eastern Studies at the University of Saskatchewan.
(Source: back cover)Guenther, Herbert V., trans. The Jewel Ornament of Liberation. By Gampopa (sgam po pa). The Clear Light Series. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 1989. First published 1959 by Rider & Co. (London).
Guenther, Herbert V., trans. The Jewel Ornament of Liberation. By Gampopa (sgam po pa). The Clear Light Series. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 1989. First published 1959 by Rider & Co. (London).;The Jewel Ornament of Liberation (Guenther);Kagyu;Dam chos yid bzhin gyi nor bu thar pa rin po che'i rgyan;The Path;gotra;Sgam po pa;Gampopa;སྒམ་པོ་པ་;sgam po pa;dwags po lha rje;bsod nams rin chen;dwags po zla 'od gzhon nu;dwags po rin po che;དྭགས་པོ་ལྷ་རྗེ་;བསོད་ནམས་རིན་ཆེན་;དྭགས་པོ་ཟླ་འོད་གཞོན་ནུ་;དྭགས་པོ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་;Jé Gampopa;Dakpo Rinpoche;Takpo Rinpoche;Je Dakpo Rinpoche;Je Takpo Rinpoche;Da'od Zhonnu;Dagpo Lhaje;The Physician from Dagpo;Nyamed Dakpo Rinpoche;The Incomparible Precious One from Dagpo;Ü-pa Tönpa; Herbert V. Guenther;The Jewel Ornament of Liberation (Guenther);sgam po pa bsod nams rin chen
Ornament of Precious Liberation (Holmes)
The classic overview of the stages of the path by the influential Kagyu forefather, Gampopa.
Holmes, Ken, trans. Ornament of Precious Liberation. By Gampopa (sgam po pa). Edited by Thupten Jinpa. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2017.
Holmes, Ken, trans. Ornament of Precious Liberation. By Gampopa (sgam po pa). Edited by Thupten Jinpa. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2017.;Ornament of Precious Liberation (Holmes);Dam chos yid bzhin gyi nor bu thar pa rin po che'i rgyan;Kagyu;gotra;The Path;Sgam po pa;Gampopa;སྒམ་པོ་པ་;sgam po pa;dwags po lha rje;bsod nams rin chen;dwags po zla 'od gzhon nu;dwags po rin po che;དྭགས་པོ་ལྷ་རྗེ་;བསོད་ནམས་རིན་ཆེན་;དྭགས་པོ་ཟླ་འོད་གཞོན་ནུ་;དྭགས་པོ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་;Jé Gampopa;Dakpo Rinpoche;Takpo Rinpoche;Je Dakpo Rinpoche;Je Takpo Rinpoche;Da'od Zhonnu;Dagpo Lhaje;The Physician from Dagpo;Nyamed Dakpo Rinpoche;The Incomparible Precious One from Dagpo;Ü-pa Tönpa; Ken Holmes;Ornament of Precious Liberation;Sgam po pa
People Mentioned
About the video
| Featuring | Martina Draszczyk |
|---|---|
| Creator | University of Vienna, Tsadra Foundation |
| Event | Tathāgatagarbha Across Asia (, University of Vienna, Austria) |
| Related Website | Buddha-Nature Project |
| Video Web Location | Tathāgatagarbha Across Asia |
| Creation Date | 17 July 2019 |
| Citation | Draszczyk, Martina. "Buddha Nature as Seen by Early Bka’ brgyud Masters." Paper presented at the University of Vienna Symposium, Tathāgatagarbha Across Asia, Vienna, Austria, July 2019. Video, 37:27. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoMUdg40Qv8. |
