Other-Emptiness in the Jonang School: The Theo-logic of Buddhist Dualism

Article

Citation:	Duckworth, Douglas S. "Other-Emptiness in the Jonang School: The Theo-logic of Buddhist Dualism." Philosophy East and West 65, no. 2 (2015): 485–97. https://sites.temple.edu/duckworth/files/2013/07/duckworth_other-emptiness-and-theo-logic.pdf.

Article Summary

In this essay I aim to clarify the meaning of other-emptiness in the Jonang (jo nang) tradition of Buddhism of Tibet. It focuses on the writings of Dölpopa (dol po pa shes rab rgyal mtshan) (1292–1361), the renowned forefather of this tradition. Dölpopa famously differentiated two types of emptiness, or two ways of being empty—self-emptiness (rang stong) and other-emptiness (gzhan stong)—and proclaimed the superiority of the latter. (Duckworth, introduction, 485)

References

Dölpopa. [a] The 'Dzam-thang Edition of the Collected Works of Kun-mkhyen Dolpo-pa Shes-rab-rgyal-mtshan: Introduction and Catalogue. By Matthew Kapstein. Delhi: Shedrup Books, 1992.

_____. [b] The Categories of the Possible and the Impossible (srid mi srid kyi rab dbye dbu phyogs legs par bzhugs so). In Dölpopa, The 'Dzam-thang Edition of the Collected Works, vol. 6, pp. 305–316.

_____. [c] Dispelling the Darkness in the Mind: Distinguishing the Views (lta ba shan 'byed yid kyi mun sel). In Dölpopa, The 'Dzam-thang Edition of the Collected Works, vol. 6, pp. 677–694.

_____. [d] Elucidation of Emptiness (stong nyid rab tu dbye ba). In Dölpopa, The 'Dzam-thang Edition of the Collected Works, vol. 6, pp. 293–303.

_____. [e] The Great Assessment of the Doctrine Which Has the Significance of the Fourth Council (bka' bdus bzhi pa don bstan rtsis chen po). In bka' bdus bzhi pa don bstan rtsis rtsa 'grel, pp. 1–36. Hong Kong: Tupten Ewam Publications, n.d. English translation in Cyrus Stearns, The Buddha from Dolpo. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1999.

_____. [f] The Mountain Doctrine: Ocean of Definitive Meaning (ri chos nges don rgya mtsho). In Dölpopa, The 'Dzam-thang Edition of the Collected Works, vol. 3, pp. 189–742. English translation in Jeffrey Hopkins, Mountain Doctrine: Tibet's Fundamental Treatise on Other-Emptiness and the Buddha Matrix. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2006.

_____. [g] The Sun Elucidating the Two Truths (bden gnyis gsal ba'i nyi ma). In Dölpopa, The 'Dzam-thang Edition of the Collected Works, vol. 6, pp. 695–726.

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Stearns, Cyrus. The Buddha from Dolpo: A Study of the Life and Thought of the Tibetan Master Sherab Gyaltsen. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1999.

Tsongkhapa. The Lesser Exposition of the Stages of the Path (lam rim chung ba). In Collected Works, vol. 21, pp. 1–438. New Delhi: Ngawang Gelek Demo, 1979.