Kamalaśīla

པདྨའི་ངང་ཚུལ་

713/740 - 763/795

One of the most important Madhyamaka authors of late Indian Buddhism, a major representative of the Yogācāra-Madhyamaka synthesis, and a participant in the famous Bsam yas Debate. According to Tibetan doxographies, he was a proponent of the Yogācāra-Svātantrika-Madhyamaka. Although little is known about his life, according to Tibetan sources he was a monk and teacher at Nālandā. Tibetan sources also count him as one of three (together with Śāntarakṣita and Jñãnagarbha) “Eastern Svātantrikas” (rang rgyud shar gsum), suggesting that he was from Bengal. He was clearly a direct disciple of Śāntarakṣita, composing important commentaries on his teacher’s two major works, the Madhyamakālaṃkāra and the Tattvasaṃgraha. The latter commentary, which is extant in Sanskrit, is an important source for both Hindu and Buddhist philosophical positions in the eighth century. (Source: "Kamalaśīla." In The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 411. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)

Philosophical positions of this person

Is buddha-nature considered definitive or provisional?

Provisional

Do all beings have buddha-nature?

Qualified Yes

In the sense that all beings have the potential to achieve Buddhahood.
"The teaching “all sentient beings have Buddha-nature” is interpreted in the sense that all sentient beings are pervaded by the dharmadhātu, which is characterized by selflessness. In other words, the tathāgatagarbha is taken to be the dharmadhātugarbha. Though the term dharmadhātugarbha appears in the RGVV, Kamalaśīla's interpretation seems to have been derived from a phrase in the Laṅkāvatārasūtra, “the embryo of the tathāgata, which is selflessness” (tathāgatanairātmyagarbha), reinforcing the notion that Buddha-nature does not refer to ātman but rather to selflessness (nairātmya)." Kano, K., Buddha-Nature and Emptiness, p. 10.

Click for more on this topic

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

Is buddha-nature equated with emptiness or alayavijnana?

Madhyamaka

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

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

1

"In his Madhyamakāloka, Kamalaśīla presents the position of an opponent who takes the three-vehicle theory to be definitive. He refutes that position and makes the case for the single-vehicle theory being definitive by quoting a number of sutra passages." Kano, K., Buddha-Nature and Emptiness, p. 9.

Click for more on this topic

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)

Though he might be an early antecedent to the position that combines emptiness and luminosity, Brunnhölzl counts him among those that hold this position.

"One should add here Kamalaśīla’s (c. 740–795) Madhyamakāloka, which takes the tathāgata heart to be natural luminosity but defines the latter as the dharmadhātu characterized by twofold identitylessness: "This statement “All sentient beings possess the tathāgata heart” teaches that all are suitable to attain the state of unsurpassable completely perfect awakening since it is held that the term tathāgata expresses that the dharmadhātu, which is characterized by personal and phenomenal identitylessness, is natural luminosity." Brunnhölzl, K., When the Clouds Part, p. 56.

Click for more on this topic

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

Affiliations & relations

Nalanda · religious affiliation
Śāntarakṣita · teacher