Perfect or Perfected? Rongtön on Buddha-Nature

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ContentsAbout the BookSources

• Forewordvii
• Preface and Acknowledgmentsix
• I - Translator's Introduction: The Doctrine of Buddha-nature1
  • Overview1
  • Sources4
    • The Sutras4
    • The Sastras8
• The Ratnagotravibhaga11
  • The Text of the Ratnagotravibhaga11
  • The Question of the Authorship of the Ratnagotravibhaga12
  • The Ratnagotravibhaga in India13
  • The Ratnagotravibhaga in Tibet15
    • The Analytical School of Loden Sherab15
    • The Meditative School of Tsen Khaboche19
  • Previous Studies and the Aim of the Present work20
• Rongton and His Presentation of Buddha-nature22
  • A Brief Biography of Rongton Sheja Kiinrig22
  • Rongton's Presentation of Buddha-nature23
    • Introduction23
    • The Buddha Qualities and the Dharmakaya26
    • The Dhatu as a Cause28
    • The Gotra and the Luminous Nature of the Mind29
    • Rongton and the Ratnagotravibhagavyakhya33
    • Summary34
  • Notes on the Translation35
• II - Translation: An Extensive Exposition of the Dhatu: All Sentient Beings Have Buddha-Nature37
• Determining the Dhatu by Means of a Tenfold Presentation44
  • Essential nature and cause44
  • Result and function50
  • Connection62
  • Manifestation65
  • States67
  • All-pervasiveness69
  • Immutability71
  • Inseparable qualities97
• Summary106
• Appendix: Detailed Outline of the Commentary107
• Glossary113
• Tibetan Names and Places125
• Bibliography129
• Index137

This commentary is a key source for teaching buddha-nature and the Gyü Lama in the Sakya tradition and was authored by the famous Sakya master Rongtön Sheja Kunrik. The book is an updated version of Bernert's dissertation, which includes an annotated translation of Rongtön's commentary on the fourth chapter of the Gyü Lama (Ratnagotravibhāga) and an analysis of Rongtön's position, which is a useful starting point for understanding the view of buddha-nature teachings from a Sakya perspective. Rongtön's view of buddha-nature follows the analytical tradition of Ngok Loden Sherab, but is somewhat complex, and Bernert does a good job of presenting the complexities in his analysis.

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gotra - Disposition, lineage, or class; an individual's gotra determines the type of enlightenment one is destined to attain. Skt. गोत्र Tib. རིགས་ Ch. 鍾姓,種性

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gotra - Disposition, lineage, or class; an individual's gotra determines the type of enlightenment one is destined to attain. Skt. गोत्र Tib. རིགས་ Ch. 鍾姓,種性

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

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Yogācāra - Along with Madhyamaka, it was one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Asaṅga and Vasubandhu around the fourth century CE, many of its central tenets have roots in the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra and the so-called third turning of the dharma wheel (see tridharmacakrapravartana). Skt. योगाचार Tib. རྣལ་འབྱོར་སྤྱོད་པ་ Ch. 瑜伽行派

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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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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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prabhāsvaratā - In a general sense, that which clears away darkness, though it often appears in Buddhist literature in reference to the mind or its nature. It is a particularly salient feature of Tantric literature, especially in regard to the advanced meditation techniques of the completion-stage yogas. Skt. प्रभास्वर Tib. འོད་གསལ་ Ch. 光明

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gotra - Disposition, lineage, or class; an individual's gotra determines the type of enlightenment one is destined to attain. Skt. गोत्र Tib. རིགས་ Ch. 鍾姓,種性

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gotra - Disposition, lineage, or class; an individual's gotra determines the type of enlightenment one is destined to attain. Skt. गोत्र Tib. རིགས་ Ch. 鍾姓,種性

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