Phywa pa chos kyi seng+ge
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The second reason for my changing the original title of my dissertation, is that I felt obliged to change its scope. The vast literature on Tibetan Buddhist epistemology, which has become available during the last few years, necessitated such a curtailment. Especially the presently available Dga'-ldan-pa contributions by Rgyal-tshab-rje and Mkhas-grubrje, in particular, need to be properly assessed, and this takes time. Moreover, much but not all of the subsequent Sa-skya-pa literature in this area by Go-ram-pa and Gser-mdog Pan-chen must be read with the particular theories of these Dga'-ldan-pa philosophers in mind. To undertake such a comparative study cannot be done in a hurried fashion. Some references to the Dga'-ldan-pa contributions have, however, been made in the course of this paper on the basis of my original access to but a limited number of their writings. Nonetheless, a significant portion of my dissertation that deals with the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, has been included in the footnotes of the present paper where I was concerned with historical or bio-bibliographical details. (van der Kuijp, preface, vii)
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Interpretation of Buddha-Nature by Ngok Loden Sherab and Chapa Chökyi Senge
The old Kadam masters have written many works on Buddha-Nature and their teachings have influenced many other scholars in all Tibetan Buddhist traditions. However, today their teachings have declined, most of it being neglected. It is even difficult to find Kadam writings, and it is therefore pertinent that a special opportunity to make a presentation on the early Kadam tradition is given. Atiśa received the Mahāyāna tradition of both the profound view tradition from Nāgārjuna and vast praxis tradition from Asaṅga, and his followers included both those following the Prāsaṅgika Mādhyamika and Svātantrika Mādhyamika tradition.
Among the most prominent early Kadam masters on Buddha-Nature is Ngok Lotsāwa Loden Sherab, who was not only the main transmitter of the Ultimate Continuum, the main book on Buddha-Nature, but also a first and major commentator. After explaining the etymology of tathāgatagarbha, gotra, dhatu, etc., Khenpo Tenkyong explains Ngok's understanding of tathāgarbha as emptiness of own being or self-existence and as a reality which cannot be found if investigated by ultimate analysis. Thus, emptiness is not an object of cognition and not a knowable thing. Such ultimate truth qua emptiness is the nature of the illusory conventional phenomena, and the two truths, i.e. emptiness of own being and illusory appearance, coalesce to form the union of two truths. Such emptiness and conventional appearance exist from primordial existence and are not newly contrived and created.
Discussing Chapa, whose understanding is from his trilogy on the Middle Way, he argues that Chapa asserts the absence of phenomena when investigated by ultimate analysis is ultimate truth. The presence of phenomena when not investigated by analysis is conventional truth. They are one by nature but different in aspects. Unlike Ngok, Chapa argued that the ultimate qua emptiness can be found when investigated through ultimate analysis. This led to a heated discussion on whether there is something truly existent or hypostatically existent in the Madhyamaka tradition.Philosophical positions of this person
"...both Ngok and Chapa argue that sentient beings do not have tathāgata-essence on the basis of the first reason because they do not have the purified enlightened body of a buddha, rather they have the potential to achieve an enlightened state. However, they agree that sentient beings have the tathāgata-essence from the perspective of the second reason, which is that such-ness is indivisible or nondual. As Ngok states, 'That both a tathāgata and ordinary beings have [tathāgata] essence is actually the case.' The first reason is true only for enlightened beings, but only designated for ordinary beings; the second reason applies to both enlightened beings and sentient beings. Therefore, the two Kadam masters argue that sentient beings do not have the tathāgata-essence from the perspective of either the first reason of the resultant essence or the third reason of the causal essence. Rather it is the second reason that becomes the central point for establishing the link between enlightenment and sentient beings. It is the middle reason that shows that sentient beings and tathāgatas are the same in their ultimate nature. In other words, the only thing that sentient beings have in common with enlightened beings is the ultimate nature of their minds."
Wangchuk, Tsering. The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows, pp. 17-18.
"Therefore, for both Ngok and Chapa, the Uttaratantra is a definitive work, and it is also a treatise that explains the meaning of the last-wheel sutras such as the Tathāgatagarbhasūtra and the Śrīmālādevīsūtra." Wangchuk, Tsering. The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows, p. 20.
"For him, the fact that the Uttaratantra teaches all sentient beings as having the buddha-nature shows that the Uttaratantra is a Madhyamaka text, not Cittamātra. Wangchuk, Tsering. The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows, p. 23.
He predates this debate.
Chapa was clearly a participant in the rngog lugs.
- "These two traditions of rngog and btsan were respectively called the "analytical tradition" (thos bsam gyi lugs) and "meditative tradition" (sgom lugs)." Kano. K., Buddha-Nature and Emptiness, p. 242.
- "The lineage through Ngog Lotsāwa is often called "the exegetical tradition of the dharma works of Maitreya" (byams chos bshad lugs), while Dsen Kawoché’s transmissions represent "the meditative tradition of the dharma works of Maitreya" (byams chos sgom lugs)." Brunnhölzl, K., When the Clouds Part, p. 123.
- Wangchuk's wording of this is confusing or perhaps mistaken, see Wangchuk, Tsering. The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows, p. 8.
"Tathāgata-essence must not be connected to either the first reason—the notion that the resultant buddha-body pervades all beings—or the third reason which is that causal buddha-nature exists in all beings. Therefore, tathāgata-essence is neither the resultant buddha-body nor the causal buddha-nature, rather it is the ultimate nature of suchness." Wangchuk, Tsering. The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows, p. 16.
Wangchuk, Tsering. The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows, p. 14, quotes van der Kuijp.
Other names
- ཆ་པ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་སེངྒེ་ · other names (Tibetan)
- ཕྱ་པ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་སེངྒེ་ · other names (Tibetan)
- གསང་ཕུ་ནེའུ་ཐོག་མཁན་རབས་༠༦་ · other names (Tibetan)
- cha pa chos kyi seng+ge · other names (Wylie)
- phya pa chos kyi seng+ge · other names (Wylie)
- gsang phu ne'u thog mkhan rabs 06 · other names (Wylie)
Affiliations & relations
- Kadam · religious affiliation
- Sangpu Neutok Monastery · primary professional affiliation
- gro lung pa blo gros 'byung gnas · teacher
- byang chub grags · teacher
- zhang tshe spong chos kyi bla ma · teacher
- Karmapa, 1st · student
- phag mo gru pa rdo rje rgyal po · student
- bsod nams rtse mo · student
- rma bya byang chub brtson 'grus · student
- gtsang nag pa brtson 'grus seng+ge · student
- 'jad pa slob dpon ston skyabs · student
- slob dpon gtsang pa 'jam seng · student
- nyang bran pa chos kyi ye shes · student
- ldan ma dkon mchog seng+ge · student
- dan 'bag pa smra ba'i seng ge · student
