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The Golden Age of Buddha-Nature Discourse in Tibet

[[ |300px|thumb| ]] The fourteenth century was perhaps the most vibrant period in the history of buddha-nature thought in Tibet. At the peak of what Seyfort Ruegg called the classical systemic period of Tibetan philosophical history, particularly that of Madhyamaka, or the Middle Way philosophy, that century saw the discourse on buddha-nature reach new heights. Many leading authorities on buddha-nature whose works shaped the understanding of buddha-nature in Tibet and formalized the main schools of interpretation of buddha-nature lived in the fourteenth century.

The first one was the Third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje (1284–1339), who composed two important short works on buddha-nature and espoused a position that buddha-nature is the basic element or base of existence, including both saṃsāra and nirvāṇa, endowed with the qualities of the Buddha. He was followed by Butön Rinchen Drup (1290–1364), who ardently argued in his treatise that the buddha-nature taught in the sūtras as having qualities of the Buddha latent in it is a provisional docetic teaching and that the buddha-nature is empty of its own being. Using the Indian Buddhist hermeneutic tools of basis for the intention (དགོངས་གཞི་), purpose of the teaching (དགོས་པ་), and logical damage in direct understanding (དངོས་ལ་གནོད་བྱེད་), he advocated a position which was aligned to many Sakyapa masters before him.

In contrast, Dölpopa Sherab Gyaltsen (1292–1361), whose life almost fully overlapped with Butön’s, started as a critical and ecumenical scholar on buddha-nature and eventually adopted an absolutist theory, arguing that buddha-nature is real, absolute, eternal, and endowed with the qualities of the Buddha in its primordial nature. Heavily influenced by the teachings in the tantric literature such as Kalācakra and in the sūtras of the third wheel, Dölpopa became the foremost doyen of other-emptiness, and his Mountain Dharma remains the tour de force of this thought. As an author of many works on buddha-nature and as the head of Jonang tradition, he left behind a philosophical and religious tradition which clearly distinguishes itself in terms of its absolutist understanding of buddha-nature and assertion that both the first and second turnings of the wheel of Dharma are provisional. His student Jonang Chokle Namgyal (1306–86) carried on his legacy in the fourteenth century.

Another luminary of this era was Longchen Rabjam (1308-64), who left behind a rich body of literature related to buddha-nature as well as a vibrant spiritual tradition of seminal teachings on the nature of the mind. Longchen Rabjam espoused a position akin to what his teacher Rangjung Dorje promoted and also presented buddha-nature in direct relationship to Dzogchen mysticism, the highest tenet system and spiritual practice in his Nyingma school. These heavyweights on buddha-nature were followed by prolific writers and thinkers such as Rendawa Zhönu Lodrö (1349–1412), Rongtön Sheja Kunrik (1367–1449), and Bodong Chokle Namgyal (1376–1451), but most prominently Tsongkhapa Lobzang Drakpa (1357–1419), who reformed the Kadampa tradition and founded the Gelukpa school, which became a strong advocate of the theory of self-emptiness and a harsh critic of other-emptiness. Thus, the main philosophical interpretations of buddha-nature in the Nyingma, Kagyu, Sakya, Jonang, and Geluk traditions were mostly crystallized and systematized in the fourteenth century.

Weekly quote

The nature of the mind is luminous and has never any affliction. 

~ Gaganagañjaparipṛcchāsūtra