Post-52

Chapa's Commentary on Verse I.154–55 of the Ratnagotravibhāga

[[ |300px|thumb| ]] Chapa Chökyi Senge is one of the most prominent early Kadam scholars of Sangpu Neutok scholastic center and well known as a logician and dialectician, his approach being a continuation of Ngok Loden Sherab's tradition with some differences. Later scholars such as Sakya Paṇḍita considered his tradition to be part of the earlier pramāṇa school (ཚད་མ་སྔ་རབས་པ་) and critiqued his dialectical approach. Chapa was also a leading commentator on the works of Maitreya, authoring a very detailed commentary on the Ultimate Continuum and a summary which primarily presents an outline of the Ultimate Continuum.

In his commentary on verse I.154–55, Chapa argues that one avoids the extreme of superimposition (སྒྲོ་འདོགས་) as one rejects the self-existence of persons and phenomena. There is nothing to be negated or cleared which previously existed. Persons and phenomena do not ever exist on the ultimate level. This shows the unmistaken understanding of the ultimate nature through a nonimplicative negation. One avoids the extreme of annihilation (སྐུར་འདེབས་), as qualities such as the ten powers primordially exist in buddha-nature. There is nothing to be maintained or ascertained, as they naturally exist on the conventional level. This shows the unmistaken understanding of the conventional aspect through an implicative negation. The nonexistence or emptiness on the ultimate level and the existence on the conventional level indicate the unmistaken coalescence of the two truths.

Similarly, one avoids the extreme of superimposition (སྒྲོ་འདོགས་) as one understands buddha-nature to be empty of the separable aspects—that is, the ultimate existence of persons and phenomena which serve as objects of ordinary grasping and emotions. No self-existent person or phenomena which previously existed is being negated or annihilated. One avoids the extreme of annihilation (སྐུར་འདེབས་) as one understands the buddha-nature to be not empty of the unsurpassable qualities such as the ten powers on the conventional level.

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