TA ra nA tha
From Buddha-Nature
ཏཱ་ར་ནཱ་ཐ་
Tāranātha(1575 - 1634)
In the history of the Jonang tradition Tāranātha is second in importance only to Dölpopa himself. He was responsible for the Jonang renaissance in U-Tsang during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, and the widespread revitalization of the zhentong teachings. Like his previous incarnation, Kunga Drolchok, Tāranātha practiced and taught from many different lineages and was nonsectarian in his approach to realization. He was also one of the last great Tibetan translators of Sanskrit texts. The abbot of Jonang Monastery, he emphasized the practice of the Sakya teachings of Lamdre and the esoteric instructions of the Shangpa Kagyu, but he specially focused on the explication of the Kālacakra Tantra and the practice of its Six-branch Yoga as the most profound of all the teachings given by the Buddha. It is clear in his writings that Tāranātha considered Dölpopa to be the ultimate authority in matters of doctrine and practice.
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8 Library Items
The Essence of Other-Emptiness
Jeffrey Hopkins continues his groundbreaking exploration of the Jo-nang-ba sect of Tibetan Buddhism with this revelatory translation of one of the seminal texts from that tradition. Whereas Dol-bo-ba's massive Mountain Doctrine authenticates the doctrine of other-emptiness through extensive scriptural citations and elaborate philosophical arguments, Taranatha's more concise work translated here situates the doctrine of other-emptiness within the context of schools of tenets, primarily the famed four schools of Tibetan Buddhism, through comparing the various schools' opinions on the status of the noumenon and phenomena. Also included is a supplementary text by Taranatha which presents the opinions of a prominent fifteenth-century Sakya scholar, Shakya Chok-den, and contrasts them with those of the leading Jo-nang-ba scholar Dol-bo-ba. (Source: Back Cover)
Hopkins, Jeffrey, trans. The Essence of Other-Emptiness. By Tāranātha. Boston: Snow Lion Publications, 2007.
Hopkins, Jeffrey, trans. The Essence of Other-Emptiness. By Tāranātha. Boston: Snow Lion Publications, 2007.;The Essence of Other-Emptiness;Jonang;gzhan stong;Tāranātha;ཏཱ་ར་ནཱ་ཐ་;tA ra nA tha;kun dga' snying po;ཀུན་དགའ་སྙིང་པོ་; Jeffrey Hopkins;The Essence of Other-Emptiness;TA ra nA tha
The Essence of Zhentong
The following translation is based upon the ‘Dzam thang edition of the Gzhan stong snying po.
Sheehy, Michael R., trans. The Essence of Zhentong. By Jetsun Tāranātha. With Khenpo Kunga Sherab Saljay Rinpoche. JonangFoundation.org, 2008. https://jonangfoundation.org/sites/default/files/jf_snying%20po_final.pdf
Sheehy, Michael R., trans. The Essence of Zhentong. By Jetsun Tāranātha. With Khenpo Kunga Sherab Saljay Rinpoche. JonangFoundation.org, 2008. https://jonangfoundation.org/sites/default/files/jf_snying%20po_final.pdf; The Essence of Zhentong; The Essence of Zhentong; gzhan stong; Gzhan stong snying po; TA ra nA tha; Tāranātha;ཏཱ་ར་ནཱ་ཐ་;tA ra nA tha;kun dga' snying po;ཀུན་དགའ་སྙིང་པོ་; Michael Sheehy;
Tāranātha: Essential Points on the Origins of the Cycle of Teachings on the Kālacakra
Tāranātha's history of the Kālacakra teachings.
Dpal dus kyi 'khor lo'i chos bskor gyi byung khungs nyer mkho;Kālacakra;Tāranātha;ཏཱ་ར་ནཱ་ཐ་;tA ra nA tha;kun dga' snying po;ཀུན་དགའ་སྙིང་པོ་;dpal dus kyi 'khor lo'i chos bskor gyi byung khungs nyer mkho;དཔལ་དུས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོའི་ཆོས་བསྐོར་གྱི་བྱུང་ཁུངས་ཉེར་མཁོ།;Essential Points on the Origins of the Cycle of Teachings on the Kālacakra
Tāranātha: Ornament of Other-Emptiness Madhyamaka
A polemical work defending the other-emptiness view of the Jonang tradition that addresses the criticism of this position by other Tibetan schools.
Gzhan stong dbu ma'i rgyan;Jonang;Zhentong;Tāranātha;ཏཱ་ར་ནཱ་ཐ་;tA ra nA tha;kun dga' snying po;ཀུན་དགའ་སྙིང་པོ་;gzhan stong dbu ma'i rgyan;གཞན་སྟོང་དབུ་མའི་རྒྱན།;Ornament of Other-Emptiness Madhyamaka
Tāranātha: The Scriptural Connections of the Ornament of Other-Emptiness Madhyamaka
A supplement to Tāranātha's Ornament of Other-Emptiness Madhyamaka (Gzhan stong dbu ma'i brgyan) that focuses on the scriptural sources of the other-emptiness philosophy.
Gzhan stong dbu ma'i rgyan gyi lung sbyor;Jonang;Zhentong;Tāranātha;ཏཱ་ར་ནཱ་ཐ་;tA ra nA tha;kun dga' snying po;ཀུན་དགའ་སྙིང་པོ་;gzhan stong dbu ma'i rgyan gyi lung sbyor;གཞན་སྟོང་དབུ་མའི་རྒྱན་གྱི་ལུང་སྦྱོར།;The Scriptural Connections of the Ornament of Other-Emptiness Madhyamaka
Tāranātha: Essence of Other-Emptiness
A fairly brief work by Tāranātha on the basic tenets of the four systems of Buddhist philosophy, namely the Vaibhāṣika, Sautrāntrika, Cittamātra, and Madhyamaka. His exposition culminates with a presentation of the Great Madhyamaka, the pinnacle of the four, which is synonymous with other-emptiness as represented by the Jonang tradition.
Gzhan stong snying po;Jonang;Zhentong;Meditative Tradition;Third Turning;Tāranātha;ཏཱ་ར་ནཱ་ཐ་;tA ra nA tha;kun dga' snying po;ཀུན་དགའ་སྙིང་པོ་;gzhan stong snying po;གཞན་སྟོང་སྙིང་པོ།;Essence of Other-Emptiness
Tāranātha: Thoroughly Ascertaining the Great Middle Way of the Expansive Supreme Vehicle
An expansive work on the Zhentong philosophy known as Great Madhyamaka in the Jonang Tradition.
Theg mchog shin tu rgyas pa'i dbu ma chen po rnam par nges pa;Jonang;Zhentong;Tāranātha;ཏཱ་ར་ནཱ་ཐ་;tA ra nA tha;kun dga' snying po;ཀུན་དགའ་སྙིང་པོ་;theg mchog shin tu rgyas pa'i dbu ma chen po rnam par nges pa;ཐེག་མཆོག་ཤིན་ཏུ་རྒྱས་པའི་དབུ་མ་ཆེན་པོ་རྣམ་པར་ངེས་པ།;Thoroughly Ascertaining the Great Middle Way of the Expansive Supreme Vehicle
Tāranātha: Supplication to the Profound Other-Emptiness Madhyamaka Lineage
Tāranātha's lineage supplication to the other-emptiness Madhyamaka tradition that was preserved by the Jonang school.
Zab mo gzhan stong dbu ma'i brgyud 'debs;Jonang;gzhan stong;Tāranātha;ཏཱ་ར་ནཱ་ཐ་;tA ra nA tha;kun dga' snying po;ཀུན་དགའ་སྙིང་པོ་;zab mo gzhan stong dbu ma'i brgyud 'debs;ཟབ་མོ་གཞན་སྟོང་དབུ་མའི་བརྒྱུད་འདེབས།;Supplication to the Profound Other-Emptiness Madhyamaka Lineage
Philosophical positions of this person
Do the author's writings belong to the analytic or meditative tradition of Uttaratantra exegesis?
Other names
- ཀུན་དགའ་སྙིང་པོ་ · other names (Tibetan)
- kun dga' snying po · other names (Wylie)
Affiliations & relations
- Jonang · religious affiliation
- Kun dga' grol mchog · emanation of
- Buddhagupta · teacher
- Karmapa, 9th · teacher
On the topic of this person
On Various Texts That Teach about Buddha-Nature by Ringu Tulku
Ringu Tulku discusses the various texts that teach about buddha-nature beyond the Uttaratantraśāstra. He points to Nāgārjuna's praises, sūtras that are considered to be part of the third turning of the wheel of Dharma, Gampopa's Jewel Ornament of Liberation, Tāranātha's Jonang teachings, and works by Śākya Chokden, Longchenpa, and Mipam Rinpoche.
Ringu Tulku. “On Various Texts That Teach about Buddha-Nature” Interview by Marcus Perman. Tsadra Foundation Research Department, October 10, 2019. Video, 5:24. https://youtu.be/jjrS-TWoHJ8.
Ringu Tulku. “On Various Texts That Teach about Buddha-Nature” Interview by Marcus Perman. Tsadra Foundation Research Department, October 10, 2019. Video, 5:24. https://youtu.be/jjrS-TWoHJ8.;On Various Texts That Teach about Buddha-Nature by Ringu Tulku;Nāgārjuna;Third Turning;Asaṅga;Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra;History of buddha-nature in Tibet;Sgam po pa;TA ra nA tha;Klong chen pa;Mi pham rgya mtsho;Ringu Tulku;On Various Texts That Teach about Buddha-Nature
Sina Joos at the 2019 Tathāgatagarbha Symposium
Sina Joos discusses the ways in which Tāranātha utilizes the famous nine examples from the Ratnagotravibhāga in his Dbu ma theg mchog to assert his understanding of buddha-nature as zhentong (other-emptiness). She also compares Tāranātha’s position on Buddha-nature to Dolpopa's own view.
Joos, Sina. "The Role of the Ratnagotravibhāga in Tā ra nā tha’s dBu ma theg mchog." Paper presented at the University of Vienna Symposium, Tathāgatagarbha Across Asia, Vienna, Austria, July 2019. Video, 40:46. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxn5XgPGnSU.
Joos, Sina. "The Role of the Ratnagotravibhāga in Tā ra nā tha’s dBu ma theg mchog." Paper presented at the University of Vienna Symposium, Tathāgatagarbha Across Asia, Vienna, Austria, July 2019. Video, 40:46. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxn5XgPGnSU.;Sina Joos at the 2019 Tathāgatagarbha Symposium;TA ra nA tha;Dol po pa;Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra;zhentong;Theg mchog shin tu rgyas pa'i dbu ma chen po rnam par nges pa;Jonang;guṇapāramitā;tridharmacakrapravartana;prasajyapratiṣedha;paryudāsapratiṣedha;dharmadhātu;dharmakāya;āgantukamala;gotra;prakṛtisthagotra;nītārtha;Disclosure model;Great Madhyamaka;Ye shes rgya mtsho;guṇa;Terminology;Sina Joos;The Role of the Ratnagotravibhāga in Tā ra nā tha’s dBu ma theg mchog
The Essence of Zhentong
The following translation is based upon the ‘Dzam thang edition of the Gzhan stong snying po.
Sheehy, Michael R., trans. The Essence of Zhentong. By Jetsun Tāranātha. With Khenpo Kunga Sherab Saljay Rinpoche. JonangFoundation.org, 2008. https://jonangfoundation.org/sites/default/files/jf_snying%20po_final.pdf
Sheehy, Michael R., trans. The Essence of Zhentong. By Jetsun Tāranātha. With Khenpo Kunga Sherab Saljay Rinpoche. JonangFoundation.org, 2008. https://jonangfoundation.org/sites/default/files/jf_snying%20po_final.pdf; The Essence of Zhentong; The Essence of Zhentong; gzhan stong; Gzhan stong snying po; TA ra nA tha; Tāranātha;ཏཱ་ར་ནཱ་ཐ་;tA ra nA tha;kun dga' snying po;ཀུན་དགའ་སྙིང་པོ་; Michael Sheehy;
The Other Emptiness: Rethinking the Zhentong Buddhist Discourse in Tibet
This book brings together perspectives of leading international Tibetan studies scholars on the subject of zhentong or “other-emptiness.” Defined as the emptiness of everything other than the continuous luminous awareness that is one’s own enlightened nature, this distinctive philosophical and contemplative presentation of emptiness is quite different from rangtong—emptiness that lacks independent existence, which has had a strong influence on the dissemination of Buddhist philosophy in the West. Important topics are addressed, including the history, literature, and philosophy of emptiness that have contributed to zhentong thinking in Tibet from the thirteenth century until today. The contributors examine a wide range of views on zhentong from each of the major orders of Tibetan Buddhism, highlighting the key Tibetan thinkers in the zhentong philosophical tradition. Also discussed are the early formulations of buddhanature, interpretations of cosmic time, polemical debates about emptiness in Tibet, the zhentong view of contemplation, and creative innovations of thought in Tibetan Buddhism. Highly accessible and informative, this book can be used as a scholarly resource as well as a textbook for teaching graduate and undergraduate courses on Buddhist philosophy. (Source: SUNY Press)
Sheehy, Michael R., and Klaus-Dieter Mathes, eds. The Other Emptiness: Rethinking the Zhentong Buddhist Discourse in Tibet. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2019.
Sheehy, Michael R., and Klaus-Dieter Mathes, eds. The Other Emptiness: Rethinking the Zhentong Buddhist Discourse in Tibet. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2019.;The Other Emptiness: Rethinking the Zhentong Buddhist Discourse in Tibet;Doctrine;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Tibetan Buddhism;gzhan stong;Dzogchen;Jonang;Great Madhyamaka;Mi pham rgya mtsho;Dol po pa;TA ra nA tha;ShAkya mchog ldan;Karma Kagyu;Bcom ldan rig pa'i ral gri;bodhigarbha;Klaus-Dieter Mathes; Michael Sheehy;The Other Emptiness: Rethinking the Zhentong Buddhist Discourse in Tibet
Tāranātha's "Twenty-One Differences with Regard to the Profound Meaning"
Mathes, Klaus-Dieter. "Tāranātha's 'Twenty-One Differences with Regard to the Profound Meaning': Comparing the Views of the Two Gźan Stoṅ Masters Dol po pa and Śākya mchog ldan." Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 27, no. 2 (2004): 285–328. https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/jiabs/article/view/8952/2845.
Mathes, Klaus-Dieter. "Tāranātha's 'Twenty-One Differences with Regard to the Profound Meaning': Comparing the Views of the Two Gźan Stoṅ Masters Dol po pa and Śākya mchog ldan." Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 27, no. 2 (2004): 285–328. https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/jiabs/article/view/8952/2845.
Mathes, Klaus-Dieter. "Tāranātha's 'Twenty-One Differences with Regard to the Profound Meaning': Comparing the Views of the Two Gźan Stoṅ Masters Dol po pa and Śākya mchog ldan." Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 27, no. 2 (2004): 285–328. https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/jiabs/article/view/8952/2845.; Tāranātha's "Twenty-One Differences with Regard to the Profound Meaning"; Tāranātha's "Twenty-One Differences with Regard to the Profound Meaning": Comparing the Views of the Two Gźan Stoṅ Masters Dol po pa and Śākya mchog ldan; TA ra nA tha; Dol po pa; ShAkya mchog ldan; gzhan stong; Klaus-Dieter Mathes;
Which Tibetans Wrote about Buddha-Nature? by Karl Brunnhölzl
Karl Brunnhölzl discusses the various Tibetan figures who addressed and wrote about buddha-nature teachings and the Uttaratantra. Among the Tibetans he mentions include: the Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje; Dölpopa; Tāranātha; the Eighth Karmapa Mikyö Dorje; Gyaltsap Je Darma Rinchen; Jamgön Kongtrul; Mipam Gyamtso; Longchenpa; Gö Lotsāwa; and Śākya Chokden.
Brunnhölzl, Karl. “Which Tibetans Wrote about Buddha-Nature?” Interview by Marcus Perman. Tsadra Foundation Research Department, December 3, 2018. Video, 6:58. https://youtu.be/wWzrtDltUwE.
Brunnhölzl, Karl. “Which Tibetans Wrote about Buddha-Nature?” Interview by Marcus Perman. Tsadra Foundation Research Department, December 3, 2018. Video, 6:58. https://youtu.be/wWzrtDltUwE.;Which Tibetans Wrote about Buddha-Nature? by Karl Brunnhölzl;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Tibetan Buddhism;Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra;Dol po pa;Karmapa, 8th;'gos lo tsA ba gzhon nu dpal;'jam mgon kong sprul;Klong chen pa;Mi pham rgya mtsho;ShAkya mchog ldan;TA ra nA tha;Karmapa, 3rd;Karl Brunnhölzl; Which Tibetans Wrote about Buddha-Nature?
