Sdom gsum rab dbye

སྡོམ་གསུམ་རབ་དབྱེ།

sdom gsum rab dbye

Distinguishing the Three Vows

SOURCE TEXT

Written circa 1232 when the author was about fifty years old, it is an expansive treatise on the three vows pertaining to the three vehicles of Buddhism that is one of Sakya Paṇḍita's most important and influential works. Nevertheless, it was controversial in its time for the criticism the author levels against the philosophical positions of various scholars and schools of thought.

Relevance to Buddha-nature

Though this work isn't necessarily about buddha-nature, it is highly relevant to this topic for Sakya Paṇḍita's criticism of the proponents of the Uttaratantra and became an important source for the Sakya school's position on the polemical issues that surround this topic. These critical positions would be reiterated by later generations of scholars of the Sakya and Geluk traditions.

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Translations of This Text

Book

A Clear Differentiation of the Three Codes

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A translation of Sakya Paṇḍita's famous work on the three sets of Buddhist vows.

Rhoton, Jared Douglas, trans. A Clear Differentiation of the Three Codes: Essential Distinctions among the Individual Liberation, Great Vehicle, and Tantric Systems. Edited by Victoria R. M. Scott. SUNY Series in Buddhist Studies. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002.

Rhoton, Jared Douglas, trans. A Clear Differentiation of the Three Codes: Essential Distinctions among the Individual Liberation, Great Vehicle, and Tantric Systems. Edited by Victoria R. M. Scott. SUNY Series in Buddhist Studies. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002.;A Clear Differentiation of the Three Codes;Sakya;Rangtong;History of buddha-nature in Tibet;Sdom gsum rab dbye;Debate(s); A Clear Differentiation of the Three Codes: Essential Distinctions among the Individual Liberation, Great Vehicle, and Tantric Systems;Sakya Paṇḍita

Recensions of This Text

Sdom gsum rab dbye. (Distinguishing the Three Vows). Recension information:

Tibetan

Sa skya paN+Di ta. སྡོམ་གསུམ་རབ་དབྱེ།, (Sdom gsum rab dbye). In Sdom pa gsum gyi rab tu dbye ba'i bstan bcos. No publication info. BDRC W1KG1686 In Sdom gsum rab dbye dang lta ba 'khor 'das dbyer med sogs. No publication information. BDRC W3CN5408 In Sa skya bka' 'bum, Vol. 12: 1-96. Dehra Dun: Sakya Center, 1992-1993. BDRC W22271 In Sa skya bka' 'bum ma phyi gsar rnyed phyogs bsgrigs, Vol. 3: 317-480. Lhasa, 1999. BDRC W20751 In Sdom gsum rab dbye dang sdom gsum gtan 'bebs 'jam dbyangs bla ma'i dgongs rgyan gyi rnam 'grel. Pe cin: Mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 2004. BDRC W29981 In Sa sky paN chen kun dga' rgyal mtshan gyi gsung 'bum, Vol. 2: 1-91. Pe cin: Krung go'i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang, 2007. BDRC W2DB4570

Text Metadata

Other Titles	~ sdom pa gsum gyi rab tu dbye ba'i bstan bcos
Text exists in	~ Tibetan
Literary Genre	~ Vinaya Texts - ‘dul ba
Commentaries on this text	ShAkya mchog ldan. Sdom pa gsum gyi rab tu dbye ba'i bstan bcos las brtsams pa'i 'bel gtam rnam par nges pa legs bshad gser gyi thur ma. In Gsung 'bum shAkya mchog ldan, Vol. 6: 439-648. New Delhi: Nagwang Topgyel, 1995. BDRC W23200 Go rams pa bsod nams seng+ge. Sdom pa gsum gyi rab tu dbye ba'i rnam bshad rgyal ba'i gsung rab kyi dgongs pa gsal ba. In Gsung 'bum bsod nams seng ge, Vol. 9: 3-432. Rdzong sar: Rdzong sar khams bye'i slob gling, 2004-2013. BDRC W1PD1725 Chos lung dka' bcu pa. Sdom gsum rab tu dbye ba'i Tik+ka. No publication info. BDRC W8LS17903 Ngag dbang bsod nams rgyal mtshan. Sdom gsum gtan 'bebs 'jam dbyangs bla ma'i dgongs rgyan gyi rnam 'grel skal bzang mig 'byed kyi gser thur. New Delhi: Ngawang Topgyay, 1984. BDRC W27516

triyāna - Commonly seen in a Mahāyāna context, the three vehicles are the Śrāvakayāna, Pratyekabuddhayāna, and Bodhisattvayāna, which reference the three different types of Buddhist practitioners. However, these three vehicles can also reference the three types of Buddhist teachings of the Hīnayāna, Mahāyāna (or Pāramitāyāna), and the Vajrayāna. Skt. त्रियान Tib. ཐེག་པ་གསུམ་ Ch. 三乗

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་

Uttaratantra - The Ultimate Continuum, or Gyü Lama, is often used as a short title in the Tibetan tradition for the key source text of buddha-nature teachings called the Ratnagotravibhāga of Maitreya/Asaṅga, also known as the Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra. Skt. उत्तरतन्त्र Tib. རྒྱུད་བླ་མ་ Ch. 寶性論

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

Geluk - The Geluk tradition traces its origin to Tsongkhapa, who propagated a modified version of the Kadampa lojong and lamrim teachings. It is the dominant tradition of Tibet, having established its control of the government under the figure of the Dalai Lama. Tib. དགེ་ལུགས་

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

vinaya - Vinaya refers to the corpus of Buddhist teachings on moral discipline and precepts and is one of the three canonical sets of teachings alongside Sūtra and Abhidharma. It also refers to the monastic tradition which has been passed down since the Buddha's time until our time. Skt. विनय Tib. འདུལ་བ། Ch. 毘奈耶