Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos legs bshad nyi ma'i 'od zer

ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ལེགས་བཤད་ཉི་མའི་འོད་ཟེར།

theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos legs bshad nyi ma'i 'od zer

The Sunlight Exposition: A Commentary on the Mahāyāna Uttaratantra Treatise

Commentary of Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra

SOURCE TEXT

Dölpopa's commentary on the Uttaratantra, which, although it doesn't actually use the term "other-emptiness", is an important precursor and source to the formulation of his unique Zhentong view found in his seminal work Mountain Dharma: An Ocean of Definitive Meaning (ri chos nges don rgya mtsho).

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Relevance to Buddha-nature

Dolpopa's commentary on the Uttaratantra, which is one of the major sources for the presentation of his unique Zhentong view.

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Recensions of This Text

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos legs bshad nyi ma'i 'od zer. (The Sunlight Exposition: A Commentary on the Mahāyāna Uttaratantra Treatise). Recension information:

Tibetan

Dol po pa Shes rab rgyal mtshan. ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ལེགས་བཤད་ཉི་མའི་འོད་ཟེར།, (Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos legs bshad nyi ma'i 'od zer). In Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos legs bshad nyi ma'i 'od zer sogs. Thimphu: Kusang Topgay, 1976. In Rgyud bla ma'i 'grel pa legs bshad nyi ma'i 'od zer. New Delhi: Delhi karmapae chodhey gyalwae sungrab partun khang, 1976. In Gsung 'bum/ tA ra nA tha (Rtag brtan phun tshongs gling gi par ma), Vol. 17: 227-485. Leh: C. Namgyal and Tsewang Taru, 1982-1987. In Gsung 'bum/ shes rab rgyal mtshan, Vol. 6: 883-1160. New Delhi: Shedrup Books, 1992. In Gsung 'bum shes rab rgyal mtshan ('Dzam thang), Vol. 2: 1-198. 'Dzam thang: 'Dzam thang bsam 'grub nor bu'i gling gi par khang, 1998. In Rgyud bla'i 'grel ba legs bshad nyi ma'i 'od zer. s.l: s.n, 2005. In Rgyud bla'i TI ka, Vol. 1: 129-281. Pe cin: Mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 2007. In Jo nang kun mkhyen dol po pa shes rab rgyal mtshan gyi gsung 'bum, Vol. 3: 1-203. Pe cin: Krung go'i bod rig pa'i dpe skrun khang, 2011.

Philosophical positions of this text

Is buddha-nature considered definitive or provisional?

Definitive 

Does this text belong to definitive or provisional meaning?

Definitive 

Do all beings have buddha-nature?

Yes 

To which "turning of the wheel" do the buddha-nature teachings belong?

Third Turning 

Is buddha-nature equated with emptiness or alayavijnana?

Madhyamaka 

Do buddha-nature teachings belong to the zhentong or rangtong view of emptiness?

Zhentong 

Are there one or three vehicles on the path to buddhahood?

1 

Do the author's writings belong to the analytic or meditative tradition of Uttaratantra exegesis?

Analytic Tradition 

What is Buddha-nature?

Tathāgatagarbha as the Latent State of Buddhahood that is Obscured in Sentient Beings 

Text Metadata

Other Titles	~ theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos 'grel pa legs bshad nyi ma'i 'od zer ~ rgyud bla ma'i 'grel pa legs bshad nyi ma'i 'od zer
Text exists in	~ Tibetan
Literary Genre	~ Commentaries - 'grel pa
Commentary of	~ Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra

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.

gzhan stong - The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature. Tib. གཞན་སྟོང་

gzhan stong - The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature. Tib. གཞན་སྟོང་

Dolpopa's commentary on the Uttaratantra.

Dolpopa's commentary on the Uttaratantra.

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

neyārtha - Refers to something that is taught for a specific reason, rather than because it is entirely true. Skt. नेयार्थ Tib. དྲང་དོན་

Madhyamaka - Along with Yogācāra, it is one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Nāgārjuna around the second century CE, it is rooted in the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, though its initial exposition was presented in Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā. Skt. मध्यमक Tib. དབུ་མ་ Ch. 中觀見

gzhan stong - The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature. Tib. གཞན་སྟོང་

śūnyatā - The state of being empty of an innate nature due to a lack of independently existing characteristics. Skt. शून्यता Tib. སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་ Ch. 空

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

Tsen Tradition - Tsen Khawoche's "meditative tradition" of exegesis of the Uttaratantra; it is one of two major Tibetan traditions of exegesis, both stemming from students of Sajjana. Tib. བཙན་ལུགས་

Ngok Tradition - Ngok Lotsāwa Loden Sherab's "analytic tradition" of exegesis of the Uttaratantra; one of two major Tibetan traditions of exegesis, both stemming from students of Sajjana. Tib. རྔོག་ལུགས་