Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i dka' gnad kyi mtha' dpyad mun sel

ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་དཀའ་གནད་ཀྱི་མཐའ་དཔྱད་མུན་སེལ།

theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i dka' gnad kyi mtha' dpyad mun sel

Clarifying Darkness: An Analysis of Difficult Points in the Ultimate Continuum

Commentary of Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra

SOURCE TEXT

This commentary is included in the fourth set of bKa' gdams gsung 'bum phyogs bsgrigs but the name of the author is partially erased and not clear. The author was a student of one Sonam Zangpo and Palden Gyaltsen and the commentary was written in Sakya. Using dialectical arguments, the author discusses the crucial points in the Ultimate Continuum to present a very clear interpretation of Buddha-Nature in the tradition of zhentong.

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Recensions of This Text

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i dka' gnad kyi mtha' dpyad mun sel. (Clarifying Darkness: An Analysis of Difficult Points in the Ultimate Continuum). Recension information:

Tibetan	ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་དཀའ་གནད་ཀྱི་མཐའ་དཔྱད་མུན་སེལ། (Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i dka' gnad kyi mtha' dpyad mun sel). In Bka' gdams gsung 'bum phyogs bsgrigs thengs bzhi pa, Vol. 23: 253-304. Khreng tu'u: Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 2015.

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 Emptiness That is an Implicative Negation (with enlightened qualities) 

Text Metadata

Text exists in	~ Tibetan
Commentary of	~ Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra

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་

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་

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

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

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་

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་

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.

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་

guṇa - The qualities or attributes of an enlightened being. Skt. गुण Tib. ཡོན་ཏན་ Ch. 功德