Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i don gyi snying po gsal byed kyi snang ba chen po

From Buddha-Nature

LibraryCommentariesTheg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i don gyi snying po gsal byed kyi snang ba chen po


ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་དོན་གྱི་སྙིང་པོ་གསལ་བྱེད་ཀྱི་སྣང་བ་ཆེན་པོ།
theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i don gyi snying po gsal byed kyi snang ba chen po
The Great Light Which Illuminates the Essence of the Ultimate Continuum
Commentary of Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra
SOURCE TEXT
An articulate synopsis of the seven vajra points in the Ultimate Continuum based on mainstream Geluk interpretation. Chone Drakpa Shedrup makes a clear distinction between the naturally abiding spiritual and the developed spiritual gene identifying the former with the emptiness of the mind and the latter with spiritual qualities such as compassion, renunciation and mind of awakening.
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Recensions of This Text

Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i don gyi snying po gsal byed kyi snang ba chen po. (The Great Light Which Illuminates the Essence of the Ultimate Continuum). Recension information:
Tibetan Co ne grags pa bshad sgrub. ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་དོན་གྱི་སྙིང་པོ་གསལ་བྱེད་ཀྱི་སྣང་བ་ཆེན་པོ།, (Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i don gyi snying po gsal byed kyi snang ba chen po).
  • In Gsung 'bum/ Grags pa bshad sgrub (glog klad par ma), Vol. 3: 83-102. Taipei: The Corporate Body of the Buddha Educational Foundation, 2010. Buda by BDRC Logo.jpg

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?
Rangtong 
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 a Non-implicative Negation (without enlightened qualities) 

Text Metadata

Text exists in ~ Tibetan
Commentary of ~ Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra

vajrapada - Literally, vajra-footing, or base. In the context of the Ratnagotravibhāga, this is the name given to the seven subjects that are addressed in the treatise. These seven are the buddha, dharma, saṅgha, the element (dhātu), enlightenment (bodhi), enlightened qualities (guṇa), and enlightened activities (karman). Skt. वज्रपद Tib. རྡོ་རྗེའི་གནས་

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་

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་

rang stong - The state of being empty of self, which references the lack of inherent existence in relative phenomena. Tib. རང་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,空門

rang stong - The state of being empty of self, which references the lack of inherent existence in relative phenomena. Tib. རང་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

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