People/Sajjana

Sajjana

सज्जन, ས་ཛ་ན་

11th century

An eleventh-century Kashmiri scholar that was the source from which many prominent Tibetan scholars and translators of the day received teachings. Most notably he taught the Ratnagotravibhāga to Ngok Lotsāwa and Tsen Khawoche, which spread in Tibet as the Ngok and Tsen traditions and became the two primary trends that influenced much of the history of the Tibetan exegesis of the treatise. He also helped Ngok translate the text and worked with several other Tibetan translators on works that were later included in the Tibetan canon.

Philosophical positions of this person

Is buddha-nature considered definitive or provisional?

Definitive 

Do all beings have buddha-nature?

 

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

 

Is buddha-nature equated with emptiness or alayavijnana?

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

What is Buddha-nature?

  Tathāgatagarbha as Mind's Luminous Nature

"As to the interpretation of Buddha-nature, on the other hand, Sajjana and rNgog hold different views, for Sajjana equates Buddha-nature with the luminous mind, which is not empty, while rNgog equates it with emptiness." Kano, K., Buddha-Nature and Emptiness, p. 239.

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Does the author advocate the Svatantrika or Prasangika view of emptiness?

 

Other names

• པཎྜི་ཏ་ས་ཛ་ན་ · other names (Tibetan)
• ས་ཛཛ་ན་ · other names (Tibetan)
• paN+Di ta sa dza na · other names (Wylie)
• sa dzdza na · other names (Wylie)
• Notes on names: In some of the recensions of the Ratnagotravibhāga, such as in the Derge Tengyur, as well as in Dölpopa's commentary we find Sajjana's name rendered into Sanskrit as Sadjñāna.

Affiliations & relations

• Ratnavajra · familial relation
• Mahājana · familial relation
• Ratnavajra · teacher
• gzus dga' ba'i rdo rje · student
• te dza de ba · student
• btsan kha bo che · student
• rngog blo ldan shes rab · student

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

Go to the page with the definition of 'Ratnagotravibhāga'

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

Go to the page with the definition of 'Ratnagotravibhāga'

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

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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

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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་

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

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

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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

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

Go to the page with the definition of 'Uttaratantra'

tathāgatagarbha - Buddha-nature, literally the "womb/essence of those who have gone (to suchness)." Skt. तथागतगर्भ Tib. དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་ Ch. 如来藏

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prabhāsvaratā - In a general sense, that which clears away darkness, though it often appears in Buddhist literature in reference to the mind or its nature. It is a particularly salient feature of Tantric literature, especially in regard to the advanced meditation techniques of the completion-stage yogas. Skt. प्रभास्वर Tib. འོད་གསལ་ Ch. 光明

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