Difference between revisions of "Primary Sources"
((by SublimeText.Mediawiker)) |
((by SublimeText.Mediawiker)) |
||
Line 76: | Line 76: | ||
|link=/index.php/Texts/Ratnagotravibhāga_Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra/Root_Verses | |link=/index.php/Texts/Ratnagotravibhāga_Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra/Root_Verses | ||
|image=http://commons.tsadra.org/images-commons/d/d8/Sutra_alt.jpeg | |image=http://commons.tsadra.org/images-commons/d/d8/Sutra_alt.jpeg | ||
− | |text=Comparative | + | |text=Comparative edition of the root verses |
|label=Resource | |label=Resource | ||
|label-right=<i class="ml-1 fal fa-arrow-up rotate45"></i> | |label-right=<i class="ml-1 fal fa-arrow-up rotate45"></i> |
Revision as of 02:45, 3 July 2019
Sources for buddha-nature Teachings
This page provides a listing of some of the key sources for buddha nature teachings found in the sutras, as well as the key texts found in Sanskrit, Chinese, and Tibetan traditions, as well as influential commentaries from centuries of traditional scholarship on the subject.
The titles of the Gyu Lama[edit]
The title Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra[1] is attested in the surviving Sanskrit manuscripts. It roughly translates as “The Superior Continuum (uttaratantra) of the Mahāyāna, A Treatise (śāstra) Analyzing (vibhāga) the Source (gotra) of the Three Jewels (ratna).” One surviving Sanskrit reference, Abhayākaragupta’s Munimatālaṃkāra, gives the name as Mahāyānottara: [Treatise] on the Superior Mahāyāna [Doctrine].[2] Western scholars only became aware of Sanskrit versions in the 1930s (see below); prior to this, they knew the text only in Chinese or Tibetan translation, and this was complicated by the fact that both the Chinese and the Tibetan traditions divide the text into two. Where in India the Ratnagotravibhāga was a single work comprised of root verses, explanatory verses, and prose commentary, the Chinese and Tibetan translators and commentators considered the root and explanatory verses to be one text and the complete text, including the prose commentary, to be a second. Thus not only do we have multiple names in multiple languages for the treatise, but multiple names in Chinese and Tibetan for its different parts....
Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra
The Texts[edit]
Sutras[edit]
The Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra is one of the main scriptural sources for buddha-nature in China and Tibet. Set around the time of Buddha's passing or Mahāparinirvāṇa, the sūtra contains teachings on buddha-nature equating it with the dharmakāya—that is, the complete enlightenment of a buddha. It also asserts that all sentient beings possess this nature as the buddhadhātu, or buddha-element, which thus acts as a cause, seed, or potential for all beings to attain enlightenment. Furthermore, the sūtra includes some salient features related to this concept, such as the single vehicle and the notion that the dharmakāya is endowed with the four pāramitās of permanence, bliss, purity, and a self.
According to the Kālacakra tradition, the extant version of the Kālacakratantra is an abridged version of the larger original tantra, called the Paramādibuddha, that was taught by the Buddha Śākyamuni to Sucandra, the king of Śambhala and an emanation of Vajrapāṇi, in the Dhānyakaṭaka stūpa, a notable center of Mahāyāna in the vicinity of the present-day village of Amarāvatī in Andhra Pradesh. Upon receiving instruction on the Paramādibuddhatantra and returning to Śambhala, King Sucandra wrote it down and propagated it throughout his kingdom. His six successors continued to maintain the inherited tradition, and the eighth king of Śambhala, Mañjuśrī Yaśas, composed the abridged version of the Parāmadibuddhatantra, which is handed down to us as the Sovereign Abridged Kālacakratantra (Laghukālacakratantrarāja). It is traditionally taught that it is composed of 1,030 verses written in the sradgharā meter. However, various Sanskrit manuscripts and editions of the Laghukālacakratantra contain a somewhat larger number of verses, ranging from 1,037 to 1,047 verses. The term an “abridged tantra” (laghu-tantra) has a specific meaning in Indian Buddhist tantric tradition. Its traditional interpretation is given in Naḍapādas (Nāropā) Sekoddeśaṭīkā, which states that in every yoga, yoginī, and other types of tantras, the concise, general explanations (uddeśa) and specific explanations (nirdeśa) make up a tantric discourse (tantra-saṃgīti), and that discourse, which is an exposition (uddeśana) there, is an entire abridged tantra.
The tradition tells us that Mañjuśrī Yaśas's successor Puṇḍarīka, who was an emanation of Avalokiteśvara, composed a large commentary on the Kālacakratantra, called the Stainless Light (Vimalaprabhā), which became the most authoritative commentary on the Kālacakratantra and served as the basis for all subsequent commentarial literature of that literary corpus. The place of the Vimalaprabhā in the Kālacakra literary corpus is of great importance, for in many instances, without the Vimalaprabhā, it would be practically impossible to understand not only the broader implications of the Kālacakratantra' cryptic verses and often grammatically corrupt sentences but their basic meanings. It has been said that the Kālacakratantra is explicit with regard to the tantric teachings that are often only implied in the other anuttara-yoga-tantras, but this explicitness is actually far more characteristic of the Vimalaprabhā than of the Kālacakratantra itself. (Source: Wallace, Vesna A. The Inner Kālacakratantra: A Buddhist Tantric View of the Individual. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001: pp. 2-3.)
Commentaries[edit]
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Dispelling the Darkness of Partiality: A Commentary on Illumination of the Topics of Tenet Systems by Omniscient Jonangpa
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Gambhīrasaṃdhinirmocanasūtraṭīkā
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Essence of Other-Emptiness
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum Entitled Illumination of Reality
|; |@@@ | |, }}: dharmadharmatāvibhāga
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Illuminating the Definitive Meaning: An Explanation of the Ultimate Continuum
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum Possessing Four Reliances and Causing Delight to the Learned
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Buddha Gene as Non-implicative Negation and Other Notes on Buddha-Nature
|; |@@@ | |, }}: The Essential Pith Instructions That Summarize the Quintessence of the Piṭakas
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Four Works including Exegesis on the Uttaratantra Entitled the Sun Previously Unseen
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Benediction of Sugatagarbha
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Essential Points on the Origins of the Cycle of Teachings on the Kālacakra
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Verses from the Beginning and Conclusion of Sūtrālaṅkāra, Bodhicaryāvatāra and Uttaratantra
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Illuminating Light: An Exegesis of Omniscient Jonangpa's Intent Aligned with General Treatises of Madhyamaka and Pramāṇa
|; |@@@ | |, }}: The Commentary on the Treatise “Mahāyāna-Uttaratantra”: The Mirror Showing Reality Very Clearly
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Mahāyāna System on Establishing the Wheels of Dharma Received by Onge
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum, a Great Treatise Connecting Sūtra and Mantra
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Ornament of Precious Liberation: A Wish-Fulfilling Gem of Sublime Dharma
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Ornament That Illuminates and Beautifies the Tathāgata Heart
|; |@@@ | |, }}: General Outline of the Tenets of the Single Intention that Reveal Errors Concerning the Inner Meaning of the Profound Great Discourses that Distinguish Dharma from that which is not Dharma
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Abhisamayālaṃkāranāmaprajñāpāramitopadeśaśāstrakārikā
|; |@@@ | |, }}: The Lamp That Excellently Elucidates the System of the Proponents of the Other-Emptiness Madhyamaka
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Undermining the Haughtiness of Others by the Wheel of Brahma: A Treatise Clarifying Mahāmudrā
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Distinguishing Wisdom from Appearances: A Commentary on Distinguishing Phenomena and their Nature
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Annotated Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Distinguishing Dharma: A Letter to Pön Jangpa
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Chariot of the Siddhas of the Dakpo Lineage: The Oral Instructions of Glorious Dusum Khyenpa, an Extensive Commentary on the Madhyamakāvatāra
|; |@@@ | |, }}: The Unassailable Lion's Roar
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Annotated Commentary on the Treatise on Pointing Out the Tathāgata Heart
|; |@@@ | |, }}: The Precious Lamp: An Extensive Explanation of the Words and Meaning of the Mahāyāna Uttaratantra
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Mahāyānottaratantraśāstravyākhyā
The first, made up entirely of the so-called root verses, corresponds to the Sanskrit title Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra, though it is usually referenced in this tradition by the Tibetan equivalent of the latter subtitle, Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos, which is commonly rendered into English as the Treatise on the Ultimate Continuum of the Great Vehicle and is abbreviated as RGV. However, the full title, Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos dkon mchog gi rigs rnam par dbye ba, does appear at the end of each chapter of the canonical Tibetan recensions. Nevertheless, this version is likely a Tibetan redaction, in that thus far there is no evidence of a Sanskrit version written entirely in verse that excludes the commentarial sections that explain them.
The second, which combines the verses with their accompanying prose commentary, corresponds to the *Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā as it has become known in academic circles where it is referenced with the abbreviation RGVV. However, in Tibetan the subtitle is merely appended with the equivalent of vyākhyā, i.e. Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos rnam par bshad pa, and thus a translation of the Tibetan title of the complete text would be something akin to the Explanatory Commentary on the Treatise on the Ultimate Continuum of the Great Vehicle. However, the extant Sanskrit recension of the Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra directly corresponds to the Tibetan version known as the *Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā, in that it contains both the root verses and the prose commentary. Though, again, lacking a Sanskrit work entitled the Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā, we can surmise that its corresponding Tibetan title was likely manufactured in order to delineate it from the streamlined verse redaction, while the Sanskrit title *Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā was in turn a product of modern scholars. On the surface it would seem that this title is a combination of the Chinese title back translated into Sanskrit as the Ratnagotraśāstra and the one found in the Tibetan editions, which state the Sanskrit title as the Mahāyānottaratantraśāstravyākhya. Nevertheless, in terms of content, the Sanskrit RGV corresponds to the Tibetan RGVV, in that the Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra is the same text as Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos rnam par bshad pa.
Also, see the Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra and for a recent essay on the text: On the Ratnagotravibhāga by Alexander Gardner.|; |@@@ | |, }}: The Meaning of the Essence of Luminosity
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Lion's Roar: Exposition of Buddha-Nature
|; |@@@ | |, }}: The Great Treasure of Faith and Devotion: A Praise to Sugatagarbha
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Ascertaining the Dharmadhātu: a Detailed Explanation of the Dharmadhātustava
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Ornament of Other-Emptiness Madhyamaka
|; |@@@ | |, }}: An Exposition of Mahāmudrā: The Treasure Vault of the Victors
|; |@@@ | |, }}: The Scriptural Citations for the Ornament of Madhyamaka of Other-Emptiness
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Thoroughly Ascertaining the Great Middle Way of the Expansive Supreme Vehicle
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Music of the Sphere of Definitive Meaning: Detailed Explanation of the Mahamudra Prayer in Accordance with the Philosophy of the Great Emptiness-of-Other
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Aspiration Prayer of the Definitive Meaning of Mahāmudrā
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Dharmadhātustava
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Madhyamakāvatāra
Indian literature of Madhyamaka philosophical positions. In it, Candrakīrti provides a detailed discussion of the two truths—ultimate truth (paramārthasatya) and conventional truth (saṃvṛtisatya)—arguing that all things that have these two natures and that conventional truths (which he glosses as "concealing truths") are not in fact true because they appear falsely to the ignorant consciousness. He also discusses the crucial question of valid knowledge (pramāṇa) among the unenlightened, relating it to worldly consensus (lokaprasiddha). The sixth chapter also contains one of the most detailed refutations of Yogācāra in Madhyamaka literature, treating such topics as the three natures (trisvabhāva), the foundational consciousness (ālayavijñāna), and the statements in the sūtras that the three realms of existence are "mind-only" (cittamātra). This chapter also contains Candrakīrti's most famous contribution to Madhyamaka reasoning, the sevenfold reasoning designed to demonstrate the absence of a personal self (pudgalanairātmya). Adding to and elaborating upon a fivefold reasoning found in Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, Candrakīrti argues that the person does not intrinsically exist because of it: (1) not being the aggregates (skandha), (2) not being other than the aggregates, (3) not being the basis of the aggregates, (4) not depending on the aggregates, (5) not possessing the aggregates, (6) not being the shape of the aggregates, and (7) not being the composite of the aggregates. He illustrates this reasoning by applying it to the example of a chariot, which, he argues, is not to be found among its constituent parts. The sixth chapter concludes with a discussion of
the sixteen and the twenty forms of emptiness (śūnyatā), which include the emptiness of emptiness (śūnyatāśūnyatā). The work was the most widely studied and commented upon Madhyamaka text in Tibet among all sects, serving, for example, as one of the "five texts" (zhung lnga) that formed the Dge lugs scholastic curriculum. The work is preserved only in Tibetan, although a Sanskrit manuscript of verses has been discovered in Tibet. (Source: "Madhyamakāvatāra." In The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 489. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)|; |@@@ | |, }}: Offering Clouds to Delight Our Protector Maitreya: A Commentary on the Treatise on the Ultimate Continuum of the Mahāyāna
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Supplement to Rongtön's Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Opening the Hundred Doors to the Treasure of Ascertaining the Dharmadhātu
|; |@@@ | |, }}: The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment
principal stages that Tsong kha pa composed. The others include (1) the Lam rim chung ba ("Short Treatise on the Stages of the Path"), also called the Lam rim 'bring ba ('"Intermediate Treatise on the States of the Path") and (2) the Lam rim bsdus don ("Concise Meaning of the Stages of the Path"), occasionally also referred to as the Lam rim chung ngu ("Brief Stages of the Path"). The latter text, which records Tsong kha pa's own realization of the path in verse form, is also referred to as the Lam rim nyams mgur ma ("Song of Experience of the Stages of the Path"). The Lam rim chen mo is a highly detailed and often technical treatise presenting a comprehensive and synthetic overview of the path to buddhahood. It draws, often at length, upon a wide range of scriptural sources including the Sūtra and śāstra literature of both the hīnayāna and Mahāyāna; Tsong kha pa treats tantric practice in a separate work. The text is organized under the rubric of the three levels of spiritual predilection, personified as "the three individuals" (skyes bu gsum): the beings of small capacity, who engage in religious practice in order to gain a favorable rebirth in their next lifetime; the beings of intermediate capacity, who seek liberation from rebirth for themselves as an arhat; and the beings of great capacity, who seek to liberate all beings in the universe from suffering and thus follow the bodhisattva path to buddhahood. Tsong kha pa's text does not lay out all the practices of these three types of persons but rather those practices essential to the bodhisattva path that are held in common by persons of small and intermediate capacity, such as the practice of refuge (śaraṇa) and contemplation of the uncertainty of the time of death. The text includes extended discussions of topics such as relying on a spiritual master, the development of bodhicitta, and the six perfections (pāramitā). The last section of
the text, sometimes regarded as a separate work, deals at length with the nature of serenity (śamatha) and insight (vipaśyanā); Tsong kha pa's discussion of insight here represents one of his most important expositions of emptiness (śūnyatā). Primarily devoted to exoteric Mahāyāna doctrine, the text concludes with a brief reference to Vajrayāna and the practice of tantra, a subject discussed at length by Tsong kha pa in a separate work, the Sngags rim chen mo ("Stages of the Path of Mantra"). The Lam rim chen mo's full title is Skyes bu gsum gyi rnyams su blang ba'i rim pa thams cad tshang bar ston pa'i byang chub lam gyi rim pa. (Source: "Lam rim chen mo." In The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 465-66. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)|; |@@@ | |, }}: The Essence of the Explanation of the Provisional and True Meanings
|; |@@@ | |, }}: The Thoroughly Clear Intention: A Detailed Explanation of the Madhyamakāvatāra
Written as a supplement to Nagarjuna’s Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way, Candrakīrti’s text integrates the central insight of Nagarjuna’s thought—the rejection of any metaphysical notion of intrinsic existence—with the well-known Mahayana framework of the ten levels of the bodhisattva, and it became the most studied presentation of Madhyamaka thought in Tibet.
Completed the year before the author’s death, Tsongkhapa’s exposition of Candrakīrti's text is recognized by the Tibetan tradition as the final standpoint of Tsongkhapa on many philosophical questions, particularly the clear distinctions it draws between the standpoints of the Madhyamaka and Cittamatra schools.
Written in exemplary Tibetan, Tsongkhapa’s work presents a wonderful marriage of rigorous Madhyamaka philosophical analysis with a detailed and subtle account of the progressively advancing mental states and spiritual maturity realized by sincere Madhyamaka practitioners. (Source: Thupten Jinpa, Illuminating the Intent, 2021.)|; |@@@ | |, }}: Light of the Sun: Detailed Exposition of the Excellent Dharma, the Single Intention, a Well-Expressed Clarification of the Meaning of the Scriptures
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Golden Garland of Excellent Explanation: A Commentary on the Abhisamayālaṃkāra
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Great Commentary on the Sacred Teaching on the Single Intention: Illuminating Wisdom Lamp
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Buddha Nature Treatise
|; |@@@ | |, }}: An Explanation of In Praise of Madhyamaka-Dharmadhātu
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Moon that Illuminates the Indian and Tibetan Interpretations of Buddha Nature
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Removing the Anguish of Holding to Extremes: Explanation of Omniscient Jonangpa's Madhyamaka of Other Emptiness
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Karmapa's Great Commentary on the Sacred Teaching of the Single Intention
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Instructions on the View of Other-Emptiness
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Outline of the Mahāyāna Treatise the Uttaratantra
|; |@@@ | |, }}: A Concise Presentation of Other-Emptiness Madhyamaka
|; |@@@ | |, }}: The Great Calculation of the Doctrine Which Has the Significance of a Fourth Council
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Quintessential Essence of the Condensed Ultimate Definitive Meaning: An Explanation of the Mahāyāna Uttaratantra
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Commentarial Notes on Thoroughly Ascertaining the Great Middle Way of the Expansive Supreme Vehicle
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Treasury of the True Dharma Eye
|; |@@@ | |, }}: An Excellent Ornament of a Brilliant Mind: A Concise Presentation of Buddhist and Non-Buddhist Tenets
|; |@@@ | |, }}: The Jewel Lamp Illuminating the Definitive Meaning of the Glorious Kālacakra
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Lion's Roar: Affirming Other Emptiness
|; |@@@ | |, }}: The Marvelous Wish-fulfilling Harvest: An Eloquent Commentary on Ascertaining the Three Vows
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Ornament of Sugatagarbha: A Discourse Ascertaining the Definite Great Middle Way
|; |@@@ | |, }}: pradīpodyotananāmaṭīkā
|; |@@@ | |, }}: The Profound Inner Meaning
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Exegesis on the Intermediate State called the Mirror of Mindfulness Which Illuminates Everything
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Treasury of Knowledge
|; |@@@ | |, }}: The Vajra Convergence: A Teaching on How to Practice the View and Meditation of the Definitive Meaning
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Ornament Illuminating the Essence: A Commentary on the Famous Text, the Four Dharmas of the Incomparable Dakpo
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Treasury of Precious Sūtras and Tantras
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Naturally Liberating Whatever You Meet: Instructions to Guide You on the Profound Path
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Elegant Explanation of the Treatise of the Ultimate Continuum of the Mahāyāna
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Epistle: A Drop of Nectar
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Mahāyānaśraddhotpādaśāstra
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Essence of Sūtra and Tantra: An Explanation of Buddhagarbha
|; |@@@ | |, }}: The Wish-fulfilling Meru: A Discourse Explaining the Origination of Madhyamaka
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Supplication to the Profound Other-Emptiness Madhyamaka Lineage
|; |@@@ | |, }}: The Treatise on Pointing Out the Tathāgata Heart
|; |@@@ | |, }}: A Commentary on The Treatise on Pointing Out the Tathāgata Heart, Illuminating the Intention of Rangjung
|; |@@@ | |, }}: de bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po bstan pa zhes bya ba'i bstan chos kyi 'grel pa don gsal lung gi 'od zer
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Fearless Lion's Roar: The Tradition of Jonang Which Ascertains the Profound Meaning of the Supreme Vehicle of Cause and Result
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Unprecedented Elegant Exposition: An Exegesis on the Heart Sūtra
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Summary of the Ultimate Continuum: Clarifying the Meaning of Buddha-Nature
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Stages of Meditation of the Ultimate Continuum: Ornament of Maitreya's Intent
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Powerful Aspiration Prayer of Samantabhadra
|; |@@@ | |, }}: The Great Chariot: A Commentary on the Treatise on Great Perfection, Relaxation in the Nature of the Mind
|; |@@@ | |, }}: White Lotus: A Commentary on the Wish Fulfilling Treasury
འོད་གསལ་བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོ་ལྷུན་གྲུབ་སྟེ། །སྟོང་གསལ་རིག་པ་དབྱེར་མེད་ཆོས་ཉིད་དོ།། The luminous buddha-nature is indivisible reality Which is spontaneous, empty, and clear awareness.
His presentation on buddha-nature theory and associated practices in his writings became the most authoritative references which determine the interpretation of buddha-nature theory and practice in the Nyingma tradition to this day.|; |@@@ | |, }}: Treasury of Philosophical Tenets
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Rays of Sunlight: A Commentary on the Heart of the Mahāyāna Teachings
|; |@@@ | |, }}: The Sunlight Exposition: A Commentary on the Mahāyāna Uttaratantra Treatise
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Instructions on "The Ultimate Continuum of the Mahāyāna"
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Marvellous Word Commentary on the Heart Sūtra
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Incomparable King: A Verse Commentary of the Heart Sūtra
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Union Ship: A Treatise Dispelling the Misconception in the Understanding of Mahāmudrā through Scriptures and Reasoning
He begins with a cogent presentation of Mahāmudrā covering its sources, the objective Mahāmudrā, the subjective Mahāmudrā, its synonyms, the actual Mahāmudra experience among sublime beings, the analogous Mahāmudrā understanding among ordinary practitioners, and the Mahāmudrā concept according to the philosophical and tantric schools. Following this, he delves into how some later followers of Sakya and Kagyu tradition do not fathom the understanding of their respective teachings. He also points out how the followers of Kadampa tradition have missed the important original teachings of Atīśa and founding fathers.
In summary, Śākya Chokden underscores the point that there are two ways in which misconceptions are overcome: through an extrovert rational analysis and an introvert yogic contemplation. The Mahāmudrā tradition of Gampopa belongs to the latter category while the former includes the postulations of self-emptiness and other-emptiness.|; |@@@ | |, }}: Laṅkāvatāranāmamahāyānasūtravṛttitathāgatahṛdayālaṃkāra
|; |@@@ | |, }}: A Treatise entitled Distinguishing Mahāmudrā
1. The emptiness posited through Mādhyamika reasoning. 2. The union of emptiness and bliss which fills the network of channels after tantric practice of consecration. 3. Experience of bare consciousness free from all mentation. 4. Non-apprehension of the mind either inside or outside, having colour and shape, etc. 5. The ground consciousness which is the cause of all experience.
Śākya Choden states that none of these capture the profound, precise, effective Mahāmudrā technique of Gampopa, which is compared to the Single White Remedy, and explains how they are not the same as Gampopa’s Mahāmudrā. Śākya Chokden also distinguishes the Chinese Chan practice from Gampopa’s Mahāmudrā and goes on to explain their differences. He elaborates on the practice of Mahāmudrā through the four points of single-pointedness (རྩེ་གཅིག་), non-elaboration (སྤྲོས་བྲལ་), one taste (རོ་གཅིག་), and non-meditation (སྒོམ་མེད་).|; |@@@ | |, }}: Instruction for the Moment of Death
|; |@@@ | |, }}: The Repository of Wisdom
|; |@@@ | |, }}: A Synopsis of the Mahāyāna Uttaratantra
|; |@@@ | |, }}: The Seventh Precious Treasury: An Explanation of Śrī Guhyasamāja
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Immaculate Light Rays of the Vajra Moon: Instructions on the View of Other-Emptiness of Great Madhyamaka
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Ājñāsaṃyakpramāṇanāmaḍākinyupadeśa
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Hymns on the Fivefold Path of Realization of Mahāmudrā
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Tattvadaśaka
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Heart of the Luminous Sun
|; |@@@ | |, }}: A Synopsis of the Mahāyāna Uttaratantra
|; |@@@ | |, }}: A Synopsis of the Mahāyāna Uttaratantraśāstra
|; |@@@ | |, }}: A Commentary on the Meaning of the Words of the Uttaratantra
|; |@@@ | |, }}: The Moonlight of the Crucial Points: A Commentary on the Difficult Aspects of the Uttaratantra
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum Entitled Clear Sun Rays
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Synopsis of the Ultimate Continuum Possessing Four Reliances and Causing Delight to the Learned
|; |@@@ | |, }}: General Exegesis on the Ultimate Continuum
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum Called Definitive Clarification of the Intent
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Notes on the Ultimate Continuum Called the Unmistaken Intent of Maitreya
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Outline of the Ultimate Continuum Called Incomparable Exposition
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Illumination of the Ultimate Continuum
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Inconceivable Letters Clarifying the Ultimate Continuum
|; |@@@ | |, }}: The History of Dharma Associated with Maitreya
|; |@@@ | |, }}: The Great Light Which Illuminates the Essence of the Ultimate Continuum
|; |@@@ | |, }}: rang stong dang gzhan stong gi khyad par cung zad brjod pa tshul gnyis rnam gsal lung rigs sgron me
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Annotated Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Annotated Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Synopsis of the Ultimate Continuum Entitled Precious Lamp
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum Clarifying the Last Wheel of Teachings
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Notes on the Annotated Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Precious Light: A Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Word Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum Entitled Flourishing of the Buddha’s Teachings
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Exegesis on the Ultimate Continuum Called the Ornament of Buddha-Nature
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Clarifying Darkness: An Analysis of Difficult Points in the Ultimate Continuum
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum Called the Words of Asaṅga
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum Entitled the Mirror of the Element Buddha-Nature
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Illuminating the Definitive Meaning of the Uttaratantra
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Words of Mipam: Interlinear Commentary on the Uttaratantra
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Elucidating the Essence: A Commentary on the Tathāgatagarbhasūtra
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Dṛṣṭisaṃkṣipta
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Mountain Dharma: An Ocean of Definitive Meaning
|; |@@@ | |, }}: vimalaprabhānāmamūlatantrānusāriṇīdvādaśasāhasrikālaghukālacakratantrarājaṭīkā
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Condensed Meaning of the "Ultimate Continuum of the Mahāyāna"
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Treatise on Pointing Out the Tathāgata Heart Together with Annotations
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Rain of Joy, Treasury of Precious Qualities
- The Difficulty of Gaining the Freedoms and Advantages
- Death and Impermanence
- Karma: Cause and Effect
- The Sufferings of Samsara
- The Four Wheels, which are the initial entry point for supreme beings
- Taking Refuge, the entrance to the Buddhist Path
- The Entrance to the Actual Mahayana (cultivating the four immeasurables)
- Arousing Bodhichitta
- The Bodhisattva Trainings
- The Pitaka of the Vidyadharas
- The Nature of the Ground
- The Extraordinary Path of the Natural Great Perfection
- The Kayas and Wisdoms of the Ultimate Fruition
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Commentary on the Ultimate Continuum of the Mahāyāna
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkārakārikā
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Notes on the Essential Points of Mipam’s Exposition of Buddha-Nature
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Mahāyānottaratantraśāstraṭippaṇī
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Illumination of the Definitive Meaning: A Commentary on the Uttaratantra in Relation to the Sūtras
|; |@@@ | |, }}: A Treasury of Gems of the Definitive Meaning: An Explanation of the Treatise on the Ultimate Continuum of the Mahāyāna
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Sacred Teaching on the Single Intention
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Mahāyānottaratantraśāstropadeśa
|; |@@@ | |, }}: An Extensive Explanation that Illuminates the Subtle Points of the Words and Meaning of the Mahāyāna Uttaratantra Treatise
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Distinguishing the Three Vows
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Mirror of Buddha-Nature with Qualities
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra
|; |@@@ | |, }}: The Precious Lamp That Illuminates the Definitive Meaning of the Mahāyāna Uttaratantra Treatise
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Ornamental Flowers: A Commentary on the Mahāyāna Uttaratantra
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Interlinear Commentary on the Mahāyāna Uttaratantra Treatise
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Instructions on the Path to Reality
|; |@@@ | |, }}: Madhyāntavibhāgakārikā
|; |@@@ | |, }}: The Blue Annals
Details on the sutra sources for the Ratnagotravibhāga by Karl Brunnhölzl[edit]
Karl Brunnhölzl's Translator's Introduction, ''When the Clouds Part'', pp. 3-12.
- According to the Sanskrit grammatical rules associated with sandhi, the word boundaries of the “a” of Mahāyāna and the “u” of Uttaratantra combine as “o.” The title could just as easily be rendered “Mahāyāna Uttaratantra Śāstra.”
- Kano, Buddha-Nature and Emptiness, 27, note #41.