Interpretations of Unity: Hermeneutics in Śākya mchog ldan's Interpretation of the Five Treatises of Maitreya

Dissertation

Abstract

This dissertation is a study of the process through which Tibetan Buddhist philosophy, by synthesizing doctrines and texts into consistent models, integrates views of reality within doctrinal and soteriological systems. It consists of an analysis of the most fundamental doctrinal tension found in the Tibetan tradition, namely the apparent inconsistency of doctrines belonging to the negative Mādhyamika and to the more affirmative Yogācāra trends of Mahāyāna Buddhism. As a case study aiming to provide a first systematic examination of that problematic, the dissertation surveys and analyzes Tibetan interpretation of the set of texts referred to as the Five Treatises of Maitreya (byams chos sde lnga), and at the way those interpretations deal with the doctrinal tensions found in that set of text. In addition to providing a recension of major interpretations of the Five Treatises developed between 1100 and 1500, a detailed account is given of the model of interpretation given by gSer mdog Paṇ chen Śākya mchog ldan, a famous teacher of the Sa skya school of Tibetan Buddhism. When confronted with the features of other interpretations, Śākya mchog ldan's interpretation of the Five Treatises, which proceeds primarily by allowing a plurality of views to be maintained even at the level of definitive meaning, provides us with a new insight in the Tibetan philosophical tradition: the most fundamental dimension of philosophical reconciliation of doctrinal views, especially of the kind found in the Five Treatises, can be described as pertaining to textual hermeneutics. Moreover, Śākya mchog ldan's contribution to that domain of Buddhist thought, by placing hermeneutics at the very centre of his system of Buddhist doctrine and practice, suggests that hermeneutics is a fundamental category of all Buddhist philosophical debates, and that it should be part of any attempt to understand the Tibetan philosophical tradition.

Citation	Turenne, Philippe. "Interpretations of Unity: Hermeneutics in Śākya mchog ldan's Interpretation of the Five Treatises of Maitreya." PhD diss., McGill University, 2010. https://archive.org/details/interpretationsofunityhermeneuticsinsakyamchogldaninterpretationoffivetreatiseso_985_N/mode/2up.

Abstract..........................................................................................................................................................2 Acknowledgments........................................................................................................................................7 Abbreviations..............................................................................................................................................10 Introduction................................................................................................................................................13 1. Context................................................................................................................................................13 2. Buddhist Hermeneutics: Literature Review ..................................................................................28 3. Division of Topics...............................................................................................................................38 Chapter 1 .....................................................................................................................................................43 The Place and Importance of the Five Treatises of Maitreya in Tibetan Buddhist Doctrine.........43 1. Tibetan fields of knowledge.............................................................................................................43 2. The importance of Madhyamaka for doctrinal identity..............................................................48 3. Scriptural sources for Perfection of Wisdom and Madhyamaka ...............................................51 4. The Tension Between Two Currents...............................................................................................56 5. The Importance of a Resolution......................................................................................................60 Chapter 2 : Tibetan Interpretations of the Five Treatises...................................................................70 Note on Method.................................................................................................................................71 1. Definition and History of the notion of the "Five Treatises"................................................74 1. History of the Five Treatises in Tibet...................................................................................75 a) The Treatises translated during the early propagation (snga dar)..............75 b) The Five Treatises at the time of the later propagation (phyi dar)..............77 2. History of the Concept of the Five Treatises.............................................................................80 2. Interpretations of the Five Treatises..............................................................................................89 rNgog Lotsāwa Blo ldan shes rab (1059-1109) ...........................................................89 Phya pa Chos kyi seng ge (1109-? )..............................................................................90 Sa skya Paṇḍita Kun dga‖ rgyal mtshan (1182-1251) ................................................92 Dol po pa Shes rab rgyal mtshan (1292-1360)............................................................96 Bu ston Rin chen grub (1290-1364)..............................................................................99 kLong chen rab ―byams (1308-1363)..........................................................................101 Third Karmapa Rang byung rdo rje (1284-1339).....................................................104 Blo gros mtshungs med (early 1300s) .......................................................................106 Red mda‖ ba gZhon nu bLo gros (1349-1412) ...........................................................108 Tsong kha pa bLo bzang grags pa (1357-1419) ........................................................110

Rong ston Shes bya kun rig (1367-1449)...................................................................112 3. Analysis and typology of interpretations................................................................................... 113 Chapter 3: Śākya mchog ldan‖s defense of the definitive meaning of the Five Treatises in the Byams chos lnga‖i nges don rab tu gsal ba................................................................................................. 120 1. The Byams chos lnga‖i nges don rab tu gsal ba.......................................................................... 122 2. The Order of the Five Treatises.................................................................................................... 125 3. The Doxographical Classification of the Five Treatises............................................................ 130 1. Privileging the authority of Asaṅga and Vasubandhu ......................................................... 133 2. Stressing passages against reification of mind in the Five Treatises and their commentaries. ................................................................................................................................ 139 3. Śākya mchog ldan's systematic harmonization of the meaning of the Five Treatises... 142 a) Interpretation of the Abhisamayālaṅkāra .............................................................143 b) Interpretation of Ratnagotravibhāga as other-emptiness (gzhan stong) ...........149 4. Summary of the meaning of the Five Treatises......................................................................... 154 5. Analysis and interpretation .......................................................................................................... 158 Chapter 4: The Place of the Five Treatises in the Thought of Śākya mchog ldan......................... 164 1. Śākya mchog ldan‖s Interpretation of the Five Treatises in Works Other than the BCN 165 2. Elements of Śākya mchog ldan's general interpretation of Mahāyāna Doctrines......... 180 1. General classification of the Mahāyāna............................................................................ 180 2. Śākya mchog ldan‖s attitude towards the view of niḥsvabhāvavāda .......................... 184 3. Interpretation of Vajrayāna as tantric Madhyamaka .................................................... 190 4. Śākya mchog ldan on Pramāṇa Theory............................................................................ 193 5. Interpretation of buddha nature....................................................................................... 195 Summary .............................................................................................................................................. 196 Conclusion................................................................................................................................................ 200 Appendix 1: Translation of the introductory part of the Byams chos lnga‖i nges don rab tu gsal ba of Śākya mchog ldan.......................................................................................................................... 205 1. Preliminary remarks...................................................................................................................... 205 2. Translation....................................................................................................................................... 207 Bibliography............................................................................................................................................. 254 Bibliography of Indian and Tibetan Sources.................................................................................. 254 Modern Scholarship ........................................................................................................................... 262

PaN chen shAkya mchog ldan. byams chos lnga'i nges don rab tu gsal ba (introductory chapter). In gsung 'bum shAkya mchog ldan. TBRC W23200. 11: 7 - 43. New Delhi: Nagwang Topgyel, 1995. [1]