The Enlightened Heart of Buddhahood

Thesis

This thesis includes a translation of The Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje's work on Tathāgatagarbha, the Pronouncement on the Enlightened Heart of Buddhahood (De bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po gtan la dbab pa) along with notes from the Fifth Shamar, Kongchog Yenlag (1525-1583). Kurtis Schaeffer analyzes the thought and language of the text and presents the key points cogently. Also included is a diplomatic edition of the Tibetan text in Wylie along with seven appendixes, including Jamgon Kongtrul's outline of Rangjung Dorje's text, a song on buddha-nature, and information from the Zab mo nang don related to the heart of Buddhahood.

Citation	Schaeffer, Kurtis R. "The Enlightened Heart of Buddhahood: A Study and Translation of The Third Karma pa Rang byung rdo rje's Work on Tathāgatagarbha, The De bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po gtan la dbab pa." MA thesis, University of Washington, 1995.

Abbreviations ii
Introduction 1
Chapter One- The Life of Rang byung rdo rje 6
Chapter Two- The Textual Corpus of Rang byung 14
Chapter Three- Rang byung and Dol po pa Shes rab rgyal mtshan 25
Chapter Four- Explication of the Snying bstan 37
Chapter Five- Apophatic and Kataphatic Tensions in the Snying bstan 72
Chapter Six- The Pronouncement on the Enlightened Heart of Buddhahood 93
Chapter Seven- Diplomatic Edition of the Snying bstan 110
Bibliography-One- Tibetan 132
Two- Sanskrit 140
Three- Secondary 143
Four- Works on Apophasis and Kataphasis 165
Appendix One- Kong sprul's outline of the Snying bstan (Tibetan/English) 168
Appendix Two- Indian canonical works quoted in the Snying bstan 173
Appendix Three- Song on kungzhi and snying po from Rang byung mgur 174
Appendix Four- Chapter titles of the Zab mo nang don 178
Appendix Five- Fragments from the Zab mo nang don auto-corrunentary179
Appendix Six- Chronology of Rang byung's Life from Si tu 181
Appendix Seven- Colophons from Rang byung mgur 183

A key early 90s American academic study of buddha-nature in the Kagyu tradition.