The Uttaratantra in the Age of Argumentation: Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen and His Fourteenth-Century Interlocutors on Buddha-Lineage

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The Uttaratantra in the Age of Argumentation: Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen and His Fourteenth-Century Interlocutors on Buddha-Lineage
Dissertation
Dissertation

Abstract

This dissertation examines the intellectual history of the Uttaratantra in Tibet from the 12th century to the early 15th century. It is between these centuries that the text, which is one of the most authoritative works on the notion of tathāgata-essence, takes its shape in Tibet through the writings of some of the most formidable Tibetan thinkers of the time. Their works that directly relate to the discourse of the Uttaratantra may have one theme—the concept of tathāgata-essence—in common, but the ways in which they expound on the Uttaratantra strongly diverge from each other and often stand as polar opposites. Some of the major questions that I address in the dissertation are as follows: Does the Uttaratantra primarily explain the ultimate truth or not? Is it a Mind-Only treatise or a Middle Way treatise? Is it a Middle Wheel or Last Wheel text? Does it explicate other-emptiness or self-emptiness? How is the relationship between the Uttaratantra and Candrakīrti's Madhyamakāvatāra delineated? How do the Tibetan scholars mentioned below justify their respective positions on the Uttaratantra and criticize the claims made by other scholars? In answering these questions I read and translated many Tibetan sources in order to ascertain and portray the best possible context, that is, the field in which the battle of scholastic debates emerged.
      The first two chapters of my dissertation explore some of the above questions by analyzing Tibetan texts written by Ngok, Chapa, Sapen, Jayānanda, Chomden Rigrel, Rinchen Yeshi, the Third Karmapa, and others, between the 12th and early 14th centuries. Although these scholars argued intensely over the significance or insignificance of the Uttaratantra within the Mahāyāna literature, the Uttaratantra had yet to see the climax of the argumentation, which takes place in the 14th and early 15th centuries, the era that I call the argumentation period of the Uttaratantra. For this era, I analyze the works by Dolpopa, Buton, Dratsepa, Gyalse Thogmey, Longchenpa, Sazang, Rendawa, Tsongkhapa, and Gyaltsab. Thus, this dissertation examines the intellectual history of a text that has, to some extent, been overshadowed by the Madhyamakāvatāra in the contemporary Tibetan scholastic tradition.

Citation Wangchuk, Tsering. "The Uttaratantra in the Age of Argumentation: Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen and His Fourteenth-Century Interlocutors on Buddha-Lineage." PhD diss., University of Virginia, 2009.


  • Acknowledgementsvii
  • Introduction1
    • Textual Historical Background of the Uttaratantra5
    • Socio-Political Context of Religion in Eleventh through Fourteenth
         Century Tibet
      10
    • Chapter Summaries21
  • Chapter 1: The Rise of the Uttaratantra in Tibet: Ngok Loden Sherab’s and
           Chapa Choekyi Sengge's Commentaries
    27
    • Introduction27
    • The Relationship of Ngok's and Chapa's Commentaries32
    • A Distinct Interpretation of the Uttaratantra Stanza I: 2840
    • Definitive and Interpretable Meanings and the Middle and
         the Last Wheels
      45
    • Buddha-element: A Topic of the Uttaratantra, an Object of Verbalization?55
    • Comparing Ngok's Abhisamayālaṃkāra Commentary with his
         Uttaratantra Commentary
      60
    • Conclusion63
  • Chapter 2: Sowing Seeds for Future Debate: the Uttaratantra in Thirteenth
           and Early Fourteenth Century Tibet
    65
    • Introduction65
    • Sakya Paṇḍita's View on the Tathāgata-Essence Literature66
    • Chomden Rigrel on the Uttaratantra74
    • Gedun Ozer's Uttaratantra Commentary80
    • Rinchen Yeshi’s Uttaratantra Commentary86
    • Sangphu Lodroe Tsungmey's Uttaratantra Commentary98
    • Karma Rangjung Dorje's Position on the Uttaratantra110
    • Conclusion115
  • Chapter 3: Centrality of the Uttaratantra in Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen's
           Doctrinal Presentation of Other-Emptiness
    118
    • Introduction118
    • A Last Wheel Commentary Or A Middle Wheel Commentary?126
    • Is the Uttaratantra a Mind-Only text or a Middle Way text?135
    • Conclusion154
  • Chapter 4: The Uttaratantra Goes into the Ascendency in
           Fourteenth-Century Tibet
    156
    • Introduction156
    • Sazang's Formulation of the Uttaratantra: Definitive Meaning &
         Interpretable Meaning and Middle Wheel & Last Wheel
      157
    • Sazang's Formulation of the Uttaratantra: Other-Emptiness and
         Self-Emptiness
      163
    • Defending Innate Enlightenment and Gradual Enlightenment166
    • Conclusion170
    • Gyalse Thogmey’s Interpretation of the Uttaratantra171
    • Longchen Rabjampa’s View on the Uttaratantra175
    • Conclusion180
  • Chapter 5: Challenges to the Supremacy of the Uttaratantra:
           The Rise of the Middle Way Consequence School
    182
    • Introduction182
    • Buton and Dratsepa on the Uttaratantra186
    • Rendawa on the Uttaratantra and the Tathāgata-Essence Literature197
    • Tsongkhapa on the Uttaratantra and the Tathāgata-Essence Literature208
    • Conclusion218
  • Chapter 6: An Early Fifteenth-Century Uttaratantra Commentary:
           Gyaltsab's Establishment of the Tathāgata-Essence Literature
    220
    • Introduction220
    • Mind-Only School and Middle Way School223
    • Middle Wheel and Last Wheel232
    • Definitive Meaning and Interpretable Meaning236
    • Self-Emptiness and Other-Emptiness239
    • Conclusion244
  • Concluding Thoughts247
  • Bibliography251
    • Sources in Tibetan Language251
    • Sources in English255