Gyü Lama

Shedding light on the meditative tradition of the five texts of Maitreya with meditation manuals and commentaries from the Kagyu and Kadampa traditions.

The Uttaratantra and Its Meditative Tradition as a Bridge between Sutra and Tantra

When the Clouds Part on the Tsadra Library

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The Gyü Lama (རྒྱུད་བླ་མ་), also called the Mahāyānottaratantra Śāstra (ཐེག་ཆེན་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་), the Ratnagotravibhāga (RGV), or simply the Uttaratantra, is one of the most important texts of the Yogācāra tradition that expounds the buddha nature theory (tathāgatagarbha), the idea that all sentient beings possess the nature of a buddha. The Tibetan Buddhist tradition holds the Ratnagotravibhāga to be one of the Five Treatises that Maitreya taught to Asaṅga in the 4th century. Read More...

An outline of Jamgon Kongtrul the Great's commentary on the Gyü Lama:

Further Study

• Duckworth, Douglas. Mipam on Buddha-Nature: The Ground of the Nyingma Tradition. New York: SUNY Press, 2008.

Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche. Buddha-Nature, Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra, by Arya Maitreya. Edited by Alex Trisoglio. Khyentse Foundation, 2007.

• Fuchs, Rosemarie. Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra. Commentary by Jamgön Kongtrül Lodrö Thayé "The Unassailable Lion's Roar." Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2000.
• Holmes, Ken and Katia Holmes. Maitreya on Buddha nature : A New Translation of Asaṅga's Mahāyāna Uttara Tantra Śāstra. Forres: Altea, 1999. (Translated from Tibetan)
• Holmes, Ken and Katia Holmes, trans. The Changeless Nature. Newcastle: Karma Kagyu Trust, 1985. (Translated from Tibetan)
• Kilty, Gavin. The Tathāgata Essence Commentary to the First Chapter of the Uttaratantra, by Rinchen, Gyaltsap Darma (1364-1432). Unpublished, FPMT.
• Kano, Kazuo. "rNgog Blo‐ldan‐shes‐rabʹs Summary of the Ratnagotravibhāga: The First Tibetan Commentary on a Crucial Source for the Buddha‐nature Doctrine." Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Hamburg, 2006. Contains a critical edition in Wylie transliteration.
• Kano, Kazuo. "Buddha-Nature and Emptiness: rNgog Blo-ldan-shes-rab and A Transmission of the Ratnagotravibhāga from India to Tibet." WSTB 91. Wiener Studien zur Tibetologie und Buddhismuskunde (Vienna Series for Tibetan and Buddhist Studies). Vienna: Arbeitskreis für Tibetische und Buddhistische Studien, 2016.
• Mathes, Klaus-Dieter. A Direct Path to the Buddha Within: Go Lotsāwa's Mahāmudrā Interpretation of the Ratnagotravibhāga. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2008.
• Mathes, Klaus-Dieter. 'Gos Lo tsā ba gZhon nu dpal's Extensive Commentary on and Study of the Ratna-gotravibhāgavyākhyā. In Religion and Secular Culture in Tibet, 79-96. Proceedings of the Ninth Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies (PIATS), Leiden, 2000. Brill's Tibetan Studies Library vol. 2, bk. 2 . Leiden : Brill, 2002.
• Mipham ('jam mgon 'ju mi pham rgya mtsho). A Commentary on the Uttaratantra Shastra (rgyud bla ma). Translated by Padmakara Translation Group, John Canti, forthcoming.
• Obermiller, E., tr., Uttaratantra or Ratnagotra-vibhāga: The Sublime Science of the Great Vehicle to Salvation, Being a Manual of Buddhist Monism: The Work of Ārya Maitreya with a Commentary by Āryāsaṅga, Acta Orientalia 9 (1931): 81-306. Re-printed in Prasad, H. S., ed. The Uttaratantra of Maitreya, 1991. (Translated from Tibetan)
• Prasad, H. S., ed. The Uttaratantra of Maitreya. Containing E.H. Johnston's Sanskrit text and E. Obermiller's English translation. Bibliotheca Indo-Buddhica, 79. Delhi: Sri Satguru Publications, 1991. (Translated from Tibetan)
• Stearns, Cyrus. The Buddha From Dolpo: A Study of the Life and Thought of the Tibetan Master Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen. Tsadra Foundation Series. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2010.
• Takasaki, Jikido. A study on the Ratnagotravibhāga (Uttaratantra), being a treatise on the Tathāgatagarbha theory of Mahayana Buddhism. Serie Orientale Roma 33. Roma: Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente (ISMEO), 1966. (Translated from Sanskrit)
• Thrangu Rinpoche. The Uttara Tantra: A Treatise on Buddha Nature, translated by Ken Holmes and Katia Holmes, edited by Clark Johnson, Delhi: Sri Satguru Publications, 2001.

Watch More...

• Mingyur Rinpoche on Buddha Nature.
• Ken Holmes on Buddha Nature.
• Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche on the Uttaratantra at Rangjung Yeshe Gomde California, 2014.

Tsen Tradition - Tsen Khawoche's "meditative tradition" of exegesis of the Uttaratantra; it is one of two major Tibetan traditions of exegesis, both stemming from students of Sajjana. Tib. བཙན་ལུགས་

Kagyu - The Kagyu school traces its origin to the eleventh-century translator Marpa, who studied in India with Nāropa. Marpa's student Milarepa trained Gampopa, who founded the first monastery of the Kagyu order. As many as twelve subtraditions grew out from there, the best known being the Karma Kagyu, the Drikung, and the Drukpa. Tib. བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་

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

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

Tsen Tradition - Tsen Khawoche's "meditative tradition" of exegesis of the Uttaratantra; it is one of two major Tibetan traditions of exegesis, both stemming from students of Sajjana. Tib. བཙན་ལུགས་

tantra - Tantra, when juxtaposed with Sūtra, generally refers to the scriptures and texts which discuss esoteric topics. While the term is used to refer to texts on other topics, it is mostly used to refer to the genre of scriptures and texts on themes and topics associated with Vajrayāna Buddhism. Skt. तन्त्र Tib. རྒྱུད། Ch. 密宗

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

RGV - Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra

Yogācāra - Along with Madhyamaka, it was one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Asaṅga and Vasubandhu around the fourth century CE, many of its central tenets have roots in the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra and the so-called third turning of the dharma wheel (see tridharmacakrapravartana). Skt. योगाचार Tib. རྣལ་འབྱོར་སྤྱོད་པ་ Ch. 瑜伽行派

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

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

Nyingma - The Nyingma, which is often described as the oldest tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, traces its origin to Padmasambhava, who is said to have visited Tibet in the eighth century. Tib. རྙིང་མ་

SUNY - State University of New York

WSTB - Wiener Studien zur Tibetologie und Buddhismuskunde - Vienna: Arbeitskreis für Tibetische und Buddhistische Studien.

Mahāmudrā - Mahāmudrā refers to an advanced meditation tradition in Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna forms of Into-Tibetan Buddhism that is focused on the realization of the empty and luminous nature of the mind. It also refers to the resultant state of buddhahood attained through such meditation practice. In Tibet, this tradition is particularly associated with the Kagyu school, although all other schools also profess this tradition. The term also appears as part of the four seals, alongside dharmamūdra, samayamudrā, and karmamudrā. Skt. महामुद्रा Tib. ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོ།

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

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