Klaus-Dieter Mathes at the 2019 Tathāgatagarbha Symposium

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Klaus-Dieter Mathes at the 2019 Tathāgatagarbha Symposium - 3 of 23
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Klaus-Dieter Mathes discusses Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen’s position on Buddha-nature. He describes how his student Zhangtön Sönam Drakpa defends his teacher's position by arguing that one faces eight undesired consequences if one does not strictly differentiate buddha-nature from the ground consciousness.

Abstract from the Author

Zhang ston Bsod nams grags pa’s Defense of Dol po pa’s Clear-Cut Distinction between Buddha Nature and the Ground Consciousness

Dol po pa Shes rab rgyal mtshan’s (1292-1361) doctrinal position is well known for its clear-cut distinction between an ultimate, unconditioned buddha-nature, which is identical with the ultimate and buddhahood, and the conditioned ground consciousness (ālayavijñāna), including all saṃsāric states of mind emerging from it. This strict distinction excludes from the ultimate anything dependently arisen. Dol po pa’s disciple Zhang ston Bsod nams grags pa (1292–1370) defends his master’s view by addressing opposing statements in the Laṅkāvatārasūtra and the Gaṇḍavyūhasūtra that equate buddha-nature with the ground consciousness. Zhang ston’s discussion constitutes the major part of the introduction to his commentary on the Tathāgatagarbhasūtra, and is in large part also contained in his Ratnagotravibhāga commentary.

In the present paper it will be shown how Zhang ston elaborates, on the basis of numerous passages from the Maitreya Works, the Avikalpapraveśadhāraṇī, the Anūnatvāpūrṇatvanirdeśa, and even other parts of the Laṅkāvatārasūtra itself, that one faces eight undesired consequences if one does not strictly differentiate buddha-nature from the ground consciousness. Zhang ston not only argues against a position that I could identify in 'Gos Lo tsā ba gZhon nu dpal’s (1392–1481) Ratnagotravibhāga commentary, i.e., an exegetical system that regards buddha-nature and adventitious stains as not ontologically different, any more than ocean water and its waves are, but also the Third Karma pa Rang byung rdo rje’s (1284-1339) Yogācāra-based distinction between the ground consciousness and the pure mind (i.e., the equivalent of buddha-nature) that accepts within the basis of negation a dependently arising perfect nature.

Sources Mentioned

Secondary Publications Mentioned

People Mentioned

Dölpopa Sherab Gyaltsen
1292 ~ 1361
Gö Lotsāwa Zhönu Pal
1392 ~ 1481
Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje
1284 ~ 1339
Zhangtön Sönam Drakpa
1292 ~ 1370
Featuring Klaus-Dieter Mathes
Creator University of Vienna, Tsadra Foundation
Event Tathāgatagarbha Across Asia (17 July 2019, University of Vienna, Austria)
Related Website Buddha-Nature Project
Video Web Location Tathāgatagarbha Across Asia
Creation Date 17 July 2019
Citation Mathes, Klaus-Dieter. “Zhang ston Bsod nams grags pa’s Defense of Dol po pa’s Clear-Cut Distinction between Buddha Nature and the Ground Consciousness.” Paper presented at the University of Vienna Symposium, Tathāgatagarbha Across Asia, Vienna, Austria, July 2019. Video, 40:48. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-ALrY63cho.