Yaroslav Komarovski: On Where We Find Discussions of Buddha-Nature in Shakya Chokden's Works

From Buddha-Nature

< Media

LibraryMultimediaYaroslav Komarovski: On Where We Find Discussions of Buddha-Nature in Shakya Chokden's Works
m (Text replacement - "commons.tsadra.org/images-commons" to "commons.tsadra.org/images")
 
Line 4: Line 4:
 
|link= http://purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW23200_83A22D
 
|link= http://purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW23200_83A22D
 
|header= Śākya Chokden: ''Thorough Establishment of the Glorious Original Buddha''
 
|header= Śākya Chokden: ''Thorough Establishment of the Glorious Original Buddha''
−
|image= https://commons.tsadra.org/images-commons/6/68/Shakya_Chokden_Thorough_Establishment_BDRC-front.png
+
|image= https://commons.tsadra.org/images/6/68/Shakya_Chokden_Thorough_Establishment_BDRC-front.png
 
|content=Treats tathāgatagarbha as jñāna imbued with deities, etc., that has to be identified
 
|content=Treats tathāgatagarbha as jñāna imbued with deities, etc., that has to be identified
 
and meditated upon
 
and meditated upon

Latest revision as of 12:12, 31 January 2023

Yaroslav Komarovski: On Where We Find Discussions of Buddha-Nature in Shakya Chokden's Works - 5 of 12
Video
Video
Previous Video
Shakya Chokden's Unique Views on Buddha-Nature by Yaroslav Komarovski: Conversations on Buddha-Nature
Next Video

Sources Mentioned

Text
Śākya Chokden: rgyud bla ma'i rnam bshad sngon med nyi ma sogs chos tshan bzhi
Four works including an exegesis on the Uttaratantra by an important Sakya scholar known for taking, at times, controversial stances that challenged the philosophical positions of even his own school. These works, thus, represent a unique view of buddha-nature that is unconfined by the sectarian affiliations that otherwise dominated the Tibetan philosophical landscape.
Text
Śākya Chokden: sangs rgyas kyi snying po'i rnam bshad mdo rgyud snying po
Śākya Chokden on buddha-nature. This text is a section of a more expansive work on the Ratnagotravibhāga, titled the rgyud bla ma'i rnam bshad sngon med nyi ma sogs chos tshan bzhi.
Text
Śākya Chokden: dpal gsang ba 'dus pa'i rnam bshad rin po che'i gter mdzod bdun pa
Śākya Chokden's commentary on the Guhyasamāja Tantra composed in 1504
Text
Śākya Chokden: Thorough Establishment of the Glorious Original Buddha
Treats tathāgatagarbha as jñāna imbued with deities, etc., that has to be identified and meditated upon
external link

Secondary Publications Mentioned

Article
Reburying the Treasure—Maintaining the Continuity: Two Texts by Śākya Mchog Ldan on the Buddha-Essence
The rich and interconnected universe of Śākya Mchog Ldan’s views, including those on the buddha-essence, cannot be limited to or summarized in a few neat categories. Nevertheless, the following two interrelated ideas are crucial for understanding Śākya Mchog Ldan’s interpretation of the buddha-essence: 1) only Mahāyāna āryas ( ’phags pa) have the buddha-essence characterized by the purity from adventitious stains (glo bur rnam dag); 2) the buddha-essence is inseparable from the positive qualities (yon tan, guṇa) of a buddha; In his writings, Śākya Mchog Ldan argues against identifying the buddha-essence as a mere natural purity (rang bzhin rnam dag), i.e., the state of natural freedom from obscurations as it is taught in the Middle or Second Wheel of Doctrine (chos ’khor, dharmacakra) and its commentaries. The buddha-essence has to be posited as inseparability from positive qualities of a buddha.

Śākya Mchog Ldan approaches the buddha-essence inseparable from positive qualities of a buddha in two ways. In some texts, such as the Essence of Sūtras and Tantras, he argues that it has to be identified only as purity from adventitious stains, i.e., the removal of all or some negative qualities that prevent one from directly seeing the buddha-essence. In other texts, such as The Sun Unseen Before, he interprets it as the purity from adventitious stains and the natural purity as it is taught in some sūtras of the Third Wheel of Doctrine and their commentaries. That type of natural purity is understood as the state of natural freedom from all obscurations inseparable from positive qualities of a buddha. Thereby, in this second type of texts, Śākya Mchog Ldan arrives at positing two types of the buddha-essence: relative (kun rdzob, saṃvṛti) and ultimate (don dam, paramārtha). Despite different interpretations of the natural purity, the identification of the buddha-essence as the purity from adventitious stains is present in both.

In his interpretation of the buddha-essence, Śākya Mchog Ldan utilizes the categories of the three levels found in the Sublime Continuum: the impure (ma dag, aśuddha), impure-pure (ma dag dag pa, aśuddhaśuddha, i.e. partially pure) and very pure (shin tu rnam dag, suviśuddha) levels that correspond respectively to the categories of sentient beings, bodhisattvas (understood as ārya bodhisattvas in this context), and tathāgatas.

Śākya Mchog Ldan argues that one becomes a possessor of the buddha-essence free from adventitious stains only on the impure-pure level. In other words, when bodhisattvas enter the Mahāyāna Path of Seeing (mthong lam, darśanamārga) simultaneously with the attainment of the first boddhisattva [sic] ground (byang chub sems pa’i sa, bodhisattavabhūmi) of Utmost Joy (rab tu dga’ ba, pramuditā), they become āryas, i.e. ‘exalted’ or ‘superior’, bodhisattvas, directly realize the ultimate truth (don dam bden pa, paramārthasatya), and thereby for the first time generate an antidote to obscurations of knowables (shes bya’i sgrib pa, jñeyāvaraṇa). They start gradually removing them, and thereby actually see at least a partial purification of stains ‘covering’ the buddha-essence, and its inseparability from at least some positive qualities. Such is not possible for anyone below that level, even for the non-Mahāyāna arhats (i.e., śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas). Thus, only Mahāyāna āryas have the buddha-essence characterized by the purity from adventitious stains; ārya bodhisattvas have only a part of it, while buddhas have it completely.

This article contains the complete text (in English translation) of The Essence of Sūtras and Tantras: Explanation of the Buddha-essence and The Sun Unseen Before: Definitive Meaning of the “Sublime Continuum” Treatise. (Source: DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln)
Komarovski, Yaroslav. "Reburying the Treasure—Maintaining the Continuity: Two Texts by Śākya Mchog Ldan on the Buddha-Essence." Journal of Indian Philosophy 34, no. 6 (2006): 521–70. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1078&context=classicsfacpub.

About the video

Featuring Yaroslav Komarovski, Karma Phuntsho
Creator Tsadra Foundation
Director Perman, M.
Producer Tsadra Foundation
Event Shakya Chokden's Unique Views on Buddha-Nature by Yaroslav Komarovski: Conversations on Buddha-Nature (30 October 2021)
Related Website Buddha-Nature
Creation Date 30 October 2021
Citation Komarovski, Yaroslav. "On Where We Find Discussions of Buddha-Nature in Shakya Chokden's Works." Conversations on Buddha-Nature with Lopen Dr. Karma Phuntsho. Produced by the Tsadra Foundation Research Department, October 30, 2021. Video, 4:46. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMiaDziTO9s.

prabhāsvaratā - In a general sense, that which clears away darkness, though it often appears in Buddhist literature in reference to the mind or its nature. It is a particularly salient feature of Tantric literature, especially in regard to the advanced meditation techniques of the completion-stage yogas. Skt. प्रभास्वर Tib. འོད་གསལ་ Ch. 光明

Retrieved from "https://buddhanature.tsadra.org/index.php?title=Media/Yaroslav_Komarovski:_On_Where_We_Find_Discussions_of_Buddha-Nature_in_Shakya_Chokden%27s_Works&oldid=61762"