The Bibliography

Selected Bibliography & Resources

This is a selected bibliography of academic and related references on the Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra and its commentaries. All book, article and dissertation sources mentioned above as root texts and translations are listed below. The above Tibetan texts, unless part of an academic work, are not listed below.

Books

• Brown, Brian Edward. The Buddha Nature: A Study of the Tathāgatagarbha and ālayavijñāna. Buddhist Traditions Series, 11. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, 1991. Reprint 1994.
• Brunnhölzl, Karl, ed., trans. Luminous Heart: The Third Karmapa on Consciousness, Wisdom, and Buddha Nature. Nitartha Institute Series. Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications, 2008.
• Coleman, James William. The Buddha's Dream of Liberation: Freedom, Emptiness, and Awakened Nature. Somerville: Wisdom Publications, 2017.
• Dalai Lama, 14th. The Buddha Nature: Death and Eternal Soul in Buddhism. Woodside, CA: Bluestar Communications, 1997. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2008.
• Duckworth, Douglas S.. Mipam on Buddha-Nature: The Ground of the Nyingma Tradition. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2008.
• Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche. Buddha-Nature, Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra, by Arya Maitreya. Edited by Alex Trisoglio. Khyentse Foundation, 2007. Contains side-by-side copies of the translations from Fuchs: Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra and Holmes:The Changeless Nature.
• Fuchs, Rosemarie. Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2000.
• Griffiths, P. J. and J. P. Keenan, eds. Buddha Nature: A Festschrift in Honor of Minoru Kiyota. San Francisco and Tokyo: Buddhist Books International, 1990.
• Prasad, H. S., ed. The Uttaratantra of Maitreya, containing E.H. Johnson's Sanskrit text and E. Obermiller's English translation. Bibliotheca Indo-Buddhica, 79. Delhi: Sri Satguru Publications, 1991.
• Holmes, Ken and Katia Holmes. Maitreya on Buddha nature: A New Translation of Asaṅga's Mahāyāna Uttara Tantra Śāstra. Forres: Altea, 1999.
• Holmes, Ken and Katia Holmes, trans. The Changeless Nature. Newcastle: Karma Kagyu Trust, 1985.
• Hookham, S. K.. Buddha Within: Tathagatagarbha Doctrine According to the Shentong Interpretation of the Ratnagotravibhaga. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1992.
• Hopkins, Jeffrey, trans., intro. Mountain Doctrine:Tibet's Fundametal Treatise on Other-Emptiness and the Buddha Matrix, by Döl-bo-ba Shay-rab-gyel-tsen (Dol po pa shes rab rgyal mtshan). Edited by Kevin Vose. Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications, 2006.
• Komarovski, Yaroslav. Visions of Unity: the golden paṇḍita Shakya Chokden's new interpretation of Yogācāra and Madhyamaka. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2011.
• King, Sallie B.. Buddha Nature. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1991.
• Kramer, Ralf. The Great Tibetan Translator: Life and Works of rNgog Blo ldan shes rab (1059–1109). Collectanea Himalayica. München: Indus Verlag, 2007.
• Loden, Geshe Acharya Thubten. Fundamental Potential for Enlightenment in Tibetan Buddhism. Melbourne: Tushita Publications, 1996.
• Mathes, Klaus-Dieter. 'Gos Lo tsā ba gZhon nu dpal's Commentary on the Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā, edited text in Tibetan script. Publications of the Nepal Research Centre 24, Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag. 2003. Reviewed by Pascale Hugon in Asiatische Studien, vol. 60, no. 1 (2006), pp. 246-253.
• Mathes, Klaus-Dieter. A Direct Path to the Buddha Within. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2008.
• Mipham ('jam mgon 'ju mi pham rgya mtsho). A Commentary on the Uttaratantra Shastra (rgyud bla ma) by Maitreya – Asanga. Translated by Padmakara Translation Group, John Canti, forthcoming.
• Rinchen, Geshe Sonam. Buddha Nature. New Delhi: Library of Tibetan Works & Archives, 2003.
• Ruegg, David Seyfort. Buddha-nature, Mind and the Problem of Gradualism in a Comparative Perspective: On the Transmission and Reception of Buddhism in India and Tibet. Jordan Lectures in Comparative Religion. RoutledgeCurzon, 1989.
• Ruegg, David Seyfort. La théorie du Tathāgatagarbha et du Gotra; études sur la sotériologie et la gnoséologie du bouddhisme. Paris: École Française d'Extrême Orient, 1969.
• Ruegg, David Seyfort and Bu-ston Rin-chen-grub. Le traité Du tathāgatagarbha de Bu ston Rin chen grub. Paris: École Française d'Extrême Orient, 1973.
• Sebastian, C. D.. Metaphysics and Mysticism in Mahāyāna Buddhism: An Analytical Study of the Ratnagotravibhāga-Mahāyānottaratantra-śāstraṃ. Delhi: Sri Satguru Publications, 2005.
• Stambaugh, Joan. Impermanence is Buddha-Nature: Dōgen's Understanding of Temporality. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1990.
• Stearns, Cyrus. The Buddha from Dölpo: a study of the life and thought of the Tibetan master Dölpopa Sherab Gyaltsen. Delhi, India: Motilal Banarsidass, 2002.
• 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.
• Thrangu Rinpoche. Buddha Nature: Ten Teachings on the Uttaratantra Shastra, by Arya Maitreya, Translated by Erik Pema Kunsang. Hong Kong: Rangjung Yeshe Publications, 1993, 1988.
• 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.
• Wangchuk, Tsering. The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows: Tibetan Thinkers Debate the Centrality of the Buddha-Nature Treatise. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2017.
• Zasep Tulku Rinpoche. Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttara Tantra Shastra, Maitreya's Root Text and Asanga's Commentary, based on a translation by Obermiller, E. Vancouver: Zuru Ling Tibetan Buddhist Centre, 2001.
• Zimmermann, Michael. A Buddha Within: The Tathāgatagarbhasūtra: The Earliest Exposition of the Buddha-Nature Teachings in India. Biblotheca Philologica et Philosophica Buddhica VI, Tokyo: The International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology, Soka University. 2002.

Book Chapters

• Chen, Shuman. “Buddha-Nature of Insentient Beings.” In The Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion, 218-212. Springer, 2nd ed., vol. 1, 2014.
• Burchardi, Anne. "Towards an understanding of Tathāgatagarbha interpretation in Tibet with special reference to the Ratnagotravibhāga." In Religion and Secular Culture in Tibet''. PIATS 2002, Leiden: Brill. 59-77.
• Duckworth, Douglas. "Buddha-Nature and the Logic of Pantheism." In The Buddhist World, edited by John Powers, 235-247. Abingdon, Oxon and New York, NY: Routledge, 2016.
• Grosnick, William H. "The Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra." In Buddhism in Practice, edited by Donald Lopez, 92-106. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995.
• Müller, Ralf. Philosophy and the Practice of Reflexivity. On Dogen's Discourse about Buddha-nature. In "What is philosophy?", edited by Raji Steineck et. al. Brill, forthcoming.
• Park, Jin. "The Wön Buddhist Practice of the Buddha-Nature." In Religions of Korea in Practice, edited by Robert E. Bushwell, Jr., 476-486. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2007.
• Swanson, Paul L. “T'ien-t'ai Chih'i's Concept of Threefold Buddha Nature-A Synergy of Reality, Wisdom, and Practice.” In Buddha Nature: A Festschrift in Honor of Minoru Kiyota, edited by Paul J. Griffiths and John P. Keenan, 171-180. Buddhist Books International, 1997.
• Zimmerman, Michael. “The Process of Awakening in Early Texts on Buddha-Nature in India.” In A Distant Mirror: Articulating Indic Ideas in Sixth and Seventh Century Chinese Buddhism, edited by Lin, Chen-kuo and Radich, Michael, 513–528. Hamburg Buddhist Studies, 3, Hamburg: Hamburg University Press, 2014.

Books Reviews

• Lusthaus, Dan. Review of Impermanence is Buddha-nature: Dōgen's Understanding of Temporailty, by Joan Stambaugh. Chanoyu Quarterly: Tea and the Arts of Japan 69: 69-72.
• Sur, Dominic. Review of The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows, by Tsering Wangchuk, Reading Religion, August 9, 2017, http://readingreligion.org/books/uttaratantra-land-snows.

Dissertations

• Bernert, Christian. "Rong-ston on Buddha-Nature: A Commentary on the Fourth Chapter of the Ratnagotravibhāga." Master's thesis. University of Vienna, 2009.
• Duckworth, Douglas. "Buddha-Nature and a Dialectic of Presence and Absence in the Works of Mi-Pham." PhD diss., University of Virginia, 2005.
• Germano, David Francis. "Poetic Thought, the Intelligent Universe, and the Mystery of Self: The Tantric Synthesis of rDzogs Chen in Fourteenth Century Tibet." PhD diss., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1992.
• Jiang, Bo. "Cataphatic Emptiness: rGyal-tshab on the Buddha-essence Theory of Asaṅga's Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā." PhD diss., Columbia University, 2008.
• Jorden, Ngawang. "Buddha-Nature: Through the Eyes of Go rams pa Bsod nams seng ge in Fifteenth-Century Tibet." PhD diss., Harvard University, 2003.
• Kano, Kazuo. "Chibeto ni okeru hōshōron no juyō to tenkai" (On the Acceptance and Development of the Ratnagotravibhāga in Tibet). Master's thesis, University of Kyoto, 2001.
• Kano, Kazuo. "rNgog Blo‐ldan‐shes‐rabʹs Summary of the Ratnagotravibhāga: The First Tibetan Commentary on a Crucial Source for the Buddha‐nature Doctrine." PhD diss., University of Hamburg, 2006.
• Khosla, Usha. "Study of the Tathagatagarbha as True Self and the True Selves of the Brahmanic, Sankhya and Jaina Traditions." PhD diss., University of Toronto, 2015.
• Miller, Adam Tyler. "The Buddha said that Buddha said so: a translation and analysis of "Pūrvayogaparivarta" from the Ratnaketu Dhāraṇī Sūtra.." PhD diss., University of Missouri-Columbia, 2013.
• Schaeffer, Kurtis. "The Enlightened Heart of Buddhahood: A Study and Translation of the Third Karma pa Rang byung rdo rje's Work on Tathāgatagarbha, The Bde bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po gtan la dbab pa." Master's thesis, University of Washington, 1995.
• Shu-Hui, Jennifer Chen. "Affirmation in Negation: A Study of the Tathāgatagarbha Theory in Light of the Bodhisattva Practices." PhD diss., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1998.
• Turenne, Philippe. "Interpretations of Unity: Hermeneutics in Śākya mchog ldan's Interpretation of the Five Treatises of Maitreya." PhD diss., McGill University, 2010.
• 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.

Articles

• Bailey, V.H. & E.H. Johnston. "A Fragment of the Uttratantra in Sanskrit." ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies'' 8 (1935): 77-89.
• Burchardi, Anne. "A Provisional List of Tibetan Commentaries on the Ratnagotravibhāga." ''Tibet Journal'' 31, no. 4 (Winter 2006): 3-46.
• Burchardi, Anne, "How Can a Momentary and Conditioned Mind Be Integral to Gzhan Stong?," Journal of Buddhist Philosophy 2 (2016): 55-77.
• Chen, Shuman. “Chinese Tiantai Doctrine on Insentient Things' Buddha-Nature.” Chung-Hwa Buddhist Journal, 24 (2011): 71-104.
• Duckworth, Douglas. "Onto-theology and Emptiness: The Nature of Buddha-Nature," Journal of the American Academy of Religion, vol. 82, no. 4, (2014): 1070–1090.
• Duckworth, Douglas. "Grounds of Buddha-Nature in Tibet." 불교학리뷰 Critical Review for Buddhist Studies 21 (2017): 109-136.
• D'Amato, Mario, "Can all Beings Potentially Attain Awakening? Gotra-theory in the Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra," Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 26, no. 1 (2003): 115-138.
• Groves, Nicholas, “Image-Likeness and ‘Tathāgatagarbha:’ A Reading of William of St. Thierry’s ‘Golden Epistle’ and the ‘Ratnagotravibhāga’.” Buddhist-Christian Studies 10 (January 1, 1990): 97-117.
• Gokhale, V. V., A Note on Ratnagotravibhāga I.52 + Bhagavadgītā XIII.32, contained in: Studies in Indology and Buddhology Presented in Honour of Professor Susumu Yamaguchi on the Occasion of His Sixtieth Birthday, Kyoto: Hozokan, 1955; 90-91.
• Gilks, Peter, Śākya mchog-ldan on ''gotra'' in Yogācāra and Madhyamaka," Paper presented at the XVIIth Congress of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, Vienna, August 2014.
• Higgins, David, "On the rDzogs chen Distinction between Mind (sems) and Primordial Knowing (ye shes): Clarifications and Transcendental Arguments," Journal of Buddhist Philosophy 2 (2016): 23-54.
• Kano, Kazuo, "Hōshōronchū kenkyū (1)—Phya pa niyoru hōshōron 1.26 kaishaku—(Study of Commentaries of the Ratnagotravibhāga (1)—Phya pa's Interpretation of the Verse 1.26). Indogaku Bukkyōgaku Kenkyū 51, no. 2 (2003): 109-11.
• Kano, Kazuo, "Rngog Blo ldan shes rab's Topical Outline of the Ranagotravibhāga Discovered at Khara Khoto," In Contributions to Tibetan Buddhist Literature, Orna Almogi (ed.), Proceedings of the Eleventh Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies (PIATS), Königswinter, 2006. Saale: International Institute for Tibetan and Buddhist Studies, 2008.
• Kano, Kazuo, "rṄog Blo ldan śes rab's position on the Buddha-nature doctrine and its influence on the early gSaṅ phu tradition," Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 32, no. 1-2 (2009) 2010: 249-283.
• Kano, Kazuo, "Ratnākaraśānti's Understanding of Buddha-nature," China Tibetology 25 (2015): 52-77.
• Kano, Kazuo, "Exegeses of the Ratnagotravibhāga in Kashmir in the 11th and 12th Century," Kōyasandaigaku daigakuin kiyō 15 (2016): 1-23.
• King, Sallie B, "Buddha Nature and the Concept of Person," Philosophy East and West 39, no 2 (1989): 151-170.
• Komarovski, Yaroslav, “Reburying the Treasure—Maintaining the Continuity: Two Texts by Shakya Chokden on the Buddha-Essence.” Journal of Indian Philosophy 34, no. 6 (2006): 52-570.
• Komarovski, Yaroslav, "Shakya Chokden’s Interpretation of the Ratnagotravibhāga: “Contemplative” or “Dialectical”?" Journal of Indian Philosophy 38, no. 4 (2010): 441-452.
• Komarovski, Yaroslav, "From the Three Natures to the Two Natures: On a Fluid Approach to the Two Versions of Other-Emptiness from Fifteenth-Century Tibet," Journal of Buddhist Philosophy 2 (2016): 78-113.
• Mathes, Klaus-Dieter, "'Gos Lo tsa ba gZhon nu dpal’s Commentary on the Dharmata Chapter of the Dharmadharmatavibhagakarikas.” Studies in Indian Philosophy and Buddhism, Tokyo University 12 (2005): 3-39.
• 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.
• Mathes, Klaus-Dieter, "Taranatha's Twenty-One Differences with Regard to the Profound Meaning," Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 27, no. 2 (2004): 285-328.
• Mathes, Klaus-Dieter, "Introduction: The History of the Rang stong-Gzhan stong Distinction from Its Beginning through the Ris-med Movement," Journal of Buddhist Philosophy 2 (2016): 4-8.
• Mathes, Klaus-Dieter, "Presenting a Controversial Doctrine in a Conciliatory Way: Mkhan chen Gang shar dbang po's (1925-1958/59?) Inclusion of Gzhan Stong ("Emptiness of Other") within Prāsaṅgika," Journal of Buddhist Philosophy 2 (2016): 114-13.
• Mathes, Klaus-Dieter, "The Eighth Karmapa Mi bskyod rdo rje (1507-1554) on the Relation between Buddha Nature and its Adventitious Stains." Critical Review for Buddhist Studies 22 (2017. 12), 63-104.
• Mathes, Klaus-Dieter, "Did ‘Gos Lo tsā ba gZhon nu dpal (1392-1481) Espouse a gZhan sTong View?." In: Fifteenth Century Tibet: Cultural Blossoming and Political Unrest. LIRI Seminar Proceedings Series 8. Lumbini: LIRI, 2017, 291-311.
• 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. Translated from the Tibetan with introduction and notes.
• Ruegg, David Seyfort, "The Meanings of the Term 'Gotra' and the Textual History of the 'Ratnagotravibhāga'." Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 39, no. 2 (January 1, 1976): 341-363.
• Ruegg, David Seyfort, "On the dGe Lugs Theory of the Tathāgatagarbha," in Pratidānam. J.C. Heesterman (ed.), The Hague: Mouton, 1968; 500-509.
• Scharf, Robert H. "Buddha-nature and Early Chan." Paper presented at "Tathāgatagarbha of Buddha-nature Thought: Its Formation, Reception, and Transformation in India, East Asia, and Tibet" conference, Seoul, Korea, August 6-7, 2016.
• Schmithausen, Lambert, "Philologische Bemerkungen zum Ratnagotravibhāga." Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde Südasiens 15 (1971): 123-77.
• Schmithausen, Lambert, "Zu D. Seyfort Rueggs Buch 'La Théorie du Tathāgatagarbha et du Gotra (Besprechungsaufsatz)." Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde Südasiens 22 (1973): 123-60.
• Smyer Yü, Dan, "The Sentient Reflexivity of Buddha Nature: Metamorphizing Tathagatagarbha." The World Religious Cultures, 14, 年第6期 世界 文化 宗教 (2012): 13-22.
• Takasaki, Jikidō, "The Tathāgatagarbha Theory Reconsidered: Reflections on Some Recent Issues in Japanese Buddhist Studies." Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 27, no. 1-2 (2000): 74-83.
• Turenne, Philippe, "The History and Significance of the Tibetan Concept of the Five Treatises of Maitreya." Indian International Journal of Buddhist Studies 16 (2015): 215-233.
• Wang, Youru, "Reification and Deconstruction of Buddha Nature in Chan Chinese". Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy Vol. III, no. 1 (2003): 63-84.
• Wangchuk, Tsering, "Can We Speak of Kadam Gzhan Stong?: Tracing the Sources for Other-Emptiness in Early-Fourteenth-Century Tibet." Journal of Buddhist Philosophy 2 (2016): 9-22.
• Wangchuk, Tsering, "In Defense of His Guru: Dratsepa’s Rebuttal to the Challenges Articulated by the Proponents of the Other-Emptiness Doctrine." Journal of Indian Philosophy, vol. 39, no. 2 (2011): 147-165.
• Wangchuk, Tsering, "Dolpopa and Gyaltsab Debate Tathāgatagarbha: Two Distinct Interpretations of Buddha Nature in Tibet." Religion Compass 4, no. 11, (2010): 669-678.

Web / Electronic Publications

• Gyatso, Tenzin (discourse, 1982) & Berzin, Alexander (translation and transcription, 2008). "Buddha-Nature, Day One of a Discourse on 'Uttaratantra'; Part Two: The First Three Verses of Chapter One." Discourse by His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Bodh Gaya, India, January 17, 1982. Translated by Alexander Berzin and revised, January 2008. Source: [1]
• Martin, Dan. Selected Entries from Tibskrit 2011
• Sarlat, Stephen L., trans. Traité de la Continuité ultime du Grand Véhicule de Maitreya, avec le commentaire de Jamgœun Kongtrul Rimpoché, L'Inéluctable Rugissement du lion. With Commentary by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche. 2007. Source: [2]

Audio

• Khenpo Namdrol 2008 Teachings on Buddha Nature. Translated from the Tibetan by Gavin Kilty.
• Duckworth, Douglas. "Buddha Nature in Tibet: Transformation of the Ground." Rangjung Yeshe Institute, SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/rangjung-yeshe-institute/dr-douglas-duckworth-buddha-nature-in-tibet-transformations-of-the-ground.

Visual Resource

English visual outline of Arya Maitreya's Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra and its commentary The Unassailable Lion's Roar by Jamgön Kongtrul Lodro Thaye

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

An important sūtra source for the Ratnagotravibhāga, particularly for its discussion of the nine examples that illustrate how all sentient beings possess buddha-nature.

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.

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