Theos-Talk Archives (June 1999 Message tt00076)

Jerry Schueler wrote:

> Recently I have been re-reading Nagarjuna, whose middle way doctrine
> denounces all extremes.  According to Nagajuna, even HPB's Beness,
> Space, and Motion, have to go. Even emptiness is empty.

But Paul Williams in MAHAYANA BUDDHISM:  The Doctrinal Foundations, p. 108,
writes:

". . . but the Jo nang pas and others insisted that Nagarjuna's explicit final
teachings of an inherently existing Ultimate can be found in certain of his
hymns, particularly the *Dharmadhatustava*. . . ."

In Williams' book, read chapter on "The Tathagatagarbha
(Buddha-essence/Buddha-nature)," pp. 96-115 for an overview, especially pp.
105-109 on "Tibet---The Gzhan Stong and Rang Stong Dispute").

Blavatsky students might like to study  what HPB writes about the Absolute as
well as what is found in the VOICE about the Buddha Nature and then compare with
the Jo nang pa view found in the following two sources.

Read about the 2 different kinds of "emptiness" in a new book about the Jo nang
pa founder Dolpopa.  This book was just released May 27th by SUNY Press:

THE BUDDHA FROM DOLPO
A Study of the Life and Thought of the Tibetan Master Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen
by Cyrus Stearns
http://www.sunypress.edu/NEW/newC41911.html

Examines the life and thought of Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen (1292-1361), one of the
most important thinkers in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and one whose ideas
have excited controversy from his day to the present.

"A pioneering work on the life and ideas of one of the most important and
controversial, yet little understood, figures in Tibetan Buddhist intellectual
history."-Roger Jackson, Carleton College

The Buddha from Dolpo examines the life and thought of the Tibetan Buddhist
master, Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen (1292- 1361). Known as "The Buddha from Dolpo,"
he was one of the most important and original thinkers in Tibetan history, and
perhaps the greatest expert on the tantric teachings of the Kalacakra or "Wheel
of Time." Based largely upon esoteric Buddhist knowledge believed to be
preserved in the legendary land of Shambhala, Dolpopa's theories continue to
excite controversy in Tibetan Buddhism after almost 700 years.

Dolpopa emphasized two contrasting definitions of the Buddhist teachings of
emptiness: "emptiness of self-nature," which applies only to the level of
relative truth, and "emptiness of other," which applies only to the level of
absolute truth. Dolpopa
identified ultimate reality as the Buddha-nature inherent in all living beings.
This view of an "emptiness of other," known in Tibetan as Zhentong, is Dolpopa's
main spiritual legacy.

This book contains the first translations into any language of major works by
Dolpopa. A General Commentary on the Doctrine is one of the earliest texts in
which he systematically presented his view of the entire Buddhist path to
enlightenment. The Fourth Council, written at the end of his life, may be viewed
as a final summation of his ideas.

Cyrus Stearns's book describes both Dolpopa's life and his ideas. Earlier
Tibetan precedents for the Zhentong view are also discussed, as well as
Dolpopa's own unique use of language and the major influences on the development
of his controversial
theories. The fate of his tradition, which was censured by the Tibetan
government in the seventeenth century, is examined, and several of the most
important adherents to the Zhentong theory are also discussed.

Cyrus Stearns is a longtime student of Tibetan language and religion, and has
served as a translator for Tibetan teachers of all traditions. For many years he
has studied with and translated for Chogye Trichen Rinpoche and the late Dezhung
Tulku Rinpoche. Cyrus has a Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from the University of
Washington in Seattle, and is the author of several articles on Buddhism.

A volume in the SUNY series in Buddhist Studies, Matthew Kapstein, editor

318 pages June 1999
$20.95 paperback ISBN 0-7914-4192-X
$62.50 hardcover ISBN 0-7914-4191-1
**************************************

BUDDHA WITHIN, THE
Tathagatagarbha Doctrine According to the Shentong Interpretation of the
Ratnagotravibhaga
S. K. Hookham
http://www.sunypress.edu/backads/hookhambuddha.html

Tathagatagarbha -- Buddha Nature -- is a central concept of Mahayana Buddhism
crucial to all the living practice traditions
of Tibetan and Zen Buddhism. Its relationship to the concept of emptiness has
been a subject of controversy for seven
hundred years. Dr. Hookam's work investigates the divergent interpretations of
these concepts and the way the Tibetan
tradition is resolving them.

In particular she does this with reference to the only surviving Indian
commentary on the Tathagatagarbha doctrine, the
Ratnagotravibhaga. This text addresses itself directly to the issue of how to
relate the doctrine of emptiness (the illusory
nature of the world) to that of the truly existing, changeless Absolute (the
Buddha Nature).

This is the first work by a Western writer to present an analysis of the
Shentong tradition based on previously untranslated
sources. The Shentong view rests on meditative experience that is inaccessible
to the conceptualizing mind. It is deeply
rooted in the sutra tradition of Indian Buddhism and is central to an
understanding of the Mahamudra and Dzogchen
traditions and Tantric practice among Kagyupas and Hyingmapas.

"It takes a very good mind to have a synoptic view of the whole Buddhist
movement with the key doctrine well in focus. The
author has demonstrated a fine blend of the ideological and practical nature of
things. We are treated to a fine analysis of the
historical and ideological developments from India proper to Tibet, including
some references to China, and on up to the
20th century interpretation. This will become a pivotal work for future studies
on the subject. It will bring Tibetan studies to a
new high in terms of its focus."
-- Kenneth Inada, State University of New York at Buffalo.

S. K. Hookham is at Oxford University.

A volume in the SUNY series in
Buddhist Studies

Kenneth Inada, editor

422 pages May 1991
paperback ISBN 0-7914-0358-0
hardcover ISBN 0-7914-0357-2
++++++++++++++++++++++++

Both SUNY books can be ordered over the phone at 1-800-666-2211.
Also see  SUNY's order page at http://www.sunypress.edu/order.html

+++++++++++++++++++

For an indepth commentary on  "Gzhan Stong," and related issues, see "A Response
to John Pettit" by Paul Williams at
http://jbe.la.psu.edu/6/williams991.htm


Daniel Caldwell







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