Research Catalog

Title

The Uttaratantra in the land of snows : Tibetan thinkers debate the centrality of the Buddha-nature treatise / by Tsering Wangchuk.

Author

Wangchuk, Tsering, 1970-

Publication

Albany : SUNY Press, [2017]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xii, 208 pages; 24 cm

Summary

• Examines various Tibetan interpretations of the Uttaratantra, the most authoritative Indic commentary on buddha-nature.
• With its emphasis on the concept of buddha-nature, or the ultimate nature of mind, the Uttaratantra is a classical Buddhist treatise that lays out an early map of the Mahāyāna path to enlightenment. Tsering Wangchuk unravels the history of this important Indic text in Tibet by examining numerous Tibetan commentaries and other exegetical texts on the treatise that emerged between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries. These commentaries explored such questions as: Is the buddha-nature teaching found in the Uttaratantra literally true, or does it have to be interpreted differently to understand its ultimate meaning? Does it explicate ultimate truth that is inherently enlightened or ultimate truth that is empty only of independent existence? Does the treatise teach ultimate nature of mind according to the Cittamātra or the Madhyamaka School of Mahāyāna? By focusing on the diverse interpretations that different textual communities employed to make sense of the Uttaratantra, Wangchuk provides a necessary historical context for the development of the text in Tibet.

Subject

• Ratnagotravibhāga > Criticism, interpretation, etc
• Ratnagotravibhāga
• Mahayana Buddhism > Tibet Region
• Mahayana Buddhism
• Buddha-Natur
• Mahayana
• Rezeption
• Yogācāra
• Tibet Region
• Tibet

Genre/Form

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 181-190) and index.

Contents

Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Part I: Early period: Kadam thinkers rescue the treatise -- Rise of the Uttaratantra in Tibet: Kadam scholars revitalize the newly discovered Indian exegesis -- Sowing seeds for future debate: dissenters and adherents -- Part II: The pinnacle period: the other-emptiness interpretation spreads -- Other emptiness tradition: the Uttaratantra in Dolpopa's works -- The Uttaratantra in fourteenth-century Tibet -- Part III: The argumentation period: self-emptiness proponents criticize other-emptiness approach -- Challenges to the supremacy of the Uttaratantra: Rendawa and Tsongkhapa on Tathagata-essence literature -- Gyeltsap's commentary on the Uttaratantra: a critique of Dolpopa's interpretation of Tathagata-essence literature -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index.

ISBN

• 9781438464657
• 1438464657
• 9781438464671 (canceled/invalid)

LCCN

2016031424

OCLC

• ocn961828670
• 961828670
• SCSB-1882162

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library