11:00 am – Tsadra Conferences

Buddhist Tropes of Masculinity

Gwen Witt Dorring — Fri, 18 Nov 2022 11:20:03 +0000

Translating Voices from the Margins

Gwen Witt Dorring — Fri, 18 Nov 2022 11:09:59 +0000

Translating Contemporary Women’s Writing

Gwen Witt Dorring — Fri, 18 Nov 2022 09:30:02 +0000

Yab Yum Symbolism, Heteronormativity, and Translating Sexual Yoga

Gwen Witt Dorring — Fri, 18 Nov 2022 09:15:01 +0000

Literary & Liturgical Representations of Women & the Feminine

Gwen Witt Dorring — Fri, 18 Nov 2022 09:12:00 +0000

Translation Fidelity or Intervention—when should translators sanitize misogyny, explain it, reproduce it, or refuse to translate it?

Gwen Witt Dorring — Fri, 18 Nov 2022 09:10:02 +0000

Inclusive/Feminist approaches to Buddhist translation

Gwen Witt Dorring — Fri, 18 Nov 2022 09:10:00 +0000

Power Dynamics in Fe/male Literary Dialogues

Gwen Witt Dorring — Fri, 18 Nov 2022 09:09:59 +0000

Buddha Nature as Seen by Early Bka’ brgyud Masters

Gwen Witt Dorring — Fri, 13 Sep 2019 06:34:18 +0000

Sgam po pa (1079-1153), whose way of teaching had such an impact on his disciples that the traditions evolving from them were all summed up under the umbrella Dwags po Bka’ brgyud, is well known for his Precious Ornament of Liberation (Thar pa rin po che’i rgyan). He begins this Mahāyāna manual by emphasizing that the very basis for the spiritual process culminating in awakening is *sugatagarbha and proceeds to identify buddha-nature with emptiness. On a first glance this seems to resemble presentations of buddha-nature from a negating perspective. However, in a number of his other teachings recorded by his disciples and collected in his gSung ‘bum, he is very specific in his understanding of mind’s emptiness. In his “Excellent Qualities, Teachings to the Assembly” (Tshogs chos yon tan phun tshogs), he points out that mind is not mere essencelessness, but rather coemergent wisdom which he in turn equates with natural awareness (tha mal gyi shes pa), both key terms of Bka’ brgyud Mahāmudrā. While Sgam po pa rather uses this terminology and hardly ever the term buddha-nature, La yag pa (12 c.), one of his immediate disciples, explicitly equates nonarising, coemergent wisdom, and natural awareness with buddha-nature imbued with inconceivable buddha qualities. A century later, during the time of the Third Karma pa (1284–1339), it had become standard that Bka’ brgyud masters equated natural awareness with buddha-nature endowed with qualities while simultaneously refraining from attributing any substantial quality to it. This paper’s intention is to take a closer look at the early masters and explore how their meditation-oriented approach is based in both affirming buddha-nature as the ground and goal of Buddhist soteriology and avoiding its reification into an entity with real properties.

The Role of the Ratnagotravibhāga in Tā ra nā tha’s dBu ma theg mchog

Gwen Witt Dorring — Fri, 13 Sep 2019 06:26:06 +0000

Tā ra nā tha (1575-1635) is considered second in importance to Dol po pa Shes rab rgyal mtshan (1292-1361) regarding the proclamation of gzhan stong and the number of his authored works. He clarified and expanded Dol po pa’s exegesis of gzhan stong unlike anyone before him. Tā ra nā tha’s dBu ma theg mchog covers a variety of topics relevant to the gzhan stong view, including essential Mahāyāna concepts that range from Yogācāra to Madhyamaka and from the Laṅkāvatārasūtra to the Tathāgatagarbhasūtra.

In the third chapter of the dBu ma theg mchog, Tā ra nā tha gives a detailed presentation of buddha-nature, which he equates to the dharmadhātu and suchness. The Ratnagotravibhāga is quoted extensively and exclusively in this chapter, while the Mahāyānasūtrālaṁkāra is quoted throughout the dBu ma theg mchog. This chapter is divided into nine main points, and the fourth point alone, referred to as “endowed with all aspects,” is illustrated by six verses from the Ratnagotravibhāga. However, also most of the other points (permanence, pervasion, wakefulness, unmixed/untainted and union) are attested by direct quotes from the Ratnagotravibhāga.

This study will examine the ways in which Tā ra nā tha utilizes the Ratnagotravibhāga in his dBu ma theg mchog to assert his understanding of buddha-nature as gzhan stong. It will be based on the root text as well as the commentary written by Tā ra nā tha’s disciple Ye shes rgya mtsho according to direct yearly instructions from Tā ra nā tha himself. As Tā ra nā tha is known to have expanded and systemized Dol po pa’s view, Tā ra nā tha’s position will also be compared to that of Dol po pa.