A Kadam scholar from Sangpu Neutok Monastery that was known for his expertise in the Five Treatises of Maitreya. He was a senior contemporary of both Dölpopa and Butön and a teacher of the Sakya scholar Yakde Paṇchen and the Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje.
Library Items
- The Precious Lamp That Illuminates the Definitive Meaning of the Mahāyāna Uttaratantra Treatise
An extensive commentary on the Uttaratantra written by a contemporary of Dölpopa and Butön during the height of the debate over the definitive nature of the treatise and its teaching on buddha-nature. Lodrö Tsungme presents an interpretation of buddha-nature which is different from what is given by many masters of Sangphu including Ngok Loden Sherab. As his position are quite similar to what Longchenpa espoused later, the commentary was mistakenly attributed to Longchenpa by some Nyingma followers.
Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi nges don gsal bar byed pa'i rin po che'i gron me;theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi nges don gsal bar byed pa'i rin po che'i gron me;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་ངེས་དོན་གསལ་བར་བྱེད་པའི་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་སྒྲོན་མེ།;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་ངེས་དོན་གསལ་བར་བྱེད་པའི་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་སྒྲོན་མེ།
On the topic of this person
Wangchuk, Tsering: The Uttaratantra in the Age of Argumentation: Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen and His Fourteenth-Century Interlocutors on Buddha-Lineage
This dissertation examines the intellectual history of the Uttaratantra in Tibet from the 12th century to the early 15th century. It is between these centuries that the text, which is one of the most authoritative works on the notion of tathāgata-essence, takes its shape in Tibet through the writings of some of the most formidable Tibetan thinkers of the time.
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.
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.;The Uttaratantra in the Age of Argumentation: Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen and His Fourteenth-Century Interlocutors on Buddha-Lineage;Debate(s);Defining buddha-nature;History;History of buddha-nature in Tibet;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Tibetan Buddhism;Uttaratantra;Rngog blo ldan shes rab;Phywa pa chos kyi seng+ge;Provisional or definitive;Ngok Tradition;Tsen Tradition;Sa skya paN+Di ta;Bcom ldan rig pa'i ral gri;Dge 'dun 'od zer;Rta nag rin chen ye shes;Gsang phu ba blo gros mtshungs med;Karmapa, 3rd;Dol po pa;gzhan stong;rang stong;Yogācāra;Madhyamaka;Provisional or definitive;Sa bzang ma ti paN chen blo gros rgyal mtshan;Thogs med bzang po;Klong chen pa;Bu ston rin chen grub;Sgra tshad pa rin chen rnam rgyal;Red mda' ba gzhon nu blo gros;Tsong kha pa;Rgyal tshab rje dar ma rin chen;Tsering Wangchuk; The Uttaratantra in the Age of Argumentation: Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen and His Fourteenth-Century Interlocutors on Buddha-Lineage
The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows
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. (Source: SUNY Press)
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.
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.;The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows;Uttaratantra;History of buddha-nature in Tibet;Debates / Debate;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Tibetan Buddhism;Ngok Tradition;Tsen Tradition;Kadam;Sakya;Geluk;Jonang;Rngog blo ldan shes rab;Phywa pa chos kyi seng+ge;Sa skya paN+Di ta;Bcom ldan rig pa'i ral gri;Karmapa, 3rd;Gsang phu ba blo gros mtshungs med;Rta nag rin chen ye shes;Bu ston rin chen grub;tridharmacakrapravartana;Madhyamaka;Yogācāra;Sa bzang ma ti paN chen blo gros rgyal mtshan;Klong chen pa;Dol po pa;Sgra tshad pa rin chen rnam rgyal;Red mda' ba gzhon nu blo gros;Tsong kha pa;Rgyal tshab rje dar ma rin chen;rang stong;gzhan stong;Provisional or definitive;Tsering Wangchuk; The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows: Tibetan Thinkers Debate the Centrality of the Buddha-Nature Treatise;Rngog blo ldan shes rab;phywa pa chos kyi seng+ge;Rje btsun grags pa rgyal mtshan;Bu ston rin chen grub;blo gros mtshungs med;Sa bzang ma ti paN chen blo gros rgyal mtshan;dge 'dun 'od zer;Thogs med bzang po;klong chen pa;sgra tshad pa rin chen rnam rgyal;Red mda' ba gzhon nu blo gros;tsong kha pa;Rgyal tshab rje dar ma rin chen;Dol po pa
Philosophical positions of this person
Do all beings have buddha-nature?
Yes
- "He claims that tathāgata-essence exists in all sentient beings in a fully enlightened form. He states that: the dharma-body is dharma-reality indivisible from [buddha] qualities. Since there is no objection to the fact that the dharma-body exists pervasively in all sentient beings, in the manner of one entity; it is unacceptable to present it, [i.e., the existence of the dharma-body in sentient beings] as [merely] imputed." Wangchuk, Tsering. The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows, p. 32.
- "Blo-gros mtshungs-med asserts that... sentient beings truly possess the dharmakāya, which is the dharmadhātu inseparable from the qualities." Kano, K., Buddha-Nature and Emptiness, p. 329.
To which "turning of the wheel" do the buddha-nature teachings belong?
Third Turning
"Sangpu Lodrö's commentary frames the Uttaratantra in a positive light, arguing that it is a commentary on definitive sutras included in the last-wheel teachings..." Wangchuk, Tsering. The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows, p. 31.
Is buddha-nature equated with emptiness or alayavijnana?
Madhyamaka
"Nevertheless, even though the Uttaratantra and the sutras on which the Uttaratantra is based occupy a position of higher scriptural authority than the middle-wheel teachings of the Prajñāpāramitāsūtras, Sangpu Lodrö claims that both the middle-wheel scriptures and the Uttaratantra teach emptiness. He argues: 'The sutras for the Uttaratantra and the Uttaratantra [itself] do not contradict the Prajñāpāramitāsūtras because the emptiness of inherent existence of all phenomena taught there [in the Prajñāpāramitāsūtras] is the dharma-body explicated here [in the last wheel sutras and the Uttaratantra].'" Wangchuk, Tsering. The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows, p. 33.
Are there one or three vehicles on the path to buddhahood?
1
"Blo-gros-mtshungs-med for his part is more intent on harmonizing the expression in the RGV with other scriptures, and probably was fully conscious of the fact that lack of reverence for śrāvakas contradicted his ekayāna stance." Kano, K., Buddha-Nature and Emptiness, p. 327.
What is Buddha-nature?
There are several types of Tathāgatagarbha
- "One of the central doctrinal points of Blo-gros-mtshungs-med’s position is the two modes of Buddha-nature: the gnosis aspect and sphere aspect. Under the former, Buddha-nature is existent in terms of its qualities, while under the latter it is empty in terms of its mode of existence. Kano, K., Buddha-Nature and Emptiness, p. 336.
Affiliations & relations
- Kadam · religious affiliation
- g.yag sde paN chen · student
- rang byung rdo rje · student
