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The Understanding of Buddha-Nature by Mipam Gyatso, His Students, and Scholars on Mipam
Khenpo starts his presentation by discussing the transmission of buddha-nature literature, particularly the Ultimate Continuum, to Tibet. Khenpo suspects that Mipam Gyatso might have considered the Ultimate Continuum and Distinguishing Phenomena and Their Nature to have been translated during the early diffusion of the dharma in the late eighth and early ninth century. This is different from the general claim that the Ultimate Continuum reached Tibet only in the later diffusion after Maitrīpa revealed it from a stūpa in the 11th century. It is likely that Mipam used the mention of the five treatises of Maitreya in Ugyen Lingpa's kathang biography of Guru Rinpoche as the main reason for this.
Khenpo then explains how Mipam saw the five works of Maitreya in terms of their doxographical affiliation, which Mipam explains in his commentary on Distinguishing Phenomena and Their Nature. Although Mipam takes the Ultimate Continuum, the main classic on buddha-nature, to be Mādhyamika in its ultimate purport, he does not mention whether it is aligned to Prāsaṅgika or Svātantrika Mādhyamika. It appears he considered it as a primary or root text (gzhung phyi mo) of the Mādhyamikas. The students of Mipam, including Zhechen Gyaltsab, Bodpa Trulku, Kaḥthog Situ, and Kunzang Palden also carried on his interpretation and understanding of the Ultimate Continuum as a Mādhyamika text, some classifying it as a text of the Prāsaṅgika school.
Discussing Mipam's understanding of buddha-nature, Khenpo states that Mipam did not accept buddha-nature to be mere emptiness as the Gelukpas accepted it or a truly established entity as some Tibetan scholars taught. He says Mipam considered buddha-nature to be empty because it is negated by the ultimate analysis. Yet, on the highest conventional level, buddha-nature exists latent in all sentient beings with all the sublime qualities of the Buddha. Thus, in this context, buddha-nature is empty of other afflictive emotions and impurities but not of the sublime qualities which are innate traits of buddha-nature. Before Mipam, Rongzom focused on the emptiness aspect of buddha-nature and Longchenpa on the luminosity of the nature of the mind. Mipam sought a balanced presentation, resulting in the union of emptiness and luminosity.
While Mipam's position may be considered to be rangtong because he asserted the lack of the true self-existence of buddha-nature, he also defended the zhentong position, leading many modern scholars to mistakenly think he is an adherent of the zhentong tradition. Khenpo Tsultrim Norbu explores the position of Mipam in his various writings, of his disciples, and also of the modern scholars who work on Mipam.Abstract from the Author
About the video
| Featuring | Khenpo Tsultrim Norbu |
|---|---|
| Creator | Tsadra Foundation |
| Director | Perman, M. |
| Producer | Tsadra Foundation |
| Event | 2023 Buddha-Nature Conference Kathmandu (2 June 2023, Shechen Monastery, Kathmandu) |
| Related Website | Buddha-Nature |
| Creation Date | 2 June 2023 |
| Citation | Tsultrim Norbu, Khenpo. "Khenpo Tsultrim Norbu at the 2023 Buddha-Nature Conference." Day 2, Talk 6. 2023 Buddha-Nature Conference, Shechen Monastery, Kathmandu. Produced by the Tsadra Foundation Research Department. Video, 58:51. https://youtu.be/7_Exz6x36lw. |
