"Rinchen Yeshe, an expert on the five works of Maitreya, flourished in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and was primarily a teacher of Tokme Zangpo (1295–1369). He also briefly taught Dölpopa and is mentioned in Butön’s biography as an esteemed colleague." (Adapted from When the Clouds Part, p. 308.)
Library Items
Tanak Rinchen Yeshe: Illumination of the Definitive Meaning: A Commentary on the Uttaratantra in Relation to the Sūtras
A voluminous commentary on the Uttaratantra, which, as its title suggests, presents the treatise as a definitive work and elucidates it vis-a-vis the sūtras that are cited within it. It is noteworthy for its scholarship, as an early example of a Tibetan locating the scriptural source material of the Uttaratantra, as well as being widely considered an influential precursor to Dölpopa's treatment of the text.
Rgyud bla ma'i 'grel pa mdo dang sbyar ba nges pa'i don gyi snang ba;Provisional or definitive;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Tibetan Buddhism;Zhentong;Tanak Rinchen Yeshe;རྟ་ནག་རིན་ཆེན་ཡེ་ཤེས་;rta nag rin chen ye shes;rin chen ye shes;rta nag rin ye;རིན་ཆེན་ཡེ་ཤེས་;རྟ་ནག་རིན་ཡེ་;rgyud bla ma'i 'grel pa mdo dang sbyar ba nges pa'i don gyi snang ba;རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་འགྲེལ་པ་མདོ་དང་སྦྱར་བ་ངེས་པའི་དོན་གྱི་སྣང་བ།;རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་འགྲེལ་པ་མདོ་དང་སྦྱར་བ་ངེས་པའི་དོན་གྱི་སྣང་བ།
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
- "Rinchen Yeshé quotes from these last-wheel sutras to show that the tathāgata-essence endowed with the marks and signs of a buddha (sangs rgyas kyi mtshan dang dpe byad) naturally exists in all sentient beings."
- "Therefore, for Rinchen Yeshé, buddha-nature is not simply a causal potential to achieve enlightenment; rather it is endowed with an inherent enlightened entity that is naturally free from all delusions, but temporarily covered by adventitious defilements."
Wangchuk, Tsering. The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows, pp. 35-36
To which "turning of the wheel" do the buddha-nature teachings belong?
Third Turning
- "He obviously contrasts the last-wheel teachings that teach ultimate definite meaning from the middle-wheel sutras such as the Prajñāpāramitāsūtras that, according to him, do not primarily teach the ultimate definitive meaning. Rather, as Rinchen Yeshé argues: 'All phenomena that are taught as empty of true existence in the middle wheel teachings, like illusions and so forth, refer [only] to conditioned conventional phenomena. The sugata-essence (bde gshegs snying po) that is explained as true and unchanging in the last wheel teachings refers to the ultimate dharma-reality, an unconditioned phenomenon.' Therefore, the middle-wheel teachings explain how conventional phenomena, such as tables, chairs, and the like, are empty of inherent existence like an illusory image. These sutras do not explicate the unconditioned ultimate truth that is primarily taught in the definitive last-wheel
sutras." Wangchuk, Tsering. The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows, p. 36.
Is buddha-nature equated with emptiness or alayavijnana?
Yogācāra
Though this is perhaps up for debate, he certainly sides with the works of Maitreya and the last wheel sūtras over those of the Prajñāpāramitāsūtras and the associated Madhyamaka works, which he labels as a "nihilistic emptiness (chad pa'i stong pa nyid). See Wangchuk, Tsering. The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows, p. 36.
Do buddha-nature teachings belong to the zhentong or rangtong view of emptiness?
Zhentong
Technically he was more of a precursor to this view, though as an important teacher to Dölpopa, especially for the Five Treatises of Maitreya it is no wonder that the latter's view is heavily indebted to Rinchen Yeshe. See
- Wangchuk, Tsering. The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows, pp. 35-36.
- Brunnhölzl, K., When the Clouds Part, pp. 308-309.
What is Buddha-nature?
Tathāgatagarbha as the Emptiness That is an Implicative Negation (with enlightened qualities)
He doesn't state this explicitly but his presentation fall within this category. For instance:
- "...he argues, 'Because freedom from adventitious defilements is the very nature of the tathāgata-element since the primordial time, there are no afflictive emotions that need to be eliminated [from the element]. Because the perfect dharma-reality that is indivisible from enlightened qualities is the very nature of the tathāgata-element, there are no virtuous qualities that need to be newly acquired.'" Wangchuk, Tsering. The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows, p. 35.
Other names
- རིན་ཆེན་ཡེ་ཤེས་ · other names (Tibetan)
- རྟ་ནག་རིན་ཡེ་ · other names (Tibetan)
- rin chen ye shes · other names (Wylie)
- rta nag rin ye · other names (Wylie)
- Notes on names: There seems to be some confusion with this person and Zhang rin chen ye shes. In terms of the authorship of this work rgyud bla ma'i 'grel pa, BDRC attributes it to Zhang rin chen ye shes, while Tsering Wangchuk in The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows repeatedly associates this work with rta nag rin chen ye shes, though this assessment seems to be based, at least partially, on the research of Cyrus Stearns found in The Buddha from Dölpo.
Affiliations & relations
- Kadam · religious affiliation
- smon lam mgon · teacher
- Thogs med bzang po · student
- Dol po pa · student
