Media/Yaroslav Komarovski: On Shakya Chokden's Understanding of Madhyamaka

Yaroslav Komarovski: On Shakya Chokden's Understanding of Madhyamaka - 10 of 12

Video

Video

Previous Video

Shakya Chokden's Unique Views on Buddha-Nature by Yaroslav Komarovski: Conversations on Buddha-Nature

Next Video

Secondary Publications Mentioned

Book

Visions of Unity

---

A detailed study of controversial Tibetan Buddhist thinker Śākya Chokden, a fifteenth-century Sakya philosopher who wrote extensively on Yogācāra and Madhyamaka in an attempt to synthesize the two, this book presents Yaroslav Komarovski's dissertation research. Komarovski skillfully places Śākya Chokden in a long history of Yogācāra-Madhyamaka syntheses, a tradition that Śākya Chokden accused Tsongkhapa of abandoning in his radical interpretation of Candrakīrti and rejection of all positive-language doctrine. Although his writings were recognized for their brilliance, his criticisms of Tsongkhapa and Sakya Paṇḍita, and his qualified acceptance of "other-emptiness" (gzhan stong), meant that he was almost entirely rejected by his peers. In dense but readable prose Komarovski explains how Śākya Chokden reclassified elements of each (the Satyākāravāda doctrine of the Yogācāra, and the Prasaṅgika branch of the Madhyamaka) as true Madhyamaka; each was capable of bringing people to a realization of the ultimate, one with positive language and the other with negative.

Komarovski, Yaroslav. Visions of Unity: The Golden Paṇḍita Shakya Chokden's New Interpretation of Yogācāra and Madhyamaka. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2011.

Komarovski, Yaroslav. Visions of Unity: The Golden Paṇḍita Shakya Chokden's New Interpretation of Yogācāra and Madhyamaka. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2011.;Visions of Unity;Sakya;Madhyamaka;Yogācāra;gzhan stong;ShAkya mchog ldan;Yaroslav Komarovski;Visions of Unity: The Golden Paṇḍita Shakya Chokden's New Interpretation of Yogācāra and Madhyamaka

Book

Radiant Emptiness

---

In Radiant Emptiness, Yaroslav Komarovski offers an annotated translation of three seminal works on the nature and relationship of the Yogacara and Madhyamaka schools of Buddhist thought, by Serdok Penchen Shakya Chokden (1428-1507). There has never been consensus on the meaning of Madhyamaka and Yogacara, and for more than fifteen centuries the question of correct identification and interpretation of these systems has remained unsolved. Chokden proposes to accept Yogacara and Madhyamaka on their own terms as compatible systems, despite their considerable divergences and reciprocal critiques. His major objective is to bring Yogacara back from obscurity, present it in a positive light, and correct its misrepresentation by earlier thinkers. He thus serves as a major resource for scholarly research on the historical and philosophical development of Yogacara and Madhyamaka. Until recently, Shakya Chokden's works have been largely unavailable. Only in 1975 were his collected writings published in twenty-four volumes in Bhutan. Since then, his ingenious works on Buddhist history, philosophy, and logic have attracted increasing scholarly attention. Komarovski's research on Shakya Chokden's innovative writings--most of which are still available only in the original Tibetan--revises early misinterpretations by addressing some of the most complicated aspects of his thought. While focusing on his unique interpretation of Yogacara and Madhyamaka, the book also shows that his thought provides an invaluable base to challenge and expand our understanding of such topics as epistemology, contemplative practice, the relationship between intellectual study and meditative experience, and other key questions that occupy contemporary scholarship on Buddhism and religion in general. (Source: Oxford University Press)

Komarovski, Yaroslav. Radiant Emptiness: Three Seminal Works by the Golden Paṇḍita Shakya Chokden. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020.

Komarovski, Yaroslav. Radiant Emptiness: Three Seminal Works by the Golden Paṇḍita Shakya Chokden. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020.;Radiant Emptiness;Madhyamaka;Yogācāra;ShAkya mchog ldan;Yaroslav Komarovski; Radiant Emptiness: Three Seminal Works by the Golden Paṇḍita Shakya Chokden;ShAkya mchog ldan

About the video

Featuring	Yaroslav Komarovski, Karma Phuntsho
Creator	Tsadra Foundation
Director	Perman, M.
Producer	Tsadra Foundation
Event	Shakya Chokden's Unique Views on Buddha-Nature by Yaroslav Komarovski: Conversations on Buddha-Nature (30 October 2021)
Related Website	Buddha-Nature
Creation Date	30 October 2021
Citation	Komarovski, Yaroslav. "On Shakya Chokden's Understanding of Madhyamaka." Conversations on Buddha-Nature with Lopen Dr. Karma Phuntsho. Produced by the Tsadra Foundation Research Department, October 30, 2021. Video, 5:37. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aL_6wAXWaAM.