धर्मधातुस्तव
Dharmadhātustava
ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབྱིངས་སུ་བསྟོད་པ།
chos kyi dbyings su bstod pa
讚法界頌
SOURCE TEXT
Also known as the Dharmadhātustotra, it is a praise written in verse attributed to Nāgārjuna. A Sanskrit manuscript found in Tibet was recently published in 2015. However, before this it was only extant in Tibetan and Chinese translations, though fragments of this text were found to be quoted in other Sanskrit texts. It is notable as perhaps the only work of Nāgārjuna that takes a positivistic view of emptiness and the existence of wisdom, in this case represented by the dharmadhātu. In fact much of the language echoes descriptions of buddha-nature. Though modern scholarship has thus called the attribution of this text to Nāgārjuna into question based on its contents, Tibetan scholars have utilized the text as a support for works that promote or defend tathāgatagarbha and it is especially prominently featured in works on other-emptiness (gzhan stong) and Great Madhyamaka.
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Text Metadata
| Other Titles | ~ Dharmadhātustotra |
|---|---|
| Text exists in | ~ Tibetan ~ Chinese ~ Sanskrit |
| Canonical Genre | ~ Tengyur · Sūtra · bstod tshogs · Stotragaṇa |
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Nāgārjuna
Kṛṣṇapaṇḍita
Naktso Lotsāwa Tsultrim Gyalwa
Dānapāla
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On the topic of this text
Audio
Basics of Buddha-Nature: Mipham's Roaring Lions Public
Dr. Pettit speaks about the basics of Buddha-Nature (bde gshegs snying po’i rigs = sugatagarbhagotra) according to Mipham Rinpoche, with additional reference to some Pāli Suttas, Nāgārjuna’s Praise of Dharmadhatu, and the Uttaratantra. He bases his remarks on Mipham’s text, The Lion’s Roar: Exposition on Buddha Nature (bde gshegs snying po stong thun chen mo seng ge nga ro). John Whitney Pettit holds graduate degrees from Harvard University and Columbia University in the study of World Religions and Buddhist Studies. He has been the student of the previous Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and also heard or translated teachings from prominent masters representing the Nyingma tradition and the other schools of Tibetan Buddhism. He is the translator and author of Mipham’s Beacon of Certainty (1999) and of a forthcoming anthology volume on the subject of Buddha-nature. Since 1998 he has lived in or near New York’s Hudson Valley, working on occasional translations, carving mani stones and communing with the genius loci. He spoke with students at RYI on the 27th of March, 2019. (Adapted from Source Aug 13, 2020)
Pettit, John W. "Basics of Buddha-Nature: Mipham's Roaring Lions Public." Recorded March 27, 2019 at Rangjung Yeshe Institute, Nepal. Audio, 1:14:20. https://soundcloud.com/rangjung-yeshe-institute/basics-of-buddha-nature-miphams-roaring-lions-public.
Pettit, John W. "Basics of Buddha-Nature: Mipham's Roaring Lions Public." Recorded March 27, 2019 at Rangjung Yeshe Institute, Nepal. Audio, 1:14:20. https://soundcloud.com/rangjung-yeshe-institute/basics-of-buddha-nature-miphams-roaring-lions-public.;Basics of Buddha-Nature: Mipham's Roaring Lions Public;Mi pham rgya mtsho;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Tibetan Buddhism;Bde gshegs snying po'i stong thun chen mo seng+ge'i nga ro;Uttaratantra;Dharmadhātustava;John W. Pettit;Basics of Buddha-Nature: Mipham's Roaring Lions Public
Book
In Praise of Dharmadhātu
Nagarjuna is famous in the West for his works not only on Madhyamaka but his poetic collection of praises, headed by In Praise of Dharmadhatu. This book explores the scope, contents, and significance of Nagarjuna's scriptural legacy in India and Tibet, focusing primarily on the title work. The translation of Nagarjuna's hymn to Buddha nature—here called dharmadhatu—shows how buddha nature is temporarily obscured by adventitious stains in ordinary sentient beings, gradually uncovered through the path of bodhisattvas, and finally revealed in full bloom as buddhahood. These themes are explored at a deeper level through a Buddhist history of mind's luminous nature and a translation of the text's earliest and most extensive commentary by the Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje (1284–1339), supplemented by relevant excerpts from all other available commentaries. The book also provides an overview of the Third Karmapa's basic outlook, based on seven of his major texts. He is widely renowned as one of the major proponents of the shentong (other-empty) view. However, as this book demonstrates, this often problematic and misunderstood label needs to be replaced by a more nuanced approach which acknowledges the Karmapa's very finely tuned synthesis of the two great traditions of Indian mahayana Buddhism, Madhyamaka and Yogacara. These two, his distinct positions on Buddha nature, and the transformation of consciousness into enlightened wisdom also serve as the fundamental view for the entire vajrayana as it is understood and practiced in the Kagyu tradition to the present day. (Source: Shambhala Publications)
Brunnhölzl, Karl, trans. In Praise of Dharmadhātu: Nāgārjuna and the Third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje. Nitartha Institute Series. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2007.
Brunnhölzl, Karl, trans. In Praise of Dharmadhātu: Nāgārjuna and the Third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje. Nitartha Institute Series. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2007.;In Praise of Dharmadhātu;Nāgārjuna;dharmadhātu;Dharmadhātustava;Madhyamaka;Yogācāra;prabhāsvaracitta;Buddha-nature as Luminosity;Karmapa, 3rd;gzhan stong;tathāgatagarbha;Dbu ma chos dbyings bstod pa'i rnam par bshad pa;Nāgārjuna;ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་;klu sgrub;'phags pa klu sgrub;slob dpon chen po nA gardzu na;slob dpon klu sgrub;འཕགས་པ་ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་;སློབ་དཔོན་ཆེན་པོ་ནཱ་གརྫུ་ན་;སློབ་དཔོན་ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་;Ārya Nāgārjuna; Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje;རང་བྱུང་རྡོ་རྗེ་;rang byung rdo rje;karma pa gsum pa;ཀརྨ་པ་གསུམ་པ་;Karmapa, 3rd;Karl Brunnhölzl; In Praise of Dharmadhātu;Nāgārjuna;Karmapa, 3rd
Video
Khenpo Ngawang Jorden at the 2019 Tathāgatagarbha Symposium
Khenpo Ngawang Jorden discusses Gorampa’s interpretation of the concept of buddha-nature presented in his Supplement to the Three Vows. In particular his presentation is focused on Gorampa's refutation of the Jonang view of buddha-nature, as represented by the writings of Dolpopa and his zhentong philosophy.
Jorden, Khenpo Ngawang. "Revisiting Gorampa on Buddha Nature." Paper presented at the University of Vienna Symposium, Tathāgatagarbha Across Asia, Vienna, Austria, July 2019. Video, 45:05. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmhgtw5HwCE.
Jorden, Khenpo Ngawang. "Revisiting Gorampa on Buddha Nature." Paper presented at the University of Vienna Symposium, Tathāgatagarbha Across Asia, Vienna, Austria, July 2019. Video, 45:05. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmhgtw5HwCE.;Khenpo Ngawang Jorden at the 2019 Tathāgatagarbha Symposium;Go rams pa bsod nams seng ge;Sakya;Sdom gsum rab dbye;Jonang;Dol po pa;Rong ston shes bya kun rig;History of buddha-nature in Tibet;Debates / Debate;trisvabhāva;Red mda' ba gzhon nu blo gros;śūnyatā;Nāgārjuna;Two Truths;Dharmadhātustava;rangtong;zhentong;Madhyamaka;paratantrasvabhāva;parikalpitasvabhāva;pariniṣpannasvabhāva;paramārthasatya;saṃvṛtisatya;Khenpo Ngawang Jorden;མཁན་པོ་ངག་དབང་འབྱོར་ལྡན།;Revisiting Gorampa on Buddha Nature
Book
The Buddhist Philosophy of the Middle
Madhyamaka, the "philosophy of the middle," systematized the Buddha's fundamental teaching on no-self with its profound non-essentialist reading of reality. Founded in India by Nāgārjuna in about the second century C.E., Madhyamaka philosophy went on to become the dominant strain of Buddhist thought in Tibet and exerted a profound influence on all the cultures of East Asia. Within the extensive Western scholarship inspired by this school of thought, David Seyfort Ruegg's work is unparalleled in its incisiveness, diligence, and scope. The Buddhist Philosophy of the Middle brings together Ruegg’s greatest essays on Madhyamaka, expert writings which have and will continue to contribute to our progressing understanding of this rich tradition. (Source: Wisdom Publications)
Ruegg, David Seyfort. The Buddhist Philosophy of the Middle: Essays on Indian and Tibetan Madhyamaka. Studies in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2010.
Ruegg, David Seyfort. The Buddhist Philosophy of the Middle: Essays on Indian and Tibetan Madhyamaka. Studies in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2010.;The Buddhist Philosophy of the Middle;Madhyamaka;śūnyatā;Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra;Dharmadhātustava;Nāgārjuna;Bhāvaviveka;Terminology;Ye shes sde;Jonang;Tsong kha pa;David Seyfort Ruegg;The Buddhist Philosophy of the Middle: Essays on Indian and Tibetan Madhyamaka
Book
The Dharmadhātustava (Zhen)
A critical edition of Nāgārjuna's In Praise of Dharmadhātu produced from a Sanskrit manuscript recently discovered in Tibet.
Zhen, Liu. The Dharmadhātustava: A Critical Edition of the Sanskrit Text with the Tibetan and Chinese Translations, a Diplomatic Transliteration of the Manuscript and Notes. Sanskrit Texts from the Tibetan Autonomous Region 17. Beijing, Vienna: China Tibetology Publishing House, Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, 2015.
Zhen, Liu. The Dharmadhātustava: A Critical Edition of the Sanskrit Text with the Tibetan and Chinese Translations, a Diplomatic Transliteration of the Manuscript and Notes. Sanskrit Texts from the Tibetan Autonomous Region 17. Beijing, Vienna: China Tibetology Publishing House, Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, 2015.;The Dharmadhātustava (Zhen);History of buddha-nature in India;Textual study;Dharmadhātustava;Nāgārjuna;ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་;klu sgrub;'phags pa klu sgrub;slob dpon chen po nA gardzu na;slob dpon klu sgrub;འཕགས་པ་ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་;སློབ་དཔོན་ཆེན་པོ་ནཱ་གརྫུ་ན་;སློབ་དཔོན་ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་;Ārya Nāgārjuna; The Dharmadhātustava: A Critical Edition of the Sanskrit Text with the Tibetan and Chinese Translations, a Diplomatic Transliteration of the Manuscript and Notes;Nāgārjuna
Translations & Scholarship
Book
In Praise of Dharmadhātu
Nagarjuna is famous in the West for his works not only on Madhyamaka but his poetic collection of praises, headed by In Praise of Dharmadhatu. This book explores the scope, contents, and significance of Nagarjuna's scriptural legacy in India and Tibet, focusing primarily on the title work. The translation of Nagarjuna's hymn to Buddha nature—here called dharmadhatu—shows how buddha nature is temporarily obscured by adventitious stains in ordinary sentient beings, gradually uncovered through the path of bodhisattvas, and finally revealed in full bloom as buddhahood. These themes are explored at a deeper level through a Buddhist history of mind's luminous nature and a translation of the text's earliest and most extensive commentary by the Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje (1284–1339), supplemented by relevant excerpts from all other available commentaries. The book also provides an overview of the Third Karmapa's basic outlook, based on seven of his major texts. He is widely renowned as one of the major proponents of the shentong (other-empty) view. However, as this book demonstrates, this often problematic and misunderstood label needs to be replaced by a more nuanced approach which acknowledges the Karmapa's very finely tuned synthesis of the two great traditions of Indian mahayana Buddhism, Madhyamaka and Yogacara. These two, his distinct positions on Buddha nature, and the transformation of consciousness into enlightened wisdom also serve as the fundamental view for the entire vajrayana as it is understood and practiced in the Kagyu tradition to the present day. (Source: Shambhala Publications)
Brunnhölzl, Karl, trans. In Praise of Dharmadhātu: Nāgārjuna and the Third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje. Nitartha Institute Series. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2007.
Brunnhölzl, Karl, trans. In Praise of Dharmadhātu: Nāgārjuna and the Third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje. Nitartha Institute Series. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2007.;In Praise of Dharmadhātu;Nāgārjuna;dharmadhātu;Dharmadhātustava;Madhyamaka;Yogācāra;prabhāsvaracitta;Buddha-nature as Luminosity;Karmapa, 3rd;gzhan stong;tathāgatagarbha;Dbu ma chos dbyings bstod pa'i rnam par bshad pa;Nāgārjuna;ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་;klu sgrub;'phags pa klu sgrub;slob dpon chen po nA gardzu na;slob dpon klu sgrub;འཕགས་པ་ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་;སློབ་དཔོན་ཆེན་པོ་ནཱ་གརྫུ་ན་;སློབ་དཔོན་ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་;Ārya Nāgārjuna; Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje;རང་བྱུང་རྡོ་རྗེ་;rang byung rdo rje;karma pa gsum pa;ཀརྨ་པ་གསུམ་པ་;Karmapa, 3rd;Karl Brunnhölzl; In Praise of Dharmadhātu;Nāgārjuna;Karmapa, 3rd
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