TA ra nA tha

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ཏཱ་ར་ནཱ་ཐ་
Tāranātha(1575 - 1634) 
Rinchen Terdzö ChenmoDamngak Rinpoché DzöBuddhist Digital Resource Center

In the history of the Jonang tradition Tāranātha is second in importance only to Dölpopa himself. He was responsible for the Jonang renaissance in U-Tsang during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, and the widespread revitalization of the zhentong teachings. Like his previous incarnation, Kunga Drolchok, Tāranātha practiced and taught from many different lineages and was nonsectarian in his approach to realization. He was also one of the last great Tibetan translators of Sanskrit texts. The abbot of Jonang Monastery, he emphasized the practice of the Sakya teachings of Lamdre and the esoteric instructions of the Shangpa Kagyu, but he specially focused on the explication of the Kālacakra Tantra and the practice of its Six-branch Yoga as the most profound of all the teachings given by the Buddha. It is clear in his writings that Tāranātha considered Dölpopa to be the ultimate authority in matters of doctrine and practice.

... read more at The Treasury of Lives

Library Items

Book
The Essence of Other-Emptiness
Jeffrey Hopkins continues his groundbreaking exploration of the Jo-nang-ba sect of Tibetan Buddhism with this revelatory translation of one of the seminal texts from that tradition. Whereas Dol-bo-ba's massive Mountain Doctrine authenticates the doctrine of other-emptiness through extensive scriptural citations and elaborate philosophical arguments, Taranatha's more concise work translated here situates the doctrine of other-emptiness within the context of schools of tenets, primarily the famed four schools of Tibetan Buddhism, through comparing the various schools' opinions on the status of the noumenon and phenomena. Also included is a supplementary text by Taranatha which presents the opinions of a prominent fifteenth-century Sakya scholar, Shakya Chok-den, and contrasts them with those of the leading Jo-nang-ba scholar Dol-bo-ba. (Source: Back Cover)
Hopkins, Jeffrey, trans. The Essence of Other-Emptiness. By Tāranātha. Boston: Snow Lion Publications, 2007.
Article
The Essence of Zhentong
The following translation is based upon the ‘Dzam thang edition of the Gzhan stong snying po.
Sheehy, Michael R., trans. The Essence of Zhentong. By Jetsun Tāranātha. With Khenpo Kunga Sherab Saljay Rinpoche. JonangFoundation.org, 2008. https://jonangfoundation.org/sites/default/files/jf_snying%20po_final.pdf
Text
Tāranātha: Supplication to the Profound Other-Emptiness Madhyamaka Lineage
Tāranātha's lineage supplication to the other-emptiness Madhyamaka tradition that was preserved by the Jonang school. Tāranātha traces the origin of the other-emptiness to the Buddha, who passed it down through Maitreya, Asaṅga, Vasubandhu to Maitripa or from Vasubandhu through Sthiramati, Guṇamāti, et al. to Maitrīpa, or from Buddha through Vajrapaṇi, Rahulabhadra, Nāgārjuna, Śabari, Maitrīpa, from Maitrīpa through Anandakīrti, Ratnakaraśānti, Sajjṇāna, Anandavajra, then in Tibet through Tsen Khawoche, et al. until Tāranātha.
Text
Tāranātha: Essence of Other-Emptiness
A fairly brief work by Tāranātha on the basic tenets of the four systems of Buddhist philosophy, namely the Vaibhāṣika, Sautrāntrika, Cittamātra, and Madhyamaka. His exposition culminates with a presentation of the Great Madhyamaka, the pinnacle of the four, which is synonymous with other-emptiness as represented by the Jonang tradition.
Text
Tāranātha: Ornament of Other-Emptiness Madhyamaka
A polemical work defending the other-emptiness view of the Jonang tradition that addresses the criticism of this position by other Tibetan schools. This discursive text discusses the provisional or ultimate nature of the three turnings of the wheel of dharma, the position of Indian masters and philosophical schools, the intent of the Mahāyāna sūtras and the rebuts the criticism of other-emptiness by proponents of the self-emptiness theory in Tibet.
Text
Tāranātha: The Scriptural Citations for the Ornament of Madhyamaka of Other-Emptiness
A supplement to Tāranātha's Ornament of Madhyamaka of Other-Emptiness (Gzhan stong dbu ma'i brgyan) that focuses on the scriptural sources of the other-emptiness philosophy. The scriptural citations and reference which were barely mentioned or referred to in the Ornament of Madhyamaka of Other-Emptiness are quoted in full to substantiate the claims of the proponents of Other-Emptiness.
Text
Tāranātha: Thoroughly Ascertaining the Great Middle Way of the Expansive Supreme Vehicle
An expansive work on the Zhentong philosophy known as Great Madhyamaka in the Jonang Tradition.
Text
Tāranātha: Essential Points on the Origins of the Cycle of Teachings on the Kālacakra
Tāranātha's history of the Kālacakra teachings.
Text
Tāranātha: Unprecedented Elegant Exposition: An Exegesis on the Heart Sūtra
In this commentary on the Heart Sūtra, Tāranātha starts with the discussion of the different forms of Perfection of Wisdom in relation to the nature of phenomena, the path to enlightenment, the resultant state, and the doctrinal teachings which discuss the topic. He cites Dignāga to claim that the true Perfection of Wisdom is the resultant wisdom of the buddhas. However, the most important point he underscores is that the ultimate message of all three Turning of the Wheels and the Heart Sūtra is the great other-emptiness. All conventional phenomena are primordially empty of their own nature but the ultimate nature is only empty of other conventional phenomena but not empty of its own nature. This, he argues, is the ultimate truth, the reality and the intent of all buddhas. Commenting on the four statements on form and emptiness in the Heart Sūtra, he presents what he considers to be the interpretations among the proponents of the Mind Only (སེམས་ཙམ་པ་) and Naturelessness (ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་མེད་པར་སྨྲ་བ་), both of which are acceptable in certain contexts but do not capture the ultimate reality. The ultimate understanding, he reasons, must be obtained by putting the four statements in the context of the three characteristics (མཚན་ཉིད་གསུམ་). He goes on to explain how the four statements should be understood in relation to the imputed nature, the dependent nature and the consummate nature, through which one can grasp the meaning of the emptiness of that which is non-existent (མེད་པའི་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་), the emptiness of that which is existent (ཡོད་པའི་སྟོང་ཉིད་), and the emptiness of true nature (རང་བཞིན་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་) taught by Maitreya.
Text
Tāranātha: Marvellous Word Commentary on the Heart Sūtra
Tāranātha presents an interpretation of the Heart Sūtra in accordance with his philosophical espousal of the other-emptiness in this short word-for-word commentary. At the very outset, he states in this commentary that the main referent of the term Perfection of Wisdom is buddha-nature, the non-dual wisdom which is the true nature of all phenomena. This, he argues, is not empty of its nature. The Heart Sūtra sufficiently makes it clear that the five skandhas and other conventional phenomena are empty of their nature, but not buddha-nature or the ultimate truth. ‘Form is emptiness’ indicates that form is utterly non-existent and empty. ‘Emptiness is form’ indicates that emptiness, which is the ultimate reality, is what appears as form to ordinary beings. ‘Emptiness is not other than form’ shows there is no emptiness which exists separately from form but reality qua emptiness is rather the true nature of form. ‘Form is not other than emptiness’ states there is no real form that is different from emptiness in the ultimate sense, because emptiness qua reality exists whereas form doesn’t.
Text
Tāranātha: Incomparable King: A Verse Commentary of the Heart Sūtra
One of the Tāranātha's three commentaries on the Heart Sūtra, he presents the ultimate purport of the sūtras as being the ultimate other-emptiness. He comments on the sūtra and its transmission in verses, a very rare style for a work considered to be a commentary. Like his short word for word commentary and the detailed exegesis, this verse commentary explains the Heart Sūtra in accordance with the theories of other-emptiness. Tāranātha also claims he is unique in showing how the Heart Sūtra also captures the hidden themes of the eight topics discussed in some other longer versions of Perfection of Wisdom texts. The commentary was written when Tāranātha was 29 by Tibetan reckoning.

On the topic of this person

Video
On Various Texts That Teach about Buddha-Nature by Ringu Tulku
Ringu Tulku discusses the various texts that teach about buddha-nature beyond the Uttaratantraśāstra. He points to Nāgārjuna's praises, sūtras that are considered to be part of the third turning of the wheel of Dharma, Gampopa's Jewel Ornament of Liberation, Tāranātha's Jonang teachings, and works by Śākya Chokden, Longchenpa, and Mipam Rinpoche.
Ringu Tulku. “On Various Texts That Teach about Buddha-Nature.” Interview by Marcus Perman. Produced by Tsadra Foundation Research Department, October 10, 2019. Video, 5:24. https://youtu.be/jjrS-TWoHJ8.
Video
Sina Joos at the 2019 Tathāgatagarbha Symposium
Sina Joos discusses the ways in which Tāranātha utilizes the famous nine examples from the Ratnagotravibhāga in his Dbu ma theg mchog to assert his understanding of buddha-nature as zhentong (other-emptiness). She also compares Tāranātha’s position on Buddha-nature to Dolpopa's own view.
Joos, Sina. "The Role of the Ratnagotravibhāga in Tā ra nā tha’s dBu ma theg mchog." Paper presented at the University of Vienna Symposium, Tathāgatagarbha Across Asia, Vienna, Austria, July 2019. Video, 40:46. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxn5XgPGnSU.
Article
The Essence of Zhentong
The following translation is based upon the ‘Dzam thang edition of the Gzhan stong snying po.
Sheehy, Michael R., trans. The Essence of Zhentong. By Jetsun Tāranātha. With Khenpo Kunga Sherab Saljay Rinpoche. JonangFoundation.org, 2008. https://jonangfoundation.org/sites/default/files/jf_snying%20po_final.pdf
Book
The Other Emptiness: Rethinking the Zhentong Buddhist Discourse in Tibet
This book brings together perspectives of leading international Tibetan studies scholars on the subject of zhentong or “other-emptiness.” Defined as the emptiness of everything other than the continuous luminous awareness that is one’s own enlightened nature, this distinctive philosophical and contemplative presentation of emptiness is quite different from rangtong—emptiness that lacks independent existence, which has had a strong influence on the dissemination of Buddhist philosophy in the West. Important topics are addressed, including the history, literature, and philosophy of emptiness that have contributed to zhentong thinking in Tibet from the thirteenth century until today. The contributors examine a wide range of views on zhentong from each of the major orders of Tibetan Buddhism, highlighting the key Tibetan thinkers in the zhentong philosophical tradition. Also discussed are the early formulations of buddhanature, interpretations of cosmic time, polemical debates about emptiness in Tibet, the zhentong view of contemplation, and creative innovations of thought in Tibetan Buddhism. Highly accessible and informative, this book can be used as a scholarly resource as well as a textbook for teaching graduate and undergraduate courses on Buddhist philosophy. (Source: SUNY Press)
Sheehy, Michael R., and Klaus-Dieter Mathes, eds. The Other Emptiness: Rethinking the Zhentong Buddhist Discourse in Tibet. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2019.
Article
Tāranātha's "Twenty-One Differences with Regard to the Profound Meaning"
For a short but brilliant analysis of the positions of Dol po pa and Śākya mchog Idan we are very much indebted to the Jonang master Tāranātha, who is considered to be a follower and proponent of Dol po pa's doctrine. In each of the Twenty-one Differences with regard to the Profound Meaning a fictive initial statement of Śākya mchog Idan is followed by a similarly fictive reply of Dol po pa, Tāranātha being, of course, well aware of the fact that this is all ahistorical.'"`UNIQ--ref-00001029-QINU`"' To be sure, it is not possible to establish Śākya mchog ldan's or Dol po pa's views on the basis of this short text alone, but it does sharpen our awareness of the subtle aspects of gźan stoṅ when studying the bulky and often not very systematic works of these masters. Furthermore, critically evaluating these doctrinal differences against the background of pertinent Indian texts in such traditions as the Madhyamaka, Yogācāra and Tathāgatagarbha promises to be a second interesting task. Both are, however, beyond the scope of this paper. Such an evaluation will, however, be undertaken with regard to the different presentations of trisvabhāva as an example of how one might proceed.
      Tāranātha begins his somewhat delicate task of comparing the two masters Dol po pa and Śākya mchog ldan in a conciliating manner, by explaining that both supposedly see what is profound reality and hence should not have different thoughts about it. It is only in order to accommodate the different needs of their disciples that they enunciate variant views. Even though the essential gźan stoṅ view and meditation practices of both masters are the same, there are a lot of minor differences regarding tenets (grub mtha') that arise when formulating the view on the level of apparent truth.'"`UNIQ--ref-0000102A-QINU`"'
      The first four of the twenty-one points address differences in the exegesis of the Madhyamaka and Maitreya texts which are considered to be commentaries on the Buddha's intention underlying the second and third turnings of the "Wheel of the Dharma" (dharmacakra).'"`UNIQ--ref-0000102B-QINU`"' Points 5-8 embody Śākya mchog ldan's and Dol po pa's different understanding of non-dual wisdom. In points 9-16, their views on the trisvabhāva theory are distinguished. In a related topic, Tāranātha also elaborates the different understandings of self-awareness (point 11), entities and non-entities, and conditioned and unconditioned phenonema (all in point 13). Next, our attention is drawn to different ways of relating the four noble truths with the apparent and ultimate (point 17). The last four points deal with the two masters' views on the Buddha-nature. (Mathes, "Tāranātha's 'Twenty-One Differences with Regard to the Profound Meaning'," 294–95)

Read more here . . .
Mathes, Klaus-Dieter. "Tāranātha's 'Twenty-One Differences with Regard to the Profound Meaning': Comparing the Views of the Two Gźan Stoṅ Masters Dol po pa and Śākya mchog ldan." Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 27, no. 2 (2004): 285–328. https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/jiabs/article/view/8952/2845.
Video
Which Tibetans Wrote about Buddha-Nature? by Karl Brunnhölzl
Brunnhölzl, Karl. “Which Tibetans Wrote about Buddha-Nature?” Interview by Marcus Perman. Tsadra Foundation Research Department, December 3, 2018. Video, 6:58. https://youtu.be/wWzrtDltUwE.
Brunnhölzl, Karl. “Which Tibetans Wrote about Buddha-Nature?” Interview by Marcus Perman. Tsadra Foundation Research Department, December 3, 2018. Video, 6:58. https://youtu.be/wWzrtDltUwE.

Philosophical positions of this person

Is buddha-nature considered definitive or provisional?
Definitive 
Do all beings have buddha-nature?
Yes 
To which "turning of the wheel" do the buddha-nature teachings belong?
Third Turning 
Is buddha-nature equated with emptiness or alayavijnana?
Madhyamaka 
Do buddha-nature teachings belong to the zhentong or rangtong view of emptiness?
Zhentong 
Are there one or three vehicles on the path to buddhahood?
 
Do the author's writings belong to the analytic or meditative tradition of Uttaratantra exegesis?
Meditative Tradition 
What is Buddha-nature?
Tathāgatagarbha as the Emptiness That is an Implicative Negation (with enlightened qualities) 
Does the author advocate the Svatantrika or Prasangika view of emptiness?
 

Other names

  • ཀུན་དགའ་སྙིང་པོ་ · other names (Tibetan)
  • kun dga' snying po · other names (Wylie)

Affiliations & relations

  • Jonang · religious affiliation
  • Kun dga' grol mchog · emanation of
  • Buddhagupta · teacher
  • Karmapa, 9th · teacher
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