Tsong kha pa s Madhyamaka Philosophy
in the Formative Period
N
EMOTO Hiroshi1. Introduction
According to Fukuda 2018, there are four periods in Tsong kha pa blo bzang grags pa s (1357–1419) Madhyamaka philosophy: the formative period (before 1402), the early peri-od (around 1402), middle periperi-od (around 1407), and later periperi-od (after 1407). Whether there can be a theoretical development from one phase to another in the Madhyamaka writ-ings of Tsong kha pa, especially for those composed after 1402, is still debatable. However, we can say with certainty that at least in his twenties and thirties, Tsong kha pa maintained the view that there is nothing to accept [in the final analysis] and nothing is to be appre-hended as anything whatsoever (khas len ci yang med cing gang du'ang bzung mi nyan par
lta ba), which he later recanted in his Lam rim chen mo and other works wherein he
pre-sented highly sophisticated analytic methods of meditating on emptiness. It is of great in-terest to see how later Dge lug pa scholars understand Tsong kha pa s conversion from the non-analytic to analytic Madhyamaka philosophy. This paper focuses on Tsong kha pa s Madhyamaka philosophy in the formative period before he composed the Lam rim chen mo in 1402 and investigates its meaning within the Dge lugs pa s traditional accounts.
2. Gung thang s account of Tsong kha pa s philosophical conversion
2.1. Interpretation of Ratnaguṇasaṃcayagāthā XII 9–10
First, let us examine the following account by Gung thang dkon mchog bstan pa i sgron me (1762–1823) given in his autocommentary (17a3ff.) on the Bstod pa don ldan ma:
Looking from the eyes of common people (thun mong gi snang ngor), it is likely that Rje bla ma [i.e., Tsong kha pa] also accepted the viewpoint [of early Tibetans] in his [early] period when the analysis of the right view was still incomplete. In the Gser phreng, he says, quoting [a passage], as follows:
as the four extremes [i.e., the four possible types of origination̶from itself, from other, from both self and other, and from neither self nor other] and so forth, all sorts of [discursive thoughts] are thoroughly pacified. It is merely this pacification [of discursive thought] (nye bar zhi ba tsam) that is metaphorically expressed as observation (mthong ba) of [the reality that is] free from discursive thought or observation of fundamental nature, as it is stated in the Ratnaguṇasaṃcayagāthā [XII 9]: There is no observation of forms, no observation of sensation… (Gser phreng 269b3ff.) Furthermore, he [i.e., Tsong kha pa] says the following in the same text:
If one does not abide in the reality [that is apprehended] as any sort of extremes by force of meditative equipoise, and if [after arising from meditative equipoise] one does not apprehend it as any sort of extremes in conformity with [the previous state], this and that [i.e., non-abiding and non-apprehension] are metaphorically expressed as realization (rtogs pa). (Ibid., 271a3ff.) Having said this, he demonstrates [the same point] by quoting a passage from the
Madhyamakāvatāra [XII 4], which says: Non-origination, and so forth.
In the passages from the Gser phreng, which is an extensive commentary on the
Abhisamayālaṃkāra that he composed at the age of thirty-one, we can find Tsong kha pa s
immature idea of the Madhyamaka philosophy, according to which the reality (chos nyid) is beyond conceptualization and hence cannot be apprehended as anything whatsoever either by the wisdom of meditative equipoise (mnyam gzhag) or by wisdom attained subsequently (rjes thob). This idea also implies that perception or realization of the reality is merely a metaphorical expression. What is stated here is precisely the tenets that are attributed to early Tibetans (bod snga rabs) and that Tsong kha pa refutes in his later works. It must be noted, however, that Gung thang underscores that this holds true only when we look from the eyes of common people. What Gung thang means to say is that Tsong kha pa s analyt-ic approach to the Madhyamaka philosophy had already been completed in that period even though he might have behaved as if he had accepted the early Tibetans tenets.
That being said, it is true that, from the passage cited above, Tsong kha pa draws the idea of the non-analytic approach on the basis of his own reading of the
Ratnaguṇasaṃcayagāthā XII 9–10 (cf. Gser phreng 269b4ff.), which is as follows:
According to that [highest observation] (yatra, gang la), there is no observation of forms, no observation of sensation, no observation of conception, no observation of volition, and no observation of consciousness, or mind, or understanding. This [highest observation] the Tathāgata described as the observation of truth (dharmadarśana, chos mthong). [RGSG XII 9]
People say: I have seen the sky. But how is it possible that you see the sky? You must investigate that meaning. In this way, the Tathāgata described the observation of truth. It is not possible to
explain it by using other similes. [RGSG XII 10]
For example, when there is no obstacle, such as a mountain, people may say: I have seen the sky (nam mkha' mthong). It does not mean people see a certain phenomenon in the sky; the non-observation of obstacles is the observation of the sky. In the same manner, it is the non-observation of entities that is described as the observation of truth. This is how Tsong kha pa interprets the meaning of the gāthā in his Gser phreng (296b6).
Strikingly, a different interpretation of the same passage is later given in the Rtsa she
ṭik chen (159a5ff.), which Tsong kha pa composed at the age of fifty-one after having
completed his analysis of the right view (lta ba'i dpyad pa rdzogs), as pointed out by Gung thang elsewhere. The Rtsa she ṭik chen clearly states that the wisdom observing truth has its object. To explain: when people observe the sky, they perceive the space that is characterized as the mere elimination of obstructive contact (thogs pa'i reg bya bcad tsam); in the same manner, when the noble beings enter the state of meditative equipoise, they perceive emptiness of phenomena, which is an entity characterized as the mere elimination of the object of negation (dgag bya bkag pa). In other words, the noble beings perceive the reality free from discursive thought (spros bral) without perceiving any object of discur-sive thought (spros pa). The object of perception is thus not the same as that of non-per-ception. Consequently, it is not the case that the noble beings have no perception in medita-tive equipoise. Such is the interpretation of the gāthā that is presented in the Rtsa she ṭik
chen and further reiterated in the Lam rim chung ba and Dgongs pa rab gsal.
2.2. Non-analytic theory found in the Rtag ngu'i rtogs brjod
Another point that warrants observation is Tsong kha pa s description of the Madhyamaka philosophy in his Rtag ngu'i rtogs brjod, an epic based on the story of the Bodhisattva Sadāprarudita. Although we do not know its date of composition, we can be fairly certain that it is a work composed in the early period. Gung thang quotes a passage from the Rtag
ngu'i rtogs brjod and comments on it as follows (De nyid snang ba 17a6f.):
Furthermore, in the Rtag ngu'i rtogs brjod, it is stated thus:
Although all factors are not even remotely obtainable, in order to eliminate the fear of those who maintain strong adherence [to them], we accept the mere dependent origination alone from the perspective of others (gzhan ngor). (Rtag ngu'i rtogs brjod 120b5f.)
This indicates that [Tsong kha pa at that period] acknowledged the view that [the Mādhyamika s] own system is free from any acceptance.
The passage quoted here is the statement given by the Bodhisattva Dharmodgata who teaches the truth of emptiness to Sadāprarudita. As a matter of course, Gung thang holds that it is a reflection of Tsong kha pa s own understanding of the Madhyamaka philosophy in that period. The passage from the Rtag ngu'i rtogs brjod conveys two points: first, fac-tors such as forms and so on are ultimately not obtainable and hence are not the objects of cognition; and secondly, dependent origination of those factors is to be accepted only from the perspective of others (gzhan ngor), which means that there is nothing to accept in the Mādhyamika s own system. In a later period, Tsong kha pa refutes these two points repeat-edly. In the Lam rim chen mo (440b6ff.), Tsong kha pa makes a statement to the effect that emptiness of phenomena, which consists in the mere elimination of the object of negation, is precisely the object apprehended by the reasoning consciousness (rigs shes); and he also emphasizes the point that the Mādhyamika has its thesis that factors are empty of intrinsic being, which is to be accepted in its own system.
2.3. Tsong kha pa s mystic experience as described in the Dad pa'i 'jug ngogs
Gung thang also mentions the interpretation of the mystic experience that occurred to Tsong kha pa when he was twenty years old. Gung thang states, quoting a passage from Tsong kha pa s biography Dad pa'i jug ngogs written by Mkhas grub rje dge legs dpal bzang (1385–1438), as follows (De nyid snang ba 17b1ff.):
On the basis of that very idea, a special experience also occurred [to Tsong kha pa]. When he was reciting the Prajñāpāramitāhṛdaya in an assembly of monks [at Skyor mo lung monastery], his
mind was absorbed in meditative equipoise within the state that is exactly [expressed in] that idea; and since he did not realize that the assemblage was broken up, others had to cause to rise [from meditative equipoise]. This event is described in the Dad pa'i 'jug ngogs as follows:
When [Tsong kha pa] performed a recitation of the Prajñāpāramitāhṛdaya, he entered the state of
meditative equipoise, [contemplating] upon the fact that factors, while appearing in the mind, transcend all identification. Consequently, after ceasing all the gross activities of conceptual consciousness, without ascertaining by thought [what was going on] throughout the religious services of the assembly of monks and even the sound of words averting evils, he had an experience as if the process of mang ja [i.e., a prayer assembly offering tea as alms to the monks] had occurred effortlessly from the beginning to the end. (Dad pa'i jug ngogs 14b3ff.)
At the age of twenty, when Tsong kha pa was working on the study of monastic discipline ('dul ba) at Skyor mo lung monastery, he performed a recitation of the Prajñāpāramitā-
in which all objects of conceptual and non-conceptual consciousness ceased to appear. It is also reported in the biographies of Tsong kha pa that, when a disciplinarian (dge bskos) of the monastery approached Tsong kha pa to awake him after the session, he noticed that the pillar Tsong kha pa was leaning against, later named the pillar of trance (bsam gtan gyi
ka ba), made a loud sound and began to bend (cf. Kaschewsky 1971, 85). According to
Gung thang, however, such a mystic experience was obtained merely through Tsong kha pa s immature understanding of the Madhyamaka philosophy. It is interesting to look at what Mkhas grub rje says immediately after the sentence quoted by Gung thang above. Mkhas grub rje makes it clear that Tsong kha pa himself was fully aware of the fact that this meditative equipoise was far from the realization of emptiness and nothing but a state of the mental abiding (sems gnas) that was obtainable even by non-Buddhist practitioners. Gung thang maintains that this mystic experience was a mere act or performance (tshul) of Tsong kha pa, who was in reality endowed with complete understanding of emptiness, which can only be obtained through analytic contemplation (De nyid snang ba 17b4ff.).
3. Gung ru rgyal mtshan bzang po s theory of cultivating emptiness
Tsong kha pa, in his Lam rim chen mo (495a6ff.), examines four kinds of non-analytic the-ory of special insight (lhag mthong) and refutes each of them. Gung thang paraphrases the lengthy discussion in his autocommentary on the Bstod pa don ldan ma, in which he criti-cizes Gung ru rgyal mtshan bzang po (1383–1450), one of the disciples of Tsong kha pa, for misconstruing the second opponent s assertion (phyogs snga ma'i 'dod pa) as Tsong kha pa s own system (rang lugs). The assertion ascribed to Gung ru rgyal bzang is that concep-tual thought is only necessary during the first moment of obtaining the right view of empti-ness (stong nyid kyi lta ba), and that it is to be abandoned during the subsequent stage of cultivating emptiness (stong nyid bsgom pa). Gung thang summarizes Gung ru rgyal bzang s position as follows (De nyid snang ba 36a2f.):
It seems that Gung ru rgyan bzang pa also considered the opponent s assertion to be [Tsong kha pa s] own system. For, in his writings, it is stated thus:
This method of practicing the mode of apprehending that which is left over after eliminating the object of negation (dgag bya bkag shul gyi 'dzin stangs sbyor ba), which is underscored by Mkhas grub dge legs pa himself, seems to be advocated by all [scholars] of the Ri bo dge ldan pa [i.e., the Dge lugs pa] following his position. But Rje rin po che [i.e., Tsong kha pa] and his teacher Rje
btsun red mda ba share the same view as regards the method of sustaining meditative equipoise except that there is a slight difference in the accuracy of their method of investigating the subtle point of how to identify the object of negation.
However, you must know that it is not a fabrication (rang bzo) by Mkhas grub rje, but rather that it is precisely the assertion of Rje [Tsong kha pa] himself, as can be seen from his texts such as Rtsa
she ṭīk chen and so forth.
It is often reported that Gung ru rgyal bzang adopted the non-analytic approach to Mad-hyamaka philosophy and, for that reason, was harshly criticized by his contemporary Mkhas grub rje (Thu'u bkwan grub mtha' 46a5ff.). If the quotation by Gung thang is accu-rate, then what is stated in Gung ru rgyal bzang s writing is on the contrary that it is Mkhas grub rje who is to be accused of disseminating the analytic approach to the Dge lugs pa in opposition to Tsong kha pa s view. Mkhas grub rje s method of cultivating emptiness, as explained here, consists of the apprehension of that which is left over after eliminating the object of negation. This seems to imply that, for Mkhas grub rje, the elimination of the object of negation (dgag bya bkag pa), which is left over after attaining the right view of emptiness, is precisely that which is apprehended by conceptual thought, while, for Gung ru rgyal bzang, there is nothing to be apprehended after the attainment of the right view.
In the collected works of Gung ru rgyal bzang published in 2007, we do not find any passage that coincides with Gung thang s quotation. What might be of interest, however, is his explanation of special insight, which describes that a practitioner should first focus on an aspect (rnam pa) of the self of persons and phenomena and then meditate on nonexis-tence of the self, which seems to suggest a moderate version of the non-analytic approach (Bdud rtsi'i chu rgyun 418.13ff.). Whether Gung ru rgyal bzang really advocated a non-an-alytic theory or not, it is at least certain that such a theory was not acceptable to Tsong kha pa when he wrote the Lam rim chen mo and established an analytic method of meditating on emptiness.
4. Conclusion
What characterizes Tsong kha pa s Madhyamaka philosophy in the formative period, as found in his Gser phreng and Rtag ngu'i rtogs brjod, as well as in his biography, is his em-phasis on the non-analytic method of meditating on emptiness, which he later criticizes in his Lam rim chen mo in favor of the analytic method. Gung thang justifies Tsong kha pa s
philosophical conversion from a hagiographic perspective. While Gung thang ascribes the non-analytic method to early Tibetans and Gung ru rgyal bzang, the discussion about the analytic versus non-analytic method of meditating on emptiness appears repeatedly in the Dge lugs pa s Madhyamaka treatise, and its criticism of the non-analytic method offers a crucial contribution to the understanding of the analytic approach.
Abbreviations
Rtag ngu'i rtogs brjod Byang chub sems dpa' rtag ngu'i rtogs brjod snyan dngags dpag bsam gyi ljon pa (Tsong kha pa blo bzang grags pa): Zhol edition Kha. Tohoku No. 5274 (70).
Thu'u bkwan grub mtha' Grub mtha' thams cad kyi khungs dang 'dod tshul ston pa legs bshad shel gyi me long (Thu u bkwan blo bzang chos kyi nyi ma). Zhol edition Kha.
Dad pa'i 'jug ngogs Rje btsun bla ma tsong kha pa chen po'i ngo mtshar rmad du byung ba'i rnam pat thar pa dad pa'i 'jug ngogs (Mkhas grub rje dge legs dpal bzang po): Zhol edition Ka. Tohoku
No. 5259.
De nyid snang ba 'Jam mgon rgyal ba gnyis pa la bstan pa'i snying po gsal bar mdzad pa'i tshul las brtsams te bstod pa don dang ldan pa'i rgya cher 'grel ba bstan pa'i de nyid snang ba (Gung
thang dkon mchog bstan pa i sgron me): Zhol edition Ka.
Bdud rtsi'i chu rgyun Legs bshad bla ma'i man ngag bdud rtsi'i chu rgyun (Gung ru rgyal mtshan
bzang po): Gung ru rgyal mtshan bzang po'i gsung 'bum, vol. 2. Ed. Bai ci zang wen gu ji yan jiu shi. Beijing: Krung go i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang, 2007.
Rtsa she ṭik chen Dbu ma rtsa ba'i tshig le'ur byas pa shes rab ces bya ba'i rnam bshad rigs pa'i rgya mtsho (Tsong kha pa blo bzang grags pa): Zhol edition Ba. Tohoku No. 5401.
RGSG Prajñāpāramitāratnaguṇasaṃcayagāthā. Prajñā Pāramitā-Ratna-Guṇa-Saṃcaya-Gāthā: Sanscrit and Tibetan Text. Bibliotheca Buddhica 29. Ed. E. Obermiller. Osnabrück:
Biblio Verlag, 1970.
Lam rim chen mo Khams gsum chos kyi rgyal po tsong kha pa chen pos mdzad pa'i byang chub lam gyi rim pa chen mo (Tsong kha pa blo bzang grags pa): Zhol edition Pa. Tohoku No. 5392. Gser phreng Shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa'i man ngag gi bstan bcos mngon par rtogs
pa'i rgyan gyi 'grel pa dang bcas pa'i rgya cher bshad pa legs bshad gser gyi phreng ba (Tsong kha
pa blo bzang grags pa): Zhol edition Tsa. Tohoku No. 5412. Bibliography
Fukuda Yōichi 福田洋一. 2018. Tsong kha pa Chūgan shisō no kenkyū ツォンカパ中観哲学の研究. To-kyo: Daito Publishing.
Kaschewsky, Rudolf. 1971. Das Leben des Lamaistischen Heiligen Tsongkhapa Blo-Bzaṅ-Grags-Pa (1357–1419): Dargestellt und erläutert anhand seiner Vita Quellort allen Glückes. Asiatische
Forz-hungen. Bd. 32. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.
(This research was supported in part by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 16K16695.) Key words Tsong kha pa, Gung ru rgyal mtshan bzang po, Gung thang bstan pa i sgron me
