Freedom from Extremes: Gorampa's

73 Pages·2014·0.88 MB·English

S T U D I E S I N I N D I A N A N D T I B E TA N B U D D H I S M
easternreligion/buddhism
W
hat is emptiness?ThisquestionattheheartofBuddhistphi-
losophyhaspreoccupiedthegreatestmindsofIndiaandTibetfor
twomillennia,producinghundredsofvolumes.Distinguishingthe
Views,bythefifteenth-centurySakyascholarGorampaSönamSengé,isone
ofthemostimportantofthoseworks,esteemedforitsconciseness,lucidity,
F
andprofundity.
R
Gorampa’s text is polemical, and his targets are two ofTibet’s greatest
E
thinkers:Tsongkhapa,founderoftheGelugschool,andDolpopa,oneofthe
foundingfiguresoftheJonangschool.DistinguishingtheViewsarguesthat E
Dolpopa has fallen into an eternalistic extreme, whereasTsongkhapa has D
fallen into nihilism, and that only the mainstream Sakya view—what
O
Gorampacalls“freedomfromextremes”—representsthetruemiddleway,
the correct view of emptiness. Suppressed for years inTibet, this seminal M
worktodayiswidelyregardedandisstudiedinsomeofTibet’sgreatestaca-
demicinstitutions.
F
José Cabezón’s extended introduction provides a thorough overview of
Tibetan polemical literature and contextualizes the life and work of R F R E E D O M
Gorampabothhistoricallyandintellectually.FreedomfromExtremeswillbe O
indispensableforseriousstudentsofMadhyamakathought.
M
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F R O M
“AmagnificenttranslationofapivotalTibetanexaminationofthenatureof
E
reality. Essential for comprehending the variety of views on the middle
E X T R E M E S
ground.”—JeffreyHopkins,UniversityofVirginia X
T
“ThefullyannotatedtranslationofGorampa’stextandthehistoricalintro-
R
ductionthatcontextualizesthetext,theideas,thepolitics,andtheroleof
polemicsinTibetanBuddhismmakeanoutstandingnewcontributionto E
Gorampa’s
our understanding ofTibetan Buddhist philosophical history.This is yet
M
anotherexcellentandwelcomedadditiontoWisdomPublications’Stud-
“Distinguishing”
iesinIndianandTibetanBuddhismseries.” E
—JamesBlumenthal,OregonStateUniversity
S “the Views”
“JoséCabezónandGesheLobsangDargyay’stranslationofGorampa’sDis-
and the
tinguishing theViews (Lta ba’i shan ’byed) is a precious gift to scholars of
BuddhistMadhyamakaphilosophy.” cabezón Polemics
@2
—KhenpoNgawangJorden,UniversityofChicago
dargyay
of Emptiness
ISBN0-86171-523-3
Producedwith IISSBBNN-1 3997788--00--886167117-512-35-723-$7US32.95 José Ignacio Cabezón
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Mindfulness
WisdomPublications • Boston
Geshe Lobsang Dargyay
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FREEDOM FROM EXTREMES
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StudiesinIndianandTibetanBuddhism
Thisserieswasconceivedtoprovideaforumforpub-
lishingoutstandingnewcontributionstoscholarshipon
IndianandTibetanBuddhismandalsotomakeaccessi-
bleseminalresearchnotwidelyknownoutsideanarrow
specialistaudience,includingtranslationsofappropriate
monographs and collections of articles from other lan-
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analysisthesetraditions’uniqueheritageandthesignifi-
cance of their contribution to the world’s religious and
philosophicalachievements.
MembersoftheEditorialBoard:
TomTillemans(chair),UniversityofLausanne
JoséCabezón,UniversityofCalifornia,SantaBarbara
GeorgesDreyfus,WilliamsCollege,Massachusetts
JanetGyatso,HarvardUniversity
PaulHarrison
ToniHuber,HumboldtUniversity,Berlin
ShoryuKatsura,RyukokuUniversity,Kyoto
ThuptenJinpaLangri,InstituteofTibetanClassics,Montreal
FrankReynolds,Emeritus,UniversityofChicago
E.GeneSmith,TibetanBuddhistResourceCenter,NewYork
CristinaScherrer-Schaub,UniversityofLausanne
ErnstSteinkellner,UniversityofVienna
LeonardvanderKuijp,HarvardUniversity
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STUDIES IN INDIAN AND TIBETAN BUDDHISM
FREEDOM
FROM EXTREMES
Gorampa’s“DistinguishingtheViews”and
thePolemicsofEmptiness
José Ignacio Cabezón and
Geshe Lobsang Dargyay
WisdomPublications • Boston
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©2007JoséI.Cabezón
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Go-rams-paBsod-nams-sen-ge,1429–1489.
[Ltaba’isan'byedthegmchoggnadkyizlazer.English]
Freedomfromextremes:Gorampa’s“Distinguishingtheviews”andthepolemicsof
emptiness/JoséIgnacioCabezónandGesheLobsangDargyay.
p.cm.— (StudiesinIndianandTibetanBuddhism)
EnglishtranslationwithparallelromanizedTibetantext.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN0-86171-523-3(pbk.:alk.paper)
ISBN 978-0-86171-857-3 (ebook)
1. Madhyamika(Buddhism)—Earlyworksto1800.2. Sa-skya-pa(Sect)—Doc-
trines—Earlyworksto1800. I.Cabezón,JoséIgnacio,1956–-II.LobsangDargyay.
III.Go-rams-paBsod-nams-sen-ge,1429–1489.Ltaba’isan’byedthegmchoggnad
kyizlazer.IV.Title.
BQ7454.G597132006
294.3’420423—dc22
2006036944
ISBN0-86171-523-3
11 10 09 08 07
5 4 3 2 1
CoverandinteriordesignbyGopa&Ted2,Inc.SetinDiacriticalGaramond10.5pt./13pt.
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Contents
Preface
byJoséIgnacioCabezón vii
InMemoriam:GesheLobsangDargyay(1935–94)
byEvaNeumaier xi
Introduction 1
Distinguishing the Views of Emptiness:
Moonlight to Illuminate the Main Points
of the Supreme Path
ThematicSubdivisionsoftheText 63
Chapter1
ThreeWaysofUnderstandingtheMadhyamaka 69
Chapter2
TheRefutationofDolpopa 97
Chapter3
TheRefutationofTsongkhapa 115
Chapter4
TheMiddleWayasFreedomfromExtremes 203
Abbreviations 239
Notes 243
Bibliography 337
Index 383
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Preface
JoséIgnacioCabezón
I
n the early 1980s, I lived and studied at Sera Monastery in India
whileIwaspreparingmytranslationofKhedrubJé’s(Mkhasgrubrje)
classicofMiddleWay(Madhyamaka)philosophy,theStongthunchen
mo.OneofthegreatchallengesIfacedinmyresearchinvolvedidentifying
KhedrubJé’sunnamedopponents.Thisledmetoreadmorebroadlyinthe
fieldofTibetanMadhyamaka,andthis,inturn,eventuallyledmetothe
workofthegreatSakyascholarGorampaSönamSengé(GoramspaBsod
namssengge,1429–89).InthecourseofreadingGorampa’swritings,Icame
uponhisDistinguishingtheViews(Ltaba’ishan’byed),theworktranslated
inthesepages.Itimmediatelybecamecleartomewhythetextwasconsid-
ered by many scholars, both classical and contemporary, to be a work of
tremendouspowerand,amongotherthings,tobeoneofthemostimpor-
tantcritiquesofTsongkhapa’sMadhyamakaviews.Concise,clear,elegant
instyle,andpowerfulinitsargumentation,DistinguishingtheViewsisone
of Gorampa’s most famous works. I had not yet finished reading the text
whenIdecidedtotranslateit.Bytheearly1990sIhadadraftinhand.
IwasnotthenawarethatGesheLobsangDargyay(DgebshesBlobzang
dar rgyas), working in Hamburg, had already completed his own draft
translationofGorampa’stextseveralyearsearlier.From1994to1995,Ihad
thegoodfortunetobeavisitingresearchscholarattheInstitutfürKultur
und Geschichte Indiens undTibets at the University of Hamburg. I first
learned of Geshe Dargyay’s work from my colleague in Hamburg, Prof.
DavidJackson.WhileinHamburg,Prof.LambertSchmithausenurgedme
tocontactGesheDargyayaboutpossiblycollaboratingonthetranslation,
a suggestion that I welcomed. I soon learned, much to my regret, that
Geshe-lahadpassedawayjustashorttimeearlier,agreatlosstothefield,
andparticularlysadnewsformesinceIneverhadtheopportunitytomeet
thisfinescholar.Myquery,however,wasansweredbyProf.EvaNeumaier,
vii
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viii freedom from extremes
theexecutorofGesheDargyay’sestate,whowasenthusiasticaboutmypro-
posal to combine our work—mine and Geshe Dargyay’s—to publish a
translationofGorampa’stextunderbothournames.Overthemanyyears
sinceIfirstgotherapprovaltoproceedwiththisjointventure,Prof.Neu-
maierhasbeenamodelofsupportivenessandpatience.Ialsowishtothank
her for contributing the brief life story of Geshe Dargyay found in these
pages.
Theworkthatyouhavebeforeyouistrulycollaborative.Whileitfellon
me to make the final decisions about the manuscript, I consulted Geshe
Dargyay’s text at every turn. In several instances, Geshe-la’s translation
allowedmetocorrectmyown,andIconsidermyselffortunatetohavehad
histextasaconversationpartnerandsoundingboard.GesheDargyay,in
turn, had earlier benefited from the comments and guidance of Prof.
Schmithausen.Prof.Schmithausenshouldthereforebeseennotonlyasthe
impetus behind this cooperative undertaking but also as a contributor.
However,thefinalresponsibilityfordecisionsfelluponme.Therefore,as
thelast(ifnottheonly)scholartoworkonthistranslation,Itakerespon-
sibilityforanyfaultsandshortcomings.
Geshe Dargyay wished to thank the following individuals and institu-
tions,theacknowledgementofwhichItakeverbatimfromhismanuscript.
“MydeepestgratitudeisduetoProf.Dr.L.Schmithausenforhisreadiness
to take responsibility vis-à-vis the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
(DFG),forcheckingandcorrectingmytranslationitembyitem,andfor
hismanysuggestions.WordsofthankstoProf.Dr.EvaDargyay,too,are
inadequateforherunfailingsupportofthiswork.IalsowishtothankProf.
Dr.LeslieKawamuraforhissupport.Amonginstitutions,thanksaredue
to the DFG, to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of
Canada,andalsototheCalgaryInstitutefortheHumanities.Mygratitude
alsogoesouttoMrs.GerryDyerfortypingthefirstdraftofthetranslation,
andisalsoextendedtomystudentswhocontributedtothisproject:Susan
Hutchison, KayWong,WindsorViney, and especially Donald Hamilton
forhispatienceandreadinesstospendmanyhourscorrectingmyEnglish
and proofreading the text.Without their support, this work would never
havebeencompleted.”
From my side, over the last decade I have had the good fortune to
reread portions of Gorampa’s text with students in Hamburg, Denver,
andSantaBarbara.DanArnoldhelpedwithresearchonthefirstchapter.
Most recently, two students, Michael Cox and Zoran Lasovich, have
spentmanyhourswiththeEnglishandTibetantexts,gettingthemready
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