Defining Wisdom: Ratnākaraśānti's Sāratamā
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Dissertations/Defining Wisdom: Ratnākaraśānti's Sāratamā
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Defining Wisdom: Ratnākaraśānti's Sāratamā
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Description
This thesis examines Ratnākaraśānti's (ca. 970-1045 C.E.) explication of
Prajñāpāramitā in his doxographical works and his Sāratamā. Based on extant Sanskrit and Tibetan primary sources, it argues that Ratnākaraśānti's main teacher was Dharmakīrtiśrī (late 10th C.E.) and that Ratnākaraśānti's Sāratamā sought to replace his teacher's Yogācāra-Mādhyamika framework with a causal explanation of Prajñāpāramitā through redefining the term Prajñāpāramitā as the path to awakening, rather than its goal. By unpacking that causal explanation in light of his broader system, the thesis demonstrates the way that Ratnākaraśānti's own version of Nirākāravādin-Yogācāra-Mādhyamika refutes cognitive images (ākāra) as unreal ultimately, but claims they are still perceived by buddhas out of compassion. This conclusion debunks the long-standing theory that Ratnākaraśānti was an Indian proponent of the controversial Tibetan gZhan-stong despite later gZhan-stong proponents' attempts to claim him as their own.
There are two parts to the study. The first part introduces Ratnākaraśānti's life, philosophy and doxography based upon evidence from a Tibetan colophon to his Mādhyamika commentary and the Tibetan hagiography of his student Adhīśa (a.k.a. Atiśa) and upon a comparative analysis of his doxographical works that are prerequisites for reading his Sāratamā. The second part consists of an annotated translation of the Sāratamā's introductory section, contrasted with the prior standard interpretation by Haribhadra's (9th century C.E.).
In the two appendices are included a Tibetan critical edition and a separate hybrid Sanskrit and Tibetan critical edition of the Sāratamā's first parivarta based on the extant 11th and 13th century incomplete MSS and on the Tibetan translations in the sDe dge, Peking and sNarthang editions. The hybrid edition also includes my provisional critical edition of the root text—i.e. the first parivarta of the Āryāṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitāsūtra—and my own translation of two small sample sections of the Sāratamā, which are extant only in Tibetan, back into Sanskrit.
Citation
Seton, Gregory Max. "Defining Wisdom: Ratnākaraśānti's Sāratamā." PhD diss, University of Oxford, 2015.
Table of contents
- 1. Introduction9
- 1.1. Organization of the Study13
- 2. Ratnākaraśānti's Life18
- 2.1. Dates19
- 2.2. Who was Ratnākaraśānti?21
- 2.3. Maitreyanātha's Hagiography34
- 2.4. rNam thar yongs grags36
- 2.4.1. Teachers39
- 2.4.2. Ratnākaraśānti's Legacy46
- 2.4.3. The Problem with the Transmission Section48
- 2.4.3.1. Conclusion54
- 2.5. Ratnākaraśānti's Work56
- 2.5.1. Dating the Sāratamā56
- 2.5.2. Chronology of Doxographical Works57
- 3. Ratnākaraśānti's Sheer Luminosity Viewpoint62
- 3.1. The Yogācāra and Mādhyamika Founders were in Agreement63
- 3.1.1. The Two Realities Hermeneutic64
- 3.1.2. The Three Natures Hermeneutic65
- 3.1.2.1. The Imagined Nature65
- 3.1.2.2. The Dependent Nature66
- 3.1.2.3. The Established Nature67
- 3.1.3. Bringing the Two Hermeneutic Systems Together71
- 3.1.4. Connecting Both Hermeneutics with Yogācāra and Mādhyamika74
- 3.2. The Basic Argument Itself75
- 3.2.1. Deducing a Thesis76
- 3.3. Proving Sheer Luminosity78
- 3.3.1. Defending Luminosity from Mādhyamika Critique85
- 3.1. The Yogācāra and Mādhyamika Founders were in Agreement63
- 4. Causality in the Nirākāravādin System88
- 4.1. Causality Implied by the Three Natures88
- 4.2. Erroneous causality93
- 4.3. Unerroneous Causality97
- 4.3.1. Transcendence and Immanence103
- 4.3.1.1. The Three Bodies110
- 4.3.1.2. The Natural Body112
- 4.3.1.3. The Enjoyment Body116
- 4.3.1.4. The Creation Body119
- 4.3.1. Transcendence and Immanence103
- 4.4. Conclusion: The Significance of Ratnākaraśānti's System123
- 5. Ratnākaraśānti's Doxography127
- 5.1. Ratnākaraśānti's Classification of his Own Viewpoint128
- 5.2. Doxographical Classifications of Opponent Positions131
- 5.2.1. The MPS/MAv Doxographical List of the Four Buddhist Schools131
- 5.2.2. The MAu Doxographical List of Mādhyamika and Yogācāra Positions135
- 5.3. Mapping the Classifications onto the Refuted Positions138
- 5.3.1. The Four Yogācāra Positions141
- 5.3.1.1. Śāntarakṣita's MAk142
- 5.3.1.2. Bodhibhadra's JSSn144
- 5.3.1.3. Ratnakīrti's CAP146
- 5.3.1.4. Ratnākaraśānti's Refutation of Four Yogācāra Positions148
- 5.3.2. The Three Mādhyamika Positions150
- 5.3.2.1. Sākāravādin-Mādhyamika Position152
- 5.3.2.2. The Nirākāravādin-Mādhyamika Position155
- 5.3.3. The Ambiguous Statements in the PPu158
- 5.3.1. The Four Yogācāra Positions141
- 5.4. Dharmakīrtiśrī's Viewpoint171
- 6. Preface to the Editions178
- 6.1. The Sāratamā Edition178
- 6.1.1. The Problems with the Editio Princeps of the Sāratamā178
- 6.1.2. The Sanskrit Materials for a New Edition179
- 6.1.2.1. MS A179
- 6.1.2.2. MS B182
- 6.1.2.3. The Tibetan Materials for a New Edition183
- 6.1.2.4. Dating the Tibetan translation of the Sāratamā184
- 6.2. A Tibetan Edition186
- 6.3. A New Aṣṭa Edition187
- 6.4. The Hybrid Sanskrit and Tibetan Edition189
- 6.5. The Relationship of the Witnesses – Toward a Stemma194
- 6.1. The Sāratamā Edition178
- 7. Sāratamā Translation197
- 7.1. The Auspicious Verses202
- 7.1.1. The First Auspicious Verse204
- 7.1.2. The Second Auspicious Verse208
- 7.1.3. The Third Auspicious Verse211
- 7.1.4. The Fourth Verse212
- 7.2. The Purpose and its Connection to the Topic of the Aṣṭa215
- 7.3. The Topic226
- 7.3.1. Eightfold Summary of the Topics227
- 7.3.2. The Sixfold Summary of the Topics232
- 7.3.3. The Threefold Summary of the Topics233
- 7.4. The Argument Against A Single Topic235
- 7.4.1. The Structure of Haribhadra's Argument236
- 7.4.2. Vyākhyāyukti Framework237
- 7.4.3. Dharmakīrti's Principle242
- 7.4.4. Ārya Vimuktisena's Extensional Definition244
- 7.4.5. Dignāga's Intensional definition249
- 7.4.6. Dharmakīrtiśrī's Explication of Haribhadra's Definition253
- 7.4.7. Ratnākaraśānti's Arguments254
- 7.1. The Auspicious Verses202
- 8. Ratnākaraśānti's Definition263
- 9. Appendix A – Haribhadra's AAĀ269
- 10. Abbreviations and Bibliography272
- 10.1. Abbreviations272
- 10.2. Primary Sources in Sanskrit274
- 10.3. Primary Sources in Tibetan285
- 10.4. Ratnākaraśānti's Works288
- 10.4.1. Pāramitānaya288
- 10.4.2. Mantranaya291
- 10.4.3. Ratnākaraśānti's Miscellaneous Works296
- 10.4.4. Works Wrongly Attributed to Ratnākaraśānti297
- 10.4.5. Two Extant Sub-Commentaries on Ratnākaraśānti's works298
- 10.5. Secondary Scholarship299
Interconnections
1 Recension of
The Āryāṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitāpañjikāsārottamā (Skt.; also known in its Sanskrit critical edition as Sāratamā; Tib. 'Phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa brgyad stong pa'i dka' 'grel snying po mchog) is a pañjikā-commentary on the Aṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitāsūtra by Ācārya Ratnākaraśānti (late 10th–mid-11th century), the eastern-gate scholar (dvāra-paṇḍita) of Vikramaśīla Monastery, who bore the epithet kalikālasarvajña ("the Omniscient One of the Degenerate Age") and is counted among the eighty-four mahāsiddhas. Its Tibetan translation, credited to Subhūtiśānti and Śākya blo gros, is preserved in the Derge Tengyur (D 3803) and the Peking Tengyur (P 5200, vol. 92). A Sanskrit critical edition, titled Sāratamā, was published as Sāratamā: A Pañjikā on the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra by Ācārya Ratnākaraśānti, edited by Padmanabh S. Jaini, in the Tibetan Sanskrit Works Series (no. XVIII), by the Kashi Prasad Jayaswal Research Institute, Patna, in 1979.
1 Partial translation of
The Āryāṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitāpañjikāsārottamā (Skt.; also known in its Sanskrit critical edition as Sāratamā; Tib. 'Phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa brgyad stong pa'i dka' 'grel snying po mchog) is a pañjikā-commentary on the Aṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitāsūtra by Ācārya Ratnākaraśānti (late 10th–mid-11th century), the eastern-gate scholar (dvāra-paṇḍita) of Vikramaśīla Monastery, who bore the epithet kalikālasarvajña ("the Omniscient One of the Degenerate Age") and is counted among the eighty-four mahāsiddhas. Its Tibetan translation, credited to Subhūtiśānti and Śākya blo gros, is preserved in the Derge Tengyur (D 3803) and the Peking Tengyur (P 5200, vol. 92). A Sanskrit critical edition, titled Sāratamā, was published as Sāratamā: A Pañjikā on the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra by Ācārya Ratnākaraśānti, edited by Padmanabh S. Jaini, in the Tibetan Sanskrit Works Series (no. XVIII), by the Kashi Prasad Jayaswal Research Institute, Patna, in 1979.
2 Scholarship on
The Āryāṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitāvyākhyānābhisamayālaṃkārāloka (Tib. Shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa brgyad stong pa'i bshad pa/ mngon par rtogs pa'i rgyan gyi snang ba, "Illumination of the Ornament of Realization"), also known as the Abhisamayālaṃkārālokā, is a commentary by Haribhadra (Tib. Seng ge bzang po; late 8th century), an Indian paṇḍita active under the Pāla emperor Dharmapāla. It works by taking Maitreya's Abhisamayālaṃkāra—traditionally read as an outline of the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras' structure—and showing where each of its categories is being taught within the actual text of the Aṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitāsūtra, making it at once a commentary on the sūtra and one of the traditional twenty-one Indian commentaries on the Abhisamayālaṃkāra. It is distinct from Haribhadra's other, better-known work in that same set of 21, the Sphuṭārthā ("Clear Meaning"), which instead explains the Abhisamayālaṃkāra,'s verses directly, without correlating them to any one sūtra's wording. This commentary was translated into Tibetan by Rinchen Zangpo, with a subsequent revision involving Atiśa Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna and a further translation by Ngok Loden Sherab.
The Āryāṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitāpañjikāsārottamā (Skt.; also known in its Sanskrit critical edition as Sāratamā; Tib. 'Phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa brgyad stong pa'i dka' 'grel snying po mchog) is a pañjikā-commentary on the Aṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitāsūtra by Ācārya Ratnākaraśānti (late 10th–mid-11th century), the eastern-gate scholar (dvāra-paṇḍita) of Vikramaśīla Monastery, who bore the epithet kalikālasarvajña ("the Omniscient One of the Degenerate Age") and is counted among the eighty-four mahāsiddhas. Its Tibetan translation, credited to Subhūtiśānti and Śākya blo gros, is preserved in the Derge Tengyur (D 3803) and the Peking Tengyur (P 5200, vol. 92). A Sanskrit critical edition, titled Sāratamā, was published as Sāratamā: A Pañjikā on the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra by Ācārya Ratnākaraśānti, edited by Padmanabh S. Jaini, in the Tibetan Sanskrit Works Series (no. XVIII), by the Kashi Prasad Jayaswal Research Institute, Patna, in 1979.
