Mi pham and the Philosophical Controversies of the Nineteenth Century

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Descriptionངོ་སྤྲོད།

No abstract given. Here are the first relevant paragraphs:

The Bodhicaryāvatāra, the "Entry of the Course towards Enlightenment", is one of the greatest classics of the Mahayana tradition. In approximately 1000 verses Śāntideva has outlined the entire process through which the aspirant attains the stage of Bodhisattva.
      It is recorded that Śāntideva's fellow monks at Nālanda regarded him as a lazy oaf whose sole functions were eating, sleeping and excreting. They felt that such idle monks were unworthy to enjoy the alms offered by the faithful. After all, was it not the obligation of monks constantly to study the dharma? They determined to expel him from their midst and consequently summoned him to recite what he knew of the Buddha's teaching. Śāntideva appeared as he had been commanded before the monastic assemblage, but refused to begin, as they had intended, his final farewell until he had been bidden by his teacher. When Jayadeva, his preceptor, commanded him, he ascended the lofty throne his hecklers had raised in order to increase his discomfiture and asked his audience whether they wished him to recite that which was known or that which was new. They reached a consensus that they desired him to expound that which was hitherto unknown.
      He decided that his own Śikṣāsamuccaya was too long and the Sūtrasamuccaya[1] too brief for the occasion; so he began to create, while reciting, the Bodhicaryāvatāra. The lucidity of its expression and the profundity of its thought held his audience spellbound. Fortunately, several of the assemblage thought to take down his words; and three versions of the verses uttered on that occasion were circulated. Ultimately, Śāntideva held for the one in 1000 ślokas.
      The Bodhicaryāvatāra is superficially not an especially difficult text. Taken as a whole, it is one of the clearest of the Buddhist shastras. In the ninth and final chapter it was Śāntideva's intention to condense all Buddhist and, specifically, Mādhyamika thought around the concept of Transcendental Wisdom (prajñā)[2], to describe the process of the transformation of all consciousness into pure wisdom. To explain this chapter, the Prajñāpariccheda, commentators, Indian and Tibetan, have written volumes on the Bodhicaryavatāra. (Smith, preliminary remarks, 1–2)

Notes

Bu-ston, Tāranātha, and a number of other Tibetan authorities refer to a Sūtrasamuccaya by Śāntideva. The Sūtrasamuccaya that we know today is attributable to Nāgārjuna. A number of ingenious solutions have been put forth to explain this situation. Please see Murti, T. R. V., The Central Philosophy of Buddhism. 2nd ed. London, Allen and Unwin, 1960, p. 101, fn. 3.
Prof. H.V. Guenther (Jewel Ornament of Liberation. London, Rider, 1959, p. 3 and 225) translates this key term with the superbly accurate but verbose "discriminating awareness born from wisdom". He points out that prajñā is a transcending function: with the help of prajñā we may "pass beyond the borders of our habitually unenlightened attitude and enter the realm of spirituality and enlightenment". It is this transcending function that would seem to be the most significant.

Citation

Smith, E. Gene. "Mi pham and the Philosophical Controversies of the Nineteenth Century." Chap. 16 in Among Tibetan Texts: History and Literature of the Himalayan Plateau, edited by Kurtis R. Schaeffer. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2001.

Chapter or part of

Scholarship on

Bodhicaryāvatāra

An "Introduction to Bodhisattva Practice," the Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra is a poem about the path of a bodhisattva, in ten chapters, written by the Indian Buddhist Śāntideva (fl. c. 685–763). One of the masterpieces of world literature, it is a core text of Mahāyāna Buddhism and continues to be taught, studied, and commented upon in many languages and by many traditions around the world. The main subject of the text is bodhicitta, the altruistic aspiration for enlightenment, and the path and practices of the bodhisattva, the six perfections (pāramitās). The text forms the basis of many contemporary discussions of Buddhist ethics and philosophy.

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Brgal lan nyin byed snang ba

This is Mipam Rinpoche's answer to Drakar Tulku's objections to some points in his commentary on the ninth chapter of the Bodhicaryāvatāra (Nor bu ke ta ka).

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Gzhan gyis brtsad pa'i lan mdor bsdus pa rigs lam rab gsal de nyid snang byed

This is Mipam Rinpoche's answer to Pariwa Lobzang Rapsal's objections to some points in his commentary on the ninth chapter of the Bodhicaryāvatāra (Nor bu ke ta ka). Mipam completed this work in 1903, in the 5th month, and Pariwa Lobzang Rapsal received it on the 8th day of the 9th month of 1903.

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Nor bu ke ta ka

Nyingma master Mipham Gyatso's (1846-1912) famous word and meaning commentary (tshig don gyi 'grel pa) on the ninth chapter of the Bodhicaryāvatāra.

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'jam dpal dbyangs kyi dgongs rgyan rigs pa'i gzi 'bar gdong lnga'i sgra dbyangs

A polemic against certain aspects of Mipam's Norbu ketaka, based on scriptural sources and reasoning. Type of Commentary: The main polemic against certain aspects of Mipam's commentary on the 9th chapter of the BCA
Length: 59
Tradition: Geluk

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