ILLUMINATING THE GOAL RDZOGS CHEN AND DOXOGRAPHY IN 14TH-CENTURY TIBET ALBION M. BUTTERS ILLUMINATING THE GOAL RDZOGS CHEN AND DOXOGRAPHY IN 14TH-CENTURY TIBET ALBION M. BUTTERS Studia Orientalia 119 ILLUMINATING THE GOAL RDZOGS CHEN AND DOXOGRAPHY IN 14TH-CENTURY TIBET ALBION M. BUTTERS Helsinki 2018 Illuminating the Goal: rDzogs chen and Doxography in 14th-century Tibet Albion M. Butters Studia Orientalia, vol. 119 Copyright © 2018 by the Finnish Oriental Society Editor Lotta Aunio Co-Editor Sari Nieminen Advisory Editorial Board Lotta Aunio (African Studies) Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila (Arabic and Islamic Studies) Tapani Harviainen (Semitic Studies) Arvi Hurskainen (African Studies) Juha Janhunen (Altaic and East Asian Studies) Axel Fleisch (African Studies) Hannu Juusola (Middle Eastern and Semitic Studies) Klaus Karttunen (South Asian Studies) Kaj Öhrnberg (Arabic and Islamic Studies) Heikki Palva (Arabic Linguistics) Asko Parpola (South Asian Studies) Simo Parpola (Assyriology) Saana Svärd (Assyriology) Typesetting Lotta Aunio & Sari Nieminen Cover Photo Taken by a kalyāṇamitra from Pema Osel Ling (Santa Cruz, California) who wishes to remain anonymous: The view from Klong chen pa’s retreat hermitage on Gangs ri thod dkar (White Skull Snow Mountain) in Central Tibet. ISSN 0039-3282 ISBN 978-951-9380-93-3 Juvenes Print Tampere 2018 CONTENTS PREFACE ...........................................................................................................ix TECHNICAL NOTES ..........................................................................................xi 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 1 Outline ....................................................................................................................2 Purpose of the Study ............................................................................................. 4 Methodology ......................................................................................................... 8 2. THE LIFE AND TIMES OF KLONG CHEN PA ..................................................17 The Life of Klong chen pa—The Early Years ...................................................... 17 Klong chen pa’s Root Guru—Kumārarāja .......................................................... 20 The Life of Klong chen pa—The Later Years ......................................................21 Two Brief Former Lives of Klong chen pa ..........................................................25 Klong chen pa’s Reincarnations ...........................................................................27 The Cataclysmic Fourteenth Century .................................................................28 The rNying ma School after Klong chen pa ........................................................34 The Works of Klong chen pa in Posterity ...........................................................38 3. Siddhānta AND SYSTEMIZATION ................................................................ 47 Definition of the Genre ........................................................................................47 Examples of siddhānta in India and grub mtha’ in Tibet ..................................... 50 The Grub mtha’ mdzod ..........................................................................................55 Light on Doxography in the West ......................................................................60 vi 4. CANON CREATION IN THE 14TH CENTURY ..................................................73 The Closed Canon ................................................................................................73 The Open Canon ................................................................................................. 80 Klong chen pa and the gter ma Tradition ............................................................ 92 The Grub mtha’ mdzod as Canonical Statement ...................................................97 5. KLONG CHEN PA’S PHILOSOPHY .................................................................. 111 Klong chen pa as Prāsaṅgika-Mādhyamika ........................................................111 Dol po pa and Extrinsic Emptiness ....................................................................117 The Two Truths ................................................................................................. 123 6. THE GREAT PERFECTION ...........................................................................137 Criticisms of rDzogs chen .................................................................................. 138 Historicity ......................................................................................................... 138 Idealism ............................................................................................................. 142 Eternalism ......................................................................................................... 147 Nihilism ............................................................................................................150 Subitism .............................................................................................................152 To Integrate or Not to Integrate ........................................................................ 157 Different Strands .............................................................................................. 167 rDzogs chen and the Dialectical Vehicles ........................................................169 rDzogs chen and Tantra ................................................................................... 176 Different Hermeneutics ..................................................................................... 183 The Ground ........................................................................................................188 Timelessness ....................................................................................................... 195 7. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................. 201 REFERENCES .................................................................................................205 Primary Sources ................................................................................................. 205 Secondary Sources ............................................................................................. 206 vii APPENDIX A: General Information on Klong chen pa .......................................217 APPENDIX B: General Overview of Tibetan Doxographies ...............................221 APPENDIX C: The rNying ma Nine-Vehicle Scheme ........................................225 PREFACE Thanks go far and wide to all those who have inspired, made suggestions, supported, helped and otherwise furthered the progress and eventual comple- tion of this project. My appreciation extends to Professors Michael Aris and Elliot Sperling for first introducing me to classical Tibetan language and history, and then to my mentor and advisor at Columbia University, Professor Robert A.F. Thurman. It was his suggestion that I focus my dissertation on Klong chen rab ’byams pa, and it was his critical analysis of my translation of the Grub mtha’ mdzod that brought this study to the place it is today. His own continual activi- ties, both academic and popular, are an example of indefatigability, and yet, in spite of these activities, at the most pivotal moments he never failed to make himself available for council. I would also like to thank Professor Gary Tubb, whose breadth and depth of Sanskrit and other things Indic were like a secret meat for my linguistic hunger. At Columbia University and the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies (CIHTS), I also had the great fortune to consult with a number of venerable teachers on this work: Geshe Lobsang Jamspal, Tudeng Nima (Alak Zenkar Rinpoche), Geshe Ngawang Samten, Khenpo Dorjee Tsering, Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal and Khenchen Palden Sherab. I thank all of them for their patience and kindness. From among my friends and peers, I owe particular thanks to John W. Pettit, David Mellins, John Campbell, Marina Illich, Michelle Sorenson, Christian Hackett, and Jonathan Shanker. Either during the translation process or outside of a purely academic setting, their suggestions helped bring this project to life. At CIHTS, I also owe thanks to Dr. Sanjiv Das, Ācārya Ramesh Negi, Tsewang Dolma and Tashi Dhondup. Thanks also to Kimo Logan and Sari Nieminen for their keen eyes and copyediting in the final stages of the project, and to Lotta Aunio for her great patience and oversight as editor of the Studia Orientalia series. Further acknowledgement is due to those scholars of rDzogs chen and Klong chen pa whose work, translations and monographs have paved the way—directly or indirectly—for this study: Tulku Thondup, Herbert Guenther, David Germano, Richard Barron, E. Gene Smith, Steven D. Goodman, Namkhai Norbu, Kennard Lipman, Samten Karmay, Matthew Kapstein, Gregory Hillis, and last—but certainly not least—H.H. the Dalai Lama and H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche. Following the publication of my dissertation and during the subse- quent editing process, the synthesis of Klong chen pa’s biographies by Jampa Mackenzie Stewart and the excellent translation of the Grub mtha’ mzod by x Richard Barron (Lama Chökyi Nyima) and the Padma Translation Committee were both an inspiration and helpful resource. It is almost impossible to convey