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95-415: "Ju" ("holding") was Mipham's family name as his paternal clan is said to have originated as clear light deities who came to the human world holding a rope. "Jamgön" (Skt. Mañjunātha) indicate that he was considered to be an emanation of the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī. His maternal uncle, Minister-Lama Drupchok Pema Tarjay, named him Mipham Gyamtso ("Invincible Ocean" or "Unconquerable Ocean"). In Tibetan literature,

190-550: A conventional everyday sense, madhyamaka does accept that one can speak of "things", and yet ultimately these things are empty of inherent existence. Furthermore, "emptiness" itself is also "empty": it does not have an existence on its own, nor does it refer to a transcendental reality beyond or above phenomenal reality. Svabhāva' s cognitive aspect is merely a superimposition ( samāropa ) that beings make when they perceive and conceive of things. In this sense then, emptiness does not exist as some kind of primordial reality, but it

285-411: A couple of years hence, war and darkness shall cover the earth, which will have its effect even on this isolated snow land of Tibet . In thirty years time, a mad (smyo) storm of hatred will grow like a fierce black thundercloud in the land of China, and in a further decade this evil shall spill over into Tibet itself, so that Lamas, scholars, disciples and yogis will come under terrible persecution. Due to

380-485: A distinction from Longchenpa between two types of effects: [1] produced effects, such as when a sprout is produced by a seed; and [2] freed effects, such as when the sun appears after the clouds have vanished. For Mipham, the buddha qualities are freed effects in that they are simply made manifest when the conditions that obscure them have been removed. They are not produced anew. As scholar Robert Mayer remarks, Mipham "completely revolutionised rNying ma pa scholasticism in

475-505: A lengthening of the first vowel and elision of the final -a ). In a Buddhist context, these terms refer to the "middle path" ( madhyama pratipada ), which refers to right view ( samyagdṛṣṭi ) which steers clear of the metaphysical extremes of annihilationism ( ucchedavāda ) and eternalism ( śasvatavāda ). For example, the Sanskrit Kātyāyanaḥsūtra states that though the world "relies on a duality of existence and non-existence",

570-412: A means to an end (liberation), and therefore they must be founded on the wish to help oneself and others end suffering. Reason and logical arguments, however (such as those employed by classical Indian philosophers , i.e., pramana ), are also seen as being empty of any true validity or reality. They serve only as conventional remedies for our delusions. Nāgārjuna's Vigrahavyāvartanī famously attacked

665-539: A middle way. Madhyamaka thinkers also argue that since things have the nature of lacking true existence or own being ( niḥsvabhāva ), all things are mere conceptual constructs ( prajñaptimatra ) because they are just impermanent collections of causes and conditions. This also applies to the principle of causality itself, since everything is dependently originated. Therefore, in madhyamaka, phenomena appear to arise and cease, but in an ultimate sense they do not arise or remain as inherently existent phenomena. This tenet

760-606: A phase after the completion of the Bodhisattvabhumi , but before the composition of Asanga's Mahāyānasaṃgraha (which quotes the Mahāyānasūtrālamkāra as an authoritative text). The Buddhist traditions themselves have always held that Asaṅga received the "Maitreya" texts from the bodhisattva Maitreya directly. Asaṅga is said to have spent many years in intense meditation, during which time tradition says that he often visited Tuṣita to receive teachings from

855-627: A place of esteem similar to the works of Sakya Pandita and Gorampa in the Sakya tradition ; those of Tsongkhapa in the Gelug tradition and of Kunkhyen Padma Karpo in the Drukpa Kagyu . Together with Rongzompa and Longchenpa , Mipham is considered to be one of the three "omniscient" writers of the Nyingma tradition. Although Mipham wrote on a wide range of subjects, David Germano identifies

950-436: A previous incarnation. This Mipham incarnate is the father of Thaye Dorje , one of two candidates to be recognized as the 17th Karmapa , and of 14th Sonam Tsemo Rinpoche, an important Gelug/Sakya tulku. In 1995, Ösel Rangdröl Mukpo (b. 1962), the eldest son of renowned dharma master Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Ani Könchok Palden, was recognized as a reincarnation of Mipham Rinpoche by HH Drubwang Padma Norbu Rinpoche , at

1045-403: A quiver and so on, compelling a non-human "bird" to whisper future news in one's ear, and so on. In one short text he prescribes various methods of divination (all drawn, Mipham emphasizes, from Tantric scriptures and commentaries) that make use of unusual sources of augury such as: the vicariously overheard chatter of women; sudden appearance of various animals, especially birds; weather phenomena;

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1140-485: A sort of tension in madhyamaka literature, since it has use some concepts to convey its teachings. For madhyamaka, the realization of emptiness is not just a satisfactory theory about the world, but a key understanding which allows one to reach liberation or nirvana . As Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā ("Root Verses on the Middle Way") puts it: With the cessation of ignorance, formations will not arise. Moreover,

1235-549: A tradition of Buddhist philosophy and practice founded by the Indian Buddhist monk and philosopher Nāgārjuna ( c.  150  – c.  250 CE ). The foundational text of the Mādhyamaka tradition is Nāgārjuna 's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā ("Root Verses on the Middle Way"). More broadly, Mādhyamaka also refers to the ultimate nature of phenomena as well as the non-conceptual realization of ultimate reality that

1330-581: Is Hanshan Deqing during the Ming dynasty . In his autobiography, Hanshan describes the palace of Maitreya in Tuṣita, and hearing a lecture given by Bodhisattva Maitreya to a large group of his disciples. The number of works attributed to him vary in the traditions of Tibetan Buddhism and Chinese Buddhism . In the Tibetan tradition the "five Dharmas of Maitreya" are: The Chinese tradition meanwhile maintains that

1425-423: Is a Sanskrit word meaning "middle". It is cognate with Latin med-iu-s and English mid . The -ma suffix is a superlative, giving madhyama the meaning of "mid-most" or "medium". The -ka suffix is used to form adjectives, thus madhyamaka means "middling". The -ika suffix is used to form possessives, with a collective sense, thus mādhyamika mean "belonging to the mid-most" (the -ika suffix regularly causes

1520-531: Is a complex concept that has ontological and cognitive aspects. The ontological aspects include svabhāva as essence , as a property which makes an object what it is, as well as svabhāva as substance , meaning, as the madhyamaka thinker Candrakīrti defines it, something that does "not depend on anything else". It is substance- svabhāva , the objective and independent existence of any object or concept, which madhyamaka arguments mostly focus on refuting. A common structure which madhyamaka uses to negate svabhāva

1615-579: Is a name whose use was pioneered by Buddhist scholars Erich Frauwallner , Giuseppe Tucci , and Hakuju Ui to distinguish one of the three founders of the Yogācāra school of Buddhist philosophy , along with Asanga and Vasubandhu . Some scholars believe this Maitreya to be a historical person in India who authored various Yogācāra texts known as the Maitreya corpus. The traditions themselves have held that it

1710-476: Is also nothing to be negated." Therefore, it is only from the perspective of those who cling to the existence of things that it seems as if something is being negated. In truth, madhyamaka is not annihilating something, merely elucidating that this so-called existence never existed in the first place. Thus, madhyamaka uses language to make clear the limits of our concepts. Ultimately, reality cannot be depicted by concepts. According to Jay Garfield , this creates

1805-407: Is authoritative cognition, there are objects of knowledge; when there are objects of knowledge, there is authoritative cognition. But neither authoritative cognition nor objects of knowledge exist inherently. To the charge that if Nāgārjuna's arguments and words are also empty they therefore lack the power to refute anything, Nāgārjuna responds that: My words are without nature. Therefore, my thesis

1900-440: Is dependent for its existence and nature on something else which has own-nature. Furthermore, if there is neither own-nature nor other-nature, there cannot be anything with a true, substantial existent nature ( bhava ). If there is no true existent, then there can be no non-existent ( abhava ). An important element of madhyamaka refutation is that the classical Buddhist doctrine of dependent arising (the idea that every phenomena

1995-511: Is dependent on other phenomena) cannot be reconciled with "a conception of self-nature or substance" and that therefore essence theories are contrary not only to the Buddhist scriptures but to the very ideas of causality and change. Any enduring essential nature would prevent any causal interaction, or any kind of origination. For things would simply always have been, and will always continue to be, without any change. As Nāgārjuna writes in

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2090-446: Is devoted to Ju-thig or divination using knots, a method that might be termed " Bon " in origin, for want of a more accurate term; this may have been the legacy of his family, who were doctors for several generations. Throughout his writings there are many resources for divination, in addition to astrology, including several rituals for looking in mirrors (pra-mo), one using dice (mo), pulling different-length 'arrows' (Wylie: da dar) out of

2185-444: Is due to the polymathic nature of his learning and his exceptional ingenuity that Mipham today ranks amongst the leading religious and spiritual celebrities of Tibet. Mipham's works on both the exoteric or Sutrayana teachings and the esoteric or Vajrayāna teachings have become core texts within the Nyingma tradition. These works now hold a central position in the curriculum of all Nyingma monasteries and monastic colleges — occupying

2280-772: Is entitled The Essence of Clear Light or Nucleus of Inner Radiance ( Wylie : od gsal snying po )— it is based on Longchenpa's commentary, Dispelling Darkness in the Ten Directions Wylie : gsang snying 'grel pa phyogs bcu mun sel which explains the Guhyagarbha from the Dzogchen point of view. Mipham showed particular interest in the Kalachakra and the kingdom of Shambhala , and one of his last and most extensive of his esoteric works are his two volumes of commentary, initiation and sadhana related to

2375-601: Is experienced in meditation . Since the 4th century CE onwards, Mādhyamaka philosophy had a major influence on the subsequent development of the Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition, especially following the spread of Buddhism throughout Asia . It is the dominant interpretation of Buddhist philosophy in Tibetan Buddhism and has also been influential in East Asian Buddhist thought. According to

2470-578: Is held to show that views of absolute or eternalist existence (such as the Hindu ideas of Brahman or sat-dravya ) and nihilism are both equally untenable. These two views are considered to be the two extremes that madhyamaka steers clear from. The first is essentialism or eternalism (sastavadava) – a belief that things inherently or substantially exist and are therefore efficacious objects of craving and clinging ; Nagarjuna argues that we naively and innately perceive things as substantial, and it

2565-401: Is not an ontological reality with substantial or independent existence. Hence, the two truths are not two metaphysical realities; instead, according to Karl Brunnholzl, "the two realities refer to just what is experienced by two different types of beings with different types and scopes of perception". As Candrakirti says: It is through the perfect and the false seeing of all entities That

2660-417: Is not ruined. Since there is no inconsistency, I do not have to state an argument for a distinction. Nāgārjuna goes on: Just as one magical creation may be annihilated by another magical creation, and one illusory person by another person produced by an illusionist, this negation is the same. Shantideva makes the same point: "thus, when one's son dies in a dream, the conception "he does not exist" removes

2755-481: Is referring to the bodhisattva Maitreya , the future buddha . Scholars are divided in opinion whether the name refers to a historical human teacher of Asaṅga or to the bodhisattva Maitreya. Frauwallner, Tucci and Ui proposed this as a possibility, while Eric Obermiller and Fyodor Shcherbatskoy doubted the historicity of this figure. Modern scholars argue that many of the various texts traditionally attributed to Maitreya (and supposedly revealed to Asanga ) like

2850-435: Is ruined. In that case, there is an inconsistency, And you ought to provide an argument for this distinction. Candrakirti comments on this statement by stating that madhyamaka does not completely deny the use of pramanas conventionally, and yet ultimately they do not have a foundation: Therefore we assert that mundane objects are known through the four kinds of authoritative cognition. They are mutually dependent: when there

2945-413: Is simply a corrective to a mistaken conception of how things exist. This idea of svabhāva that madhyamaka denies is then not just a conceptual philosophical theory, but it is a cognitive distortion that beings automatically impose on the world, such as when we regard the five aggregates as constituting a single self . Candrakirti compares it to someone who suffers from vitreous floaters that cause

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3040-482: Is termed rigpa , while the relative truth is the conceptual mind ( sems ). According to Mipham these two models do not conflict. They are merely different contextually; the first relates to the analysis of experience post meditatively and the second corresponds to the experience of unity in meditative equipose. This synthesis by Mipam is ultimately a bringing together of two different perspectives in Tibetan philosophy, rangtong and shentong , which Mipam associated with

3135-433: Is the catuṣkoṭi ("four corners" or tetralemma ), which roughly consists of four alternatives: a proposition is true; a proposition is false; a proposition is both true and false; a proposition is neither true nor false. Some of the major topics discussed by classical madhyamaka include causality , change, and personal identity . Madhyamaka's denial of svabhāva does not mean a nihilistic denial of all things, for in

3230-409: Is the focus of the teachings of Dzogchen . He attempts a synthesis of them to show that they are not incompatible perspectives and that the teachings of Dzogchen are in line with reason. Mipham developed a twofold model of the Buddhist two truths doctrine . The first model is the traditional Madhyamaka perspective which presents the two truths of emptiness and appearance, with emptiness representing

3325-494: Is the limited truth – saṃvṛti satya, which means "to cover", "to conceal", or "obscure". (and thus it is a kind of ignorance) Saṃvṛti is also said to mean "conventional", as in a customary , norm based, agreed upon truth (like linguistic conventions) and it is also glossed as vyavahāra-satya (transactional truth). Finally, Chandrakirti also has a third explanation of saṃvṛti, which is "mutual dependence" ( parasparasaṃbhavana ). This seeming reality does not really exist as

3420-465: Is the unity of seemingly disparate ideas such as duality and nonduality , conceptual and nonconceptual ( nirvikalpa ) wisdom, rational analysis and uncontrived meditation, presence and absence, immanence and transcendence, emptiness and Buddha nature . Mimicking the Sarma schools, Mipham attempted to reconcile the view of tantra, especially Dzogchen , with sutric Madhyamaka . This was in departure with

3515-406: Is the world of samsara because conceiving of concrete and unchanging objects leads to clinging and suffering. As Buddhapalita states: "unskilled persons whose eye of intelligence is obscured by the darkness of delusion conceive of an essence of things and then generate attachment and hostility with regard to them". According to Hayes, the two truths may also refer to two different goals in life:

3610-467: Is this predisposition which is the root delusion that lies at the basis of all suffering. The second extreme is nihilism or annihilationism (ucchedavada) – encompassing views that could lead one to believe that there is no need to be responsible for one's actions – such as the idea that one is annihilated at death or that nothing has causal effects – but also the view that absolutely nothing exists. In madhyamaka, reason and debate are understood as

3705-536: Is to be accomplished do not see anything that is delusive or not delusive". From within the experience of the enlightened ones there is only one reality which appears non-conceptually, as Nāgārjuna says in the Sixty stanzas on reasoning: "that nirvana is the sole reality, is what the Victors have declared." Bhāvaviveka's Madhyamakahrdayakārikā describes the ultimate truth through a negation of all four possibilities of

3800-734: The Abhisamayalankara and the Ratnagotravibhaga are actually later post-Asanga texts. However, some scholars like Gareth Sparham use the name Maitreya to refer to the author of "three Maitreya texts", all which seem to be by the same author. This Maitreya Corpus comprises the following texts: Paul Williams writes that "it is quite possible that these other three [texts] do have a single author" and cites Frauwallner who also thought these three texts were similar. Mario D'amato who also agrees that these texts likely share one author, dates these three "Maitreya" texts to

3895-623: The Kalachakra Tantra , the esoteric teaching from Shambhala . Before he died in 1912, he said to his students that now he was going to Shambhala . Throughout his life, Mipham showed a particular interest in the legend of the warrior king Gesar of Ling , a 12th-century figure whose epic is well-known and widely celebrated in eastern Tibet, and about whom Mipham wrote extensively. The Gesar practice, known as "The Swift Accomplishment of Enlightened Activity Through Invocation and Offering" ( Wylie : gsol mchod phrin las myur 'grub ) arose in

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3990-733: The Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra , the Mahāyāna-sūtra-alaṃkāra-śāstra , the Madhyānta-vibhāga-śāstra , etc.; in the daytime, he lectured on the marvelous principles to a great audience. Confusion over the idea of "supernaturally" visiting heavens may be due to the unfamiliarity of scholars with the Indian concept of heavens as being accessible through samādhi . Other advanced meditators recorded similar experiences of visiting Tuṣita Heaven at night. One such example of this

4085-443: The catuskoti : Its character is neither existent, nor nonexistent, / Nor both existent and nonexistent, nor neither. / Centrists should know true reality / That is free from these four possibilities. Atisha describes the ultimate as "here, there is no seeing and no seer, no beginning and no end, just peace.... It is nonconceptual and nonreferential ... it is inexpressible, unobservable, unchanging, and unconditioned." Because of

4180-751: The Quintessence of all Courses of Ultimate Wisdom (Jnanasarasamuccaya) of Aryadeva ; commentaries on the major works of the Indian Buddhist logicians Dharmakirti and Dignaga ; commentaries on the Five Treatises of Maitreya most notably, the Abhisamayalamkara ; commentaries on several works of Vasubandhu including the Abhidharmakosha . Mipham's commentary on the ninth chapter of Shantideva 's Bodhicaryavatara ,

4275-609: The Shertik Norbu Ketaka ( Tibetan : ཤེར་ཊཱིཀ་ནོར་བུ་ཀེ་ཏ་ཀ་ , Wylie : sher ṭīk nor bu ke ta ka ), "threw Tibetan scholarly circles into several decades of heated controversy," but "it was not the only tempest Mipham's new expositions raised." His commentary on the Madhyamakalamkara of Śāntarakṣita was also considered highly controversial. Mipham's commentary on the Guhyagarbha Tantra

4370-566: The Buddha teaches a correct view which understands that: Arising in the world, Kātyayana, seen and correctly understood just as it is, shows there is no non-existence in the world. Cessation in the world, Kātyayana, seen and correctly understood just as it is, shows there is no permanent existence in the world. Thus avoiding both extremes the Tathāgata teaches a dharma by the middle path ( madhyamayā pratipadā ) . That is: this being, that becomes; with

4465-703: The Debates on Emptiness ) Lopon Karma Phuntsho defines Mipham as a polymath and gives this assessment of the scope of Mipham's work: Mipham is perhaps the greatest polymath Tibet ever produced. His writings comprise works on a wide range of subjects, covering almost every science known to his milieu. In traditional terms he is a Mahāpaṇḍita who has mastered the ten sciences of arts and crafts (bzo) , health science (gso ba) , language (sgra) , logico-epistemology (tshad-ma) , soteriology (nang don) , poetry ( snyan ngag) , lexicology (mngon brjod) , prosody (sdeb sbyor) , dramaturgy (zlos gar) , and astrology (dkar rtsis) . It

4560-754: The MMK: We state that conditioned origination is emptiness. It is mere designation depending on something, and it is the middle path. (24.18) Since nothing has arisen without depending on something, there is nothing that is not empty. (24.19) Beginning with Nāgārjuna , madhyamaka discerns two levels of truth , conventional truth (everyday commonsense reality) and ultimate truth ( emptiness ). Ultimately, madhyamaka argues that all phenomena are empty of svabhava and only exist in dependence on other causes, conditions and concepts. Conventionally, madhyamaka holds that beings do perceive concrete objects which they are aware of empirically. In madhyamaka this phenomenal world

4655-461: The Maitreya. Heavens such as Tuṣita are said to be accessible through meditation . Xuanzang tells the account of these events: In the great mango grove five or six li to the southwest of the city ( Ayodhyā ), there is an old monastery where Asaṅga Bodhisattva received instructions and guided the common people. At night he went up to the place of Maitreya Bodhisattva in Tuṣita Heaven to learn

4750-406: The Nyingma school which generally positioned the view of tantra as superior to the view of Madhyamaka. For Mipam, the unity of philosophical views is ultimately resolved in the principle of coalescence (Sanskrit: yuganaddha , Tib: zung 'jug ), which is the nonduality of conventional and ultimate realities, of samsara and nirvana. Unlike Tsongkhapa who held that emptiness, as an absolute negation,

4845-521: The age of ten he had already composed many texts. At twelve, he entered the monastery as an ordinary monk of the Ogmin Urgyen Mindrolling lineage at a branch monastery of the great Nyingma seat Shechen . When he was fifteen or sixteen, after studying the very difficult Mindrolling system of chanting for only a few days and praying to Manjushri , he is said to have completely mastered it. In an 18-month retreat he accomplished

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4940-435: The arising of this, that arises. With ignorance as condition there is volition ... [to be expanded with the standard formula of the 12 links of dependent origination] Though all Buddhist schools saw themselves as defending a middle path in accord with the Buddhist teachings, the name madhyamaka refers to a school of Mahayana philosophy associated with Nāgārjuna and his commentators. The term mādhyamika refers to adherents of

5035-434: The classical Indian Mādhyamika thinkers, all phenomena ( dharmas ) are empty ( śūnya ) of "nature", of any "substance" or "essence" ( svabhāva ) which could give them "solid and independent existence", because they are dependently co-arisen . But this "emptiness" itself is also "empty": it does not have an existence on its own, nor does it refer to a transcendental reality beyond or above phenomenal reality. Madhya

5130-553: The definitive meaning in the way of just this assertion by the omniscient Longchen Rapjam . - Lion's Roar, exposition of Buddha nature . For Mipham, both of these teachings are definitive and a middle way between both of them is the best way to avoid the extremes of nihilism and essentialism. Another original contribution of Mipham is his system of fourfold valid cognition ( pramana ) which has two conventional and two ultimate valid cognitions: Conventional valid cognitions Ultimate valid cognitions According to Mipham, buddha-nature

5225-503: The demon-king Pehar taking power in China, darkness and terror ('bog) will come to our sacred land, with the result that violent death shall spread like a plague through every village. Then the three lords of materialism (gsum-gyi-kla-klos) and their cousins will seize power in Tibet, spreading war, famine and oppression. No one will be safe. Now, very soon, my mind-stream will be gathered up in

5320-420: The entities that are thus found bear two natures. The object of perfect seeing is true reality, And false seeing is seeming reality. This means that the distinction between the two truths is primarily epistemological and dependent on the cognition of the observer, not ontological . As Shantideva writes, there are "two kinds of world", "the one of yogins and the one of common people". The seeming reality

5415-431: The first model because in the first model only emptiness is ultimate while in the second model the ultimate truth is the meditative experience of unitary wisdom. Instead of just being a negation, it includes the subjective content of the cognition of wisdom as well as the objective nature of reality. In this model the ultimate truth is also reality experienced nonconceptually, without duality and reification, which in Dzogchen

5510-573: The five revealed scriptures are: the Yogācārabhūmi , *Yogavibhāga [now lost] , Mahāyānasūtrālamkārakā , Madhyāntavibhāga and the Vajracchedikākāvyākhyā. Madhyamaka Mādhyamaka ("middle way" or "centrism"; Chinese : 中觀見 ; pinyin : Zhōngguān Jìan ; Tibetan : དབུ་མ་པ་  ; dbu ma pa ), otherwise known as Śūnyavāda ("the emptiness doctrine") and Niḥsvabhāvavāda ("the no svabhāva doctrine"), refers to

5605-430: The form of Manjushri known as 'Lion of Philosophers' (Tibetan: smra ba'i seng ge), using a liturgy composed by the fifteenth Karmapa, Khakhyab Dorje. He made many medicinal pills blessed with Manjushri's mantra , and many miraculous signs were said to have been manifest. After this, it was said that he could accomplish any sutra or tantra without any effort, and no text was unknown to him. He went to many lamas to obtain

5700-424: The highest goal of nirvana, and the lower goal of "commercial good". The highest goal is the liberation from attachment, both material and intellectual. According to Paul Williams, Nāgārjuna associates emptiness with the ultimate truth but his conception of emptiness is not some kind of Absolute , but rather it is the very absence of true existence with regards to the conventional reality of things and events in

5795-501: The highest truth realized by wisdom which is paramartha satya ( parama is literally "supreme or ultimate", and artha means "object, purpose, or actuality"), and yet it has a kind of conventional reality which has its uses for reaching liberation. This limited truth includes everything, including the Buddha himself, the teachings ( dharma ), liberation and even Nāgārjuna's own arguments. This two truth schema which did not deny

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5890-404: The illusion of hairs appearing in their visual field. This cognitive dimension of svabhāva means that just understanding and assenting to madhyamaka reasoning is not enough to end the suffering caused by our reification of the world, just like understanding how an optical illusion works does not make it stop functioning. What is required is a kind of cognitive shift (termed realization ) in

5985-418: The importance of convention allowed Nāgārjuna to defend himself against charges of nihilism ; understanding both correctly meant seeing the middle way : "Without relying upon convention, the ultimate fruit is not taught. Without understanding the ultimate, nirvana is not attained." The limited, perceived reality is an experiential reality or a nominal reality which beings impute on the ultimate reality. It

6080-473: The late 19th century, raising its status after many centuries as a comparative intellectual backwater, to arguably the most dynamic and expansive of philosophical traditions in all of Tibetan Buddhism, with an influence and impact far beyond the rNying ma pa themselves." In the Introduction to his critical study of the ontological debates between Mipham and his Gelugpa opponents ( Mipham's Dialectics and

6175-432: The level of ultimate truth and appearance representing relative truth. In this model the two truths are really the same reality and are only conceptually distinct. In his second model of the two truths, Mipham presents an authentic truth and an inauthentic truth. Authentic experience is any perception that is in accord with reality ( gnas snang mthun ) and perceptions which do not are said to be inauthentic. This differs from

6270-488: The line of the Dege Prince who died in 1942 was apparently born in Tibet in 1949 and recognised by Tengye Rinpoche of Lab i 1959 At that time he was enthroned and given responsibility for all monasteries previously held by the first and second incarnations. This third incarnation was also confirmed by Patrul Rinpoche who gave him relics of the previous incarnations and by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, who he had recognized in

6365-556: The madhyamaka school. Note that in both words the stress is on the first syllable. [REDACTED] Religion portal Central to madhyamaka philosophy is śūnyatā , "emptiness", and this refers to the central idea that dharmas are empty of svabhāva . This term has been translated variously as essence, intrinsic nature, inherent existence, own being and substance. Furthermore, according to Richard P. Hayes, svabhāva can be interpreted as either "identity" or as "causal independence". Likewise, Westerhoff notes that svabhāva

6460-603: The mind of Mipham as a gong-ter and was written down over the course of three years from the age of 31 to 34. This practice invokes Gesar and his retinue and requests him to assist practitioners. Mipham's medical works continue to be highly regarded to this day. Mipham also wrote extensively about astrology which was, in his words, a "delightful game" that he mastered in his teens but later applied to more serious topics such as medicine; these two topics, with various texts on more or less related topics of divination, occupy perhaps 2,000 pages of his writing. An entire volume of Mipham's

6555-486: The most influential aspect of Mipham's career in that he "was the single most important author in the efflorescence of Nyingma exoteric literature in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Grounding himself theoretically in the writings of Longchenpa and other great Nyingma authors, Mipham produced brilliant exegetical commentaries on the great Indian philosophical systems and texts with a Nyingma orientation." E. Gene Smith also judged that Mipham's greatest contribution

6650-539: The necessary lungs (oral transmissions), but he needed no study or teachings for any texts. Mipham was "a luminary of the nineteenth century Nyingma renaissance and Rime movement ecumenical movement, which started in the Kham region of eastern Tibet ". As such he received teachings from masters of all lineages Nyingma and Sarma alike. His root gurus were Dza Patrul Rinpoche , from whom he received instruction on Shantideva 's Bodhicharyavatara and Dzogchen and

6745-434: The nihilist interpretation from the outset: Nāgārjuna writes: "through explaining true reality as it is, the seeming samvrti does not become disrupted." Candrakirti also responds to the charge of nihilism in his Lucid Words : Therefore, emptiness is taught in order to completely pacify all discursiveness without exception. So if the purpose of emptiness is the complete peace of all discursiveness and you just increase

6840-501: The non-conceptual nature of the ultimate, according to Brunnholzl, the two truths are ultimately inexpressible as either "one" or "different". As noted by Roger Jackson, some non-Buddhist writers, like some Buddhist writers both ancient and modern, have argued that the madhyamaka philosophy is nihilistic . This claim has been challenged by others who argue that it is a Middle Way ( madhyamāpratipad ) between nihilism and eternalism. Madhyamaka philosophers themselves explicitly rejected

6935-442: The north." Subsequently, a number of emanations have been recognized. According to E. Gene Smith "At least three rebirths were recognized in the decade following his death: 1) Zhe chen Mi pham (a grandnephew of Mi pham rgya mtsho); 2) Tshe dbang bdud 'dul (1915/16-42) the last prince of Sde dge; 3. Khyung po Mi pham, an incarnation recognized by Rdzong gsar Mkhyen brtse 'Jam dbyangs chos kyi blo gros." The next (third) Mipham in

7030-466: The notion that one could establish a valid cognition or epistemic proof ( pramana ): If your objects are well established through valid cognitions, tell us how you establish these valid cognitions. If you think they are established through other valid cognitions, there is an infinite regress . Then, the first one is not established, nor are the middle ones, nor the last. If these [valid cognitions] are established even without valid cognition, what you say

7125-477: The point of view of ultimate valid cognition, nor was it posited merely from the point of view of the mistaken perception of ordinary beings. Mipham instead held that buddha-nature was established by the conventional valid cognition of pure vision. For Mipham, when the buddha qualities appear, it is not that they are newly produced, rather they are merely made manifest. That is, while they seem to be newly arisen, they are in fact primordial endowments. Mipham inherited

7220-548: The pure-land of Tusita , from whence many emanations [of myself] shall then come forth in future years. I shall not take rebirth in Tibet. In twenty years, seek me in the northern lands of distant Uttarakuru , and elsewhere, east, west, north and south. Fear not, we shall be re-united again, as father and son. Now go! In the above account, shortly after the departure of Khenpo Kunphel he stated publicly, "Now, soon I shall depart. I shall not be reborn again in Tibet, therefore do not search for me. I have reason to go to Shambhala in

7315-863: The purpose of divination, citing sources in the Sutras and Tantras where the utility and value of divination are explained. Mipham's most important students were Dodrub Rinpoche, Terton Sogyal, the Fifth Dzogchen Rinpoche, Gemang Kyab Gon, Khenpo Padmavajra, Katog Situ Rinpoche, Sechen Rabjam, Gyaltsab Tulku, Palyul Gyaltrul, Karma Yangtrul, Palpung Situ Rinpoche, Ling Jetrung, Adzom Drukpa (1842-1924) , Togdan Shakya Shri, Ngor Ponlob, and others. The great tulkus of Sechen, Dzogchen, Katog, Palyul, Palpung, Dege Gonchen, Repkong and others of all lineages, Sakya, Gelug, Kagyu, and Nyingma, all became his disciples. According to one account shortly before he died, Mipham told his attendant: Nowadays, if you speak

7410-481: The renowned master Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo , from whom he received transmission of the orally transmitted or Kama and revealed or Terma lineages, and many other teachings. His other teachers included Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye ; Dzogchen Khenpo Padma Vajra; Lab Kyabgon Wangchen Gyerab Dorje; Jubon Jigme Dorje; Bumsar Geshe Ngawang Jungne and Ngor Ponlop Jamyang Loter Wangpo. A key theme in Mipham's philosophical work

7505-400: The shape, size and color of flames in the agnihotra or fire puja; the quality of burning butter lamps, especially the size of the flame, the amount and shape of smoke that arises; and the size and shape of the carbon deposit on the wick. When some of his scholarly rivals thought it inappropriate for a monk to devote so much time to matters of future events, Mipham wrote a short essay explaining

7600-522: The teaching. [So] there is no point whatsoever in my taking rebirth here…I have no reason to take birth in impure realms ever again. This may be interpreted as a statement that his mindstream would have no further 'emanations' (Wylie: sprul pa ( emanation body ); sprul sku ( tulku )). Conversely, according to another account in which he mentions the mindstream in passing and prophesies the shortly before his death to his student Khenpo Kunphel : Now I shall not remain long in this body. After my death, in

7695-420: The teachings of the second turning ( Prajnaparamita sutras) and third turning ( Yogacara and Buddha nature sutras) respectively: The emptiness taught in the middle wheel and the exalted body and wisdom taught in the last wheel should be integrated as a unity of emptiness and appearance. Without dividing or excluding the definitive meaning subject matters of the middle and last wheels, both should be held to be

7790-486: The thought that he does exist, but it is also delusive". In other words, madhyamaka thinkers accept that their arguments, just like all things, are not ultimately valid in some foundational sense. But one is still able to use the opponent's own reasoning apparatus in the conventional field to refute their theories and help them see their errors. This remedial deconstruction does not replace false theories of existence with other ones, but simply dissolves all views, including

7885-426: The time the head of the Nyingma lineage. He is now known as Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche , and is the spiritual head of Shambhala International. In contemporary scholarship, the nomenclature "Mi-pam" and "Mipam" has become an accepted alternative. Writers such as Hopkins and Duckworth have adopted this convention. He is also known by the following alternate names: Maitreya-natha Maitreya-nātha (c. 270–350 CE)

7980-433: The truth, there is nobody to listen; if you speak lies everyone thinks it is true. I have never said this before: I am not an ordinary person; I am a bodhisattva who has taken rebirth through aspiration. The suffering experienced in this body is just the residue of karma; but from now on I will never again have to experience karmic obscuration. … Now, in this final age, the barbarians beyond the frontier are close to undermining

8075-472: The ultimate. This is often called "the emptiness of emptiness" and refers to the fact that even though madhyamikas speak of emptiness as the ultimate unconditioned nature of things, this emptiness is itself empty of any real existence. The two truths themselves are therefore just a practical tool used to teach others, but do not exist within the actual meditative equipoise that realizes the ultimate. As Candrakirti says: "the noble ones who have accomplished what

8170-419: The very fictional system of epistemic warrants ( pramanas ) used to establish them. The point of madhyamaka reasoning is not to establish any abstract validity or universal truth, it is simply a pragmatic project aimed at ending delusion and suffering. Nāgārjuna also argues that madhyamaka only negates things conventionally, since ultimately, there is nothing there to negate: "I do not negate anything and there

8265-686: The way the world appears and therefore some kind of practice to lead to this shift. As Candrakirti says: For one on the road of cyclic existence who pursues an inverted view due to ignorance , a mistaken object such as the superimposition ( samāropa ) on the aggregates appears as real, but it does not appear to one who is close to the view of the real nature of things. Much of madhyamaka philosophy centers on showing how various essentialist ideas have absurd conclusions through reductio ad absurdum arguments (known as prasanga in Sanskrit). Chapter 15 of Nāgārjuna 's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā centers on

8360-405: The web of discursiveness by thinking that the meaning of emptiness is nonexistence, you do not realize the purpose of emptiness [at all]. This although some scholars (e.g., Murti) interpret emptiness as described by Nāgārjuna as a Buddhist transcendental absolute , other scholars (such as David Kalupahana ) consider this claim a mistake, since then emptiness teachings could not be characterized as

8455-583: The word "mi-pham" is the standard translation of the Sanskrit "ajita", meaning "unconquered", which is a common epithet of the celestial bodhisattva Maitreya . Samding Dorje Phagmo Mipham the Great was born to an aristocratic family in 1846 in the Derge Principality of Kham or Eastern Tibet . He was recognized as an exceptional child from a young age, memorizing texts as early as age six. By

8550-427: The words svabhava parabhava bhava and abhava . According to Peter Harvey: Nagarjuna's critique of the notion of own-nature ( Mk. ch. 15) argues that anything which arises according to conditions, as all phenomena do, can have no inherent nature, for what is depends on what conditions it. Moreover, if there is nothing with own-nature, there can be nothing with 'other-nature' ( para-bhava ), i.e. something which

8645-406: The world. Because the ultimate is itself empty, it is also explained as a "transcendence of deception" and hence is a kind of apophatic truth which experiences the lack of substance. Because the nature of ultimate reality is said to be empty, empty even of "emptiness" itself, both the concept of "emptiness" and the very framework of the two truths are also mere conventional realities, not part of

8740-587: The writings of Śāntarakṣita , Rongzom Chokyi Zangpo , and Longchenpa , Mipham produced a whole array of brilliant exegetical commentaries on the great Indian philosophical systems and texts that clearly articulated a Nyingma orientation or view. The texts include his commentaries on the Mulamadhyamakakarika or Fundamental Stanzas on Wisdom by Nagarjuna ; the Introduction to the Middle Way (Sanskrit: Madhyamakāvatāra ) of Chandrakirti ;

8835-554: Was "in his brilliant and strikingly original commentaries on the Indian treatises." Prior to Mipham, Nyingmapa scholars "had seldom written detailed pedagogical commentaries on the śāstras of exoteric Buddhism." Until his time the colleges or shedra associated with the great Nyingma monasteries of Kham, such as Dzogchen , Shechen , Kathog , Palyul and Tarthang lacked their own exegetical commentaries on these exoteric Mahayana śāstras , and students commonly studied Gelug commentaries on these fundamental texts. Grounding himself in

8930-453: Was neither [1] truly established, [2] a mere emptiness, nor [3] an impermanent and conditioned entity. In this way, he distinguished his unique position on buddha-nature from those of the Jonang , Gelug , and Sakya ; which correspond respectively to the first, second, and third positions. Moreover, as Mipham's commentator Bötrül points out, for Mipham, buddha-nature was neither established from

9025-483: Was the definitive reality and view, Mipham sees coalescence of gnosis and emptiness, form and emptiness, etc. as "the ultimate hermeneutical cornerstone of his interpretations". In his many texts Mipham explores the tension and dialectic that arises between philosophical reasoning of the ordinary mind ( rnam shes ) which is represented by the Madhyamaka philosophy and luminous nonconceptual wisdom ( ye shes ), which

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