Dependent-arising And Emptiness: A Tibetan Buddhist Interpretation of Madhyamika Philosophy Emphasizing the Compatibility of Emptiness And Conventional Phenomena
This dissertation is a study of the interpretation of Madhyamika philosophy set forth by the fourteenth century Tibetan scholar Dzong-ka-ba (tsong kha pa, 1357-1419), founder of the Ge-luk-ba order of Tibetan Buddhism. Relying chiefly on the works of the great Indian Madhyamikas Nagarjuna and Chandrak(')irti, Dzong-ka-ba sets forth a Madhyamika interpretation that emphasizes the compatibility of the doctrines of emptiness--a complete lack of inherent existence--and of conventional phenomena and activities. Thus, in Dzong-ka-ba's system, which is above all a religious one, the central Buddhist doctrine of karma, actions and their effects, and a consequent focus on ethics, moral codes of actions, is sustained within a philosophical stance of radical nominalism.
The dissertation is based on a translation of a portion of Dzong- ka-ba's Great Exposition of the Stages of the Path (lam rim chen mo), the first part of the "Great Exposition of Special Insight", having to do with identifying the object of negation by the Madhyamika reasonings. Also included is translation of the comparable section of the Four Interwoven Annotations on (Dzong-ka-ba's) "Great Exposition of the Stages of the Path", intertwined indigenous Tibetan commentaries on Dzong-ka-ba's text by Ba-so Cho-gyi-gyel-tsen (ba so chos kyi rgyal mtshan), De-druk-ken-chen Nga-wang-rap-den (sde drug mkhan chen ngag dbang rab brtan), Jam-yang-shay-ba ('jam dbyangs bzhad pa), and Dra-di Ge-shay Rin-chen-don-drup (bra sti dge bshes rin chen don grub).
Many aspects of Dzong-ka-ba's Madhyamika interpretation differ significantly from understandings current in Western scholarship, and thus several chapters of the dissertation are devoted to a com-parison of Dzong-ka-ba's views with those of modern scholars. Topics considered include whether Madhyamika is a religious system at all, whether it is an attack on all conceptuality and all conventionalities, whether it is a critique of language, what the role of reasoning is in Madhyamika philosophy, whether Madhyamikas have views or theses or a system of their own, and to what extent Dzong-ka-ba's Madhyamika interpretation is supported by the Indian sources on which he relies.
