Mipam on Buddha-Nature: The Ground of the Nyingma Tradition

Mipam ('ju mi pham rgya mtsho, 1846-1912) is one of the most prolific thinkers in the history of Tibet and is a key figure in the Nyingma tradition of Buddhism. His works continue to be widely studied in the Tibetan cultural region and beyond. This book provides an in-depth account of Mipam's view, drawing on a wide range of his works and offering several new translations. Douglas S. Duckworth shows how a dialectic of presence and absence permeates Mipam's writings on the Middle Way and Buddha nature.

Arguably the most important doctrine in Buddhism, Buddha-nature is, for Mipam, equivalent to the true meaning of emptiness; it is the ground of all and the common ground shared by sentient beings and Buddhas. This ground is the foundation of the path and inseparable from the goal of Buddhahood. Duckworth probes deeply into Mipam's writings on Buddha nature to illuminate its central place in a dynamic Buddhist philosophy.

Review(s)

"The author brings impressive detail and erudition to bear on this topic; he is clearly well read in the relevant Tibetan materials, the Indian background, and relevant contemporary scholarship. This book represents a significant contribution to the fields of Tibetan and Buddhist studies, and it fills a gap in our knowledge of Nyingma philosophy." - Gregory A. Hillis, the University of California at Santa barbara

About the Author(s)

Douglas S. Duckworth is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Humanities at East Tennessee State University.

I have gathered here Mipam's writings on Buddha-nature from a variety of sources to show the central role of Buddha-nature in his works. In doing so, I do not stray far from his texts and include many excerpted translations. In the notes and text, I use the Wylie system to transliterate Tibetan. into Eng-lish. Also, I have adopted the THDL system of phonetic transcription developed by David Germano and Nicolas Tournadre to render Tibetan into English (hence, "Mipam" not "Mipham"). When relevant, I include Sanskrit technical terms parenthetically with the Tibetan.

As with all things, this book is the result of many causes and conditions. I would like to first express my deepest gratitude to Chokyi Nyima Rin-poche, and his late father, Tulku Urgyen, without whom I would not have had the inspiration to take on such a study as this. This book evolved out of my Ph.D. dissertation, entitled "Buddha-Nature and a Dialectic of Presence and Absence in the Works of Mi-pham" (University of Virginia, 2005); it would not have been possible without my peerless advisor, Professor Jeffrey Hopkins. I also owe a debt of gratitude to Professor David Germano, who has helped me over the years in many significant ways. Professors Hopkins and Germano have both consistently challenged me to deepen my under-standing of texts and traditions in critical and creative ways. Professors Karen Lang and Robert Hueckstedt also gave me invaluable feedback in the early stages of this project.

My studies were made possible due to many learned Tibetan scholars, who I list in the order that I met them: the late Nyoshiil Khenpo, Khenpo Orgyen Trinle, the late Khenpo Jadrel, the late Khenpo Petse, Khenpo Choying Lhiindrup, Khenpo Tupten Yeshe, Khenpo Yeshe Trinle, Khenpo Sherap Ozer, Khenpo Nyima Tondrup, Khenpo Namdrol, Khenpo Tsultrim Dargye, Aku Rapgye, the late Khenpo Yonten Zangpo, Khenpo Jampa Lodro, Khenpo Sherap Zangpo, Kheripo Sherap Dorje, Khenpo Pema Sherap, Khenpo Katyayana, Khenpo Wangchuk Sonam, Khenpo Ape, Triilku Nyima Gyeltsen, Khenpo Tsiilnam, and last but not least, Khenpo Tsultrim Lodro. All these teachers, and others not mentioned, shared their wisdom with great kindness.

My interest in the academic study of Buddha-nature was sparked by my undergraduate professor, Sallie King, whom I would like to thank as a teacher, friend, and mentor. I am also grateful to Fulbright-Hays for providing me with a fellowship to do research in Nepal and India. Also, a summer stipend from the National Endowment for the Humanities helped me to bring this project to completion. I owe a special thanks to Professor John Dunne, who tutored me in Tibetan when I was first traveling in India after college. I would also like to thank Nawang Thokmey, a South Asian librar-ian at the University of Virginia, for helping me locate Tibetan texts, and Gene Smith, who introduced me to Jonang teachers and texts.

I wish to express my gratitude to all my other teachers, colleagues, friends, and family who have given me guidance over the years. In particular, communications with Thomas Doctor, Adam Pearcy, and Karma Phuntsho have helped my understanding of Mipam. Also, Cortland Dahl, David Duckworth, James Gentry, Charlie Orzech, Jimmy Pittard, Amanda Porter-field, and Jann Ronis have given me valuable feedback on this work. This book is dedicated to my family, and to anyone whose hair &ands on end upon hearing about emptiness.

This book addresses the relationship between presence and absence (emptiness) in Buddhist thought. It focuses on the Nyingma (rnying ma) tradition of Tibet as articulated in the works of Mipam (Yu mi pham rgya mtsho, 1846-1912), a great synthesizer of Buddhist doctrine and Nyingma philosophy. Mipam incorporates an extraordinarily wide range of discourses into his grand, systematic interpretation of Buddhist doctrine. I draw widely from his writings on the Middle Way (dbu ma, madhyamaka), epistemology (tshad ma, pramanct), and tantra to discuss the significance of an ontological "ground" (gzh i) , or Buddha-nature, as the central theme in his overall interpretative scheme. I present Mipam's view across a range of topics to under-score Buddha-nature and a dialectic of presence and absence as a central thread that runs through his interpretative system.

The presence of Buddha-nature as intrinsic within the ground of existence is a predominant feature of the discourses of tantra in the Nyingma tradition of Tibet, and in particular, the Great Perfection (rdzogs chen). The Great Perfection is a textual and meditative tradition that affirms the nature of mind as the Buddha, and offers a radically direct approach to actualizing this reality. The view of the Great Perfection consistently evades systematic analysis and in a fundamental way is antithetical to abstract conceptual determination. While Mipam did not write extensively on the Great Perfection as an isolated topic, he elucidates the view of the Great Perfection in his exoteric writings by creatively formulating the esoteric discourses that have defined the Nyingma tradition-namely, the Great Perfection-in terms of central exoteric discourses of monastic Buddhism: Buddha-nature, the Middle Way, and Buddhist epistemological systems.

In the course of this book, we will see how a dialectic of presence and absence is a central theme in Mipam’s works. The Relationship between emptiness and divine presence involves a fundamental tension in Buddhist exegetical discourse. For Mipam, a key to the resolution of this tension is the unity of emptiness and divine presence. The ground, or Buddha-nature, is a focal point around which he articulates this unity. The topic of Buddha-nature spans the domains of metaphysics, theology, and philosophical anthropology. An etymology of the term "Buddha-nature" reflects the variable status and complexity of the subject matter. The Sanskrit compound meaning "the- thus gone one" (i.e., Buddha), is the same spelling as the compound meaning "the thus come one"; the term reveals the dual quality of a transcendent Buddha thus gone and an immanent Buddha thus come. Also, garbha can mean "embryo," "womb," and "essence." On the one hand, as an embryonic seed it denotes a latent potentiality to be developed and the sub-sequent consummation in the attainment of Buddha hood. As a ,womb, it connotes a comprehensive matrix or an all-embracing divine presence in the world to be discovered.. Academic scholars have described Buddha-nature in a number of ways. David Ruegg addresses a dual function of Buddha-nature in dialectic between a point of view, in which the absolute is immanent in all beings, and a point of view, in which it is altogether transcend-dent.

We can see that Buddha-nature is at once transcendent, a future potential, and at the same time immanently present. As such, Buddha-nature functions as a mediating principle spanning both the absolute and phenomenal worlds. Another term for the Buddha-nature is "heritage" (gotra). Ruegg cites three main meanings of the term gotra in Buddhist usage: (1) germ, seed; (2) family, clan, lineage; (3) mine, matrix. He also mentions that the term gotra is designated extensionally as a or category, and intensionally as the spiritual factor or capacity that determines the classification into that category.3 The topic of Buddha-nature also is a basis for promoting "one vehicle" (ekayana) of the Buddha, an inclusivity system of the Mahayana that incorporates all Buddhist traditions. The role of Buddha-nature as the single heritage of all beings distinguishes the Buddha-nature from Viyianavada (Mind-Only) traditions that accept five distinct heritages within three final vehicles (travaka, pratyekabuddha, bodhisattva). Another scholar, Florin Sutton, delineates three other roles of Buddha-nature: from a theoretical point of view, Buddha-nature is an extension of the Self/no-self debate, "providing the Yogacaras with a new, positive platform of defense against both the Hindu Externalists and the Buddhist Nihilists"; from didactic point of view, it functions as an intermediate step between a narrowly defined notion of self and a more though understanding of non self and from an ethical point of vew, it provides a philosophical basis for altruism in the Mahayana.