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Review: [untitled] Author(s): Paul Williams Source: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland,
No. 1 (1985), pp. 114-115 Published by: Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25211812 Accessed: 13/07/2010 12:40
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in accessible Kiado from
REVIEWS OF BOOKS
and gratitude are due to Akademiai
form for which whole-hearted admiration the world of Tibetan scholarship.
H.
E. Richardson.
to the development of Tibetan epistemology: from the eleventh Contributions Buddhist to the thirteenth century. W. J. van der Kuijp. Indische (Alt- und NeuBy Leonard vom Seminar Studien fur Kultur und Geschichte Indiens an der Universitat herausgegeben Franz Steiner Verlag GmbH, 1983. DM 42. 26.) pp. ix, 330. Wiesbaden, Hamburg, or antihistorical of the unhistorical in the study of Tibetan tendencies philo Complaining van der Kuijp to reduce to order and has attempted in this book sophy to date, Leonard some of the main contributions and developments in Tibetan pramdnavdda its highlight during between the 11th and 13th centuries. Van der Kuijp has read period of reception and formation in the yet more extensive Tibetan scholastic literature. His project is paradoxically extensively one of the reasons for the largely unhistorical ambitious and yet preliminary; study of Tibetan the conceptually this vast literature and these prior task of historically ordering teachers itself requires access to, and a detailed study of, many primary sources. The is a The present contribution invariably conceptually prior is almost historically subsequent! of ideas rather than a work of philosophical scholarship. study in the history and transmission as are, for example, van der Kuijp's It is impressive and important, rich and stimulating, on the importance of the oral tradition and lineages for understanding meditations and interpret ideas multifarious on faithfulness to the Indian textual sources, he The dGe lugs emphasis ing Tibetan Buddhism. should be read alongside the fact that, of all four Tibetan traditions, claims, they alone could as a separate not claim direct contact, tradition, with Indian pandits. Our author concentrates concerns on the epistemological of rNgog Lotsaba, Phya pa Chos kyi seng ge, and Sa skya so with the later scholastic literature the earlier authors, pramdnavdda, but as with Pandita, or were not seen as totally even Vajrayana entities and, perhaps, separate Madhyamaka on the to Madhyamaka traditions. There ismuch of relevance studies in this book, particularly sources used by van der Kuijp is since among the principal rang stong/gzhan stong controversy, or infamous ldan. He of the famous, Panchen the collected works gSer mdog Sakya mchog to Sakya mchog if controversial, considerable attention devotes ldan, his life and brilliant, He mentions in a footnote the claim by Sakya mchog ldan, against Tsong kha pa and originality. and lost Vyavaharasiddhi is quoted mKhas by Santaraksita grub rje, that Nagarjuna's are not traced by van der Kuijp, this point has recently the quotations KamalasTla. Although for van and documented been noted (independently?) Particularly important by Ch. Lindtner. text is a history of epistemology in India and Tibet written ldan. der Kuijp's by Sakya mchog on later critical sources of rNgog Lotsaba, and is inevitable since most of the works Reliance at one point Sakya mchog ldan's explanation all of those of Phya pa seem to be lost. Nevertheless referent and comments may have been misleading. Phya pa's claim that there is a cognitive even in the case of delusive non-conceptual cognition (medpa gsal snang in cases of appearing considerations 'khrul pa) may have been the result of the Svatantrika rtog med Madhyamaka its commentaries, rather than a and found in Jhanagarbha's Satyadvayavibhahgakdrika also ldan asserts. Van der Kuijp in Phya Vaibhasika thought, as Sakya mchog tendency pa's notes the friendship ldan and the Seventh Karma between pa and Fourth Zhva Sakya mchog on the statements the apparently dmar pa, and mentions by Kong sprul Rinpoche contradictory one hand, and ICang skya Rol pa'i rdo rje on the other ? the former asserting the largely gzhan the latter that they tend to follow Prasahgika Madhyamaka. of the bKa' brgyud, stong allegiance are embodied rdo rje, asserted in the Eighth Karma These contradictions pa, Mi bskyod by to be a prasahgika, attacked by Sera rje btsun Chos kyi rgyal mtshan Kong sprul (paradoxically) the gzhan he apparently favoured in which for his Abhisamaydlamkara stong commentary, in support of the In point of fact Mi bskyod rdo rje also wrote a further short work position. on the Madhyamakavatdra he but in his enormous commentary gzhan stong Madhyamaka, and roundly criticised Sakya mchog ldan, who had, of viewpoint adopted a rigorous prasahgika is that
REVIEWS OF BOOKS 115

incarnation. D. S. Ruegg has suggested course, been favoured by his previous (in a private letter) as he grew older, which, the gzhan stong position that Mi bskyod rdo rje may have abandoned show an interesting reversal of Sakya mchog if we follow Thu'u bkvan Lama's account, would I have suggested elsewhere ldan's own intellectual (J.LP. II; (1983) Alternatively, development. to the gzhan stong position rdo rje may have in fact adhered but been p. 143) that Mi bskyod I not to derive As this approach from CandrakTrti's concerned Prasarigika Madhyamaka. bKa' brgyud view among contemporary teachers understand it, the predominant gzhan stong, largely, one suspects, because of the influence of the ris med movement tool for harmonising Our gzhan stong ideas as an intellectual opposing viewpoints. ? ? the more recent Tibetan "institutionalised and therefore dislikes legitimate if it be still of that name" in of his admiration thinking, worthy (p. 38), and, spite van der Kuijp shows a certain pa and his immediate disciples, impatience with, is that of the which used author clearly philosophical for Tsong kha even perhaps
the later scholastic writers. Sera rje btsun towards, the dGe lugs tradition, particularly animosity "the most famous defence of Tsong kha pa" against the assault by Sa skya scholars, provided no mention at this point of the sophisticated and tone, but he makes spoilt by its polemical van der Kuijp later by 'Jam dbyangs bzhad pa. Although probably more famous defence much texts for his translations, the Tibetan for the longer sections the printers unfortunately provides have provided the text on the previous the translated section. facing page rather than opposite The translations themselves appear accurate but are generally very literal, and, as translations, are often difficult to follow or understand to the Tibetan text and further without reference The translator takes seriously the task of trying to find accurate translations for the knowledge. technical terms of pramdnavdda, but it is to be doubted whether words like "proprioceptive" for our author's English of the text. In addition is generally rather rang rig help the understanding the syntax is strange at times, and the reader is not helped by a number of misprints. ponderous, text of Chapter Van der Kuijp also supplies an annotated edition of the Tibetan 8 of Sa skya sa bead to Go ram pa bSod nams Pandita's Tshad ma rigs pa'i gter, and a complete annotated tu bzang po'i on the Pramdnavarttika. 'od zer commentary to high Written seng ge's Kun and textual material, this very useful scholarly standards, replete with additional bibliographical to the development book provides welcome and important contributions of Tibetan Buddhist epistemology. Paul Williams.
Prince
Jin-gim's
'Phags-pa Blo-gros tated by Constance Leiden, E. J. Brill,
textbook of Tibetan Buddhism: rgyal-mtshan dPal-bzan-po Hoog. (Nisaba Religious 48. 1983, Guilders
by Ses-bya rab-gsal (Jneya-prakasa) of the Sa-skya-pa. and anno Translated Texts Translation Series Vol. 13). pp. x, 126. the
The Ses by a rab gsal was written by 'Phags pa Rinpoche, in 1278 nephew of Sa-skya-Pandita, at the request of Chen chih (Jing gim), the second son of Qubilai Khan. It is a short summary on the Abhidharmakosa, of the Abhidharma, based primarily to attention devoting particular and history from the beginning of the cosmic aeon up to the Yuan dynasty itself. The cosmology influence of this text on subsequent Mongolian historical has been indicated by Shuyu writing Kanaoka based his study on the Chinese at the time translation; (J.I.B.St. VII, 2), but Kanaoka he was writing or it was unknown whether the original in Mongolian 'Phags-pa had written Tibetan. We now know that the original was in Tibetan, and the present translation is from the text published Tibetan in 1968. The series in which this translation is by the Toy6 Bunko is aimed at students; and notes are kept at a minimum. introduction Such no doubt published the inadequate commentarial material and the extremely explains literal, almost mechanical, At a number of points this is at the expense of meaning. in the Thus, style of this translation. as follows section on asamskrtadharmas translates the Tibetan and Sanskrit Hoog (omitting "If you ask if Suchness and also other Uncomposed factors are non-existent, equivalents): (the answer is Selflessness. The followers of the Hearers' do not maintain Vehicle the is): That Selflessness of the factors of existence; as to the selflessness of the individual, they don't maintain

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Review: [untitled] Author(s): Paul Williams Source: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland,

form for which whole-hearted admiration the world of Tibetan scholarship.

REVIEWS OF BOOKS 115

'Phags-pa Blo-gros tated by Constance Leiden, E. J. Brill,

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