Book Review Of La Theorie Du Tathagatagarbha Et Du Gotra

SR No.: 269237
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Total Pages: 12
Language: English
Classification: Article
File Size: 993 KB

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BOOK REVIEW (= BBh) (gotra-patala in the adhara-yogasthana), which give a detailed discussion of the gotra. He translates these sastras with the notes indicating the related materials, and in connection with the BBh, refers also to the gotrabhumi section of the Sravakabhumi (= $Bh). The distinction between the gotra existent in sentient beings by nature (prakstistha) and the gotra acquired through efforts (paripusta, samudanita) is found in both the MSA and the BBh. Important is the concept of sadayatanavisesa (a particularity of the six [internal or cognitive] bases), which is used in the BBh to characterize the prakstistha-gotra. The fact that the same concept appears in the SBh seems to show that it was originally formed in the abhidharma of a certain Hinayana sect, but Ruegg does not discuss the origin of this concept. Perhaps it is connected with the Sautrantika concept of bija or sakti, since it signifies a latent force or the capacity that is inherent in the six internal bases and becomes actual under certain conditions. Tson kha pa's criticism and rGyal tshab rje's Madhyamika reinterpretation of the term sadayatanavisesa are introduced in the sections dealing with the writings of these Tibetan authors (pp.-103-104, 157). In the above-mentioned sastras and also in the Mahayanasamgraha and the Madhyantavibhagatika, there are frequent occurrences of the terms that are closely related with the gotra-theory, such as dhatu, bija, kula, etc. The passages where these terms occur are all carefully examined in Chapter I. One may expect here a reference to the * Vijnaptimatratasiddhi (Taisho 1585) of Dharmapala/Hsuan-tsang, but the theories put forward in it are very complicated and they are treated separately in the Appendix II: Sur les notions de bija, d'asraya, de vasana, et de dhatu (pp. 472-495). After describing the gotra-theory of the Vijnanavadins, Ruegg presents a translation of a section of the Legs bsad gser phren, wherein the author Tson kha pa criticizes the Vijnanavada theory (pp. 101-107). Tson kha pa sharply observes that the prakstistha-gotra of the Vijnanavadins is of the nature of samskata inasmuch as it is regarded as the capacity to produce the pure (anasrava). Obviously he makes this criticism with the background of the doctrine set forth in the AA and its commentaries that the gotra is equivalent to the undifferentiated Reality (dharmadhatu). For the study of the gotra-theory of the Madhyamikas, Ruegg refers