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Studies in Indian Philosophy
be assumed on the basis that the text of the PV which has come down with the commentaries of Prajñākaragupta and Manorathanandin do not have it. Therefore we may conclude that the difference in the two translations of that same pāda by Sa sKya Pandita, first literal and then interpretive, represent a change in his view concerning Dharmakirti's doctrinal affiliation.
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From the late 8th century Tibetan Madhyamika was dominated by the Yogācārasvātantrika of Śāntarakṣita and Kamalasila, as a consequence of a royal decree following the victory of the Indian party in that long series of philosophical exchanges known to Tibetan tradition as 'the Debate at Lhasa.'91 It was not until the generation preceding Sa sKya Pandita ihat the shift began away from the Svātantrika and towards the Prasangika primarily as a consequence of the work of Pa Tshab Ni Ma Grags, the translator and propagator of the primary works of the Indian Prasangika-Mādhyamika school, the Prasannapada and Madhyamakāvatāra of Candrakirti. This process was to culminate in the adoption of the Prasangika by Tsong Kha Pa bLo bZang Grags Pa (1358-1419) and eventually through a combination of political and philosophic factor, it came to be well nigh universally accepted as the official interpretation of Nāgārjuna's philosophy. We consider it likely that the basis for Sa sKya Pandita's change of opinion vis a vis the translation of PV III. 3a was due to the influence that this new doctrinal trend had upon his philosophical outlook.
Towards the conclusion of his Madhyamakāvatāra Candrakirti criticizes those who regard the ultimate entities of either the Vaibhāṣika or Sauträntika as the conventional entities accepted by the Madhymika.99 But Sa sKya Pandita, after citing Candrakiri on the two truths in his gZung Lugs Legs bad with approval, upholds the very view that Candrakirti himself criticizes, offering in support passages from the Lankāvatārasūtra and Bodhicaryāvatāra25, as well as the following verse from Jñanagarbha's Satyadvayavibhanga, which in the Panjika ascribed to Santarakṣita is attributed
to Nagarjuna
himself;
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