Sa skya paN+Di ta


ས་སྐྱ་པཎྜི་ཏ་
sa skya paN+Di ta

Sakya Paṇḍita

Line Drawing by Robert Beer Courtesy of The Robert Beer Online Galleries
Other names
  • ཀུན་དགའ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་
  • ས་སྐྱ་པཎྜི་ཏ་ཀུན་དགའ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་
  • kun dga' rgyal mtshan
  • sa skya paN+Di ta kun dga' rgyal mtshan
Alternate names
  • Sapaṇ
  • Sapen
  • Sapan
Dates
Birth:   1182
Death:   1251
Tibetan date of birth
Gender:   Male
Element:   Water
Animal:   Tiger
Rab Jyung:   3
About
Affiliations
Grandson of Sa chen kun dga' snying po and nephew of rje btsun grags pa rgyal mtshan and bsod nams rtse mo, and uncle of chos rgyal 'phags pa.
Religious Affiliations
Sakya
Teachers
Śākyaśrībhadra · rje btsun grags pa rgyal mtshan
Students
gu ru chos kyi dbang phyug · chos rgyal 'phags pa · yang dgon pa rgyal mtshan dpal · lho pa kun mkhyen rin chen dpal
Links
BDRC Link
https://www.tbrc.org/#!rid=P1056
Treasury of Lives Link
http://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Sakya-Pan%E1%B8%8Dita-Kunga-Gyeltsen/2137
Himalayan Art Resources Link or Other Art Resource
https://www.himalayanart.org/search/set.cfm?setID=325
Catalog Pages


Buddha Nature Project

Expand to see this person's philosophical positions on Buddha-nature.

Is Buddha-nature considered definitive or provisional?
Position: Provisional
Notes:
All beings have Buddha-nature
Position: Qualified No
If "Qualified", explain: There is some discrepancy between Sapen's use of the term tathāgata-essence and buddha-nature and other thinkers that use these terms synonymously. In Sapen's view, sentient beings do not possess the former, but do possess a more general form of the latter. So while the answer is a qualified "no" in terms of the more general debate on this issue and the way others have addressed it and asserted Sapen's position, strictly speaking from Sapen's view the answer could more accurately be a qualified "yes" as he does state all beings have a basic "inherent" buddha-nature, though this does not correspond to an essence that is endowed with enlightened qualities. The tricky issue being the equivalency of these terms tathāgata-essence and buddha-nature and the perception of the Sakya position by later authors.
Notes:
  • "In verses 59-63 of Sapen's Distinguishing the Three Vows, he argues against the presentation of the existence of a tathāgata-essence or sugata-essence endowed with enlightened qualities in sentient beings. Sapen demonstrates that such a position would be tantamount to holding the view of the Sāṃkhya School, that the "result is present in its cause." Wangchuk, Tsering, The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows, p. 27.
  • "It is evident from Distinguishing the Three Vows that the tathāgata-essence endowed with enlightened qualities does not exist in sentient beings. But does that mean that Sapen completely rejects the existence of tathāgata-essence in sentient beings?" Wangchuk, Tsering, The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows, pp. 27-28.
  • "In Distinguishing the Three Vows, Sapen argues that tathāgata-essence, sugata-essence, buddha-essence, and buddha-element are synonyms, but, interestingly, he never mentions the associated term "buddha-nature" in this context. However, in his Illuminating the Thoughts of the Buddha (thub pa'i dgongs pa rab tu gsal ba), Sapen explains buddha-nature in this way: "The inherent [buddha-]nature exists in all sentient beings. The developmental [buddha-]nature exists [from the time that] one has developed bodhicitta. [The latter] does not exist in those who have not developed [bodhicitta]....So Sapen obviously has a problem accepting tathāgata-essence teachings as definitive, whereas he has no issue asserting that buddha-nature exists in all beings." Wangchuk, Tsering, The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows, p. 28.
Which Wheel Turning
Position:
Notes:
Yogācāra vs Madhyamaka
Position: Madhyamaka
Notes:
Zhentong vs Rangtong
Position: Rangtong
Notes: He predates the distinction but is clearly in line with the rangtong perspective.
Promotes how many vehicles?
Position:
Notes:
Analytic vs Meditative Tradition
Position: Analytic Tradition
Notes:
What is Buddha-nature?
Position: Tathāgatagarbha as the Emptiness That is a Non-implicative Negation (without enlightened qualities)
Notes: "An opinion shared by rNgog and Sapan is that Buddha-nature should be understood in the sense of emptiness. The difference is that rNgog directly equates Buddha-nature with emptiness, whereas Sapan regards the intentional ground (dgongs gzhi) of Buddha-nature to be emptiness." Kano, K., Buddha-Nature and Emptiness, pp. 309-310.
Svātantrika (རང་རྒྱུད་) vs Prāsaṅgika (ཐལ་འགྱུར་པ་)
Position: Prāsaṅgika (ཐལ་འགྱུར་)
Notes:
Causal nature of the vajrapāda
Position:

"Tathāgatagarbha as the Emptiness That is a Non-implicative Negation (without enlightened qualities)" is not in the list (Tathagatagarbha as the Emptiness That is a Nonimplicative Negation, Tathagatagarbha as Mind's Luminous Nature, Tathagatagarbha as the Alaya Consciousness, Tathagatagarbha as a Sentient Being, Tathagatagarbha as the Dharmakaya, Tathagatagarbha as Suchness, Tathagatagarbha as the Disposition, Tathagatagarbha as Nonconceptuality) of allowed values for the "PosEmptyLumin" property.