Jñānaśrīmitra

Jñānaśrīmitra on the DRL

Classical Indian Authors

ཡེ་ཤེས་དཔལ་བཤེས་གཉེན

Wylie	ye shes dpal bshes gnyen
Romanized Sanskrit	Jñānaśrīmitra
English Phonetics	Jñānaśrīmitra

Dates

Birth:	975/980
Death:	1025/1030

Tibetan calendar dates

Dates of birth

Day
Month
Gender
Element
Animal
Rab Jyung

Dates of passing

Day
Month
Gender
Element
Animal
Rab Jyung

About

Religious Affiliation

Vikramaśilā

Students

Maitrīpa

Other Biographical info:

Links

Wiki Pages

• Jñānaśrīmitra on the BNW

Buddha Nature Project

Person description or short bio

Late Indian Yogācāra philosopher and logician of the school of Dharmakīrti at Vikramaśīla monastery, born between 975 and 1000. Within the Yogācāra, he held the so-called “aspectarian” (sākāra) position regarding the nature of cognition, taking a position opposed to that of Ratnākaraśānti. He is credited as the author of twelve treatises, including an important work on apoha, the Apohaprakaraṇa. In his works on logic, he upholds the interpretation of Dharmakīrti by Prajñākaragupta against the interpretation by Dharmottara. (Source: "Jñānaśrīmitra." In The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 398. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)

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

Is Buddha-nature considered definitive or provisional?
Position:	Definitive
Notes:	Kano, K., Buddha-Nature and Emptiness, p. 58.
All beings have Buddha-nature
Position:
If "Qualified", explain:
Notes:
Which Wheel Turning
Position:	Third Turning
Notes:
Yogācāra vs Madhyamaka
Position:	Yogācāra
Notes:	Sākāravāda to be specific.
Zhentong vs Rangtong
Position:
Notes:
Promotes how many vehicles?
Position:
Notes:
Analytic vs Meditative Tradition
Position:
Notes:
What is Buddha-nature?
Position:	Tathāgatagarbha as Mind's Luminous Nature
Notes:	There are different takes on what is view was: Karl includes him in the category of those assert buddha-nature to be Mind's Luminous Nature. Stating, "Jñānaśrīmitra cites Uttaratantra I.154 and RGVV and explains that real aspects are mental forms that have the nature of being appearances of lucidity (prakāśarūpa), which he equates with buddha nature—the tathāgata element (tathāgatadhātu)." Brunnhölzl, K., When the Clouds Part,pp. 57-58. However, Kano suggests his view is is that buddha-nature shares features (or coincides) with emptiness and is a property (dharma) of the image (ākāra), which in turn is its possessor (dharmin). In this he was a precursor to Ngok's innovative equation of buddha-nature = emptiness. See Kano, K., Buddha-Nature and Emptiness, p. 61.
Svātantrika (རང་རྒྱུད་) vs Prāsaṅgika (ཐལ་འགྱུར་པ་)
Position:
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Causal nature of the vajrapāda
Position:

Along with Madhyamaka, it was one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Asaṅga and Vasubandhu around the fourth century CE, many of its central tenets have roots in the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra and the so-called third turning of the dharma wheel (see tridharmacakrapravartana).

Refers to something that is taught for a specific reason, rather than because it is entirely true.

Along with Yogācāra, it is one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Nāgārjuna around the second century CE, it is rooted in the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, though its initial exposition was presented in Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā.

The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature.

The state of being empty of self, which references the lack of inherent existence in relative phenomena.

Tsen Khawoche's "meditative tradition" of exegesis of the Uttaratantra; it is one of two major Tibetan traditions of exegesis, both stemming from students of Sajjana.

The Ultimate Continuum, or Gyü Lama, is often used as a short title in the Tibetan tradition for the key source text of buddha-nature teachings called the Ratnagotravibhāga of Maitreya/Asaṅga, also known as the Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra.

The state of being empty of an innate nature due to a lack of independently existing characteristics.