Bhāvaviveka

Bhāvaviveka on the DRL

Classical Indian Authors

ལེགས་ལྡན་འབྱེད་

Wylie	legs ldan 'byed
Romanized Sanskrit	Bhāvaviveka
English Phonetics	Bhāvaviveka
Sort Name	Bhāvaviveka
Chinese Transliteration	Qingbian
Japanese Transliteration	Shöben
Korean Transliteration	Ch’ǒngbyǒn

Other names

• ལེགས་ལྡན་
• སྐལ་ལྡན་

• legs ldan
• skal ldan

Alternate names

• Bhāviveka
• Bhavya

Dates

Birth:	500
Death:	578

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

Svātantrika Madhyamaka

Teachers

Klu grub

Students

Dpal sbas

Other Biographical info:

Links

BDRC Link

https://www.tbrc.org/#!rid=P0RK301

Wiki Pages

• Bhāvaviveka on the DRL
• Bhāvaviveka on the BNW

Buddha Nature Project

Person description or short bio

Also known as Bhāviveka and Bhavya, an important Indian master of the Madhyamaka school, identified in Tibet as a proponent of Svātantrika Madhyamaka and, within that, of Sautrāntika-Svātantrika-Madhyamaka. He is best known for two works. The first is the Prajñāpradīpa, his commentary on Nāgārjuna’s Mūlamadhyam- akakārikā; this work has an extensive subcommentary by Avalokitavrata. Although important in its own right as one of the major commentaries on the central text of the Madhyamaka school, the work is most often mentioned for its criticism of the commentary of Buddhapālita on the first chapter of Nāgārjuna’s text, where Bhāvaviveka argues that it is insufficient for the Madhyamaka only to state the absurd consequences (prasaṅga) that follow from the position of the opponent . . . The other major work of Bhāvaviveka is his Madhyamakahṛdaya, written in verse, and its prose autocommentary, the Tarkajvālā. The Madhyamakahṛdaya is preserved in both Sanskrit and Tibetan, the Tarkajvālā only in Tibetan. It is a work of eleven chapters, the first three and the last two of which set forth the main points in Bhāvaviveka’s view of the nature of reality and the Buddhist path, dealing with such topics as bodhicitta, the knowledge of reality (tattvajñāna), and omniscience (sarvajñātā). The intervening chapters set forth the positions (and Bhāvaviveka’s refutations) of various Buddhist and non-Buddhist schools, including the śrāvaka, Yogācāra, Sāṃkhya, Vaiśeṣika, Vedānta, and Mīmāṃsā. These chapters (along with Śāntarakṣita’s Tattvasaṃgraha) are an invaluable source of insight into the relations between Madhyamaka and other contemporary Indian philosophical schools, both Buddhist and non-Buddhist. (Source: "Bhāvaviveka." In The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 114. 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:	Provisional
Notes:	"Bhāviveka contends that the teaching that all sentient beings have Buddha-nature implies merely that emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness, etc., abide in the minds of all sentient beings; it does not presuppose an inherent eternal puruṣa pervading everything." Kano, K. Buddha-Nature and Emptiness, p. 8.
All beings have Buddha-nature
Position:	Yes
If "Qualified", explain:
Notes:	See Kano, K. Buddha-Nature and Emptiness, p. 8.
Which Wheel Turning
Position:
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Yogācāra vs Madhyamaka
Position:
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Zhentong vs Rangtong
Position:
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Promotes how many vehicles?
Position:
Notes:
Analytic vs Meditative Tradition
Position:
Notes:
What is Buddha-nature?
Position:	Tathāgatagarbha was Taught Merely to Encourage Sentient Beings to Enter the Path
Notes:
Svātantrika (རང་རྒྱུད་) vs Prāsaṅgika (ཐལ་འགྱུར་པ་)
Position:
Notes:
Causal nature of the vajrapāda
Position:

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 disciples of the Buddha who aspire to attain individual liberation or nirvāṇa. The final goal of the Hearers is to become an arhat, a state in which one has totally eliminated the inner problems of attachment, hatred and ignorance, the main causes for rebirth in this cycle of existence. There are four stages of a śrāvaka path including eight phases.

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.

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

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.