Kamalaśīla

Kamalaśīla on the DRL

Classical Indian Authors

པདྨའི་ངང་ཚུལ་

Wylie	pad+ma'i ngang tshul
Romanized Sanskrit	Kamalaśīla

Dates

Birth:	713/740
Death:	763/795

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

Nalanda

Teachers

Śāntarakṣita

Other Biographical info:

Links

BDRC Link

https://www.tbrc.org/#!rid=P7641

Wiki Pages

• Kamalaśīla on the DRL
• Kamalaśīla on the LIB
• Kamalaśīla on the BNW

Buddha Nature Project

Person description or short bio

One of the most important Madhyamaka authors of late Indian Buddhism, a major representative of the Yogācāra-Madhyamaka synthesis, and a participant in the famous Bsam yas Debate. According to Tibetan doxographies, he was a proponent of the Yogācāra-Svātantrika-Madhyamaka. Although little is known about his life, according to Tibetan sources he was a monk and teacher at Nālandā. Tibetan sources also count him as one of three (together with Śāntarakṣita and Jñãnagarbha) “Eastern Svātantrikas” (rang rgyud shar gsum), suggesting that he was from Bengal. He was clearly a direct disciple of Śāntarakṣita, composing important commentaries on his teacher’s two major works, the Madhyamakālaṃkāra and the Tattvasaṃgraha. The latter commentary, which is extant in Sanskrit, is an important source for both Hindu and Buddhist philosophical positions in the eighth century. (Source: "Kamalaśīla." In The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 411. 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:	"In another context, Kamalaśīla quotes the passage from the Laṅkāvatārasūtra cited by Candrakīrti as scriptural authority for Buddha-nature being of provisional meaning. Kamalaśīla himself, though, does not put it quite that way, stating only that, in accord with the various outlooks of sentient beings, the Buddhas taught what is a single dharmadhātu (or dharmanairātmya in the Laṅkāvatārasūtra) by means of many different expressions (including the expression “Buddha-nature”), that is, in conventional terms." Kano, K., Buddha-Nature and Emptiness, p.11.
All beings have Buddha-nature
Position:	Qualified Yes
If "Qualified", explain:	In the sense that all beings have the potential to achieve Buddhahood.
Notes:	"The teaching “all sentient beings have Buddha-nature” is interpreted in the sense that all sentient beings are pervaded by the dharmadhātu, which is characterized by selflessness. In other words, the tathāgatagarbha is taken to be the dharmadhātugarbha. Though the term dharmadhātugarbha appears in the RGVV, Kamalaśīla's interpretation seems to have been derived from a phrase in the Laṅkāvatārasūtra, “the embryo of the tathāgata, which is selflessness” (tathāgatanairātmyagarbha), reinforcing the notion that Buddha-nature does not refer to ātman but rather to selflessness (nairātmya)." Kano, K., Buddha-Nature and Emptiness, p. 10.
Which Wheel Turning
Position:
Notes:
Yogācāra vs Madhyamaka
Position:	Madhyamaka
Notes:
Zhentong vs Rangtong
Position:
Notes:
Promotes how many vehicles?
Position:	1
Notes:	"In his Madhyamakāloka, Kamalaśīla presents the position of an opponent who takes the three-vehicle theory to be definitive. He refutes that position and makes the case for the single-vehicle theory being definitive by quoting a number of sutra passages." Kano, K., Buddha-Nature and Emptiness, p. 9.
Analytic vs Meditative Tradition
Position:
Notes:
What is Buddha-nature?
Position:	Tathāgatagarbha as the Emptiness That is a Non-implicative Negation (without enlightened qualities)
Notes:	Though he might be an early antecedent to the position that combines emptiness and luminosity, Brunnhölzl counts him among those that hold this position. "One should add here Kamalaśīla’s (c. 740–795) Madhyamakāloka, which takes the tathāgata heart to be natural luminosity but defines the latter as the dharmadhātu characterized by twofold identitylessness: "This statement “All sentient beings possess the tathāgata heart” teaches that all are suitable to attain the state of unsurpassable completely perfect awakening since it is held that the term tathāgata expresses that the dharmadhātu, which is characterized by personal and phenomenal identitylessness, is natural luminosity." Brunnhölzl, K., When the Clouds Part, p. 56.
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.

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).

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.

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

The fundamental expanse from which all phenomena emerge.

The nonexistence of the self as a permanent, unchanging entity.

Buddha-nature, literally the "womb/essence of those who have gone (to suchness)."

Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā

This is the title of Asaṅga's commentary to the Gyü Lama that is given by Tibetan sources instead of the Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā.

Though it can simply be used as the expression "I" or "me", in Indian thought the notion of self refers to a permanent, unchanging entity, such as that which passes from life to life in the case of people, or the innate essence (svabhāva) of phenomena.

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 qualities or attributes of an enlightened being.

In a general sense, that which clears away darkness, though it often appears in Buddhist literature in reference to the mind or its nature. It is a particularly salient feature of Tantric literature, especially in regard to the advanced meditation techniques of the completion-stage yogas.