Ratnākaraśānti

Ratnākaraśānti on the DRL

Classical Indian Authors

རིན་ཆེན་འབྱུང་གནས་ཞི་བ་

Wylie	rin chen 'byung gnas zhi ba
Devanagari	रत्नाकरशान्ति
Romanized Sanskrit	Ratnākaraśānti

Other names

• སློབ་དཔོན་ཤནྟི་པ་

• slob dpon shan+ti pa

Alternate names

• Śāntipa

Dates

Birth:	late-10th century
Death:	early-11th century
Notes on dates:	Dates from The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 2014.

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

BDRC Link

https://www.tbrc.org/#!rid=P0RK153

Treasury of Lives Link

https://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Ratnakarasanti/23

Wiki Pages

• Ratnākaraśānti on the DRL
• Ratnākaraśānti on the LIB
• Ratnākaraśānti on the BNW

Buddha Nature Project

Person description or short bio

A circa 11th century Indian scholar that was one of the gate-keepers at the great monastic university of Vikramaśīla, as well as being included in the list of the eighty-four mahāsiddhas under the name Śāntipa. He was a prolific author and proponent of the Yogācāra school that was outspoken in his attempts to harmonize this school of thought with the philosophy of the Madhyamaka school. Though the majority of his known works, many of which were preserved in the Tibetan canon, covered topics related to Tantra.

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

Is Buddha-nature considered definitive or provisional?
Position:
Notes:
All beings have Buddha-nature
Position:	Qualified No
If "Qualified", explain:	He accepts a pure nature that is the five wisdom's which are possessed, but obscured in sentient beings, but in terms of buddha-nature as a seed, only bodhisattvas have it.
Notes:	"...he suggests that only bodhisattvas have Buddha-nature, that is, the spiritual disposition to become a buddha, whereas others do not." Kano, K., Buddha-Nature and Emptiness, p. 75.
Which Wheel Turning
Position:
Notes:
Yogācāra vs Madhyamaka
Position:	Yogācāra
Notes:	There are apparently different takes on this issue, particularly whether he was a Yogācāran who accepted Madhyamaka or whether he was a Mādhyamika who accepted Yogācāra: Nirākāra Vijñānavāda, though as Kano states: "he defines the Madhyamaka position in accordance with the Madhyāntavibhāga's, description of the “middle way.” Indeed, he repeats throughout his works that the doctrine of the Mādhyamikas and that of the Yogācāras are completely compatible." Kano, K., Buddha-Nature and Emptiness, p. 73. "In sum, in his works Ratnākaraśānti generally sees himself as a Mādhyamika, but one who integrates many essential elements of Yogācāra and the teachings on buddha nature, such as emphasizing the soteriologically crucial role of mind’s nature being nondual lucid self-awareness—the tathāgata heart—which is only obscured by adventitious stains and needs to be experienced in an unmediated manner as what it truly is." Brunnhölzl, K., When the Clouds Part, p. 61.
Zhentong vs Rangtong
Position:
Notes:
Promotes how many vehicles?
Position:	3
Notes:	Kano, K., Buddha-Nature and Emptiness, p. 76.
Analytic vs Meditative Tradition
Position:
Notes:
What is Buddha-nature?
Position:	Tathāgatagarbha as Mind's Luminous Nature
Notes:	"Ratnākaraśānti generally describes the tathāgata heart as being equivalent to naturally luminous mind, nondual self-awareness, and the perfect nature (which he considers to be an implicative negation and not a nonimplicative negation). As for the ontological status of mind, his Prajñāpāramitopadeśa says that it does not exist as apprehender and apprehended, but the existence of the sheer lucidity of experience cannot be denied." Brunnhölzl, K., When the Clouds Part, p. 58.
Svātantrika (རང་རྒྱུད་) vs Prāsaṅgika (ཐལ་འགྱུར་པ་)
Position:
Notes:
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).

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.

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

A seed, commonly used figuratively in the sense of something which has the potential to develop or grow, and likewise as the basic cause for this development or growth.

Disposition, lineage, or class; an individual's gotra determines the type of enlightenment one is destined to attain.

Literally, "without duality," it refers to that which is indivisible, in that it is not divided into two.

An important term for the Yogācāra that refers to a consciousness of consciousness itself, or how one knows that they know something. It was a hotly debated topic that was disputed by followers of the Madhyamaka. In Tibet it would later become a common Dzogchen term, though with the entirely different meaning of one's own innate awareness (rig pa), a crucial concept in the Dzogchen teachings.

Mental stains that are not inherent to the nature of the mind but are temporarily present as the residue of past actions or habitual tendencies. It is sometimes iterated as adventitious defilements (Skt. āgantukakleśa, Tib. glo bur gyi nyon mongs), which references the fickle and temporary nature of disturbing emotions that lack an ultimately established basis for existence.

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 luminous aspect of mind that is often contrasted with its empty aspect. It is often used figuratively to reference the cognizant, or knowing, aspect of mind and sometimes more literally as the natural luminosity of mind and luminous wisdom that is experienced in meditation.

The third of the three natures, according to the Yogācāra school. It is the perfect nature that represents the most authentic understanding of phenomena, which is classically defined as the complete absence of the imaginary nature within the dependent nature.

A negation that denies one thing in such a way that it clearly implies another.

A negation that merely denies the existence of something without implicitly suggesting an alternative.