Ngok Lotsāwa Loden Sherab

PersonType	Category:Lotsawas Category:Classical Tibetan Authors Category:Authors of Tibetan Works
MainNamePhon	Ngok Lotsāwa Loden Sherab
MainNameTib	རྔོག་བློ་ལྡན་ཤེས་རབ་
MainNameWylie	rngog blo ldan shes rab
AltNamesTib	རྔོག་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་  ·  ལོ་ཆེན་བློ་ལྡན་ཤེས་རབ་
AltNamesWylie	rngog lo tsA ba  ·  lo chen blo ldan shes rab  ·  blo ldan shes rab
AltNamesOther	Ngok Lotsāwa  ·  Ngok Loden Sherab  ·  Lochen Loden Sherab  ·  Loden Sherab
YearBirth	1059
YearDeath	1109
BornIn	yar 'brog (lho ka)
TibDateGender	Female
TibDateElement	Earth
TibDateAnimal	Pig
TibDateRabjung	1
ReligiousAffiliation	Kadam
PersonalAffiliation	rngog lo tsA ba legs pa'i shes rab
StudentOf	Rinchen Zangpo  ·  Sajjana  ·  Parahitabhadra
TeacherOf	shes rab 'bar  ·  gro lung pa blo gros 'byung gnas  ·  Zhang Tsepong Chökyi Lama  ·  rin chen nam mkha' rdo rje  ·  rin chen grags
BDRC	https://www.tbrc.org/#!rid=P2551
Treasury of Lives	https://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Ngok-Loden-Sherab/4261
IsInGyatsa	No
PosBuNayDefProv	Definitive
PosBuNayDefProvNotes	"He is also said to have held that among the five Teachings of Maitreya only the Ratnagotravibhāga is of definitive meaning (nītārtha)." David Seyfort Ruegg, Studies in Indian and Tibetan Madhyamaka Thought Part 1, p. 30; "rNgog considers the RGV to be a Madhyamaka work, and hence its teaching to be definitive. His position is made clear in the introductory passage of the rGyud bla don bsdus, where RGV is identified as a treatise that explains sūtras of definitive meaning (nītārtha), whereas the other four treatises of Maitreya (i.e. Abhisamayālaṃkāra, Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra, Madhyāntavibhāga, and Dharmadharmatāvibhāga) are listed as treatises that explain sutras of provisional meaning (neyārtha)." Kano, K., Buddha-Nature and Emptiness, p. 249.
PosAllBuddha	Qualified Yes
PosAllBuddhaNote	"...both Ngok and Chapa argue that sentient beings do not have tathāgata-essence on the basis of the first reason because they do not have the purified enlightened body of a buddha, rather they have the potential to achieve an enlightened state. However, they agree that sentient beings have the tathāgata-essence from the perspective of the second reason, which is that such-ness is indivisible or nondual. As Ngok states, 'That both a tathāgata and ordinary beings have tathāgata-essence is actually the case.' The first reason is true only for enlightened beings, but only designated for ordinary beings; the second reason applies to both enlightened beings and sentient beings. Therefore, the two Kadam masters argue that sentient beings do not have the tathāgata-essence from the perspective of either the first reason of the resultant essence or the third reason of the causal essence. Rather it is the second reason that becomes the central point for establishing the link between enlightenment and sentient beings. It is the middle reason that shows that sentient beings and tathāgatas are the same in their ultimate nature. In other words, the only thing that sentient beings have in common with enlightened beings is the ultimate nature of their minds."
PosAllBuddhaMoreNotes	Wangchuk, Tsering, The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows, pp. 17-18.
PosWheelTurn	Third Turning
PosYogaMadhya	Madhyamaka
PosYogaMadhyaNotes	"rNgog considers the RGV to be a Madhyamaka work, and hence its teaching to be definitive. His position is made clear in the introductory passage of the rGyud bla don bsdus, where RGV is identified as a treatise that explains sūtras of definitive meaning (nītārtha), whereas the other four treatises of Maitreya (i.e. Abhisamayālaṃkāra, Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra, Madhyāntavibhāga, and Dharmadharmatāvibhāga) are listed as treatises that explain sutras of provisional meaning (neyārtha)." Kano, K., Buddha-Nature and Emptiness, p. 249.
PosAnalyticMedit	Analytic Tradition
PosAnalyticMeditNotes	"These two traditions of rngog and btsan were respectively called the "analytical tradition" (thos bsam gyi lugs) and "meditative tradition" (sgom lugs)."Kano, K., Buddha-Nature and Emptiness, p. 242.
PosEmptyLumin	Tathāgatagarbha as the Emptiness That is a Non-implicative Negation (without enlightened qualities)
PosEmptyLuminNotes	"As to the interpretation of Buddha-nature, on the other hand, Sajjana and rNgog hold different views, for Sajjana equates Buddha-nature with the luminous mind, which is not empty, while rNgog equates it with emptiness." Kano, K., Buddha-Nature and Emptiness, p. 239. According to Brunnhölzl, he also equates it with the ālaya-consciousness: "Moreover, Ngog equates “dhātu” not only with the tathāgata heart (as in RGVV) but also with the ālaya-consciousness (maybe influenced by the Laṅkāvatārasūtra). Obviously, this creates a considerable tension with his definition of the tathāgata heart as emptiness, but he does not resolve it..." Karl Brunnhölzl, When the Clouds Part, p. 66.
PosSvataPrasa	Svātantrika (རང་རྒྱུད་)
PosSvataPrasaNotes	"A number of later Tibetan works, and several modern scholars as well, define his position as Svātantrika-Madhyamaka... We cannot yet be sure whether rNgog himself was conscious of this divide, even if later Tibetan traditions often presuppose rNgog's knowledge of it. Śākya-mchog-ldan, for instance, in assigning rNgog to a third position of Madhyamaka neither Svātantrika nor Prāsaṅgika, presumes that rNgog knew of both schools." Kano, K., Buddha-Nature and Emptiness, p. 228. "rNgog lo is known to have actively taught and commented on the “Three Svātantrika Treatises of Eastern India” (rang rgyud shar gsum), namely the Satyadvayavibhaṅga of Jñānagarbha, the Madhyamakālaṃkāra of Śāntarakṣita, and the Madhyamakāloka of Kamalaśīla, which formed the textual foundation of the Svātantrika Yogācāra-Madhyamaka synthesis, among whose proponents rNgog lo may be counted. Ralf Kramer, The Great Tibetan Translator, p.10. "rNgog's strategy here is to appeal to the destinction between the Two Truths..." Kano, K., Buddha-Nature and Emptiness, p. 271.
PosVajrapada	First four are causes of the later three; also, the three jewels are the results of the latter four (which are substantive causes and attendant conditions). Kano, K., Buddha-Nature and Emptiness, p. 252.
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Refers to a teaching that is literally true.

Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra

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.

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

Ngok Lotsāwa Loden Sherab's "analytic tradition" of exegesis of the Uttaratantra; one of two major Tibetan traditions of exegesis, both stemming from students of Sajjana.

Ngok Lotsāwa Loden Sherab's "analytic tradition" of exegesis of the Uttaratantra; one of two major Tibetan traditions of exegesis, both stemming from students of Sajjana.

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.

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.

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

A neutral base consciousness that is posited as the storehouse for the seeds of past karmic actions in which they remain in a latent state until the circumstances arise for them to ripen as karmic consequences.

A fundamental component or essential constituent.

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

Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā

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).