Rang stong
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| Key Term | rang stong |
|---|---|
| Topic Variation | Rangtong |
| Hover Popup Choices | rangtong; self-emptiness; empty of self; Rangtong |
| In Tibetan Script | རང་སྟོང་ |
| Wylie Tibetan Transliteration | rang stong |
| Tibetan Phonetic Rendering | rangtong |
| English Standard | self-emptiness |
| Karl Brunnhölzl's English Term | self-empty; self-emptiness |
| Richard Barron's English Term | unqualified emptiness |
| Jeffrey Hopkin's English Term | emptiness of self |
| Ives Waldo's English Term | intrinsic emptiness |
| Term Type | Adjective |
| Source Language | Tibetan |
| Basic Meaning | The state of being empty of self, which references the lack of inherent existence in relative phenomena. |
| Has the Sense of | Since relative phenomena arise in dependence on causes and conditions, they cannot be said to exist based solely on their own defining characteristics, thus they are deemed to be empty of an innate nature. As a noun, this term generally refers to the more traditional, or orthodox, philosophical stance of the Madhyamaka school and its view of emptiness, as opposed to those who profess other-emptiness (gzhan stong). For the latter group, self-emptiness is also asserted to be true, but it is only used to describe the relative truth. However, for traditional Mādhyamikas, emptiness is universally applied and thus the lack of inherent existence is itself the ultimate truth. |
| Related Terms | gzhan stong |
| Definitions | |
| Tshig mdzod Chen mo | jo nang pa'i lugs kyi kun rdzob kyi cha nas chos thams cad rang ngos su bden pas stong pa'i lta ba'o |
| Other Definitions |
Generally speaking, the [other-emptiness] refers to the idea that ultimate truth is empty of defilements that are naturally other than ultimate truth, whereas self-emptiness implies that everything including ultimate truth is empty of its own inherent nature. - Wangchuk, Tsering. The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows (2017), page 4. The term “zhentong” is used in contrast to “rangtong” (rang stong; “self-emptiness”), which refers to the school that adheres to the views of Nāgārjuna’s brand of Madhyamaka, which asserts that all phenomena, including the mind, are empty of self-nature. - Bernert, Christian. Adorning Maitreya's Intent (2017), page 11. |
| sutra/śastra quote: | Since adventitious, relative entities do not exist at all in reality, they are empty of their own essences; they are self-empty. The innate ultimate, which is the ultimate emptiness of these relative things, is never non-existent; therefore, it is other-empty. |
| sutra/śastra quote source: | Dölpopa Sherab Gyaltsen, Collected Works ('Dzamthang ed., 1998), Vol. 6: 416. Translated by Douglas Duckworth in "Onto-theology and Emptiness: The Nature of Buddha-Nature." (2014), page 1075. |
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