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Clarke Scott is a fully ordained Buddhist monk trained in the Tibetan tradition. A student of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Clarke has received personal instructions—direct one-to-one instructions—on Madhyamaka philosophy and meditation from His Holiness. Recently Clarke moved to Tasmania to pursue a Ph.D in Buddhist philosophy from the University of Tasmania.

Who was Tsong khapa and Why is He an Important Philosopher?

As you may know, I believe that Tsong khapa is an important philosopher, not only to the Buddhist tradition. This is because both as Mark Siderits puts it:

“Western analytic philosophy and Buddhist philosophy share a fundamental commitment to trying to attain complete clarity about the matters they investigate:”. Prof. Mark Siderits – Personal Identity and Buddhist Philosophy.

As part of the ongoing research note taking method (see here for details) I will be employing here I thought it prudent that I share with you a little about Je Tsong khapa. The following is lifted from an unused section of my PhD entry paper which you can read here Tsong khapa’s theory of persons.

I believe the critical study of Tsong khapa has much to offer western philosophy and western university faculties, and if you would like to ride along as I detail my investigation, please subscribe to the RSS feed or the newsletter to the right of screen.

A Little Bit About Je Tsong khapa

Tsong khapa founder of the Gelugpa (dGe lugs) school of Tibetan Buddhism was born in 1357 in the Tsongkha valley of Amdo province in northeast Tibet. Tsong khapa is arguably Tibet’s greatest philosopher, with his writing extending into eighteen volumes. He was also a poet, monastic reformer and a great meditator, spending many years meditating in caves throughout Tibet.

His early life was filled with study and meditation practice. He received the ordination of a novice monk at the age of eight and was given the name Losang Drakpa (blo bzang grags pa). At sixteen, Tsong khapa left Amdo to pursue his studies in central and southern Tibet. Initially concentrating on the Perfection of Wisdom sutras and the five treatises of Maitreya, he gained rigorous intellectual training and a wide knowledge of both sutra and tantra during this period. From his twenty-second year he began to study the works on valid cognition (pramana, tshad ma) by Dignaga (5th CE)  and Dharmakirti (7th CE). He was deeply impressed by the efficacy of Dharmakirti’s system of epistemology and logic. During Tsong khapa’s later years he devoted much of his time and energy giving extensive teachings before passing away in 1419.

Tsong khapa’s impact on the development of Buddhist thought cannot be underestimated. His teachings spread throughout Tibet and extended into Mongolia, China and now to the west. He wrote prolifically on both sutra and tantra and his writing style is known for its clarity and elegance. Many of his best known works have been translated into English and remain illuminating, relevant and accessible to this day.

Tsong khapa’s legacy is profound. He established the Great Prayer Festival in Lhasa in 1409, a tradition that continues today. The revitalization of the monastic tradition in Tibet is largely due to his efforts, and he was instrumental in establishing many of Tibet’s greatest monastic universities including, the three great monasteries of Ganden, Drepung and Sera. But perhaps his largest legacy and one that is most relevant for us here, culminated during a retreat in the late spring of 1398.

Late one night, Tsong khapa dreamt he was present at a gathering of famous Indian masters who were discussing the subtleties of the Madhyamika view. Present included Nagarjuna, Aryadeva, Buddhapalita, Bhavaviveka and Candrakirti. At one point in the dream, Buddhapalita rose and holding his commentary of Nagarjuna’s Mulamadhyamakakarika in his hands, approached Tsong khapa blessing him by touching his head with the text. The following morning Tsong khapa woke at dawn. Immediately remembering the dream he proceeded to open his own Tibetan translation of Buddhapalita’s commentary at the page he had been reading the previous day. When Tsong khapa re-read the same passage from the previous day he experienced a deep insight into the nature of reality. He saw for the first time, the nature of the two truths and how persons and phenomena although lacking intrinsic essence, nonetheless exist conventionally.

However, Tsong khapa’s overall enterprise and in particular his insight into the illusory-like nature of persons and phenomena is about solving the problem of existential suffering. The solution to this problem is found in the extirpation of ignorance – the ignorance that reifies essence in things and functions as the root cause of suffering. It is the root of suffering, as it pervades the cognitive process for ordinary unenlightened beings propelling them into dysfunctional actions. His insight into the two-fold nature of persons and phenomena is soteriologically efficacious, both within the domain of the conventional and the domain of the ultimate nature of persons and phenomena, because it is this very authoritative cognitive process apprehending their illusory-like nature, which is the mechanism for the extirpation of ignorance.

Thus, much of Tsong khapa’s philosophical pondering was spent asking questions about the nature of the Two Truths. However, western philosophical questions on personal identity such as; what does it mean to be a person? Or in what sense can we say that today’s “I” is the same as the “I” of yesterday are just as relevant. For Tsong Khapa, persons and phenomena are illusory-like because the conventional cognitive process and that which it apprehends, are co-created and mutually supporting, within the scope of that which accords with the conventions of the world. Although persons and phenomena appear to possess intrinsic essence, when analyzed to find this essence which so vividly appears to us, it cannot be found. Therefore, Tsong Khapa’s philosophical exegesis interests me because I think he, more than any other philosopher, understood Candrakirti’s analysis of Nagarjuna’s Mulamadhyamakakarika, took the soteriological significance of conventional truth seriously, and paid particular attention to its articulation.

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