"Emptiness of Other" in the Early Jonang Tradition.

The doctrinal nucleus of the Jo nang school of Tibetan Buddhism is its robust distinction between the ultimate and relative truth or reality. This view, first articulated by Dol po pa Shes rab rgyal mtshan (1292–1361), differentiates the two truths both in terms of cognition and emptiness. Relative phenomena, the object of consciousness, are empty of an intrinsic essence (rang gi ngo bos stong), whereas the ultimate truth, equated with buddha nature, is the object of wisdom and is empty of other (gzhan stong) in that it is empty of relative adventitious stains but not of its true, intrinsic essence. Dol po pa sought to legitimize this viewpoint with a unique hermeneutical approach, interpreting and integrating sūtric and tantric sources into a new system of doctrines and practices.
Our project aims at determining how the original Jo nang view was first articulated by Dol po pa and subsequently systematized by his direct disciples. Although recent scholarship has outlined some of the key doctrinal elements of the Jo nang tradition, mainly with reference to its sūtric sources, it has devoted almost no attention to its predominantly tantric foundations. Therefore, special attention will be given to the way the gzhan stong view is related to the visionary experiences and the realizations arising from the yogic practices prescribed in the Kālacakratantra. In addition to the relevant writings of Dol po pa, we intend to examine the most significant works of his direct disciples to clarify how the Jo nang first established itself as a distinct tradition and whether internal debate may have contributed to such evolution during its earliest stages.
Works by the designated authors will be selected on the basis of notable originality and influence critically edited and annotated following standard methods of classical philology. Moreover, building on our previous fieldwork in Asia, we will endeavor to supplement the understanding gained from a purely text-based study with the knowledge and insight provided by a well-established network of contacts with traditional scholars in Tibet, India, and Nepal.
The proposed project will be carried out by Filippo Brambilla and Konchok Tamphel under the direction of Prof. Klaus-Dieter Mathes, a specialist in the study of Indo-Tibetan Buddhism whose many publications have focused on gzhan stong and buddha nature theories. Brambilla is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Vienna and is about to complete a thesis on the late Jo nang scholar Tshogs gnyis rgya mtsho (1880–1940). Konchok, who holds an Acharya Degree for the Drikung Kagyu Institute of Dehra Dun, is currently working for the FWF project “Buddha nature Reconsidered” and as a lecturer of modern Tibetan at the University of Vienna.