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Thupten Jinpa explores the historical and intellectual context of Tsongkhapa's philosophy and addresses the critical issues related to questions of development and originality in Tsongkhapa's thought. The work also deals extensively with one of Tsongkhapa's primary concerns, namely his attempts to demonstrate that the Middle Way philosophy's de-constructive analysis does not negate the reality of the everyday world. The central focus of the study is the question of the existence and the nature of self. This is explored in terms of both Tsongkhapa's de-construction of the self and his re-constructive theories of the person. Finally, the work explores the concept of reality that emerges in Tsongkhapa's philosophy, and deals with his understanding of the relationship between critical reasoning, no-self, and religious experience. The interpretations of Tsongkhapa's thought are grounded in the original works, thus enabling Tsongkhapa to speak, as far as possible, in his own voice, while articulating his philosophical thought in language familiar to contemporary western philosophy.
Self, Reality and Reason in Tibetan Philosophy: Tsongkhapa's Quest for the Middle View, Thupten Jinpa, RoutledgeCurzon, Paperback, 248 pages, $54.95
Preface ix
Technical Note xii
Bibliographical Abbreviations xiv
List of Charts and Tables xvi
Introduction 1
Context and Methodological Issues 12
The historical contexts of Tsongkhapa's 12
thought
Questions of originality and development in 14
Tsongkhapa's Madhyamaka philosophy
Textual sources for an exegesis of 19
Tsongkhapa's Madhyamaka philosophy
Tsongkhapa's qualms about early Tibetan 21
understandings of emptiness
Delineating the Parameters of Madhyamaka 37
Reasoning
Tsongkhapa's reading of the four-cornered 38
argument in Madhyamaka reasoning
Distinguishing between the domains of 42
conventional and ultimate discourses
Two senses of `ultimate' in the Madhyamaka 46
dialectic
Identifying the object of negation 49
That which is `not found' and that which is 54
`negated'
A logical analysis of the forms of negation 57
Tsongkhapa's critique of autonomous 63
reasoning
Tsongkhapa's Deconstruction of the Self 70
Levels of selfhood according to Tsongkhapa 70
Inadequacies of the Buddhist reductionist 80
theory of no-self
The Madhyamaka seven-point analysis of 82
self: A brief outline
An analysis of the concept of intrinsic 93
existence
No-self as the emptiness of intrinsic 104
existence
Personal Identity, Continuity, and the 107
I-consciousness
Personal identity and dependent origination 107
The nature of the I-consciousness 123
Individuality, continuity, and rebirth 135
The analogy of the chariot 142
No-Self, Truth, and the Middle Way 148
To exist is to exist in the conventional 148
sense
Everyday reality as fiction-like 162
Beyond absolutism, nihilism, and relativism 171
No-self, reason, and soteriology 176
Conclusion 184
Notes 187
Bibliography 227
Wylie Transliteration of Tibetan Names 240
Index 243
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