Contributions to the Development of Tibetan Buddhist Epistemology: From the eleventh to the thirteenth century

342 Pages·1983·6.62 MB·English

by  Leonard W. J. van der Kuijp

C O N T R I B U T I O NS TO THE
D E V E L O P M E NT OP T I B E T AN
B U D D H I ST E P I S T E M O L O GY
from the eleventh to the thirteenth century
Dissertation
zur Erlangung der Wtirde des Doktors der Philosophie
der Universitat Hamburg
vorgelegt von
Leonard ¥ J van der Kuijp
# #
aus Geldrop, Holland
Hamburg 1983
Referentt Prof* Dr. L. Schmithausen, Hamburg
Korreferents Prof. Dr« •• Yezler» Hamburg
Tag der mUndlichen Prufungt 29* Januar 1979
Leonard W. J. van der Kuijp
Contributions to the Development of Tibetan Buddhist Epistemology
Alt- und Neu-Indische Studien
herausgegeben vom
Seminar fur Kultur und GescMchte Indiens
an der Universitat Hamburg
26
Franz Steiner Verlag GmbH Wiesbaden
1983
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
DEVELOPMENT OF TIBETAN
BUDDHIST EPISTEMOLOGY
From the eleventh to the thirteenth century
by
Leonard W. J. van der Kuijp
Franz Steiner Verlag GmbH Wiesbaden
1983
Gedruckt mit Unterstiitzung der Universitat Hamburg
CIP-Kurztitelaufnahme der Deutschen Bibliothek
Kuijp, Leonard W. J. van der:
Contributions to the development of Tibetan Buddhist epistemology : from the 11. to the 13.
century / by Leonard W. J. van der Kuijp. - Wiesbaden : Steiner, 1983.
(Alt- und neu-indische Studien ; 26)
ISBN 3-515-03584-2
NE:GT
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usw.) zu vervielfaltigen. © 1983 by Franz Steiner Verlag GmbH, Wiesbaden.
Printed in Germany
voor mijn lieve ouders
en ter herinnering van
Dge-bshes Dge-'dun blo-gros
1Jam-pa*i dbyangs-la phyag-'tshal-lo //
Preface
The present paper is a considerably revised version of my doctoral
dissertation entitled Contributions to the Development of Tibetan Bud-
dhist Logic - from the eleventh to the fifteenth century. This disser-
tation was submitted to the Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of
Hamburg, in January of 1979. The title has been changed for two reasons.
The first of these is a conceptual one. Namely, in the course of my sub-
sequent studies of Buddhist tshad-ma tpramana) , I have decided to trans-
late this fundamentally untranslatable term by 'epistemology'. While
this rendition does also not do justice to its semantic range, I feel
that it has at least the merit of being less misleading than the more
widely used 'logic1, especially for those who have no background in In-
dian or Tibetan studies, and who may chance to come across this title.
It is and remains an untranslatable term
The second reason for my changing the original title of my disserta-
tion, is that I felt obliged to change its scope. The vast literature on
Tibetan Buddhist epistemology, which has become available during the last
few years, necessitated such a curtailment. Especially the presently
available Dga'-ldan-pa contributions by Rgyal-tshab-rje and Mkhas-grub-
rje, in particular, need to be properly assessed, and this takes time.
Moreover, much but not all of the subsequent Sa-skya-pa literature in
this area by Go-ram-pa and Gser-mdog Pan-chen must be read with the par-
ticular theories of these Dga'-ldan-pa philosophers in mind. To under-
take such a comparative study cannot be done in a hurried fashion. Some
references to the Dga'-ldan-pa contributions have, however, been made in
the course of this paper on the basis of my original access to but a li-
mited number of their writings. Nonetheless, a significant portion of
my dissertation that deals with the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries,
has been included in the footnotes of the present paper where I was con-
cerned with historical or bio-bibliographical details.
What remains now is the pleasure of thanking all those who have^con-
tributed to whatever merit this essay - in all of its meanings - may
have. In the first place, my deeply-felt gratitude goes out to Prof. Dr.
Lambert Schmithausen of the Seminar fur die Kultur und Geschichte In-
diens, for the readiness with which he acquiesed to become my 'Doktorva-
ter1. His painstaking care and warm humanity with which he followed and
corrected my work, despite his own considerable work-load, were truly
exemplary. My gratitude is also extended to the late Dge-bshes Dge-'dun
blo-gros for having helped me in many ways. This paper is dedicated to
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him, one of the rarest of flowers of traditional Tibetan scholarship,
which is rapidly vanishing from the face of the earth. May he be some-
what satisfied with what now appears in print! I would.furthermore wish
to thank Prof.Dr. Albrecht Wezler not only for his support for my work
over the past years, but also for his patience with the delays in getting
this paper ready for the press.
Further, my thanks go out to my fellow-students during my stay in Ham-
burg.; Or. Takashi Iwata for sharing his profound understanding of Dharma-
kirti with which bits and pieces of my ignorance were cleared up; Mr.
Burckhard Quessel with whom I had numerous conversations about Tibetan
Buddhism over about as many cups of herbal tea; Mr. Franz-Karl Ehrhard
and Mr. Christoph Cuppers for their help, especially in sending me photo-
copies of necessary texts ever since I have been in Kathmandu.
The sbyin-bdag without whose financial support in Germany none of this
would have taken place, was the Deutsche Akademischer Austauschdienst
(DAAD). My sincerely felt appreciation is extended to them for all of
this, as well as for the grant towards the printing of this paper.
Kathmandu
November 30th, 1982
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