Ratnākaraśānti

Ratnākaraśānti (also known as Ratnākara, Śāntipa, and Śānti) (late-10th century - early-11th century) was a Buddhist gate scholar at Vikramaśilā university (modern-day Bihar in India).[1][2] He was also known by the title kalikālasarvajña ("the Omniscient One of the Degenerate Age") and is depicted as one of the eighty-four mahāsiddhas.[3]

A Tibetan illustration of Ratnākara as a scholar.

At Vikramaśilā, Ratnākara was instructed by Nāropa,[4] and was a teacher to Atīśa, Maitrīpa, Śraddhākaravarman, and Drokmi Śākya Yeshe.[5][6] His texts include several influential commentaries to Mahayana sutras and tantras, as well as works of philosophy and logic. He mainly defended the Yogacara philosophy.

Overview

Little is known about his life; in the Biography of the Eighty-Four Siddhas, Abhayadatta Sri records that "King Kapina" invited Ratnākaraśānti to Śrī Laṇka during the reign of the Pāla king Devapāla (c. 810-850 CE).[7] However, according to Keith Dowman, "As history of Śrī Laṇkā the legend is incomprehensible. There is no King Kapina in the lists of Siṇghala kings… [and] there is no evidence of a Śāntipa contemporary with the Pāla Emperor Devapāla."[8] Tāranātha provides a more realistic date, placing him during the reign of King Canaka (955-83 CE).[9]

Thought

Ratnākaraśānti was a Yogācāra philosopher who defended the Alikākāravāda view of Yogacara as well as the compatibility of Madhyamaka with this Yogacara view.[10] His works, like the Prajñāpāramitopadeśa, state that the Yogacara and Madhyamaka schools are congruent, having the same ultimate intent and final realization, even if they describe it somewhat differently.[11]

Ratnākaraśānti's Prajñāpāramitopadeśa states:

The Yogacaras and likewise the Madhyamikas assert that the fourth [and final] yogabhumi consists of the supramundane wisdom that is absolutely without stains and infinite, appearing like space, and in which, by virtue of emptiness, all phenomena are not observable and do not appear at all...the Yogacaras assert that the fundamental nature of phenomena - sheer lucidity - exists substantially, while the Madhyamikas do not even assert such a substance. However, this difference is understood as [being one in] name only. Therefore, those Yogacaras and Madhyamikas who dispute with each other without any basis [to do so] are persons of very bad character.[12]

Ratnākaraśānti also held that the perfected nature, the ultimate reality, is an implicative negation, which is the natural luminosity (prakrti-prabhasvara) and the tathagatagarbha (i.e. buddha-nature) which is also non-dual self-awareness (svasamvedana). This non-dual self-awareness is what remains after all afflictive and cognitive obscurations and duality have been removed.[13]

Works

There are about 40 texts attributed to Ratnākaraśānti in the Tibetan canon.[6]

Ratnākaraśānti composed three commentaries to the Guhyasamāja Tantra, as well as commentaries to the Hevajra Tantra and the Mahāmāyā Tantra.

His exoteric works, generally written from a Yogācāra alikakaravada perspective, include several commentaries to the Perfection of Wisdom literature, such as his Sāratamā and Pith Instructions for the Perfection of Wisdom (Prajñāpāramitābhāvanopadeśa).

He is also the author of two commentaries to Śāntarakṣita's Madhyamākalaṃkāra, the Madhyamākalaṃkāravrtti and the Madhyamākalaṃkāraopadeśa.[11] He also wrote a Sutrasamuccaya-bhasya.[11]

He also wrote a technical treatise on the formal logic of pramāṇa theory (the Antarvyāptisamarthana).

See also

Notes
  1. Padmanabh, Jaini (1972). "The "Ālokā" of Haribhadra and the "Sāratamā" of Ratnākaraśānti: A Comparative Study of the Two Commentaries of the "Aṣṭasāhasrikā"". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. 35: 271–284.
  2. Wayman, Alex (1983). "Three Tanjur Commentators—Buddhaguhya, Ratnakarasanti, and Smrtijnanakirti". The Tibet Journal. 8: 24–36.
  3. "Ratnākaraśānti". Encyclopedia of Buddhism Online.
  4. Tāranātha, Lama Chimpa and Alaka Chattopadhyaya (trans.). Tāranātha’s History of Buddhism in India, pp. 299-300.
  5. Tatz, Mark. "Maitrī-pa and Atiśa," pp. 473-477.
  6. "Ratnākaraśānti - Buddha-Nature". buddhanature.tsadra.org. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
  7. Abhayadhatta and Robinson, James (1979). Buddha's Lions: The Lives of the Eighty-Four Siddhas, p. 61.
  8. Dowman, Keith (1986). Masters of Mahamudra: Songs and Histories of the Eighty-four Buddhist Siddhas, p. 98.
  9. Tāranātha, Lama Chimpa and Alaka Chattopadhyaya (trans.). Tāranātha’s History of Buddhism in India, p. 299.
  10. Komarovski, Yaroslav, Visions of Unity: The Golden Paṇḍita Shakya Chokden’s New Interpretation of Yogācāra and Madhyamaka. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 2011, p. 79.
  11. Brunnhölzl, Karl (2011). Prajñāpāramitā, Indian "gzhan Stong Pas", and the Beginning of Tibetan Gzhan Stongm p. 133. Arbeitskreis für Tibetische und Buddhistische Studien, Universität Wien.
  12. Brunnhölzl, Karl (2011). Prajñāpāramitā, Indian "gzhan Stong Pas", and the Beginning of Tibetan Gzhan Stongm p. 134. Arbeitskreis für Tibetische und Buddhistische Studien, Universität Wien.
  13. Brunnhölzl, Karl (2011). Prajñāpāramitā, Indian "gzhan Stong Pas", and the Beginning of Tibetan Gzhan Stongm pp. 149-155. Arbeitskreis für Tibetische und Buddhistische Studien, Universität Wien.

References
  • Abhayadhatta and Robinson, James (trans.) (1979). Buddha's Lions: The Lives of the Eighty-Four Siddhas. Berkeley: Dharma Publishing. ISBN 0913546615
  • Dowman, Keith (1986). Masters of Mahamudra: Songs and Histories of the Eighty-four Buddhist Siddhas. Albany: State University of New York Press. ISBN 0-88706-160-5
  • Tāranātha, Lama Chimpa and Chattopadhyaya, Alaka (trans.) (1970). Tāranātha’s History of Buddhism in India. Simla: Indian Institute of Advanced Study. ISBN 8120806964
  • Tatz, Mark (1998). "Maitrī-pa and Atiśa," in Tibetan Studies: Proceedings of the 4th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, ed. Helga Uebach and Jampa L. Panglung. Munchen: Kommission für Zentralasiatische Studien Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften.
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