Abstract

In the history of Buddhism in Tibet there have been many exceptional teachers, but none more controversial than the Jo nang pa master Dol po pa Shes rab rgyal mtshan . In his writings, Dol po pa emphasized two definitions of the meaning of emptiness. The first is an emptiness of self-nature , which he applied only to the level of conventional truth. The second is an emptiness of other phenomena , which he applied only to the level of ultimate truth, which he insisted was not empty of self-nature. ;Chapter 1 of this dissertation is a discussion of Dol po pa's life. This is based upon a recently published Tibetan biography of Dol po pa, and another unpublished manuscript biography, both by direct disciples who witnessed much of what they described. ;Chapter 2 discusses the earlier Tibetan precedents for the gzhan stong, Dol po pa's unique use of language, and the major influences on his development of the gzhan stong theory. The fate of the Jo nang pa tradition after Dol po pa is described, as well as the importance of some later adherents to the gzhan stong view. ;Chapter 3 is a discussion of Dol po pa's view of the nature of absolute reality as empty of phenomena other than itself , and of the relative as empty of self-nature . In connection with these ideas, there is also a discussion of Dol po pa's attempt to deconstruct the orthodox views of Cittamatra and Madhyamaka in Tibet, and his own definition of what constituted the tradition of the Great Madhyamaka. Finally, there is a brief presentation of two opposing views of what actually brings about enlightenment. ;The translation of The Fourth Council in Chapter 4 is the first translation of a major work by Dol po pa. This text was composed in the last years of Dol po pa's life, and may be viewed as a final verse summation of his ideas. Dol po pa's own synopsis of the work is included here with the translation, and annotations are largely drawn from his autocommentary