Jñanagarbha
Jñanagarbha (Skt. Jñānagarbha, Tib. ཡེ་ཤེས་སྙིང་པོ་, Wyl. ye shes snying po) was an 8th century master from Nalanda who belonged to the Svatantrika Madhyamika school. He was a student of Shrigupta and the teacher and ordaining master of Shantarakshita.
Writings
- Distinguishing the Two Truths (Skt. Satyadvayavibhanga, Tib. བདེན་གཉིས་རྣམ་འབྱེད་, Wyl. bden gnyis rnam ‘byed).
Quotations
ཐུབ་པའི་བཀའ་ལ་མི་རྨོངས་ཏེ། །
དེ་དག་མ་ལུས་ཚོགས་བསགས་ནས། །
Those who can distinguish between the two truths,
Will not be confused about the Buddha’s Words.
Gathering all the accumulations of merit and wisdom,
They will win perfection and reach the other shore.
- Jñānagarbha, Distinguishing the Two Truths, verse 2
ཡང་དག་པ་དང་མཐུན་ཉིད་བཞེད། །
སྐྱེ་མེད་སྤྲོས་ཀུན་ཞི་བ་ལ། །
Refutations of origination and so forth,
Are in accordance with reality.
Pacifying all notions of non-origination
Is what we call the ultimate.
- Jñānagarbha, Distinguishing the Two Truths, verse 9
ནུས་པའི་ཕྱིར་དང་མི་ནུས་ཕྱིར། །
ཡང་དག་ཡང་དག་མ་ཡིན་ཏེ། །
According to whether or not
They can function as they appear,
Relative phenomena are divided into
The authentic and the inauthentic.
- Jñānagarbha, Distinguishing the Two Truths, verse 12
དུ་མས་དུ་མ་བྱེད་མ་ཡིན། །
གཅིག་གིས་དུ་མའི་དངོས་མི་བྱེད། །
Several things do not produce just one thing,
And many things do not create a multiplicity.
One thing is not produced by many things.
And from a single thing, a single thing is not produced.
- Jñānagarbha, Distinguishing the Two Truths, verse 14
Further Reading
- M.D. Eckel, Jñānagarbha's Commentary on the Distinction between the Two Truths: An Eighth-Century Handbook of Madhyamaka Philosophy, N.Y. State University Press (New York 1987).
