Buddha-Nature and a Dialectic of Presence and Absence in the Works of Mi-pham

This dissertation addresses the relationship between metaphysical
presence and absence (emptiness) in Buddhism through a focus on the
Nying-ma tradition as articulated in the works of Mi-pham (’ju mi pham
rgya mtsho, 1846-1912), a great synthesizer of Buddhist doctrine and
Nying-ma philosophy. I draw widely from his writings on Yogācāra,
Madhyamaka, and tantra to discuss the significance of an ontological
“ground” (gzhi), or Buddha-nature, as the central theme in his overall
interpretative scheme. Mi-pham was a prolific writer on a variety of topics,
and had a remarkable ability to synthesize diverse strands of thought.
The tradition of the Nying-ma is a complex one, and there are many
divergent and competing voices that lay claim to the tradition. I will try to
present important facets of this central theme in Mi-pham’s philosophy of
Nying-ma, and show how he uses a dialectic of presence and absence
around which he discusses a unified ground.

Mi-pham was a prominent figure in the Tibetan non-sectarian (ris
med) movement in the late nineteenth and early twentiethcenturies. He
most notably brought esoteric Nying-ma doctrines into conversation with
the exoteric scholastic discourses of his day. Mi-pham formulates the
Nying-ma tradition of his predecessors Long-chen-pa (klong chen rab
’byam, 1308-1364) and Rong-zom (rong zom chos kyi bzang po, ca.11th c.) in response to traditions of “other-emptiness,” through which he
distinguishes his Nying-ma tradition.

Buddha-nature is a theme in Mi-pham’s work that has a strong
association with tantra in the Nying-ma tradition. His affirmation of the
presence of Buddha-nature as intrinsic within the ground of existence
shares predominant characteristics of the discourses of tantra in the
Nying-ma tradition and, in particular, the Great Perfection (rdzogs chen).
The Great Perfection is an antischolastic textual and meditative tradition
that consistently evades systematic analysis, and in a fundamental way is
antithetical to abstract conceptual determination. Mi-pham creatively
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formulates the esoteric discourses that have defined the Nying-ma
tradition—the Great Perfection and the tantric tradition of the
Guhyagarbha—in terms of central exoteric discourses of Buddhism:
Buddha-nature, the Middle Way, and Buddhist epistemological systems.
This dissertation explores a range of topics within Mi-pham’s thought to
underscore Buddha-nature and a dialectic of presence and absence as a
central thread that runs through his interpretativesystem.