'Gos Lo tsa ba gZhon nu dpal's Commentary on the Ratnagotravibhagavyakhya (Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi 'grel bshad de kho na nyid rab tu gsal ba'i me long).

• Author: Kano, Kazuo
• Position: Book review

'Gos Lo tsa ba gZhon nu dpal's Commentary on the Ratnagotravibhagavyakhya (Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi 'grel bshad de kho na nyid rab tu gsal ba'i me long). Edited by KLAUS-DIETER MATHES. Nepal Research Centre Publications, no. 24. Stuttgart: FRANZ STEINER VERLAG, 2003. Pp. xix + 576. [euro]70.

'Gos Lo-tsa-ba gZhon-nu-dpal (1392-1481) was one of the most brilliant scholars in Tibet and is famous for his religious history, the Blue Annals (Deb ther sngon po). He is also known as a translator (lo tsa ba) and for his contributions to Buddhist doctrine and philosophy. However, except for the Blue Annals his own work has not been available until now. For this reason this first publication of a doctrinal commentary, Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi ' grel bshad de kho na nyid rab tu gsal ba'i me long (ZhP), is most welcome. In this commentary he presents a unique interpretation of the teaching of the Buddha-nature (tathagatagarbha) in the Ratnagotravibhaga/vyakhya (RGV/V) following the mahamudra tradition. Of more than fifty commentaries on the RGV known to have been written in Tibet, the ZhP is one of the most extensive and remarkable.

The editor, Klaus-Dieter Mathes, has previously contributed to the study of the Tibetan herme-neutical traditions of Yogacara works such as the Dharmadharmatavibhaga. He has already published a survey of this RGV commentary (p. xviii), and has also studied this commentary for his Habilitation, currently being prepared for publication (p. xi). In the introduction to the book under review, Mathes presents a brief biography of gZhon-nu-dpal and sketches his general philosophical position (pp. ix-xi). He then discusses the sources on which his edition is based (pp. xi-xiv), selected particular features of the ZhP (pp. xiv-xv), and his editorial method (pp. xv-xvi), ending with technical notes (pp. xvi-xvii) and bibliography (pp. xviii-xix).

The main part of this book consists of a critical edition of the ZhP in 576 pages, based on a manuscript in dbu-med script (A) and a block print (B). The block print was completed in 1479, soon after the composition of the ZhP in 1473 (pp. xii-xiii). Regarding the relationship between the manuscript and block print, Mathes states: "This leaves us with the probable case that A and B share a common source" (p. xii). As to the editorial method, he states, "My editing policy has been to compare gZhon nu dpal's quotations with the Derge and Peking editions...