A Study of the Life and Works of Go-rams-pa bSod-nams-seng-ge, and a Translation and Critical Edition of his sDom gsum kha skong

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Go-rams-pa bSod-nams-seng-ge was one of the brilliant Tibetan scholars of the fifteenth century. His works on Buddhist philosophy and tantras have attained the status of authority within the Sa-skya-pa tradition. The sDom gsum kha skong, is one of the most important works of this scholar, summarizing his understanding of the entire spectrum of Buddhist teaching, in five related chapters. It can be profitably read as a record of intellectual activities among Tibetan Buddhist authors of that time.

Sonam Jamtsho is a PhD student at the University of Hamburg in Tibetan studies. He received his master's degree from the same university and completed the entire Shedra curriculum at renowned Dzongsar Shedra with distinction. He works as a consultant and translator for KVP.

This is a study of the life and works of the fifteenth-century Sa-skya scholar Go-rams-pa bSod-nams-seng-ge (1429-1489, henceforth Go-rams-pa), and critical edition and annotated translation of a work by him into the English language. Go-rams-pa was one of the towering scholars within the Sa-skya lineage, and within the wider Tibetan Buddhist scholarship by extension. He lived and wrote during a time when Tibetan Buddhist philosophical theories and practices were getting standardized and when the lines between religious lineages and institutions were drawn and getting hardened. Though he was born and raised in the eastern province of Khams, he would spend more than two-thirds of his life in central and western Tibet (dBus and gTsang respectively), first as a student in various monastic seminaries under some of the greatest scholars and practitioners of his time, and later as a teacher and as a scholar in his own right. He would never return to his native home.

The current study comprises five chapters and a few appendixes. The first chapter of this thesis is a discussion and general survey of academic works and research done on the writings of Go-rams-pa by western scholars and academics, and also translations of his works, primarily into English. Included in this chapter is the discussion of various dissertations based on the works of Go-rams-pa, mainly by academics who work in English. Most of the dissertations based on Go-rams-pa's works are related to the unique interpretation of Mad- hyamaka as enshrined in his various compositions on the Madhya- maka philosophy, although not limited to this alone. This is meant for a wider awareness of the works and publications related to him.

**Contents and Sample Pages**