Apple, James B.

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Book review of \u27The Ornament of the Middle Way: A tudy of the Madhyamaka Thought of Santaraksita\u27 by James Blumenthal

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Himalaya, the Journal of theAssociation for Nepal andHimalayan StudiesVolume 25Number 1 Himalaya No. 1 & 2 Article 152005Book review of 'The Ornament of the Middle Way:A tudy of the Madhyamaka Thought ofSantaraksita' by James BlumenthalJames B. AppleUniversity of AlbertaFollow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/himalayaThis Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by theDigitalCommons@Macalester College at DigitalCommons@MacalesterCollege. It has been accepted for inclusion in Himalaya, the Journal of theAssociation for Nepal and Himalayan Studies by an authorizedadministrator of DigitalCommons@Macalester College. For moreinformation, please contact scholarpub@macalester.edu.Recommended CitationApple, James B. (2005) "Book review of 'The Ornament of the Middle Way: A tudy of the Madhyamaka Thought of Santaraksita' byJames Blumenthal," Himalaya, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies: Vol. 25: No. 1, Article 15.Available at: http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/himalaya/vol25/iss1/15THE ORNAMENT OF THE MIDDLE WAY: A STUDY OF THE MADHYAMAKA THOUGHT OF SANTARAKSITA jAMES BLUMENTHAL REVIEWED BY jAMES B. APPLE The Madhyamalwlamlwra-lwrilw (MAK) is one of the major philosophical works of the Indian Buddhist scholar Santaraksita (c . 725-788). The MAK, consisting of 97 stanzas supplemented with an autocommentary (Vrtti: (MAY)) and commentary (Panjika: (MAP)) by Kamalasila (c. 740-795), is emblematic of the Yogacara-Madhyamaka synthesis in the later formations of Indian Madhyamaka thought. The treatise and its commentaries were first translated and introduced into ninth-century Tibet during the early dissemination phase (snga dm) of Tibetan Buddhist history and later, after two centuries of political instability, became a focus of systematic study in Tibet through the influence of Rgnog lo-tsa-ba blo-ldan-shes-rab (1059-1109). The MAK, along with Kamalasila's Madhyamalwloka (MA) and jnanagarbha's Satyadvayavibhangalwrilw, were collectively known as "the three eastern Svatantrika (texts)" (rang rgyud shar gsum). These texts were actively studied in Tibetan scholastic centers, particularly from the twelfth to fourteenth centuries. Geluk (dge lugs) traditions, beginning in the fifteenth century, did not place emphasis on the systematic study of these texts, but rather concentrated attention upon the thought of Candrakirti (c. 600-660), whose approach to Madhyamaka philosophy was strongly advocated by Tsong-kha-pa (1357-1419) and his immediate disciples. Tsong-kha-pa and his immediate disciples such as Rgyal-tshab dar-ma-rin-chen (1364-1432), although not emphasizing Santaraksita's thought, did make note of it. The Ornament of lhe Middle Way by james Blumenthal provides for the first time in English a study and translation of Rgyal-tshab's "Memoran-dum on the Ornament of the Middle Way'" (dbu ma rgyangyi brjed byang: (Brjed byang)). The book centers on the interpretation of Santaraksita's MA/V through incorporating the notes of Rgyal-tshab supplement-ed with a presentation and examination of the Geluk tradition's representation of Santaraksita's Madhya-maka. Blumenthal's study confines itself to a descriptive rather than an interpretative analysis of Santaraksi-ta's "middle way" philosophy (dbu ma pa). The intro-ductory portion of the book provides an overview of Santaraksita and his writings, then outlines the scope of the study within the framework of Santa-raksita's Yogacara-Madhyamaka synthesis. The core of the study consists of three parts. Part l, "Analysis of Texts and Arguments," provides a stanza-by-stanza narrative presentation of Santaraksita's MAK inter-spersed with Rgyal-tshab dar-ma rin-chen's memo-randum notes to the MAK along with selections of Santaraksita's MAY. Part II, entitled "An Analysis of the Geluk Interpretation, Representation , and Criti-cism of Yogacara-Svatantrika-Madhyamaka and the Madhyamaka Thought of Santaraksita," examines Geluk representations of Santaraksita's thought and compares them to Santaraksita's "own presentation of ideas." This comparison, between a number of Ge-luk authors dating from the fifteenth to nineteenth century and the thought of Santaraksita as presented in Part I, is carried out through five selected areas of inquiry: hermeneutics of Mahayana Buddhist texts, path systems issues concerning the status of Hinay-ana arhats, Madhyamaka application of autonomous inferences, the two truths and the status of conven-tional truths, and self-cognizing cognition. Part Ill consists of a translation of Rgyal-tshab's Brjed byang with stanzas from Santraraksita's MAK inserted at ' appropriate points in the translation of the memo-randum . The book also contains three appendices: the first consists of a translation of Rgyal tshab's topical outlines (sa bead) found in the Brjed byang, The Ornament of the Middle Way: A Study of tlte Madhyamaka Thought of Santarallsita james Blumenthal Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications, 2004. Pp. 404. the second and third are Tibetan text reproductions copied directly from the 1976 Sarnath edition of the MA and Brjed byang. Blumenthal's study provides in readable English a book length exegesis and detailed description of the condensed arguments found in the MAl<. The study clearly outlines the multiple levels of mereological ana lysis that Santaral<-sita applies in his multifacted treatment of Indian Buddhist and non-Buddhist philosophical systems. The strength of this study, despite its flaws, is that it illustrates the rhetorical manner through which later Geluk commentators utilized the MAK in their philosophical studies. In this sense, the study is a cerebration upon the Geluk received cultural mem-ory of commenting upon Santaraksita's MAK, and consists of a synchronic analysis of philosophical arguments through the amalgamation of traditional written and oral Gelul< dis-courses on the MAK from the fifteenth to twentieth centu-ries. Nevertheless, the study has a number of problems that undermine the narrative description and synchronic points of the analysis it provides. These problems are in method and philology. Diachronically the study fails to substantially address issues of context and genesis both in regard to the eighth-century Indian cultural milieu of Santaraksita and for the fourteenth-to fifteenth-century Tibetan scholastic arena of Tsong-kha-pa and his immediate disciples such as Rgyal-tshab. Any claim that this study somehow comes to terms with the thought of Santaraksita in "his own words" (p. 55) is prob-lematic. The underlying fl aw is not thoroughly incorporating Santaral<sita's related works, such as the Taltvasamgraha (TS) and Satyadvayavibhangapanjiha (SDVP), and further, failing to supplement them wi.th the works of his immediate disciple Kamalasila, the MAP and Tattvasamgrahapanjilw (TSP). This approach leads Blumenthal to exclude numerous details and texts. The study does not note the interlocutors of the eighth -century India milieu, such as the thought and followers of Uddyotakara, Kumarila, etc., providing no primary source documentation, in either Sanskrit or Tibetan, to substanti-ate the representation of such opponents by Santaraksita. For instance, the Vaisesika opponent is neither identified nor explained in MAK 10 (pp. 72-74). Likewise, tenets of the Samkhya system are confabulated, 'excellence' (sattva) among the three gunas is consistently translated as 'courage' (pp.112, 113, 358n127), the 'five subtle elements' (tanmatra, de tsam lnga) as "five mere existences." Along these lines, the connections between Santaraksita's own works and his pri-mary disciple Kamalasila, are not at all explored even though Blumenthal himself (p.188) states that the MAP and TSP may be reliable sources for the thought of Santaraksita. As a result, opponents such as the Digambara jains or Kumarila (MAY ad 36 (D=Derge) D63b5-6) are riot specified based on the MAP (D99a4) nor is Kamalasila's refutation of Brahma (MAP Dl00b6-101a5). If the relationships between the MAK, MAP and the TS/P are mentioned, they are not thoroughly documented. For instance, the relationships between MAK 11, 12, 13, 16, 30 with TS 1989, 1990, 1991, 1999, 1255, respectively, are not noted. The Sanskrit citation of MAl< 29 (p. 103) is mistakenly noted (p. 358nll0) as correlating to TS 1255, when the citation actually corresponds toTS 1254. If there a·re Sanskrit notations, they are frequently erroneous, such as the notation of MAl< 1 (p. 351n20), found in the Bod-hicaryavatarapanji lw , that leaves out a half-quarter of a stanza ("svaparoditah") . On page 150 a well-known stanza from Bhavaviveka's Madhyamahahrdayahariha (3 .12), "Without the ladder of correct customary truth, a wise man cannot ascend to the palace of reality (tattva)," is attributed to Santaraksita. Critical points of exegesis are thought away rather than thought through . For instance, Blumenthal chooses not to use Santaraksita's SDVP commentary on the two truths, following a Tibetan custom, and thereby forgoes an excellent opportunity to critically examine Santaraksita's position on the two truths. As recent scholarship has demonstrated, it is an error to dismiss the SDVP commentary as inauthentic merely on Tsong-kha-pa's understanding, particularly in light of Funayama (WZKS 1995:193) and Lee (JIBS 1993:203-205) who demonstrate through textual analysis that Santaraksita most likely wrote this commentary. Although Blumenthal correctly notes the influence and reliance upon the thought of Dignaga and Dharmakirti by Santakaraksita/l<amalasila, he does not adequately explain the relationships between these authors nor thoroughly doc-ument instances where Santaraksita's MAK/V is influenced or relies upon these thinkers, such as at MAK 28 (p. 102), MAK 48 (p. 124), and MAK 50 (p. 126). When Dharmakirti is mentioned, the source or his thought is incorrectly docu-mented. Blumenthal cites (p. 84) a well-known stanza as being from the first chapter of Dharmakirti's Pramanavarttiha when the source is Pramanaviniscayal.38 (Cf. Ichigo,l989n175; Vet-ter 1966; Williams 1998:25). The footnote (p. 356n73) ac-companying this citation lists three secondary sources as a reference, none of which are listed in the bibliography. The bibliography does not list, utilize, or otherwise build upon essentia l previous japanese and European studies of Santa-raksita. Works by such japanese scholars as Masaaki Hattori (Dignaga on Perception, 1968) and, most notably, Masamichi Ichigo ("Santaraksita's Madhyamakalamkara" in Studies in th e Literature~{ the Great Vehicle, edited by Gomez and Silk , 1989) are not cited. In brief, although Blumenthal has consecrated a great amount of effort to bring together a narrative study of the MAK and MAY, along with Tsong-kha-pa/Rgyal-tshab's memorandum and summary notes, the lack of careful and meticulous attention to philological details, to citation of sources, and to nuances of translation, leaves one to con-clude that this study may not be a reliable source for the thought of Santaraksita or his interpreters. james B. Apple, Un ive rs ity~{ Alberta, Buddhist Studi es 

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Book review of \u27The Ornament of the Middle Way: A tudy of the Madhyamaka Thought of Santaraksita\u27 by James Blumenthal

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