This thesis explores the largely
unrecognized scholastic contributions of one of Tibet’s greatest thinkers,
kLong chen rab ’byams pa (1308-1363), as synthesized in his extremely detailed
doxographic overview of Buddhist tenet-systems (the Precious Treasury of Spiritual Systems, or Grub mtha’ mdzod). The bulk of previous work done on this scholar
has focused almost exclusively on his writings on the tantric modality of
Atiyoga (or rDzogs chen). This study addresses kLong chen pa’s endeavors to
integrate this school of thought with the other Buddhist vehicles (Sūtrayāna and Mantrayāna) by means of
parallel techniques and a polysemic hermeneutic. In the process, it also
questions a number of critiques brought against rDzogs chen. Furthermore, by
locating kLong chen pa biographically and textually in relation to the other
seminal figures of 14^th century central Tibet (e.g., Bu ston, O
rgyan gling pa, Dol po pa), this essay shows the precise nature of his
wide-ranging contributions to canonical construction within the rNying ma
school and the particularities involved with his interpretation of Buddhism’s
two-reality theory (relative and ultimate) in relation to the Svātantrika and Prāsaïgika
schools of Madhyamaka philosophy. Taken together, all of these various
disciplines paint a much more nuanced picture of kLong chen pa than the mere
epithets of yogi or scholar so often used to describe him. The annotated
translation of the Grub mtha’ mdzod
included with this study both introduces and is contextualized in terms of the
eclectic Indo-Tibetan literary genre of doxography (siddhānta/grub mtha’).
Also included is a translation of the dialectical section of kLong chen pa’s Wish-fulfilling Treasury (Yid bzhin mdzod) and a detailed enumeration of the tantras included by kLong chen pa in
the various traditions of Mantrayāna.