What Is the Tattvasaṅgraha About? Kamalaśīla on the Fourteen Qualifiers of the pratītyasamutpāda

Abstract

The Tattvasaṅgraha (TS) has been considered a comprehensive encyclopedia of both Buddhist and non-Buddhist philosophical subjects. According to Kamalaśīla's Vajracchedikāṭīkā, however, the refutations of objections (*codyaparihāra) by other systems of thought is merely a means to indirectly make the reader understand the topic (*abhidheya) and ultimately achieve the purpose (*prayojana) of the work. The topic of TS is "the true states [of things]" (tattva), which is interpreted by Kamalaśīla as "the various qualifiers of the entities that have arisen having depended on causes and conditions" (pratītyasamutpāda=pratītyasamutpanna) enumerated in TS 1-6ab. It is well-known that the first ten qualifiers of the pratītyasamutpāda in TS 1-4ab correspond to the topics of the first twenty-three chapters of TS, while the remaining elements in TS 4cd-6abc were known to be difficult to allocate to specific chapters. This paper sheds light on the possibility of analyzing the latter elements as well, suggesting that they form the qualifiers of the pratītyasamutpāda. Consequently, the eleventh and twelfth qualifiers of the pratītyasamutpāda, "which is free from all conceptual proliferation" and "which is not understood by others" in TS 4cd, qualify the pratītyasamutpāda as the object of the Buddha's cognition characterized by the negation of conceptual cognition and heathen cognition. They summarize the first twenty-three chapters and all twenty-six chapters, respectively. Furthermore, the qualifications of the Buddha who teaches the pratītyasamutpāda in TS 5-6abc are convertible to the thirteenth and fourteen qualifications of the pratītyasamutpāda, "which is taught by [the direct seer] who does not depend on an autonomous Veda" and "which is taught by the Omniscient One for whom the great compassion became natural." These paired qualities, wisdom (prajñā) and compassion (dayā), form the essential qualities of a qualified teacher of the pratītyasamutpāda and are described in Chs. 24-25 and Ch. 26, respectively.

Keywords: Kamalaśīla; Tattvasaṅgraha; Tattvasaṅgrahapañjikā; pratītyasamutpāda; ādivākya.