The Tsongkhapa Meso Philosophy

Tsong-kha-pa was a great reformer and philosopher of religion in medieval Tibet, whose Madhyamika philosophy is one of the disquisitive hotspots and emphases in the study of Tibetologists and Buddhists in the world. In this article, the author first summarized Tsong-kha-pa's life stories and his historical conditions, and the social historical reasons and thinking roots of Tsong-kha-pa's Madhyamika philosophy thoughts. Then, the author summarized the engender, development and succession of Indian Mahayana Madhyamika thoughts, moreover, we set forth the introduction and development of Madhyyamika thoughts in Tibet, and Tsong-kha-pa's critique , absorb and choice on different schools in India and Tibet Buddhism , especially on sects of Suatantrika-Madhyamika and Prasanga-Madhyamika . In succession, the article expounded respectively connotation and character of Tsong-kha-pa's Madhyamika philosophy thoughts in seven aspects. His Madhyamika philosophy connotation mostly embodied in seven facet as follows: (1) Names and concepts has no own nature: stick to the thorough Emptiness thought.(2)One sect should have its own approval: stick to having own approval of its sect and validity of concepts and logical consequences.(3)Conditioned genesis has no own nature: stick to genesis world view and emptiness thoughts that the nature of the world is empty. (4)Emptiness in nature due to conditioned genesis: emphasize cause and effect dialectic relation between emptiness of noumenon and ens of phenomena.(5)Conditioned genesis eliminate two attachments: emphasize emptiness of noumenon is an edge tool of exploding subjective and objective esse notion.(6) Twofold truth prove emptiness in nature: emphasize two truths of absolute and mundane is the only way to choose and testify ultimate emptiness.(7)Cessation and Observation designate cultivation of the truth: emphasize Madhyamika emptiness right view is the guide of cultivating, choosing and testifying ultimate Buddha wisdom state.Tsong-kha-pa's Madhyamika philosophy thoughts has seven great characters as follow. Tsong-kha-pa's Madhyamika philosophy : (1) stick to thorough emptiness thought as well as oppose to persist to emptiness. (2) recognize the paraphrase of the theory of conditioned genesis to emptiness as well as the maintenance of the theory of conditioned genesis to mundane phenomena .(3) deny the own nature of names , concepts and theory of correct logic as well as affirm the validity of names ,concepts, two valid means of knowledge and logical consequence. (4) stick to highly consistency between emptiness of self-nature and existence of conditioned genesis, recognize the both are two facets of single substance. (5) according to emptiness names, establish all mundane phenomena and the Buddha's teaching such as cause and effect ,etc. (6) Stick to emptiness of self-nature in order to emphasize existence of conditioned genesis and maintenance of mundane phenomena. (7)The idiosyncracy of Tsong-kha-pa's Madhyamika philosophy thoughts is stick to emptiness of self-nature as well as pay attention to existence of conditioned genesis, and fully understand ultimate emptiness only by recognizing existence of conditioned genesis.Then, the article exoatiated on the nuclear instructive degree of Tsong-kha-pa's Madhyamika philosophy thoughts in his whole Buddhism theory system and Ge-luk-ba Order doctrine system, and pointed out the theoretical contribution of Tsong-kha-pa's thoughts. The author considered that Tsong-kha-pa's Madhyamika thoughts had annotated the emptiness of Madhyamika of Nagarjuna and Candrakirti well and truly ,and effectively sticked up for the validity of names, concepts, thinking, choice, and logical consequence, and his thoughts had advanced that one sect should have its own approval, and that a man only by recognizing conventional truth can understand ultimate truth. His thoughts had availably vindicated the value of conventional phenomena and all the Buddha's teaching, and had vindicated the validity of logical logos thinking besides Buddhism instinct realized thinking . At the same time , the article has analyzed the positive and the negative effects of Tsong-kha-pa's Madhyamika thoughts on Tibetan Buddhism development. At last, the article has set forth ethic value of Tsong-kha-pa's Madhyamika thoughts.In a word, by analyzing Tsong-kha-pa's Madhyamika philosophy, we can see that Tsong-kha-pa had denied self-nature , noumenon of things in order to affirm illusory existence of things phenomena. However, the purpose of affirming value of phenomena is to exceed the false attachment to phenomena and self-nature body, and to fully realize emptiness state of phenomena reality , and to achieve amalgamation between subject and object in such emptiness state, and to obtain fully disengagement of body and mind.