Mabja Jangchub Tsöndrü


Mabja Jangchub Tsöndrü was an influential 12th century Tibetan Buddhist Madhyamaka scholar. He is known for his "Ornament of Reason", an important commentary on Nagarjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā.

Overview

Mabja was a disciple of Kadampa scholars of Sangphu monastery such as Patsab Nyima Drak and Chapa Chökyi Seng-ge as well as of the Indian Madhyamaka Jayānanda. Unlike Chapa, Mabja followed Patsab in embracing the philosophy of Candrakirti, but he also embraced the close study of Buddhist epistemology of pramāṇa, which he saw as achievable and necessary.
According to Adam C. Krug:
"Mabja attempts to salvage Buddhist pramāṇa from the kind of categorical rejection leveled by Jayānanda and Patsab by maintaining a radical fallibilism with respect to the status of appearances. He rejects all notions that pramāṇas are related to their objects “by the force of fact”, yet allows for a correct understanding of pramāṇas as relative truth in light of their basis in a pre-analytic experience of dependent origination."
Mabja also maintained a radical agnosticism regarding the nature and status of Buddhahood.

Works

Mabja wrote the following works:The Ornament of Reason, a commentary on Nagarjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā.The Appearance of Reality, Ornament to the Six Collections of Middle Way Reasoning. A series of root verses and a commentary on Madhyamaka reasoning. The work follows Jayānanda’s Logic Hammer in some respects.
  • A Commentary on Candrakirti's ''Clear Words''

Influence

Mabja's Madhyamaka scholarship was very influential on later Tibetan Madhyamikas like Longchenpa, Tsongkhapa, Gorampa, and Mikyö Dorje. All these figures read Mabja and responded to him in different ways, often drawing on his insights. In his Light Rays of the Authentic View, Gorampa even reproduces passages directly taken from Mabja’s Ornament of Reason. Similarly, according to Thomas Doctor, Tsongkhapa’s famous critique of svātantrika madhyamaka is mostly a restatement of Mabja's critique. Doctor also notes that "Mikyö Dorje declares Mabja to be the central Tibetan authority behind his presentation of the two truths."