Three-Vow Theories in Tibetan Buddhism: A Comparative Study of Major Traditions from the Twelfth through Nineteenth Centuries (Contributions to Tibetan Studies)

Although all Tibetan Buddhist schools accepted, together with the three vehicles of auditors (sravakas), bodhisattvas, and Tantric adepts, the existence of three systems of vows, the question about whether these three vows coexist, and if so, how they coexist, often became the subject of intense scholastic discussion and even of sharp controversy. At least as early as the twelfth century, against a background of a great majority of Tibetan Buddhists holding all three vows, Tibetan religious masters began not only to describe the moral codes within the framework of each respective vehicle, but also to discuss the possibility-or indeed, the necessity-for a single person to practice all three systems of vows together. The related doctrinal discussions continue down to the present day. Its contributions form the as-yet largely unexplored " Three Vow" (sdom pa gsum) literature, constituting a distinct genre of Tibetan literature (the sdom gsum bstan bcos) and also the topic of related discussions in writings of other genres such as instructions (zhal gdams, etc.), replies (zhus lan or dris lan), and notes (zin bris, etc.). English description: Since the 12th century, a central feature of Buddhism in Tibet was its harmonizing of tantric practice with the moral codes of monastic discipline and Bodhisattva altruism. All masters maintained the vajrayana or tantric path to be superior to the two "lower" codes, but they described this superiority differently. In the present study, Jan-Ulrich Sobisch explores for the first time in detail the three main strategies maintained by the oldest Tibetan schools for explaining the relations of the three codes. German description: Ein Kernpunkt des tibetischen Buddhismus ist seine Harmonisierung tantrischer Praxis mit dem Moralkodex klosterlicher Disziplin und dem Altruismus der Bodhisattvas. Alle Gelehrten vertraten die Ansicht, dass Vajrayana bzw. der tantrische Pfad den Regeln der beiden "niederen" Fahrzeuge uberlegen sei, sie beschrieben diese Uberlegenheit jedoch unterschiedlich. In der vorliegenden Studie werden von Jan-Ulrich Sobisch zum ersten Mal die drei hauptsachlichen Strategien im Detail untersucht, die von den altesten tibetischen Schulen vertreten werden, um das Verhaltnis der drei Kodizes zueinander zu erlautern. By Jan-ulrich Sobisch. Includes Bibliographiocal References (p. [483]-507) And Indexes.