On niṣprapañca (spros bral) in Tsong kha pa’s Later Madhyamaka Thought

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to clarify Tsong kha pa’s view of spros bral in his later Madhyamaka thought by considering his use of the term in the Rigs pa’i rgya mtsho, a commentary on the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā and in the dGongs pa rab gsal, a commentary on the Madhyamakāvatārakārikā.

Tsong kha pa has two different concepts of prapañca (spros pa): 1) as the mistaken belief that things truly exist and the things that are believed to truly exist; 2) as the conventional existence of what appears in a cognition on the basis of language because of a predisposition born out of ignorance. When he uses the term spros bral, he intends to refer to what lacks in prapañca (spros pa) as the latter. Accordingly, spros bral (niṣprapañca) means the ultimate reality which appears in the Buddha’s cognition and the non-defiling cognition of a sage who has attained a concentration and which is beyond duality. Thus, according to Tsong kha pa, the state of being free from prapañca must be Buddhahood, which is the final goal of nirvāṇa in Madhyamaka Thought.