Other-Emptiness in the Jonang School: The Theo-logic of Buddhist Dualism

Abstract

This paper aims to clarify the meaning of other-emptiness in the Jonang ( jo nang ) tradition of Buddhism of Tibet. The focus is on the writings of Dölpopa ( dol po pa shes rab rgyal mtshan , 1292–1361), the renowned forefather of this tradition. Dölpopa famously differentiated two types of emptiness, or two ways of being empty—self-emptiness ( rang stong ) and other-emptiness ( gzhan stong )—and proclaimed the superiority of the latter. Dölpopa maintains that other-emptiness is better because it represents what really exists while self-emptiness does not, and that it also offers a more effective means to access the real. While Dölpopa is famous for asserting the real existence of a nondual ultimate reality, it is argued here that his depiction of other-emptiness represents a fairly clear-cut account of dualism.