Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
1 Pali version in Vinaya, I. Sanskrit in Mahavastu III. Commentary in Nyanatiloka: Fundamentals of Buddhism.
2 Conze, The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines and its Verse Summary, p.150
3 Tenet Sourcebook, p.212.
Schools: all the schools of the Rangtong Madhyamaka , such as the Prasangika, the
Svatantrika-Madhyamaka, the Yogachara-Madhyamaka, etc.
Content: the teachings on the lack of inherent characteristics, the sixteen modes of
emptiness. In addition, the ‘hidden topic’ of the second turning is the five paths
and the ten bhumis.
Audience: a vast assembly of bhikshus and bodhisattvas.
The Third Turning
The Samdhinirmocanasutra says:
First the four truths,
In the middle, the absence of characteristics
Finally, the turning that excellently and thoroughly distinguishes [the provisional from the
definitive and the completely false from the actual and genuine].4
Name: The dharmachakra of thorough distinction
Time: (not specified). The Samdhinirmocana is dated at around ***
Place: Shravasti (but also Vaisali, Mount Malaya, Bodhgaya, and others).
Teacher: (not specified)
Dharma: Sutra: those sutras which distinguish between neyartha & nitartha. These include
the Samdhinirmocana-Sutra, the Lankavatra-Sutra, the Samadhiraja-Sutra, the
Avatamsaka-Sutra and the ten Tathagatagarbha-sutras such as the Mahayana
Mahaparinirvana Sutra, the Tathagatagarbha-Sutra, the Shrimaladevi-Simhanada-
Sutra so on5;.
Shastra: the writings of Asanga & Vasubandhu, especially the five works of
Maitreyanatha. The works of Dolpopa, Rangjung Dorje and Taranatha.
Schools: the Yogachara, the Shentong or Mahamadhyamaka; Hua-Yen and other
schools connected with the
Content: the three natures, the three turnings, the distinction between nitartha &
neyartha; buddha nature, the eight consciousnesses.
Audience: an assembly of bodhisattvas.
Sources
Buston: History of Buddhism in India.
Dzogchen Pönlop Rinpoche: Tenet Sourcebook, Introduction
Jamgön Kongtrül Lodrö Thaye: Gaining Certainty about the Provisional and Definitive Meanings in the
Three Turnings of the Wheel of Dharma, The Two Truths and Dependent Arising. (Treasury of
Knowledge, Chapter VII, Section 2).
Khedrub Je: Fundamentals of the Buddhist Tantra, pp.43ff (Gelug view)
Tarthang Tulku: Lineage of Diamond Light, pp.98-103.
Thrangu Rinpoche: On the Meaning of the Three Turnings of the Wheel of Dharma, Showing that they
are not Contradictory. In: Nalandakirti Journal.
Thrangu Rinpoche: The Open Door to Emptiness, pp.1-5.
Reginald Ray, Indestructible Truth, pp.363-447.
4Kongtrül, p.26.
5The ten Tathagatagarbha-sutras are: Tathagatagarbha-sutra, Dharanishvaraparprccha (=Tathagata-mahakaruna-
nirdesha-sutra), Mahaparinirvana Sutra, Arya-Angulimala-Sutra, Jñanalokalamkara-Sutra, Shrimaladevi-
Simhanada-Sutra, Anunatvapurnatvanirdesha-Sutra, Mahabheriharaka-Sutra, Avikalpapravesha-dharani and the
Samdhinirmocana-Sutra.