One would not expect a consecration manual to contain interesting philosophical ideas. But one of Rong-zom-pa’s works, let us call it the Rab gnas shan sbyar, actually contains several interesting philosophical ideas. One of these is the Madhyamic-Mantrayānic idea of reality. The context is the explanation of what is called ātmatattva (bdag gi de kho na nyid) according to the Niṣpannayoga system that conforms the Madhyamaka system. Here ātmatattva is defined as “that which is characterized by the ab initio purity and quiescence of manifoldness of all phenomena/entities” (dngos po thams cad gdod ma nas rnam par dag cing spros pa nye bar zhi ba’i mtshan nyid gang yin pa). In this context, Rong-zom-pa cites one Tantric and one Prajñāpāramitā source. The Tantric source is the Māyājālamahātantra (Bᴷ, vol. 83, p. 385.18–20; R, p. 152.6–8): gang la dngos rnams dngos med cing || mtha’ gnyis kyi ni mtshan ma med || dbus la’ang [= la R] dpyad pa med pa dag || dus gsum ’das pa’i [= pa R] nam mkha’ ’dra ||. The Tibetan translation of this Tantric scripture, by the way, is Lo-chen Rin-chen-bzang-po’s. The Prajñāpāramitā source cited here is Abhisamayālaṃkāra 3.1 (Bᵀ, vol. 49, p. 13.12–13; R, p. 152.9–10; Stcherbatsky & Obermiller 1929: 28): tshu rol pha rol mtha’ la min || de dag bar na mi gnas shing || dus rnams mnyam pa nyid shes pa || shes rab pha rol phyin par ’dod ||; Skt. (Stcherbatsky & Obermiller 1929: 15): nāpare na pare tīre nāntarāle tayoḥ sthitā | adhvanāṃ samatājñānāt prajñāpāramitā matā ||. These verses from the two sources are, according to Rong-zom-pa, similar in their content (don ’dra). Rong-zom-pa seems to be somehow more interested here in underpinning the idea of the atemporality found in the former and the temporal identicality/homogeneity found in the latter. Both of these, however, do allude to the idea of true reality that transcends even the middlemost point between the two extremes, the locus classicus of this idea being Samādhirājasūtra 9.27 (Cüppers 1990: 43): astīti nāstīti ubhe pi antā śuddhī aśuddhīti ime pi antā | tasmād ubhe anta vivarjayitvā madhye pi sthānaṃ na karoti paṇḍitaḥ ||; Tib. (Cüppers 1990: 44): yod dang med ces bya ba gnyi ga mtha’ || gtsang dang mi gtsang ’di yang mtha’ yin te || de phyir gnyis ka’i mtha’ ni rnam spangs nas || mkhas pa dbus la’ang gnas par yod mi byed ||. See also the critical apparatus therein that provides some variae lectiones. This verse is so popular and has been cited by so many scholars including Candrakīrti in his Prasannapadā ad Mūlamadhyamakakārikā 15.7 (de La Vallée Poussin 1903: 270): astīti nāstīti ubhe ’pi antā śuddhī aśuddhīti ime ’pi antā| tasmād ubhe anta vivarjayitvā madhye ’pi sthānaṃ na karoti paṇḍitaḥ ||. Rong-zom-pa does not seem to cite our locus classicus but he cites and comments on a verse from Mañjuśrīmitra’s Bodhicittabhāvanā, which alludes to the idea in question. See his Theg chen tshul ’jug (Tashi Dorjee 2021: 648–649): de ltar dngos po’i mtha’ rnams brtags dang rang bzhin sgyu ma’ang med ’gyur phyir || yod la ltos pa’i med pa’ang med de med med pa’ang med || mtha’ rnams med phyir dbus med dbus la’ang gnas par mi byed do || ldang dang mi ldang ched du mi spong sems rten mi ’cha’ mngon du min ||. In his commentary on the *Guhyagarbhatantra, he cites the following verse (dKon mchog ’grel, p. 113.4–6): yod med dbus las ’das pa las || ’byung dang ’byung las gyur pa ’byung || sems can thams cad kun gyi gzugs || skyes pas rgyal ba dzi na dzik ||. This verse, which seems to reflect an earlier translation of the Tantric scripture, can be found in the Guhyasamājottaratantra (Bᴷ, vol. 81, p. 589.5–7): yod dang med dang dbus las ’das || ’byung dang ’byung las gyur las ’byung || sems can kun gyi lus yin te || skye las rgyal ba dzi na dzik ||; Guhyasamājottaratantra 18.41 (Matsunaga 1978: 116): sadasanmadhyamaṃ khyātaṃ bhūtabhautikasambhavam | vigrahaḥ sarvasattvānāṃ jinajigjanaṃ jinaḥ ||. Of course, there would an abundance of other Indic sources that allude to the idea of the transcendence of the Middle Way, but these are some of the sources that Rong-zom-pa cited and commented upon.
Pratisaṃvid 