Je Tsongkhapa - Criticism

Criticism

The Madhyamaka of Tsongkhapa has significant deviations from the other Indian and Tibetan authors, despite claims of following in the tradition of Buddhapalita and Candrakīrti. Tsongkhapa's Madhyamaka was widely condemned to the point that one Tibetan scholar, Gorampa, insinuated that Tsongkhapa was inspired not by Manjushri but by an evil demon. Karl Brunnhölzl further states:

"First, with a few exceptions, the majority of books or articles on Madhyamaka by Western - particularly North American - scholars is based on the explanations of the Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism. Deliberately or not, many of these Western presentations give the impression that the Gelugpa system is more or less equivalent to Tibetan Buddhism as such and that this school's way of presenting Madhyamaka is the standard or even the only way to explain this system, which has led to the still widely prevailing assumption that this is actually the case. From the perspective of Indian and Tibetan Buddhism in general, nothing could be more wrong. In fact, the peculiar Gelugpa version of Madhaymaka is a minority position in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, since its uncommon features are neither found in any Indian text nor accepted by any of the other Tibetan schools."