The concept of "life" in the Tibetan tantric Buddhism:a study on Longchenpa

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K00091
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 01030:Religious studies-related
• Research Institution: Sophia University (2019-2020); Kyoto Bunkyo University (2018)
• Principal Investigator: Nagasawa Tetsu 上智大学, グリーフケア研究所, 准教授 (40388210)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: 密教 / チベット / ゾクチェン / 身体 / 生命 / 意識 / 死 / 儀礼

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Three years of my research consisting of overseas field research,interviews with highly recognized Tibetan Buddhist masters and doctors, and close readings of Longchenpa's texts yielded the following findings. 1 Longchenpa's thoughts on human life, body, and consciousness was based on “11 Chapters on Words and their Meaning", a 12th century Tibetan text. 2 The origin of rDzogs chen sNying thig tantras that Longchenpa commented upon goes back to India during the era before the yogini tantras were put into writings. 3 Longchenpa's main effort and contribution lies in elucidating the sNying thig philosophy in sharp contrast to yogini tantras and Kalacakra. 4 Texts he wrote on death shows strict fidelity to rDzogs chen snying thig, compared to the writings of Karmalingpa who was his quasi contemporary, indicating they were written for the practitioners. I successfully managed to publish 15 articles and 1 book during the research period.

Free Research Field

宗教学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

ゾクチェン(「大円満」)は、チベット密教の中で最も高度とされ、その全貌はヴェ―ルに覆われている。その哲学と修行を論書の形で表現したロンチェンパの思想を解明し、①ゾクチェンの核心は従来説と異なりインドで成立した、②光の存在論、③死の教え,④環境思想を明らかにした。②は意識と物質をめぐる独特の思考を含み、量子力学や心脳問題に重要な鍵を与える。①②を中心に単行本を刊行予定である。③は「チベットの死者の書」と密接に関係しており、看取りのための教育プログラム(「https://bwdj.org/)を通じて、成果を社会に還元する予定である。急速な研究の進展は、科研費助成によって可能になった。深く感謝する。