Dölpopa, Shentong Buddhism, and the three jewels: an analytic-friendly analysis

Abstract

In philosophical Buddhism, a prominent view is that the “Buddhist Jewels” are helpful for achieving nirvana. These jewels include the Buddha, the Dharma (fundamental teaching), and the Sangha (the community of believers). In the medieval Buddhist philosopher Dölpopa’s Jonang-Shentong Buddhism, these jewels though are somehow mysteriously identical to one another—despite each having different features. This paper outlines an analytic-friendly analysis of the Buddhist jewels according to Dölpopa’s Shentong tradition by drawing on recent advancements in plural logic and analytic metaphysics. We begin by outlining the general metaphysics of Shentong Buddhism and the puzzles that arise regarding the Jewels (Section 1). Afterwards, relevant background in plural logic and contemporary metaphysics is covered (Section 2), a subsequent analysis of the Jewels is given (Section 3), and finally, a few worries are engaged (Section 4).