Ocean of Definitive Meaning: A Teaching for the Mountain Hermit (Ri chos nges don rgya mtsho), written in the first half of the 14th century, is considered the magnum opus of Dölpopa Sherap Gyaltsen (1292–1361).[1]
The Ocean of Definitive Meaning is a hermeneutical text on the issue of the doctrine of the three turnings of the Dharmacakra, which was first codified in the Sutra Unravelling the Thought (Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra).
The Ocean of Definitive Meaning conveys a specific reading, understanding and interpretation of Śūnyatā and Tathāgata-garbha, of the second and third turnings of the wheel respectively. Both Śūnyatā and Tathāgata-garbha are central and key principles of Mahayana Buddhism. This specific reading of Śūnyatā and Tathāgata-garbha and the philosophical view behind it, became known as Zhentong, the key tenet of the Jonangpa.
Dölpopa’s thought in this work is a hermeneutics of the Mahayana Buddhist texts and develops teachings of Maitreya and Yogacara masters Asanga (4th century) and his brother Vasubandhu (4th century).
For 150 years prior to the sacking of the Jonang monasteries by the Gelugpa, the Ocean of Definitive Meaning was banned within the grounds of Gelugpa monasteries.[2]
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Jeffrey Hopkins (translator) and Kevin Vose (editor) rendered the Ocean of Definitive Meaning into English as Mountain Doctrine, published by Snow Lion, Ithaca in 2006 . A second English rendering of The Ocean of Definitive Meaning entitled Ocean of Definitive Meaning: A Teaching for the Mountain Hermit is numbered volume seven of The Library of Tibetan Classics, a thirty-two volume series covering Tibet’s classical literary heritage, published by Wisdom Publications.
The influence of Dölpopa’s Shentong view extends beyond the Jonang school and is discernable in the writings of: