Serdok Penchen Shakya Chokden (gser mdog pan chen shakya mchog ldan, 1428–1507) was one of the most important religious thinkers of theSakya school ofTibetan Buddhism. He was a student of Rongtön Shecha Kunrig (1367-1449), Dönyö Pelwa, Künga Zangpo and many other Tibetan scholars.[1] He also received empowerments and studied under several Kagyu lineages. Shakya Chokden's seat was the Thubten Serdogchen monastery in south Shigatse.
Shakya Chokden broke from Sakya orthodoxy and wrote a highly critical commentary toSakya Pandita's "A thorough differentiation of the three vows" posing over 100 questions to Sakya scholars on this text. This event caused some controversy and Chokden answered his own questions in his subsequent "Golden lancet". Shakya Chokden'sDefinite ascertainment of the middle way criticizedTsongkhapa's Madhyamaka views as being too logo-centric and still caught up in conceptualization about the ultimate reality which is beyond language.[2]
In his later years, Shakya Chokden moved away from a strictlyPrasangika Madhyamika view (as held byChandrakirti) and adopted a kind ofShentong (emptiness of other) view influenced by the works ofAsanga,Vasubandhu andMaitreya-nātha.[2]
His later work attempted to reconcile the philosophies ofYogacara andMadhyamaka as valid and complementary perspectives on Ultimate Truth. Shakya Chokden saw the Yogacara "Alikakaravada" view as also being a form of Madhyamaka because it holds that mental objects are ultimately unreal or false (alika) and worked to prove its compatibility with the Madhyamaka Nihsvabhavavada view (emptiness of inherent existence).[3]
Madhyamaka is seen by Shakya Chokden as removing the fault of taking the unreal as being real, and Yogacara removes the fault of the denial of Reality.[4] Likewise, theShentong andRangtong views are seen as complementary by Shakya Chokden; Rangtong negation is effective in cutting through all clinging to wrong views and conceptual rectification while Shentong is more amenable for describing and enhancing meditative experience and realization.[5] Therefore, for Shakya Chokden, the same realization of ultimate reality can be accessed and described in two different but compatible ways. Shakya Chokden held that this view was more in concordance withVajrayana teachings and Tantras.[2] Perhaps his most controversial view was that Ultimate reality or Primordial Mind is an impermanent phenomenon and that this is supported by Yogacara, Sutra and Tantra.[6]
Since his views conflicted with those ofSakya Pandita, they were not well received by the Sakya school. In the 17th century, followers of the politically dominantGelug school proscribed his writings and shut down the printery where his works were kept.[1]
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