Gyel-tsap Darma Rinchen (རྒྱལ་ཚབ་དར་མ་རིན་ཆེན་)
The most authoritative Ge-luk epistemologist. Direct disciple of dzong-ka-ba and the first to hold his seat after his death. His works set forth the orthodox Ge-luk view on most questions of logic and epistemology (dreyfus-recognizing-reality, p. 30).
Contributions to Pramāṇa
- Wrote commentarial guides to both dharmakirti’s and sakya-pandita’s works
- His commentary on Sakya Paṇḍita’s Treasure attempted to reconcile Tibetan realism with the Treasure’s text
- Claimed the auto-commentary contained passages “introduced by some ignoramus” to discredit antirealist readings (dreyfus-recognizing-reality, p. 26)
- His style is terse and strictly commentarial — explains texts and refutes opponents but rarely explores issues in a purely philosophical manner
Philosophical Positions
- Moderate realism: universals and commonsense objects can be real
- The specifically-characterised is “that which is ultimately existing… established from the side of the own mode of being of the object without being merely nominally existent” (dreyfus-recognizing-reality, p. 117)
- Associated with the commentarial tradition of dharmottara
Sources
- dreyfus-recognizing-reality — discussed throughout as the orthodox Ge-luk voice