Introduction to the Middle Way

Chandrakirti

Madhyamakavatara (Skt. Madhyamakāvatāra; Tib. Uma la Jukpa; Wyl. dbu ma la 'jug pa) Introduction to the Middle Way. Chandrakirti's classic commentary on the meaning of Nagarjuna's Mulamadhyamaka-karika. It is also a commentary on the Sutra of the Ten Bhumis (Dashabhumika-Sutra).

Structure

The text has eleven chapters, corresponding to the ten bhumis and the state of buddhahood.

Translations

English

• Geshe Rabten, Echoes of Voidness, translated and edited by Stephen Batchelor, Wisdom, 1983
• Huntington, C.W., The Emptiness of Emptiness, University of Hawaii Press, 1989
• Introduction to the Middle Way with Mipham Rinpoche's Commentary, translated by Padmakara Translation Group, Shambhala, 2002
• Introduction to the Middle Way: Chandrakirti's Madhyamakavatara with commentary by Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche, edited by Alex Trisoglio, Khyentse Foundation, 2003

French

• Louis de la Vallée Poussin: Madhyamakavatara par Candrakirti, Bibliotheca Buddhica IX. Osnabrück, Biblio Verlag, 1970.

Commentaries

• Jeffrey Hopkins, Compassion in Tibetan Buddhism, Ithaca: Snow Lion, 1980 (first five chapters based on Tsongkhapa’s commentary)
• Rendawa Shonnu Lodro, Commentary on the Entry into the Middle, Lamp which Elucidates Reality, translated by Stotter-Tillman & Acharya Tashi Tsering, Sarnath, Varanasi, 1997.

External Links

• A translation of the Madhyamakavatara and its Auto-Commentary by Chandrakirti with additional commentary by Khenpo Namdrol Rinpoche