Distinguishing the Middle from Extremes
Distinguishing the Middle from Extremes (Skt. Madhyāntavibhāga; Tib. དབུ་མཐའ་རྣམ་འབྱེད་, Wyl. dbus mtha' rnam 'byed) — one of the five treatises of Maitreya. It is included among the so-called "Thirteen great texts", which form the core of the curriculum in most shedras and on which Khenpo Shenga provided commentaries.
Outline
The text has five chapters:
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- Characteristics (Tib. མཚན་ཉིད་, mtshan nyid)
- Obscurations (Tib. སྒྲིབ་པ་, sgrib pa)
- Reality (Tib. དེ་ཁོ་ན་, de kho na)
- Cultivating antidotes (Tib. གཉེན་པོ་བསྒོམ་པ་, gnyen po bsgom pa)
- The unsurpassed vehicle (Tib. ཐེག་པ་བླ་ན་མེད་པ་, theg pa bla na med pa)
Tibetan Text
Translations
- Middle Beyond Extremes: Maitreya's Madhyantavibhanga with Commentaries by Khenpo Shenga and Ju Mipham, Dharmachakra Translation Committee, Snow Lion, 2007
Quotations
ཡི་གེ་འབྲི་མཆོད་སྦྱིན་པ་དང༌། །
ཉན་དང་ཀློག་དང་ལེན་པ་དང༌། །
འཆད་དང་ཁ་དོན་བྱེད་པ་དང༌། །
དེ་སེམས་པ་དང་བསྒོམ་པའོ། །
སྤྱོད་པ་དེ་བཅུའི་བདག་ཉིད་ནི། །
Copying texts, making offerings, charity,
Study, reading, memorizing,
Explaining, reciting aloud,
Contemplating and meditating—
These ten activities
Bring merit beyond measure.
- Maitreya, Distinguishing the Middle from Extremes, chapter 5, verse 9
Commentaries
- Vasubandhu, Commentary on Distinguishing the Middle from Extremes (Madhyāntavibhāga-bhāṣya)
- Sthiramati, Madhyāntavibhāga-ṭikā