Distinguishing the Middle from Extremes
Distinguishing the Middle from Extremes (Skt. Madhyāntavibhāga; Tib. དབུ་མཐའ་རྣམ་འབྱེད་, üta namjé, Wyl. dbus mtha' rnam 'byed; Trad. Chin. 辨中邊論頌) — 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)
Text
The text survived in Sanskrit in the form of a manuscript discovered in Tibet by Rahul Sankrityayan. Also the commentary by Vasubandhu and the sub-commentary by Sthiramati have been found in Sanskrit. It has been translated into Tibetan (D 4021), Chinese, Korean and English.
- The Stanzas on Distinguishing the Middle from Extremes (Skt. Madhyānta-vibhāga-kārikāḥ; Tib. དབུས་དང་མཐའ་རྣམ་པར་འབྱེད་པའི་ཚིག་ལེའུར་བྱས་པ་, Wyl. dbus dang mtha' rnam par 'byed pa'i tshig le'ur byas pa; Trad. Chin. 辨中邊論頌, Sim. Chin. 辨中边论颂). Tibetan text:
དབུ་དང་མཐའ་རྣམ་པར་འབྱེད་པ་ (Derge Pedurma). Sanskrit text at Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon: Madhyāntavibhāga kārikā
Quotations
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
Indian
- Vasubandhu, Commentary on Distinguishing the Middle from Extremes (Skt. madhyānta-vibhāga-bhāṣya; Tib. དབུས་དང་མཐའ་རྣམ་པར་འབྱེད་པའི་འགྲེལ་པ་, Wyl. dbus dang mtha' rnam par 'byed pa'i 'grel pa). Tibetan text: དབུས་དང་མཐའ་རྣམ་པར་འབྱེད་པའི་འགྲེལ་པ་ (Derge Pedurma)
- English translation: Commentary on the Separation of the Middle from Extremes, in Stefan Anacker, Seven Works of Vasubandhu: The Buddhist Psychological Doctor, Motilal Banarsidass, 2nd Edition, 2002, ISBN 978-8120802032.
- English translation: Commentary on Distinguishing the Middle from the Extremes, in Maitreya's Distinguishing the Middle from the Extremes (Madhyāntavibhāga): Along with Vasubandhu's Commentary (Madhyāntavibhāga-Bhāṣya): A Study and Annotated Translation by D'Amato, Mario. New York, American Institute of Buddhist Studies 2012. ISBN|9781935011057.
- Sthiramati Commentary on Distinguishing the Middle from Extremes (Skt. madhyānta-vibhāga-ṭīkā; Tib. དབུས་དང་མཐའ་རྣམ་པར་འབྱེད་པའི་འགྲེལ་བཤད་, Wyl. dbus dang mtha' rnam par 'byed pa'i 'grel bshad) . Tibetan text: དབུས་དང་མཐའ་རྣམ་པར་འབྱེད་པའི་འགྲེལ་བཤད་ (Derge Pedurma)
Tibetan
- Khenpo Zhenga, Annotation-commentary on the Stanzas on Distinguishing the Middle from Extremes
- English translation: Annotation-commentary on the Stanzas on Distinguishing the Middle from Extremes, in Middle Beyond Extremes: Maitreya's Madhyantavibhanga with Commentaries by Khenpo Shenga and Ju Mipham, Dharmachakra Translation Committee (Snow Lion, 2007).
- Ju Mipham Rinpoche, Garland of Radiant Light: A Commentary on the Treatise Distinguishing the Middle from Extremes
- English translation: Garland of Radiant Light: A Commentary on the Treatise Distinguishing the Middle from Extremes, in Middle Beyond Extremes: Maitreya's Madhyantavibhanga with Commentaries by Khenpo Shenga and Ju Mipham, Dharmachakra Translation Committee (Snow Lion, 2007).
- Rongtön Sheja Kunrig
- English translation: Adorning Maitreya's Intent: Arriving at the View of Nonduality, translated by Christian Bernert (Snow Lion, 2017).
Further Reading
- A Study of the Madhyāntavibhāga-bhāṣya-ṭikā, by Richard Stanley. Doctoral dissertation, Australian National University, April, 1988.