The Middle Way: A commentary on Santaraksita’s Madhyamakalamkara

The authentic teachings of the Buddha are expressed in the three consecutive wheels of the Dharma. Within these teachings, the Madhyamakalamkara is classified primarily as an explanation on the intent of the intermediate Dharma wheel, which directly reveals the abiding way of all objects of cognition and establishes the principles of emptiness. In this work the great Indian master, santaraksita, reveals how the path of reasoning can lead the mind to increasingly profound insight and experience, and how the process of refining our view of reality through intelligent and open-minded enquiry can bring about complete liberation within the discovery of the natural state

In his Madhyamakalamkara the great Indian master, Santaraksita, reveals how the path of reasoning can lead the mind to increasingly profound insight and experience, and how the process of refining our view of reality through intelligent and open-minded enquiry can bring about complete liberation within the discovery of the natural state.

Ju Mipham’s illustrious commentary, highlights and explains the pithy reasoning of this classic treatise, and unfolds the expansive view of the Great Vehicle in a clear, engaging and compassionate way. Treasured dearly as “The Eyes of Ju Mipham Rinpoche,” this commentary is a key element in the curriculum of many of the monastic colleges in Tibet and South Asia. Simultaneously direct and profound, it displays the hallmarks of Mipham’s accomplished authorship.

Review(s)

Profound and vast in meaning, …conveys the heart practice of all accomplished knowledge-holders and reveals the single path traversed to omniscience. Containing key-points and oral instructions for all philosophies, it is like a single bridge that spans a hundred rivers. – Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche

Santaraksita’s Madhyamakalamkara is a condensed presentation of later Indian “Middle Way” philosophy and is structured around one recurring theme, namely, the impossibility of entities being consistently analyzable as either single individuals (i.e., wholes) or plural composites (parts). In contrast to Santaraksita’s encyclopedic and multifaceted treatment of Indian philosophy in his well-known Tattvasamgraha, the tour de force of his Madhyamakalamkara is to see all the seemingly diverse Buddhist and non-Buddhist ontologies as hinging on failed attempts to solve part-whole problems.

Thomas Doctor has presented us with a readable and reliable translation of a major commentary on the Madhyamakalamkara by the nineteenth century rNying ma pa writer, Mi pham rgya mtsho. Although the Madhyamakalamkara is short and condensed, Mi pham’s commentary is enormous in size and extremely detailed. Thomas Doctor’s translation of this monumental work will be of substantial value to those who wish to better understand nineteenth and twentieth century rNying ma pa thought in its relationship with Indian sources. The book should be of benefit to historians, philosophers and practicing Buddhists alike. – Tom J.F. Tillemans, University of Lausanne, Switzerland.

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