Thursday, May 14, 2026 · 天火 · tianmu.org
Aryadeva
Tibetan-preserved works attributed to Aryadeva, including Madhyamaka treatises and commentarial materials.
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Texts
Akṣaraśataka — One Hundred WordsTwenty-one aphoristic propositions attributed to Āryadeva — Nāgārjuna's foremost student — deconstructing the categories of identity, difference, existence, causation, perception, and language through the relentless logic of Madhyamaka negation. Each statement is a single compressed philosophical assertion ending in a final particle. The title 'One Hundred Words' refers to the approximately one hundred Tibetan syllables composing the body. First freely available English translation from Tibetan (Tengyur D3834).Commentary on the Measure of the Hand — AryadevaĀryadeva's prose autocommentary on the Hastavāla — the rope-snake analogy extended into a complete Madhyamaka argument. Each verse is quoted and explained: from the snake-in-the-rope, through mereological analysis, to the dissolution of atoms, the refutation of the illusory-person analogy, and the practical liberation from afflictions. First freely available English translation from the Tibetan (Tengyur D3849).Commentary on the Treatise on Parts — AryadevaĀryadeva's prose commentary on his own Treatise on Parts (D3844) — the complete mereological argument from rope-snake to atoms, with the directional argument against partless atoms and the refutation of the illusion analogy. Translated into Tibetan by the great lotsāwa Rinchen Zangpo. First freely available English translation from the Tibetan (Tengyur D3845).Compendium of the Essence of Wisdom — AryadevaA compact philosophical survey of all Indian schools — non-Buddhist and Buddhist — culminating in the Madhyamaka freedom from the four extremes. Attributed to Āryadeva, from the Tengyur (Toh 3851). First English translation.Establishing Rational Reasons for Refuting Errors — AryadevaA systematic dismantling of non-Buddhist philosophical errors — materialism, theism, eternalism, fatalism — by Āryadeva, Nāgārjuna's chief disciple. Each wrong view is presented in its own voice, then refuted with Buddhist logic. Concludes with the twelve links of dependent origination as the path from delusion to liberation. First free English translation.The Four Hundred Verses — AryadevaĀryadeva's masterwork of Madhyamaka philosophy — four hundred verses refuting wrong views and teaching the bodhisattva's path. The second most important treatise after Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā. Complete — all sixteen chapters.The Middle Way — Destroyer of Error — AryadevaĀryadeva's proof through three analogies — cataracts, dream, and darkness — that 'not-seeing is seeing suchness.' Translated into Tibetan by Atiśa at Nalanda. First-ever English translation from Tibetan (Tengyur D3850).The Treatise on Parts — AryadevaA concise Madhyamaka treatise by Āryadeva on the analysis of parts — beginning with the famous rope-snake analogy and building to the conclusion that all entities, when analyzed into their constituents, dissolve into mere construction. Seven verses. Translated into Tibetan by Rinchen Zangpo. First freely available English translation from the Tibetan (Tengyur D3844).