Tuesday, November 3, 2026 · 天火 · tianmu.org
Madhyamaka and Middle Way
Tibetan-preserved Madhyamaka treatises and related works on emptiness, the two truths, and the middle way.
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Texts
Clear Words — MahamatiMahamati's verse-by-verse commentary on Nagarjuna's Letter to a FriendCommentary on Entering into Reality — ShriguptaA systematic Madhyamaka treatise establishing the emptiness of all phenomena through the reasoning of 'neither one nor many.' By Acarya Shrigupta, teacher of Jnanagarbha. A new English translation from the Tibetan (Tengyur D3892).Commentary on the Compendium of Essence of Wisdom — BodhibhadraBodhibhadra's commentary on Aryadeva's Compendium of Essence of Wisdom. A new English translation from Classical Tibetan.Commentary on the Concise Refutation of PramanaAn anonymous Madhyamaka commentary on Nagarjuna's method of refuting the sixteen categories of Nyaya logic — demonstrating that all three types of evidence are unestablished. A new English translation from Classical Tibetan.Compendium of the Essence of the Middle Way — VidyakaraprabhaA systematic Madhyamaka treatise by Vidyakaraprabha (8th-9th c.), using the ascending staircase method to refute both external objects and consciousness, establishing the Middle Way through extensive sutra citations. A new English translation.Summary of the Meaning of the Middle Way — BhavivekaBhāviveka's concise Madhyamaka treatise classifying the two truths — ultimate and conventional — into their subdivisions. One of the shortest independent texts in the Tengyur's Middle Way section. A new English translation.The Buddhapalita — BuddhapalitaThe foundational Madhyamaka commentary by Buddhapalita on Nagarjuna's Mulamadhyamakakarika. A new English translation. Chapters 1–27 complete (folios 158b.1–280b.6).The Door for Entering into the Three Bodies — NagamitraA Yogācāra-Madhyamaka treatise by Nāgamitra on the three bodies of the Buddha — emanation, enjoyment, and dharma-body — and their relation to non-conceptual wisdom, the three natures, and the path of consciousness-only. A new English translation from the Tibetan.The Jewel Lamp of the Middle Way — BhavyaBhāvya's comprehensive Svātantrika Madhyamaka treatise on the two truths, refuting wrong views from both non-Buddhist and Buddhist schools, with meditation instructions — a new English translation from Classical Tibetan (Degé Tengyur D3854).The Middle Way — Dependent Origination — KrsnapadaKṛṣṇapāda's practical meditation guide grounded in Madhyamaka philosophy — from the emptiness of all appearances through the six obstacles to meditation and their eight antidotes. A new English translation.Twenty Verses on the Formless — AnandashriA twenty-verse Madhyamaka critique of the nirākāravāda — the theory that ultimate cognition is without aspects, like space. Systematically dismantles the formless through direct perception, inference, and scripture. By the Nepali paṇḍita Ānandaśrī. A new English translation from the Tibetan (Tengyur D3894).Verses on the Destruction of Isvara — SilaraksitaA Buddhist philosophical refutation of the Creator God, demonstrating through logic that no eternal, singular deity could produce the diversity of the world.