Illuminating the Intent

An Exposition of Candrakirti's Entering the Middle Way

Thupten Jinpa

• Publisher: Wisdom Publications
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN:
  9780861714582
• eBook ISBN:
  9781614297307
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Eastern Philosophy

The Dalai Lama’s translator and author of the definitive biography of Tsongkhapa here presents the first translation of one of that master’s seminal and best-known works.

This work is perhaps the most influential explanation of Candrakirti’s seventh-century classic Entering the Middle Way (Madhyamakavatara). Written as a supplement to Nagarjuna’s Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way, Candrakirti’s text integrates the central insight of Nagarjuna’s thought—the rejection of any metaphysical notion of intrinsic existence—with the well-known Mahayana framework of the ten levels of the bodhisattva, and it became the most studied presentation of Madhyamaka thought in Tibet.

Completed the year before the author’s death, Tsongkhapa’s exposition of Candrakirti’s text is recognized by the Tibetan tradition as the final standpoint of Tsongkhapa on many philosophical questions, particularly the clear distinctions it draws between the standpoints of the Madhyamaka and Cittamatra schools. Written in exemplary Tibetan, Tsongkhapa’s work presents a wonderful marriage of rigorous Madhyamaka philosophical analysis with a detailed and subtle account of the progressively advancing mental states and spiritual maturity realized by sincere Madhyamaka practitioners. The work remains the principal textbook for the study of Indian Madhyamaka philosophy in many Tibetan monastic colleges, and it is a principal source for many Tibetan teachers seeking to convey the intricacies of Madhyamaka philosophy to non-Tibetan audiences.

Though it is often cited and well known, this is the first full translation of this key work in a Western language.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Message from the Dalai Lama
• Special Acknowledgments
• Publisher’s Acknowledgment
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction
• Technical Note
• Illuminating the Intent: An Exposition of Entering the Middle Way
• Part I. The First Five Grounds
• Part II. The Sixth Ground, The Manifest
• Part III. The Final Grounds
• Appendix 1. A Complete Outline of the Text
• Appendix 2. Table of Tibetan Transliteration
• Notes
• Glossary
• Bibliography
• Index
• About the Translator
• The Institute of Tibetan Classics
• The Library of Tibetan Classics
• Become a Benefactor of the Library of Tibetan Classics
• About Wisdom Publications
• Copyright