An Introduction to Madhyamaka Philosophy

An Introduction to Madhyamaka Philosophy PDF Author: Jaideva Singh
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publishe
ISBN: 9788120803268
Category : Buddhist philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 76

Get Book Here

Book Description
This brief introduction to Madhyamaka Philosophy gives a history of the rise and growth of Madhyamaka Philosophy, and the origin, structure, development and purpose of the Madhyamaka dialectic. It elucidated the distinction between Hinayana and Mahayana in respect of pratityasamutpada, nirvana, the ideal of religious discipline, the concept of Dharma, and the concept of Buddhology. It discusses the meaning of Sunya-Sunyata and its axiological and soteriological significance. Other important features of the present introduction are the clarification of the concepts of Madhyama Pratipad, Samvrti and Paramartha Satya, Tathata, Dharmadhatu and Bhutakoti.

Introduction to Madhyamaka Philosophy

Introduction to Madhyamaka Philosophy PDF Author: Jaideva Singh
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Mādhyamika (Buddhism).
Languages : en
Pages : 59

Get Book Here

Book Description


Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka

Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka PDF Author: Jan Westerhoff
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199705119
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 258

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Indian philosopher Acharya Nagarjuna (c. 150-250 CE) was the founder of the Madhyamaka (Middle Path) school of Mahayana Buddhism and arguably the most influential Buddhist thinker after Buddha himself. Indeed, in the Tibetan and East Asian traditions, Nagarjuna is often referred to as the "second Buddha." His primary contribution to Buddhist thought lies is in the further development of the concept of sunyata or "emptiness." For Nagarjuna, all phenomena are without any svabhaba, literally "own-nature" or "self-nature," and thus without any underlying essence. In this book, Jan Westerhoff offers a systematic account of Nagarjuna's philosophical position. He reads Nagarjuna in his own philosophical context, but he does not hesitate to show that the issues of Indian and Tibetan Buddhist philosophy have at least family resemblances to issues in European philosophy.

The Emptiness of Emptiness

The Emptiness of Emptiness PDF Author: C. W. Huntington
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 9780824817121
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 308

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Emptiness of Emptiness presents the first English translation of the complete text of the Madhyamakāvatāra (Entry into the Middle Way) a sixth century Sanskrit Buddhist composition that was widely studied in Tibet and, presumably, in its native India as well. In his lengthy introduction to the translation, Huntington offers a judiciously crafted, highly original discussion of the central philosophy of Mahāyāna Buddhism. He lays out the principal ideas of emptiness and dependent origination not as abstract philosophical concepts, but rather as powerful tools for restructuring the nature of human experience at the most fundamental level. Drawing on a variety of Indian and Western sources, both ancient and modern, Huntington gradually leads the reader toward an understanding of how it is that sophisticated philosophical thinking can serve as a means for breaking down attachment to any idea, opinion or belief. All of this on the Buddhist premise that habitual, unreflective identification with ideas, opinions, or beliefs compromises our appreciation of the ungraspable miracle that lies at the heart of everyday, conventional reality. The author shows how the spiritual path of the bodhisattva works to transform the individual personality from a knot of clinging into a vehicle for the expression of profound wisdom (prajñā) and unconditional love (karuṇā).

Jñānagarbha on the Two Truths

Jñānagarbha on the Two Truths PDF Author: Malcolm David Eckel
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publ.
ISBN: 9788120807785
Category : Mādhyamika (Buddhism)
Languages : en
Pages : 244

Get Book Here

Book Description
Jnanagarbha on the Two Truths is a concise and lucid introduction to the issues and personalities that dominated Indian Madhyamaka thought on the eve of its introduction to Tibet. As an example of the influential but little-known Svatantrika branch of the Madhyamaka School, Jnanagarbha's works shows quite vividly how the commitment to reason in the search for ultimate truth shaped not only the dialogue between Madhyamaka thinkers and members of other Buddhist schools, but also the evolution of the Madhyamaka tradition itself. David Eckel has translated Jnanagarbha's text in its entirety and provided an introduction that situates the text clearly in its historical and philosophical context. Extensive notes, a transliterated version of the Tibetan translation and a reproduction of the original Tibetan block-prints make this volume useful to scholars as well as to the interested general reader.

How Do Madhyamikas Think?

How Do Madhyamikas Think? PDF Author: Tom J. F. Tillemans
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1614292515
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 291

Get Book Here

Book Description
Intro -- Title -- Contents -- Publisher's Acknowledgment -- Introduction -- Madhyamaka's Promise as Philosophy -- 1. Trying to Be Fair -- 2. How Far Can a Mādhyamika Reform Customary Truth? Dismal Relativism, Fictionalism, Easy-Easy Truth, and the Alternatives -- Logic and Semantics -- 3. How Do Mādhyamikas Think? Notes on Jay Garfield, Graham Priest, and Paraconsistency -- 4. "How Do Mādhyamikas Think?" Revisited -- 5. Prasaṅga and Proof by Contradiction in Bhāviveka, Candrakīrti, and Dharmakīrti -- 6. Apoha Semantics: What Did Bhāviveka Have to Do with It? -- 7. What Happened to the Third and Fourth Lemmas in the Tibetan Madhyamaka? -- Ethics and the Spiritual Path -- 8. Madhyamaka Buddhist Ethics -- 9. Reason, Irrationality, and Akrasia (Weakness of the Will) in Buddhism: Reflections upon Śāntideva's Arguments with Himself -- 10. Yogic Perception, Meditation, and Enlightenment: The Epistemological Issues in a Key Debate between Madhyamaka and Chan -- Madhyamaka in Contemporary Debates -- 11. On Minds, Dharmakīrti, and Madhyamaka -- 12. Serious, Lightweight, or Neither: Should Madhyamaka Go to Canberra? -- Notes on the Articles -- Abbreviations -- Bibliography -- Index -- About the Author -- Studies in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism Titles Previously Published -- About Wisdom Publications -- Copyright

Introduction to the Middle Way

Introduction to the Middle Way PDF Author: Chandrakirti
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 0834824485
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 430

Get Book Here

Book Description
An adventure into the heart of Buddhist wisdom through the Madhyamika—or Middle Way—teachings This book includes a verse translation of the Madhyamakavatara by the renowned seventh-century Indian master Chandrakirti, an extremely influential text of Mahayana Buddhism, followed by an exhaustive logical explanation of its meaning by the modern Tibetan master Jamgön Mipham, composed approximately twelve centuries later. Chandrakirti's work is an introduction to the Madhyamika teachings of Nagarjuna, which are themselves a systematization of the Prajnaparamita, or “Perfection of Wisdom” literature, the sutras on the crucial but elusive concept of emptiness. Chandrakirti's work has been accepted throughout Tibetan Buddhism as the highest expression of the Buddhist view on the sutra level. With Jamgön Mipham's commentary, it is a definitive presentation of the wisdom of emptiness, a central theme of Buddhist teachings. This book is a core study text for both academic students and practitioners of Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism.

Nagarjuna's Philosophy

Nagarjuna's Philosophy PDF Author: K. Venkata Ramanan
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass
ISBN: 8120801598
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 410

Get Book Here

Book Description
This work is an exposition of the philosophic conceptions basic to Mahayana Buddhism as found in the Maha-prajnaparamita-sastra a commentary on the Prajnaparamita-sutras and traditionally attributed to Nagarjuna. The sastra the earliest and most extensive work in this field is lost in its Sanskrit original and preserved only in a Chinese translation. Meaning of Sanskrit and Chinese terms are expounded concepts are made clear and supplementary materials are supplied in the notes. The study is prefixed with a short historical account of the broad lines of Buddhist philosophy in its early stage. The aim of this work is to elucidate the meaning of the Middle Way, the way of comprehension. 'Everything stands in harmony with him who stands in harmony with Sunyata, which is not a rejection of existence or of understanding but of the misconstruction of the sense of the real or the error of misplaced absoluteness which is the origin of clinging and the root of conflict and suffering.'

The Golden Age of Indian Buddhist Philosophy

The Golden Age of Indian Buddhist Philosophy PDF Author: Jan Westerhoff
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019104704X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 353

Get Book Here

Book Description
Jan Westerhoff unfolds the story of one of the richest episodes in the history of Indian thought, the development of Buddhist philosophy in the first millennium CE. He starts from the composition of the Abhidharma works before the beginning of the common era and continues up to the time of Dharmakirti in the sixth century. This period was characterized by the development of a variety of philosophical schools and approaches that have shaped Buddhist thought up to the present day: the scholasticism of the Abhidharma, the Madhyamaka's theory of emptiness, Yogacara idealism, and the logical and epistemological works of Dinnaga and Dharmakirti. The book attempts to describe the historical development of these schools in their intellectual and cultural context, with particular emphasis on three factors that shaped the development of Buddhist philosophical thought: the need to spell out the contents of canonical texts, the discourses of the historical Buddha and the Mahayana sutras; the desire to defend their positions by sophisticated arguments against criticisms from fellow Buddhists and from non-Buddhist thinkers of classical Indian philosophy; and the need to account for insights gained through the application of specific meditative techniques. While the main focus is the period up to the sixth century CE, Westerhoff also discusses some important thinkers who influenced Buddhist thought between this time and the decline of Buddhist scholastic philosophy in India at the beginning of the thirteenth century. His aim is that the historical presentation will also allow the reader to get a better systematic grasp of key Buddhist concepts such as non-self, suffering, reincarnation, karma, and nirvana.

Nāgārjuna and the Philosophy of Openness

Nāgārjuna and the Philosophy of Openness PDF Author: Nancy McCagney
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780847686278
Category : Philosophy
Languages : vi
Pages : 260

Get Book Here

Book Description
In this innovative study of the philosopher Nagarjuna, Nancy McCagney demonstrates that the concept of space ('akasa') in early Indian Mahayana Buddhism is the root metaphor for Nagarjuna's understanding of 'sunyata', or openness. Nagarjuna's use of the term 'sunyata' was new, and contrasted with the word's use in Pali Buddhist literature. By using the word to mean 'openness,' Nagarjuna was able to elucidate, through a deeper analysis of impermanence, a consistent philosophical foundation for the truth and efficacy of Gautama's Middle Way. McCagney's book will be important for those studying Indian philosophy, Buddhism, and the philosophy of religion.