by Greg Goode
Cozort, Daniel (1998). Unique Tenets of the Middle Way Consequence School. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications. This is a fascinating examination of what makes the Prasangika Madhyamika (a.k.a. the Middle way Consequentialist) school unique. Its tenets are thought to be more radical than those of other Buddhist schools. For example, Middle way Consequentialists do not accept inherent existence even conventionally, whereas other schools do. Other unique teachings include: the teaching that the emptiness of persons and the emptiness of phenomena are equally subtle, the unique way that Prasangika avoids the two extremes of permanence and annihilation – the refutation of self-consciousness and the refutation of Mind as an underlying basis of all existence.
D’Amato, Mario, Garfield, Jay L., Tillemans, Tom J.F., (2011) Eds. Pointing at the Moon: Buddhism, Logic, Analytic Philosophy, New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Davidson, Richard (2011). Science and Dharma: Lecture at the Jewel Heart Dharma Center. www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY7xlNg8iy0&feature=related
Dreyfus, Georges B.J. (2003). The Sound of Two Hands Clapping: The Education of a Tibetan Buddhist Monk. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. Dreyfus is the first Westerner to go through the 15 or so years required to attain the Geshe degree, which is the highest degree conferred by the Tibetan Buddhist monastic universities. Dreyfus’ degree was awarded in the Gelug system, which is more or less the same system that inspires our overall teaching matrix in this book. An interesting aspect of Dreyfus’ story is the tension he reports in the Gelug approach between traditional orthodoxy and openness to new ideas.
Dreyfus, Georges B.J. and McClintock, Sara L., Eds. (2003). The Svatantrika-Prasangika distinction: What difference does a difference make? Boston: Wisdom Publications.
Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche (2002). Not Even a Middle (Nalandabodhi Study Curriculum MAH 311). Seattle, WA: Nalandabodhi Publications.
Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche (2011). Rebel Buddha: A Guide to a Revolution of Mind. Boston, MA: Shambhala Publications. Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche is one of the leading Tibetan teachers in the West. One of his declared goals is to help develop an authentic Western Buddhist tradition. In “Rebel Buddha” he presents core concepts of Tibetan Buddhism, such as emptiness and compassion, in a way highly accessible to a Western audience. The book contains many beautiful and evocative descriptions of the mind of a practitioner that realizes emptiness.
Garfield, Jay L. (1995). The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way: Nagarjuna’s Mulamadhyamakakarika. Translation and commentary on Nagarjuna’s Treatise on the Middle Way. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. This is a standard version of Nagarjuna’s great work. Garfield’s commentary is particularly helpful in three major ways. One, the commentary helps clarify when Nagarjuna is speaking in his own voice, and when he is quoting his opponent, summarizing an essentialist view he is about to refute. Two, it helps see that nihilism and essentialism actually entail each other. And three, it explains how Nagarjuna’s teaching requires that emptiness itself must be empty and how it cannot serve as a new, improved ground or foundation.
Garfield, Jay L. (2002). Empty Words: Buddhist Philosophy and Cross-Cultural Interpretation. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. This is a collection of essays that can be read as a companion to Garfield’s Mulamadhyamakakarika. There are several chapters particularly interesting for you if you want to use both Eastern and Western resources in their study of emptiness.
Garfield, Jay L. (2002a). “Epoche and Sunyata: Skepticism East and West.” In: Garfield (2002), pp. 3-23. Article originally published in 1990.
Garfield, Jay L. (2002b). “Nagarjuna’s Theory of Causality: Implications Sacred and Profane.” In: Garfield (2002), pp. 69-85. Garfield, Jay L. (2002c). “Emptiness and Positionlessness: Do the Madhyamika Relinquish All Views?” In: Garfield (2002), pp. 46-68
Garfield, Jay L. (2008). “Turning a Madhyamaka Trick: Reply to Huntington.” Journal of Indian Philosophy, Vol. 36, pp. 507–527.
Garfield, Jay L. (2011). “Taking Conventional Truth Seriously: Authority regarding Deceptive Reality.” In: Cowherds (2011), pp. 23-38.
Garfield, Jay L. and Priest, Graham (2002). “Nagarjuna and the Limits of Thought” In: Garfield (2002), 86-105.
Garfield, Jay L. and Priest, Graham (2009). “Mountains are just Mountains.” In: D’Amato, Mario, Garfield, Jay L., Tillemans, Tom J.F., Eds. Pointing at the Moon: Buddhism, Logic, Analytic Philosophy, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 71-82.
Garfield, Jay L. and Dreyfus, Georges. (2011). “Madyamika and Classical Greek Skepticism.” In: Cowherds (2011), pp. 115-130.
* Goode, Greg (2009). Emptiness Teachings. (Web page: http://heartofnow.com/files/emptiness.html). This is a detailed and illustrated summary of the Buddhist Consequentialist approach to emptiness meditation, and outlines the approach in clear-cut steps. It is geared toward students coming from other non-dual paths, such as the popular Westernized forms of Advaita Vedanta.
Gudmunsen, Chris (1977). Wittgenstein and Buddhism. London: Macmillan Books. This book and Streng (1967) are among the earlier works that mention a similarity between Nagarjuna’s middle way and Ludwig Wittgenstein’s work in Philosophical Investigations (Wittgenstein 2009).
Gyatso, Tenzin (14th Dalai Lama) (1988). Transcendent Wisdom: A Commentary on the Ninth Chapter of Shantideva’s Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life. Translated and edited by Wallace, B. Alan. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications. This contains more thorough and technical teachings on emptiness than Gyatso (2007).
*Gyatso, Tenzin (2007). How to See Yourself As You Really Are. New York, NY: Atria Books. A practical and engaging book by His Holiness which contains a number of masterful explanations and meditations that can lead to the realization of the emptiness of self.
* Hopkins, Jeffrey (1995). Emptiness Yoga. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications. This book strikes an excellent balance between being easy to understand and to use in your meditations, while being detailed and rich. There is some historical material at the beginning included that sets the stage for Hopkins’ presentation, but the practical material begins with Chapter 2. You do not have to be a follower of Tibetan Buddhism to use this book.
Hopkins, Jeffrey (1996). Meditation on Emptiness. Boston, MA: Wisdom Publications, Revised ed. Often considered to be Hopkins’ magnum opus and a standard source of information for those studying the Tibetan Gelug approach to Prasangika Madhyamika, this is a 1017-page presentation of emptiness teaching. It includes illustrations, charts, tables and lists. The book is not practical; it is intended as a formal presentation of the Gelug school. Nevertheless it covers many emptiness meditations in great detail. Perhaps too overwhelming for beginning students, it is better advised for those who have worked with Hopkins’ Emptiness Yoga or other works, and who wish to explore the Prasangika path in greater detail.
Hopkins, Jeffrey (2007). Nagarjuna’s Precious Garland: Buddhist Advice for Living and Liberation. Translation and Introduction by Hopkins. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications. Nagarjuna, who is so well-known for being a razor-sharp dialectician, comes through here as a practical counselor. The book consists of his advice to a Shatavahana king during the late first century A.D. Nagarjuna covers a wide variety of Buddhist topics, including a great deal on the subject of compassion in public policy. Hopkins’ introduction and commentary are very helpful.
Hopkins, Jeffrey (2008). Tsong-kha-pa’s Final Exposition of Wisdom. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications. This book presents sections of Tsongkhapa’s final exposition on insight into emptiness, and his teaching in the two truths and the object of negation from his Illumination of the Thought: Extensive Explanation of (Chandrakirti’s) “Supplement to (Nagarjuna’s) ‘Treatise on the Middle.’”
Huntington, C.W. (1995). “A Way of Reading.” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, Vol. 18, No, 2, pp. 279-308.
Huntington, C.W. (2003). “Was Candrakırti a Prasangika?” In: Dreyfus and McClintock (2003), pp. 66-91.
Huntington, C.W. (2
007). The Emptiness of Emptiness: An Introduction to Early Indian Madhyamika. With Geshe Namgyal Wangchen. Delhi, India: Motilal Banarsidass. First published in 1995. There are two benefits to this influential and inspiring book. One benefit is the sustained explanation of why emptiness itself must be empty for it to do the soteriological work it is asked to do. The other benefit is the poetic, inspirational descriptions of the effects of emptiness meditation. It is almost as if you can savor the taste of emptiness from reading the text.
Huntington, C.W. Jr. (2007a). “History, Tradition, and Truth.” History of Religions, Vol. 46, No. 3, pp. 187-227.
Huntington, C.W. Jr. (2007b). “The nature of the Madhyamika trick.” Journal of Indian Philosophy, Vol. 35, pp. 103–131.
Karr, Andy (2007). Contemplating Reality: a Practitioner’s Guide to the View in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism. Boston, MA: Shambhala Publications. Written from the point of view of the Kagyü School of Tibetan Buddhism, this is a highly readable presentation of emptiness meditations for your practical use.
Klein, Anne (1998). Knowledge & Liberation: Tibetan Buddhist Epistemology in Support of Transformative Religious Experience. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications. A work on the Buddhist epistemology that supports the Tibetan Consequentialist approach to the two truths and to meditating on emptiness. Most helpful is Klein’s discussion of the various kinds of objects associated with minds and consciousnesses, such as the object of operation, the referent object, appearing object, apprehended object, and the differences between what appears to a consciousness and what is comprehended by that consciousness.
Lati Rinbochay (1986). Mind in Tibetan Buddhism. Translated with an Introduction by Elizabeth Napper. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications. Presents the Tibetan Buddhist theory of the mind, which is inherited from the Buddhist Abhidharma tradition. Not only can this theory offer a compelling alternative to the Western psychological account of mind, but it also allows you to understand emptiness teachings more fully.
Nagarjuna. The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way: Nagarjuna’s Mulamadhyamakakarika. (See Garfield 1995).
Nagarjuna. Nagarjuna’s Precious Garland: Buddhist Advice for Living and Liberation. (See Hopkins 2007).
Napper, Elizabeth (2003). Dependent-Arising and Emptiness: A Tibetan Buddhist Interpretation of Madhyamika. Boston, MA: Wisdom Publications. A translation and commentary on the wisdom chapter of Tsongkhapa’s Lam-rim chen-mo, or Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment. The overall insights are that emptiness and dependent arising are equivalent, and that the Prasangikas do not accept inherent existence even conventionally.
* Newland, Guy (2009). Introduction to Emptiness. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications. Gives a very accessible introduction to Tsongkhapa’s account of the emptiness teachings. What is very helpful if you are trying to conduct the meditations, is Newland’s coverage of such important subjects as the two truths and the object of negation in Madhyamika reasonings.
Nichtern, Ethan (2007). One City: A Declaration of Interdependence. Sommerville, MA: Wisdom Publications. This is an introduction to Buddhism with a modern, urban, youthful flavor. Nichtern takes interdependence to the street level, emphasizing compassion, social activism and care for the environment.
Pabongka Rinpoche (2008). Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand: A Concise Discourse on the Path to Enlightenment. Edited by Trijang Rinpoche and Richards, Michael. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications. A translation of the transcripts of Pabongka Rinpoche’s 24-day lam-rim teaching, or teaching on the stages of the path to enlightenment.
Priest, Graham, Siderits, Mark, and Tillemans, Tom J.F. (2011). “The (Two) Truths About Truth.” In: Cowherds (2011), pp. 130-150.
Robinson, Richard H. (1978). Early Madhyamika in India and China. New York, NY: Samuel Weiser. This is one of the first books to apply modern Western logical and philological tools to the study of Madhyamika philosophy.
Seng-Ts’an (2001). Hsin-Hsin Ming: Verses on the Faith-Mind. Translated by Richard B. Clarke. Buffalo, NY: White Pine Press. 12 pages. Seng-Ts’an (died 606) was the Third Zen Patriarch.
Siderits, Mark (2003). Personal Identity and Buddhist Philosophy: Empty Persons. Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing Company. This book divides the meditation on emptiness into two stages: the first is inspired by a historically earlier Buddhist form of reductionism, and the second stage is inspired by a later, Mahayana-based form of global anti-realism. Some of the arguments are best helpful if you are familiar with some contemporary Western analytical philosophy. One of Siderits’ less technical approaches is the fascinating notion, innovative in Buddhist contexts, of “ironic engagement.” This is recommended as an attitude towards the world for someone who realizes emptiness. Siderits’ ironic engagement ties in with our notion of “joyful irony.”
* Siderits, Mark (2007). Buddhism as Philosophy: an Introduction. Burlington, VT: Hackett Pub. Co. Inc. Gives an excellent, accessible introduction to earlier and later Buddhist philosophy. Siderits also points to relevant insights from the Western philosophical tradition.
Smith College (2010). Madhyamika & Methodology: A Symposium on Buddhist Theory and Method. www.smith.edu/buddhism/event-mmsymp.php [Accessed December 20, 2012]. This is a web page about a weekend symposium in April 2010 at Smith College on the topic of how to interpret Madhyamika. The symposium grew out of an earlier debate between C.W. Huntington and Jay Garfield on how best to understand the argumentation in Nagarjuna’s texts, which critique all views. In the debate, Huntington (2007b) criticized the over-reliance on logic seen in recent Nagarjuna scholarship, and argued for a literary reading of Nagarjuna’s texts. Garfield (2008) responded to Huntington’s criticisms, arguing that Nagarjuna did not reject reasoning, but deployed logic in a crucial way to reach freedom from all views. The symposium continued this conversation, with twenty scholars from around the world delivering short talks over the weekend. This web page includes the original two articles by Huntington and Garfield, as well as links to 29 videos. A good place to start may be with the initial interviews with Huntington and Garfield.
Streng, Frederick J. (1967). Emptiness: A Study in Religious Meaning. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press. This book and Gudmunsen (1977) are among the earlier works that mention a similarity between Nagarjuna’s middle way and Ludwig Wittgenstein’s work in Philosophical Investigations (Wittgenstein 2009).
Tillemans, Tom J.F. (2011). “How Do Madhyamikas Think?: Notes on Jay Garfield, Graham Priest, and Paraconsistency.” In: D’Amato, Mario, Garfield, Jay L., Tillemans, Tom J.F., Eds. Pointing at the Moon: Buddhism, Logic, Analytic Philosophy, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 83-100.
* Tsering, Tashi (Geshe) (2009). Emptiness: The Foundation of Buddhist Thought. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications. A clear introduction to emptiness in the Gelug tradition, aimed at Western students.
Tsongkapa (1988). The Principal Teachings of Buddhism, with a commentary by Pabongka Rinpoche. Translated by Tharchin, Geshe Lobsong and Roach, Michael. Howell, NJ: Mahayana Sutra and Tantra Press. A systematic, well-organized set of Buddhist teachings in a relatively short (209-page) format. Chapters XIV to XVIII contain the teachings on emptiness. Subjects include “How to know when your analysis is incomplete,” “How to know when your analysis is complete,” and “A unique teaching of the ‘Implication’ [Consequentialist] School.”
Westerhoff, Jan (2009). Nagarjuna’s Madhyamika: a Philosophical Introduction. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. The book explains several of Nagarjuna’s arguments in a systematic way. Westerhoff makes helpful distinctions among different kinds of negation and several senses of svabhava (i.e., self-nature or essence) – all of which help refine our understanding of how refutation works in Madhyamika.
Westerhoff, Jan (2010). The Dispeller of Disputes: Nagarjuna’s Vigrahavyavartani. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. This is Westerfhoff’s translation and commentary on a work in which Nagarjuna answers critics of his middle way philosophy. Westerhoff’s commentary focuses on one of the mo
st puzzling things we have on record from Nagarjuna: verse 29, in which Nagarjuna states that he has no thesis. How can Nagarjuna’s teachings be effective if he has no thesis? This book is very helpful for those wondering whether the emptiness teachings might be self-refuting.
Wilson, Joe (1983). Chandrakirti’s Sevenfold Reasoning: Meditation on the Selflessness of Persons. Dharmasala, India: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives. A 49-page staple-bound booklet that presents an introduction to emptiness teaching along with Chandrakirti’s simple and helpful sevenfold meditation on the nature of persons.
Readings From Western Sources
The West has had its tradition of emptiness teachings ever since ancient Greece. There are thousands of books and articles to explore. And sometimes the most influential teachers and writers are the hardest to read. So here is a short selection of what we have found to be some of the most significant items. Readings indicated with an asterisk (*) are probably the easiest ones to begin with.
Allen, Barry (1995). Truth in Philosophy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. This is a very readable introduction to some of the West’s most trenchant critiques of the classical essentialist theories of truth. Covers Nietzsche, William James, Heidegger, Derrida, Wittgenstein and Foucault.
Annas, Julia, and Barnes, Jonathan (2003). The Modes of Scepticism: Ancient Texts and Modern Interpretations. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. Fascinating presentation of the ten modes of Pyrrhonist investigation. The authors trace the same modes as given by Sextus Empiricus and two other writers, Diogenes and Philo of Alexandria, whose presentation is slightly different.