Jewels of the Middle Way ― The Madhyamaka Legacy of Atisa and His Early Tibetan Followers

Jewels of the Middle Way documents an important tradition of Madhyamaka and provides insight into both the late Indian Buddhist blend of Madhyamaka and tantra and the Kadampa school founded by the Indian Buddhist master Atisa.

This book presents a detailed contextualization of the Madhyamaka (Middle Way) school in India and Tibet, along with translations of several texts in the Bka’ gdams gsung ’bum (Collected Works of the Kadampas), recently recovered Tibetan manuscripts that are attributed to Atisa and Kadampa commentators. These translations cohere around Atisa’s Madhyamaka view of the two realities and his understanding of the practice and the nature of an awakened mind.

The book is organized in three parts based on the chronology of Atisa’s teaching of Madhyamaka in India and Tibet: 1) Lineage Masters, the Mind of Awakening, and the Middle Way; 2) Articulating the Two Realities: The Basis of Atisa’s Middle Way Exegesis; and 3) How Madhyamikas Meditate: Atisa’s Special Instructions on the Middle Way. Each part focuses on a specific text, or set of texts, specifically related to Atisa’s Middle Way. The authorship and date of composition for each work is discussed along with an outline of the work’s textual sources followed by an analysis of the content.

James B. Apple is Associate Professor of Buddhist Studies at the University of Calgary. His research focuses upon the critical analysis of Mahayana sutras and topics within Indian and Tibetan Buddhist forms of Buddhism. His books include A Stairway taken by the Lucid: Tsong kha pa’s Study of Noble Beings (Aditya Prakashan, 2013) and Stairway to Nirvana (SUNY, 2008).