ENGLISH INTRODUCTION About the Text Overview of the Middle Way (dBu-ma spyi-don) is the principal textbook used at Sera Mey Tibetan Monastic University for the study of the tenets of the Prasangika section of the Madhyamika school, which is the highest of the four classical philosophical systems of early Indian Buddhism. The Overview is written in the traditional genre of the yig-cha, or monastic study manual, which presents the central concepts of Madhyamika philosophy by excerpting important references from early Indian works; subjecting them to logical analysis and substantiating them with quotations from major commentators; and finally formalizing them through definitions, divisions, examples, and so on. The text is a commentary on Clarification of the True Thought (dGongs-pa rab-gsal), perhaps one of the greatest explanations of Madhyamika philosophy ever, composed by Je Tsongkapa Lobsang Drakpa (rJe Tzong-kha-pa bLo-bzang grags-pa, 1357- 1419), himself the most renowned of the great Tibetan philosophical writers. The Overview follows the Clarification closely and functions to give a student greater insight into selected difficult and important points; in fact, the modern reader can only appreciate Je Tsongkapa's work fully with the help of such an aid. Clarification of the True Thought was itself intended as a similar aid, for it is a commentary on yet an earlier work, Entering the Middle Way (Madhyamakavatara), by the Indian Buddhist master Chandrakirti (Candrakirti). Master Chandrakirti's work precedes the Clarification by nearly a millenium (it is thought to date to the 7th Century), and is moreover written in code-like verses to facilitate memorization; therefore, Je Tsongkapa's work is an indispensable tool to unlock its meaning correctly. Entering the Middle Way is by no means the beginning of the lineage of commentaries; it too is an explanation, this time to the Root of Wisdom (Mulapraj¤a), authored by Master Nagarjuna sometime around 200 AD. This text itself elucidates a teaching of the Buddha Shakyamuni, some seven centuries even before Master Nagarjuna, on the concept of the Perfection of Wisdom (Praj¤aparamita): the perception of emptiness coupled with compassion for every living being. And so the present text is like a key, needed to enter a door to find yet another key, which itself is needed to enter a door to still other doors and keys, which finally far inside unlock the great ideas of the earliest works of the commentarial succession. The Overview of the Middle Way is moreover studied by native students in the traditional method, which involves memorization of much or all of the Overview itself and of the works upon which it is based; many hours of study at the feet of a traditional teacher who is the latest link in a 2,000 year chain of living commentators; and constant philosophical disputation with classmates at the university's debate ground, a special park set aside for daily meetings of students to debate the day's lessons. A student who is able to study the Overview under these conditions quickly gains a profound insight and personal appreciation for the meaning of the Perfection of Wisdom, and becomes able to understand it fully even in the oldest presentations and language. About the Author The Overview of the Middle Way was written by Kedrup Gendun Tenpa Dargye (mKhas-grub dGe-'dun bsTan-pa dar- rgyas, 1493-1568). As with many of the Tibetan masters of this era, we have little organized information available about his life. Recently, though, a good thumbnail biography has come out in English. It was compiled from various historical sources by Ven. Geshe Thupten Rinchen of the Tsangpa College of Sera Mey University, and can be found in the opening pages of the University's 1990 edition of the Dialectical Analysis of the Perfection of Wisdom (Phar-phyin mtha'- dpyod). Here we read that Kedrup Tenpa Dargye was born in the area of Lungshu (kLung-shod), northeast of Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. He studied at both Ba and Ganden Monasteries, and was counted among the principal students of Jetsun Chukyi Gyaltsen (rJe-btzun Chos-kyi rgyal-mtsan, 1469-1546), who himself composed many dialectic textbooks for the curriculum of Sera Jey, the sister university of Sera Mey. Kedrup Tenpa Dargye served in a position known as the "Throne-Holder of Sera," and in 1565 was further appointed the 22nd Ganden Tripa or "Throne-Holder of Ganden." The Ganden Tripa is considered the head of the Gelukpa tradition of Buddhism and is the spiritual successor of Je Tsongkapa himself. Kedrup Tenpa Dargye also had the honor of officiating over the ordination ceremony of the third Dalai Lama, Sonam Gyatso (rGyal-ba bSod-nams rgya-mtso, 1543- 1588), which is another indication of how deeply his knowledge was respected, even by his contemporaries. What is the Middle Way? The Sanskrit term "Madhyamika" is formed from the word madhya, meaning "middle," and is in fact the source for the English word. Madhyamika or Middle-Way Philosophy threads a path down the middle between two extremes: the extreme of thinking that things exist the way they seem to, and the extreme of thinking that, if they do not exist the way they seem to, then they cannot exist at all. Briefly put, we have a tendency to believe that objects exist from their own side, and that they possess some kind of nature which is their own. For example, we perceive that a fellow worker at our place of employment whom we dislike is really dislikable from his own side: that he is inherently and actually unpleasant. This same co-worker though is perceived by other people, say by his wife, as being pleasant. But he cannot have a nature of being pleasant and at the same time have a nature of being unpleasant--these two qualities are contradictory and one object cannot be both at the same time. Therefore he does not have both of the qualities. Neither is he likely to have neither of the qualities to any degree at all: any person we meet fits somewhere on the scale from pleasant to unpleasant. If he were pleasant from his own side, on his own part, then everyone who ever met him would find him likable. But this we can say about no one who has ever lived. If he were unpleasant from his own side, if he were really unpleasant, then no one would like him at all, and this is also not the case. So the co-worker whom we dislike has none of the four possible natures: he is not pleasant by his very nature, he is not unpleasant by nature, he is not both, he is not neither. Therefore he has no nature of his own. The way he seems to be to me, either pleasant or unpleasant, cannot be something which is emanating from his side. He is empty; he is blank. He is like a blank screen, not unpleasant from his own side, but seemingly unpleasant to me because something is making me see him this way. Something is projecting this nature onto him. The key is in my own perception. Since he can have no nature from his side, and yet I perceive him to have a nature (of being unpleasant), then the nature he seems to have must be something supplied from my side. Am I consciously wishing, willing, that he seem unpleasant? Of course not. No one would consciously choose to meet unpleasant people. If his appearing unpleasant to me were just a projection from myself that I could change at will, then of course I would choose to perceive him as being pleasant. But I cannot. Although the way he appears is a projection from my side (he himself is blank), it doesn't appear to be a matter of choice. Apparently I am forced to make the projection, to have the perception, of him as unpleasant. What is forcing me, which doesn't force his wife, who sees him as pleasant? The content of my perception is painful. It is not pleasant to see someone as unpleasant. The stuff or material of my perception is mind: thinking he is unpleasant is a thought, and its primary cause must be a previous thought. The object which I think is causing my displeasure is other than myself: it is him. The material and content and object of my present perception of him as unpleasant give me all the necessary clues: he must be coming from, he must be forced upon me, by a previous perception which was painful and directed towards another. According to Middle-Way Philosophy, I must have harmed another person; that is, perceived myself harming another person, and this has planted a mental seed by which I now must see someone else be unpleasant to me. If I do not wish to see someone be unpleasant to me again, ever again, I must therefore strictly avoid being, seeing myself being, harmful to any person again. In other words I must be strictly moral and adhere to the cardinal virtues. In the future then I will only perceive the people and world around me as pleasant. This is what happiness would be. And this is only possible because all the people and world around me are empty, blank, with no nature of their own--this makes them changeable, this makes them eligible for me to perceive as pleasant, if I have been good. The first good I can do, in fact, is to recognize that it is I who am making my unpleasant co-worker unpleasant; understanding this, I can now react to him not with the normal anger--(which would only force me to see him as unpleasant again, perpetuating the pain of meeting him unpleasantly) but rather with an attitude of patience and compassion, which will plant seeds in my mind to perceive him as pleasant in the future. It will be an artificial world then, admittedly, with people and things only having the nature that I project on them. But this is the only reality that they ever had anyway. If I can learn to perpetuate the trick, by being mindful, they will never stop being pleasant. So things are only what I perceive them to be, only what they seem to be, and from their side are just blank. This is their emptiness. Emptiness does not mean that they do not exist; a drill at the dentist's may only be a drill because I see it that way, but it still hurts, and still fixes my teeth, if only because I see it that way. So emptiness does not imply the extreme of non-existence, although the perceptions and appearances of things do imply that these things do not exist the way I thought they did--which is the second extreme. Middle-Way Philosophy thus threads a path down the middle of the two extremes. The structure of the Overview of the Middle Way, and of the works upon which it is based, reflects these concepts. It consists of ten chapters, each describing a stage of personal development at which one gains total mastery of some virtue of character. At the sixth of the ten stages, one gains a special ability to understand emptiness (or blankness), and thus understand the vital importance of morality and other good qualities which will force him to perceive otherwise blank or empty objects as being pleasant or good--and when every object in the world, things or people, is perceived as pleasant--well, this would be paradise, and this is the object of spiritual life. About the Edition A number of previous editions were consulted in the preparation of the present version of the Overview of the Middle Way. One was printed in lithograph folios at the Baksa refugee camp in northeast India by refugee scholars during the 1960's, shortly after the loss of Tibet. The other has a colophon by Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, the junior tutor of the present Dalai Lama. It was sponsored by Sera Mey Khen Rinpoche Geshe Lobsang Tharchin, and printed by the Mongolian lama Ven. Guru Deva in offset folios at Delhi in 1983. These versions had received some editing work and were both presumably based on the wooden blockprint folio edition printed at the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet. Here the colophon was composed by the Demo Nominhan Ngawang Jampel Delek Gyatso (De-mo No-min-han Ngag-dbang 'jam-dpal bde-legs ryga-mtso) "in the Fire Dog year," which occurs once every sixty years. This is probably the Demo Delek Gyatso mentioned in Great Dictionary (Tsig-mdzod chen-mo) as having filled high ecclesiastical positions during the 1750's, and who passed on in 1777. A Fire Dog year occurred in 1751, so perhaps this was the date when the Potala edition was carved. Since this is the oldest version, we have used it as the basis for the present publication, and consulted the two later versions to cull the corrections made in each. This version also constitutes the one chosen for release on computer diskette by the Asian Classics Input Project (ACIP), where the original reading is also noted for each point at which a correction was made. The input of this data was performed at the Computer Center of Sera Mey Tibetan University. Each of the available manuscripts contained a significant quantity of spelling and other errors that made the preparation of the present work quite difficult. A number of the leading scholars at Sera Mey, including several former abbots, either reviewed the entire text or were consulted about questionable readings. We believe that the resulting text is the most accurate version of the work published to date, although of course it will hopefully be further refined in coming years. Copies of this vital textbook at the University had become quite difficult to obtain, and the Ven. Lobsang Tashi of Shungpa College volunteered to sponsor a republication of the work, in a Western-style book printed from the ACIP data, which was provided without charge. Ven. Tashi has provided the cost of printing 600 copies, which will be distributed among needy teachers and students of Sera Mey Monastic University. He wishes first of all to dedicate the virtuous power of this good deed to clearing away any and all obstacles to the long and productive lives of Khen Rinpoche Geshe Lobsang Tharchin, the University's abbot; of the great spiritual teacher Geshe Yeshe Wangchuk, from Pomra College; and of his teachers Geshe Ogyen Kelsang, Geshe Thupten Rinchen, Geshe Trinley Topgye, and Geshe Lobsang Pende. He further dedicates this good deed to his departed loved ones, including his father Padma Dorje and older brother Ngawang Chupel, with the prayer that any bad deed they may have done in their lives may be cleaned away and purified. He prays finally that this goodness help bring about the ultimate spiritual hopes of himself and those loved ones who are still alive, including the Ven. Thupten Tsultrim, his mother Nyanang Gyakang Tenzin Chukyi, his older brother Lobsang Tsering, the son Tenzin Dondrup, his older sister Lobsang Drolkar, his older brother Tsering Tashi Kyimtsang, his older sister Wangmo Kyimtsang, his older sister Chudrun Kyimtsang, and his older sister Hrichung Kyimtsang.