THE SNOW LION NEWSLETTER

The Moon of Wisdom: Chapter Six of Chandrakirti's Entering the Middle Way with Commentary from the Eighth Karmapa

This important work, selected by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso as the text for his 2005 worldwide teaching tour, presents the 7th-century philosopher Chandrakirti's explanation of Nagarjuna's text The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way, which summarizes the vast teachings of the Buddha and uses logic to prove the validity of his words. The 8th Karmapa, a renowned meditation master and esteemed scholar, elaborates Chandrakirti's verses in a commentary-from The Chariot of the Dakpo Kayu Siddhas-that contains the key to gaining the realization achieved by all the enlightened masters. The Moon of Wisdom's extraordinary combination of teachings from Nagarjuna, Chandrakirti and one of the most respected Karmapas forms a uniquely authoritative and comprehensive explanation of the Buddha's ultimate teachings, how to gain confidence in them, and how to put them into practice in one's own life.

The following excerpt is taken from the translator's preface to Moon of Wisdom: Chapter Six of Chandrakirti's Entering the Middle Way with Commentary from the Eighth Karmapa Mikyö Dorje's Chariot of the Dakpo Kagyü Siddhas.

Over twenty-five hundred years ago, the Buddha described the inconceivable, perfectly pure true nature of reality in his teachings on Transcendent Wisdom (Sanskrit: Prajnaparamita). Some five centuries later, the noble protector Nagarjuna, in his seminal text The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way, summarized these vast teachings of the Buddha and used logical reasoning to prove the validity of the Buddha's words.

Entering the Middle Way is the glorious Chandrakirti's explanation of the meaning of Nagarjuna's work. Its sixth chapter, which constitutes the majority of the text, has four main sections: an explanation of how in genuine reality phenomena do not truly arise; a refutation of the Mind-Only (Sanskrit: Chittamatra) School's assertion that mind truly exists; a refutation of the true existence of the personal self; and an explanation of the sixteen types of emptiness taught by the Buddha in the Transcendent Wisdom sutras. In the course of his treatise, composed in succinct verse form, Chandrakirti clarifies the ultimate meaning of the Buddha's Transcendent Wisdom teachings. The Eighth Karmapa, Mikyö Dorje, one of the most erudite and prolific scholars of the Karma Kagyü lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, elaborates on the meaning of these verses in a commentary that he proclaims to contain the key to gaining the realization achieved by all the enlightened masters of the past, present, and future.

Our guru, the pre-eminent Kagyü master Khenpo Tsültrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, directed each of us to translate one of the four sections of the verses in Entering the Middle Way's sixth chapter, along with the key portions of Mikyö Dorje's commentary that explain the verses' meaning, and to publish our translations in this book, to which he gave its title. When we were preparing our translations for publication, Rinpoche instructed us to use our own individual translation styles and choice of terms in each of our sections, so that readers could see how different translators analyze, choose words, and write in different ways. Rinpoche also instructed us to include the Tibetan text, for the benefit of Western students learning Tibetan and Tibetan students learning English, and also so that readers could examine the translation against the original Tibetan text and give us their comments and corrections, so that we might be able to improve the translation in subsequent editions.

Khenpo Rinpoche, who spent the first part of his life studying, meditating, and teaching in the caves and monasteries of Tibet, India, and Bhutan, has been teaching extensively throughout the world since 1977. Wherever Rinpoche goes, the consistent focus of his teachings is the Buddha's most profound descriptions of the true nature of reality, which Rinpoche explains are the essential key to transcending confusion and suffering, and to performing compassionate activity that is of meaningful benefit to others. Rinpoche notes that the education that modern people receive gives us an excellent advantage as we approach these profound teachings; from an early age we have trained in developing the analytical tools we need to study and understand them. Since these teachings are so important and modern students have the ability to put them into practice, Rinpoche says that it is the ideal time for works such as Entering the Middle Way to be translated, published, and studied.

Although the teachings on the true nature of reality may seem difficult to understand at first, Rinpoche explains that if students approach them in a series of graduated stages, it is much easier to progress in gaining understanding and experience. Therefore, Rinpoche's advice to the readers of The Moon of Wisdom is that it would be of great benefit to your understanding if you read his books The Progressive Stages of Meditation on Emptiness and The Sun of Wisdom before you begin to study this volume. Furthermore, following the tradition of studying the classic texts on profound topics, it is beneficial to consult more than just one commentary on the root text in order to clarify difficult points. Jamgön Mipham's commentary on Entering the Middle Way is one that Rinpoche has taught from widely, and he recommends that you consult its translation, published in Introduction to the Middle Way, along with whatever other translations and transcripts of different teachers' explanations of the text you can find.

We are grateful beyond measure to Khenpo Rinpoche, whose teaching, inspiration, and blessing are what made this book possible. We also offer our deepest thanks for the teachings and assistance given to us by Nitartha Institute: by its head teacher, Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, and faculty members Acharya Lama Tenpa Gyaltsen and Acharya Sherab Gyaltsen Negi, who taught us this text, answered our translation questions, and gave us transcripts of their own teachings on the text; its translators, Elizabeth Callahan and Tyler Dewar, who made available to us their respective translations of Karmapa Mikyö Dorje and Karmapa Wangchuk Dorje's commentaries on Entering the Middle Way, which we consulted frequently in the preparation of our own; and its co-director Scott Wellenbach, who made it easy for us to obtain whatever of the Institute's teaching materials we needed. Thanks as well to Rose Taylor for her excellent editorial work on the Tibetan text in the section refuting the view of the Mind-Only School.

May whatever merit comes from publishing this book be a cause for all sentient beings to enter and perfect the path that brings wisdom and compassion together.
      Ari Goldfield
      Miami, Florida
      Dr. Jules Levinson
      Boulder, Colorado
      Birgit and Jim Scott
      Aarhus, Denmark
      October 2004