Madhyamakopadeśa
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Madhyamakopadeśa (T. dbu ma’i man ngag che chung; “Special Instructions of the Middle Way”). A brief text on the Madhyamaka view, composed by Atiśa.[1]
James Apple states:
- Atiśa is said to have composed the greater and lesser Special Instructions on the Middle Way (dbu ma’i man ngag che chung). The “greater” special instructions is a reference to the Ratnakaraṇḍodghāṭa–madhyamakopadeśa (Tôh. no. 3930), [and] the “lesser” is the Madhyamakopadeśa (Tôh. no. 3929; also, no. 4468)... However, according to the colophon of the canonical version of the Ratnakaraṇḍodghāṭa, this work was written in the great temple of Vikramaśīla, under the patronage of King Devapāla (Apple 2010:120). The colophon to the so–called short Dbu ma’i man ngag does mention that it was composed in the main temple of Lhasa and that Atiśa and Tshul-khrims rgyal-ba translated and edited the text together. Therefore, the Ratnakaraṇḍodghāṭa was composed first in India and then the Madhyamakopadeśa was composed years later in Tibet. As the Madhyamakopadeśa has similar content to some sections of the Ratnakaraṇḍodghāṭa, Atiśa may have composed the Madhyamakopadeśa as a brief instruction based on extracts from the latter work. Atiśa may have used both texts to give lectures on Madhyamaka during his time in Lhasa.[2]
Commentaries
Commentaries include:[3]
- Prajñāmukti (Tib. Shes rab thar pa), Madhyamakopadeśavṛtti
- anonymous Kadampa author (early twelfth-century), Collection on the Two Realities (bden gnyis kyi ’bum)
- Skyo-ston smon-lam tshul-khrims (1219-1299). Explanation of Lord [Atiśa’s] Middle Way Special Instructions (jo bo rje’i dbu ma’i man ngag gi bshad pa)
English translation
- Apple, James (2015), A Study and Translation of Atiśa’s Madhyamakopadésa with Indian and Tibetan Commentaries, Acta Tibetica et Buddhica, Volume 7, pp. 1-82, 2014. PDF version at JSTOR
Notes
Sources
- Apple, James (2015), A Study and Translation of Atiśa’s Madhyamakopadésa with Indian and Tibetan Commentaries, Acta Tibetica et Buddhica, Volume 7, pp. 1-82, 2014. PDF version at JSTOR