The Regional Context Before discussing historical developments during the early Abbasid caliphate, let us briefly review the political situation in Central Asia just before the dawn of this period. The Umayyads ruled Sogdia and Bactria, while the Tang Chinese army occupied the...

Taken at the stage of developing engaged bodhichitta, if kept purely, the bodhisattva vows act as a root for attaining enlightenment.

The Fourth Panchen Lama presents the sutra method of mahamudra meditation for gaining shamatha on the conventional nature of the mind and then joined shamatha and vipashyana on the mind’s deepest nature, its voidness (emptiness).

If the ātman-soul were the aggregates, it would be subject to arising and passing away. If it were something other than the aggregates, it would have characteristics that were not those of the aggregates. || 1 ||   When there is no atman-soul, how could there...

The aggregates are not (the Tathāgata); he is not other than the aggregates. The aggregates are not in him, nor is he in them. The Tathāgata does not possess the aggregates. What, then, is the Tathāgata here? || 1 || If the Buddha’s conventional existence, after obtaining the...

(Objection) If all this were void, there could be no arising or no perishing. Then, through the riddance or cessation of what could nirvāṇa be posited? || 1 || (Reply) If all this were not void, there could be no arising or no perishing. Then, through the riddance or...

Obscured by misknowing, one affects for oneself an affecting karmic factor for rebirth, one of three kinds. They’re the karmic factors, by means of which, one wanders to a state of wandering rebirth. || 1 || Under the condition of an affecting karmic factor, consciousness...

Nāgārjuna’s text in 27 chapters laid the foundation for the Madhyāmaka view of voidness and dependent arising.

Homage to the Tathagata, the Arhat, the Fully Enlightened Ratna-kusuma-guna-sagara-vaidurya-kanaka-giri-suvarna-kanchana-prabhasa-shri. Homage to the Tathagata, the Arhat, the Fully Enlightened Shakyamuni, whose body is adorned with hundreds of thousands of millions of...

A short overview of Emory University’s program for training in universal values.