Middle Way (eBook)

For nearly 2,000 years, Nagarjuna's teachings have occupied a central position in Mahayana Buddhism. An essential part of the study and practice in the great Indian Buddhist monastic universities, these teachings were later incorporated into the Tibetan monastic programs that modeled their curricula on their Indian predecessors. In The Middle Way, the Dalai Lama offers a brief, brilliant, and complete presentation of the ultimate view of reality in the Mahayana tradition of Buddhism. The teachings are about the Buddhist view, yet the Dalai Lama presents them in a way that allows any interested reader to grasp this profound outlook on life. Like his many books on compassion, The Middle Way is vitally important and universally applicable. With its release, the Dalai Lama adds his wisdom teachings to the already established recognition of his incomparable compassion.

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The Dalai Lama opens The Middle Way with an elegant argument for the power of compassion in cultivating a happy life. From there, he connects core ideas of Buddhist philosophy to the truths of our shared condition. His Holiness delivers a sparklingly clear teaching on how the Buddhist ideas of emptiness and interdependency relate to personal experience and bring a deeper understanding of the world around us. In down-to-earth style, this book sets forth a comprehensive explanation of the foundational teachings of the Mahayana tradition based on the works of two of Buddhism's most revered figures. Using Nagarjuna's Middle Way, the Dalai Lama explores Buddhist understandings of selflessness, dependent origination, and the causal processes that lock us in cycles of suffering. He grounds these heady philosophical discussions using Tsongkhapa's Three Principal Aspects of the Path, presenting a brief explanation of how to put ethical discipline, wisdom, and compassion into practice. Through these beautifully complementary teachings, His Holiness urges us to strive, "e;with an objective mind, endowed with a curious skepticism, to engage in careful analysis and seek the reasons behind our beliefs."e;