The Madhyamakālaṃkāra () is an 8th-century Buddhist text, believed to have been originally composed in Sanskrit by Śāntarakṣita (725–788),Blumenthal, James (2008). "Śāntarakṣita", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2008 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.). Source: (accessed: February 28, 2009). which is extant in Tibetan. The Tibetan text was translated from the Sanskrit by Surendrabodhi () and Jñānasūtra.
Text In the short-verse text of the Madhyamakālaṃkāra, Śāntarakṣita details his philosophical synthesis of the conventional truth of Yogacara with the ultimate truth of the Madhyamaka, assisted by Buddhist logic with a lengthy discussion of the "neither one nor many" argument.
Dharmic dialogue Though somewhat lyrical, it is a summary and a key to his encyclopedic Tattvasamgraha. It has the fullness of the Sutrayana and Mahayana traditions' development in its place of origin before the Buddhist tradition of India was transposed by the cultures of the Far East (such as China and Japan) and elsewhere (such as Ceylon and Kashmir), where Buddhism was already flourishing in culturally specific forms. The text refutes challenges of Buddhist systems and tenets from within the tradition, and is a pedagogical discourse on the development of the yana; the philosophical challenges posed by the non-Buddhist religions and non-Dharmic traditions of India, and crystallizes a dialectical sophistication of Indian logic and the clarity of debate expected of a Khenpo of Nalanda Vihara. The text was seminal in the tradition of Samye which became known as a Nyingma institution in contrast to the emergent Sarma traditions of Atisha's (980-1054) translation phase. It documents the Nyingma view of the Two Truths, making it a canonical work. Although the text was marginalized due to the rise of the Prasaṅgika subschool of Mādhyamaka, it was revived by Ju Mipham's (1846–1912) 1876 Commentary.Doctor, Thomas H. (trans.) Mipham, Jamgon Ju.(author)(2004). Speech of Delight: Mipham's Commentary of Shantarakshita's Ornament of the Middle Way. Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications. , p.x
Samye Monastery
The Madhyamakālaṃkāra and its tradition survived the destruction of Nalanda Vihara and the ascendancy of the Muslim empire in India during the 13th-century eclipse of Buddhism through its transplantation to the Tibetan Plateau by Śāntarakṣita at the request of Trisong Detsen. It was taught at the Samye Monastery, which was safeguarded by the Himalayas.
Commentary in English Kennard Lipman (1979) published a study of the Madhyamakālaṃkāra in English.Lipman, Kennard (1979). 'A Study of Śāntarakṣita's Madhyamakālaṃkāra'. Thesis. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan: University of Saskatchewan. Source accessed November 3, 2009. The text and Ju Mipham's commentary are available in studies by Thomas Doctor (2004) and the Padmakara Translation Group (2005). James Blumenthal (2004) also provides a version of the Madhyamālaṃkāra with commentary by Gyaltsab Je (1364–1432).Blumenthal, James (2004). The Ornament of the Middle Way: A Study of the Madhyamaka Thought of Shantarakshita. Snow Lion.
According to Doctor (2004: p.ix), the Madhyamakālaṃkāra ... is renowned as the principal scripture of the Yogācāramadhyamaka. Although masters such as Ārya Vimuktisena (6th century CE) are said to have set forth their presentations of the Madhyamaka in a way that employs the assertions specific to the Vijñānavāda, Śāntarakṣita was the one to found an actual system in which the ultimate freedom from constructs (Sanskrit niṣprapañca, Tibetan spros bral) is realized through insight into the non-existence of any external matter (bāhyārtha, phyi don). This synthesis of Yogācāra and Madhyamaka, the two great currents of Mahāyāna philosophy, the principles of the vast and the profound as originally set forth by Asaṇga (fl. 4th century) and Nāgārjuna (possibly 150-250 CE) respectively, is also characterized by its use of the pramāṇa methods of Dignāga (5th-6th century) and Dharmakīrti (6th-7th century) as integral steps towards the realization of the ultimate.Doctor, Thomas H. (trans.) Mipham, Jamgon Ju.(author)(2004). Speech of Delight: Mipham's Commentary of Shantarakshita's Ornament of the Middle Way. Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications. , p.ix
Alexander Berzin (2006) translates the title into English as A Filigree of the Middle Way (dBu-ma rgyan, Skt. Madhyamaka-alamkara).Berzin, Alexander (2006, March). 'Major Indian Authors and Texts for Studying the Four Buddhist Tenet Systems'. Study Buddhism. Source: (accessed: June 6, 2016)
Logic Indian logic is primarily a study of inferences and their patterns. A pramana is a means of knowledge.Mohanty, Jitendra Nath (1992). Reason and Tradition in Indian Thought: An Essay on the Nature of Indian Philosophical Thinking. New York, USA: Oxford University Press. , p.106 Indian logic was influenced by grammar, and Greek (or classical) logic was influenced by mathematics.Matilal, Bimal Krishna (author), Ganeri, Jonardon (editor) & (Tiwari, Heeraman)(1998). The Character of Logic in India. Albany, NY, USA: State University of New York Press. (HC:acid free), p.14 Vidyabhusana (1921), Randle (1930) and Fyodor Shcherbatskoy (1930) used the terms "Indian logic" and "Buddhist logic".
The Padmakara Translation Group (2005: p. 157) rendered Mipham's advice that Buddhist logic is required to engage the text: In general, it is important to be familiar with the teachings on probative signs and reasoning and, within that context, the notions of other-elimination, the three conditions of the correct sign, and all the methods of proof or refutation.
According to the doctrine of apoha (gshan-sel-wa in Tibetan), an entity is defined as the negation of its opposite; a cow is not a non-cow.
Trairūpya: the three conditions Dignaga formulated three conditions (Sanskrit: trairūpya; Wylie: tshul-gsum) which a logical sign or mark (linga) must fulfill: It should be present in the case or object under consideration (pakṣa) It should be present in a similar case (homologue; sapakṣa) It should not be present in a dissimilar case (heterologue; vipakṣa) When a linga is identified, there are three possibilities; the sign may be present in all, some or none of the sapakṣas or vipakṣas. Identifying a sign assumes that it is present in the pakṣa, and the first condition is met. Dignaga combined these in his Hetucakra.Matilal, Bimal Krishna (author), Ganeri, Jonardon (editor) & (Tiwari, Heeraman)(1998). The Character of Logic in India. Albany, NY, USA: State University of New York Press. (HC:acid free), p.7-8
Interpretation
The Commentary on Difficult Points (Sanskrit: Madhyamālaṃkāra-panjika, Wylie: dbu ma rgyan gyi dka' 'grel) was written by Kamalaśīla (fl. 713–763) Another commentary, Remembering The Ornament of the Middle Way (Wylie: dbu ma rgyan gyi brjed byang), was written by Gyaltsab Je (1364–1432). Lobzang Dongak Chökyi Gyatso (Wylie: blo bzang mdo sngags chos kyi rgya mtsho, 1903–1957), also known as Tulku Sungrap, wrote the commentary translated into English as The Sword to Cut Through False Views (Wylie: dbu ma rgyan gyi mchan 'grel nyung ngu lta ngan gcod pa'i ral gri).Rigpa Shedra (December, 2008). "Lobzang Dongak Chökyi Gyatso". Source: (accessed: Tuesday March 3, 2009)
Ju Mipham The title of Ju Mipham's Commentary (Wylie: dbu ma rgyan gyi rnam bshad 'jam dbyangs bla ma dgyes pa'i zhal lung) conveys Mipham's precepts in honouring the dictate of his guru (rtsa ba'i bla ma), Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo (1820–1892), who charged him with the commentary. Manjushri is used as a term of respect for the scholarship and understanding beyond letters and words of his Rimé teacher. Suchness is the revelation of Mipham's vajrayana from the Padmakara Translation Group's colophon (2005: p. 382): Seeing that there are many reasons for expounding the Madhyamakalankara, Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, our incomparable guide, unbounded in his kindness, whose very name I hardly dare to pronounce, who is the very personification of the compassion of the abbot Bodhisattva, of the master Padmasambhava, and of King Trisongdetsen, who is the sovereign among the learned and accomplished, who is supreme Manjushri appearing in the form of a monk in saffron robes, and whose renown fills the world, gave to me the Indian and Tibetan commentaries on the Madhyamakalankara, asking me to study them well and to compose a commentary. And as his diamondlike injunction came down upon my head, I earnestly gave myself to the task.Shantarakshita (author);Ju Mipham (commentator); Padmakara Translation Group (translators)(2005). The Adornment of the Middle Way: Shantarakshita's Madhyamakalankara with commentary by Jamgön Mipham. Boston, Massachusetts, USA: Shambhala Publications, Inc. (alk. paper), p.382
Ringu Tulku et al. (2006: pp. 193–194), in their survey of the Rimé movement, convey the importance of Mipham's Commentary to the Nyingmapa and their view of the Two Truths doctrine in light of the Svatantrika Madhyamaka ("those who assert the ultimate is the illusory nature") view and its Shentong Madhyamaka refinement as qualifying the Prasangika Madhyamaka ("those who make no assertions"): Then, for the ultimate truth, there are two schools of Madhyamaka: those who assert the ultimate is the illusory nature, and those who make no assertions. To explain further, the first says that the illusory nature is established when the perceiver of an object experiences a perception of that object as being unreal. This view was put forth by Kamalashila, Shantarakshita, and other proponents of the Svatantrika Madhyamaka school. Their view is clearly explained in Mipham Jamyang Gyatso's commentary on Shantarakshita's 'Ornament of the Middle Way.' This commentary by Mipham Rinpoche is often considered the most important philosophical text of the Nyingma lineage in Tibet, particularly for those who follow Mipham Rinpoche's understanding of the Shentong Madhyamaka view.Ringu Tulku (author, translator); Helm, Ann (co-translator)(2006). The Ri-Me Philosophy of Jamgon Kongtrul the Great: A Study of the Buddhist Lineages of Tibet. Shambhala Publications. , pp.193-194
Neither one nor many The mindstream of sentient beings is one application of the argument, neither one nor many. 'Neither one nor many' is an application of the third function of the catuṣkoṭi of Indian logic. Hopkins and Napper (1983, 1996: p. 160), in Meditation on Emptiness, discussed whether or not a series may be considered a unit: When a continuum of a lifetime is sought in the individual moments of the continuum, it cannot be found. The continuum is not the individual moments nor their composite; if a continuum were a composite of the moments, either each moment would be a continuum or there would be no separate moments.Hopkins, Jeffrey (Ed.) & Napper, Elizabeth (Assistant Ed.) (1983, 1996). Meditation on Emptiness. Somerville, Massachusetts, USA: Wisdom Publications. , p.160
Mindstream In the ninth shloka of the Madhyamālaṃkāra, Śāntarakṣita refutes personal singularity; "person" is conveyed a continuum understood as "neither one nor many". The Padmakara Translation Group qualifies the word "person" (Wylie: gang zag), extending it to all sentient beings.Shantarakshita (author); Ju Mipham (commentator); Padmakara Translation Group (translators)(2005). The Adornment of the Middle Way: Shantarakshita's Madhyamakalankara with commentary by Jamgön Mipham. Boston, Massachusetts, USA: Shambhala Publications, Inc. (alk. paper), p.180 The shloka is translated by the group and Doctor.Doctor, Thomas H. (trans.) Mipham, Jamgon Ju.(author)(2004). Speech of Delight: Mipham's Commentary of Shantarakshita's Ornament of the Middle Way. Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications. , p.219 Ju Mipham's commentary on the verse is likewise translated by both sources.
Five assertions Ju Mipham made five assertions not unique to Śāntarakṣita's view:Śāntarakṣita & Ju Mipham (2005) pp.122-141