A masterful translation of classic scholar Buddhapalita's breakthrough elucidation of Nagarjuna's famous Middle Way text, which has profoundly influenced generations of Buddhist philosophers.

This "Buddhapalita" commentary on Nagarjuna's famous first-century text Wisdom: Fundamental Middle Way Verses has been considered for over a thousand years by Indian and Tibetan philosophers to be the special key that best unlocks the deep philosophical freedom from confusion and perplexity that the Middle Way (or Centrist) school seeks to provide for its students.

Chandrakirti (seventh century) defended Buddhapalita's elegant approach as most effective in opening the Middle Way for the inquiring mind to find the liberating experience of reality. Atisha (eleventh century) brought Buddhapalita's and Chandrakirti's transformative critical method to spread widely in Tibet, and Tsongkhapa (fifteenth century) provided a clarification of this philosophical work that was so rigorous and crystal clear that it opened the minds of Tibetan philosopher scientists of all schools until today.

Ian Coghlan's masterful translation makes Buddhapalita's breakthrough elucidation of the Wisdom Verses clearly accessible. The translator's unique education combines the Indo-Tibetan geshe curriculum with the modern doctoral training that adds comparative text-critical analysis and comparative language research in Sanskrit as well as Tibetan. This intellectual and experiential education enabled him to produce this reliable translation for the philosophical seeker to fully engage with Buddhapalita' richly transformative, liberating work.
Buddhapalita's Commentary on Nagarjuna's Middle Way: Buddhapalita-Mulamadhyamaka-Vrtti, Buddhapalita, Ian James Coghlan (Translator), Wisdom Publications, Paperback, 400 pp, $69.95

Ian James Coghlan (Jampa Yignyen) -- translator -- trained as a monk at Sera Je Monastic University, completing his studies in 1995, and holds a PhD in Asian Studies from La Trobe University. Currently he is a research associate at SOPHIS, Monash University, and translator for the Institute of Tibetan Classics, AIBS, Wisdom Publications, the KAF Foundation, and the Juniper Foundation.

Buddhapalita (ca. 470-540) was born in South India. At an early age he received ordination, entered formal study, and became learned in Buddhist scriptures. In due course, he began to read the works of Nagarjuna under the guidance of Samgharakshita, gaining insight into their meaning through intense meditation. Later he taught at Dantapuri Monastery and while there composed many commentaries to the works of Nagarjuna, Aryadeva, Shura, and so on. Buddhapalita's only extant work is his commentary to Nagarjuna's Mulamadhyamakakarika called Buddhapalitamulamadhyamakavrtti.

CONTENTS: Buddhapalita's Commentary on Nagarjuna's Middle Way
Acknowledgments		xi
Copublisher Prefaces		xiii
Abbreviations and Typological Conventions		xvii
PART ONE
Introduction		3
PART TWO
Annotated English Translation		15
Preliminary		17
1.	Critique of Conditions	25
2.	Critique of Going and Coming	45
3.	Critique of Sense Bases	61
4.	Critique of Aggregates	69
5.	Critique of Elements	75
6.	Critique of Attachment and One Who Is Attached	83
7.	Critique of Arising, Enduring, and Disintegrating	91
8.	Critique of the Agent and Action	123
9.	Critique of Appropriator and Appropriated	135
10.	Critique of Fire and Fuel	143
11.	Critique of Samsara	157
12.	Critique of Suffering	165
13.	Critique of Formations	173
14.	Critique of Contact	181
15.	Critique of Things and Nonthings	191
16.	Critique of Bopndage and Liberation	199
17.	Critique of Karma and Its Effect	211
18.	Critique of Self and Phenomena	231
19.	Critique of Time	247
20.	Critique of Cause and Effect	255
21.	Critique of Emergence and Destruction	269
22.	Critique of the Tathagata	283
23.	Critique of Misconception	297
24.	Critique of the Noble Truths	305
25.	Critique of Nirvana	315
26.	Critique of the Twelve Links of Existence	323
27.	Critique of View	327
APPENDIX
Tibetan Names (Phonetic-Transliterated Equivalents		339
GLOSSARY
English-Tibetan-Sanskrit Glossary		343
BIBLIOGRAPHIES
Primary Sources		359
Modern Sources		361
INDEXES
Index of Canonical Texts Cited		365
Index of Canonical Authors Cited		367
General Index		369