The Abhisamayalamkara summarizes all the topics in the vast body of the Perfection of Wisdom sutras. To understand this extraordinarily condensed text, it is necessary to have the assistance of reliable Indian and Tibetan commentaries. Together, they not only discuss the "hidden meaning" of the Perfection of Wisdom sutraspaths and groundsbut also serve as a basis for further reflection on the explicit topic of these sutrasthe principle of emptinessand how it is to be understood on the progressive levels of realization of bodhisattvas. Thus, these texts describe what happens in the mind of a bodhisattva who meditates on emptiness, making it a living experience from the beginner's stage up through buddhahood.

Gone Beyond contains the first in-depth study the Abhisamayalamkara (the text studied most extensively in higher Tibetan Buddhist education) and its commentaries in the Kagyu School. This study (in two volumes) includes translations of Maitreya's famous text and its commentary by the Fifth Shamarpa, Goncho Yenla (the first translation ever of a complete commentary on the Abhisamayalamkara into English), which are supplemented by extensive excerpts from the commentaries by the Third, Seventh, and Eighth Karmapas and others. Thus, it closes a long-standing gap in the modern scholarship on the Prajnaparamita Sutras and the literature on paths and bhumis in mahayana Buddhism.

The first volume presents an English translation of the first three chapters of the Abhisamayalamkara and its commentary by the Fifth Shamarpa.
Gone Beyond, Volume One: The Prajnaparamita, The Ornament of Clear Realization, and Its Commentaries in the Tibetan Kagyu Tradition; Karl Brunnholzl; Snow Lion; Hardcover; 937 pp; $54.95

Karl Brunnholzl was trained as a physician and presently works as a Tibetan translator and Buddhist teacher. He studied Tibetology, Buddhology, and Sanskrit at Hamburg University and Tibetan language and Buddhist philosophy and practice at the Marpa Institute for Translators in Kathmandu. Currently he works as a translator and interpreter for the Tsadra Foundation, Nalandabodhi, and the Nitartha Institute. In 2009 he was appointed as the first Western khenpo (abbot in the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages) by Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche. He is the author and translator of The Center of the Sunlit Sky (2004), the first in-depth study of the Kagyu interpretation of Madhyamaka in a Western language; Straight from the Heart (2007) with commentary by the Third Karmapa; and Luminous Heart (2009), the Third Karmapa on buddha nature, consciousness, and wisdom.

CONTENTS: Gone Beyond, Volume One: The Prajnaparamita, The Ornament of Clear Realization, and Its Commentaries in the Tibetan Kagyu Tradition
An Aspiration by H.H. the Seventeenth Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje		13
Foreword by H.H. the Seventeenth Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje		15
Foreword by Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche		17
Acknowledgments		19
INTRODUCTION		21
	The prajnaparamita sutras	23
	The Abhisamayalamkara and its commentaries	47
	What is the view of the Abhisamayalamkara?	81
	The Abhisamayalamkara in its traditional setting	93
	The place of the prajnaparamita sutras and the Abhisamayalamkara in modern scholarship	107
	Is there any practical relevance to the Abhisamayalamkara?	111
	The Abhisamayalamkara as a contemplative manual	119
	Some remarks on the distinct exergetical approaches of the commentaries by the Eighth Karmapa and the Fifth Shamarpa	129
	Overview of the present three-volume study of commentaries on the AA	201
TRANSLATION: A CONCISE ELUCIDATION OF THE ABHISAMAYALAMKARA (TOPICS ONE TO THREE)		205
Paying homage, which is the cause for other persons giving rise to openness for the fruitional mother		207
The purpose and the connection, which are the causes for others giving rise to openness for this treatise		222
The eight topics as what is to be explained		225
The knowledge of all aspects (what is to be attained)		235
	The generation of bodhicitta (the motivation)	235
	The instructions that teach the means of practice	241
	The explanation of the branches of penetration (the result of practicing the instructions)	264
	The disposition as the foundation for the arising of practice	283
	The focal object of practice	292
	The aim of practice	296
	The armorlike practice in six sets of six	298
	The practice of ninefold engagement	301
	The practice of the seventeen equipments	309
	The practice of final deliverance	328
The knowledge of the path (the means to attain the knowledge of all aspects)		331
	The causes of the knowledge of the path	331
	The manner of the knowledge of the path of sravakas	333
	The manner of the knowledge of the path of pratyekabuddhas	336
	The manner of the knowledge of the path of bodhisattvas	341
	The path of seeing	341
	The path of familiarization	345
	The function of the path of familiarization	345
	The path of familiarization as aspiration, which accumulates virtue	347
	Its benefit	348
	The path of familiarization as dedication, which makes virtue not going to waste	349
	The path of familiarization as rejoicing, which makes virtue increase	351
	The nature of the uninterrupted path--the path of familiarization as accomplishment	351
	The nature of the path of liberation--the pure path of familiarization	352
The knowledge of entities (the root of the knowledge of all aspects, which includes the points to go astray)		357
	The nature of the knowledge of entities	362
	The reason for being close or distant	362
	The divisions of antagonistic factors and remedies	363
	The training (the engagement)	366
	The path of seeing (the fruition of engagement)	368
APPENDIX I. SELECTED GENERAL TOPICS FROM JG AND JNS		371
1)	The knowledge of all aspects	371
	A) Bodhicitta	371
	B) The instructions	397
	C) The two realities	406
	D) The path of preparation	417
	E) The disposition	428
	F) The focal object of practice	488
	G) The equipment of wisdom	492
	H) The equipment of the ten bhumis	514
2)	The knowledge of the path	548
	A) The five causes of the knowledge of the path	548
	B) The knowledge of the path of sravakas	559
	C) The knowledge of the path of pratyekabuddhas	566
	D) The knowledge of the path of bodhisattvas	570
	E) The path of familiarization	591
3)	The all-knowledge	615
	A) The presentation of the objects of knowledge (skandhas, dhatus, and ayatanas)	615
	B) Sravakas and pratyekabuddhas do not realize phenomenal identitylessness	625
	C) The three natures	628
APPENDIX II: CHARTS		633
NOTES		679
INDEX		923