Tsongkhapa (1357-1419) is by any measure the single most influential philosopher in Tibetan history. His articulation of Prasangika Madhyamaka, and his interpretation of the 7th Century Indian philosopher Candrakirti's interpretation of Madhyamaka is the foundation for the understanding of that philosophical system in the Geluk school in Tibet. Tsongkhapa argues that Candrakirti shows that we can integrate the Madhyamaka doctrine of the two truths, and of the ultimate emptiness of all phenomena with a robust epistemology that explains how we can know both conventional and ultimate truth and distinguish truth from falsity within the conventional world.

The Sakya scholar Taktsang Lotsawa (born 1405) published the first systematic critique of Tsongkhapa's system. In the fifth chapter of his Freedom from Extremes Accomplished through Comprehensive Knowledge of Philosophy, Taktsang attacks Tsongkhapa's understanding of Candrakirti and the cogency of integrating Prasangika Madhyamaka with any epistemology. This attack launches a debate between Geluk scholars on the one hand and Sakya and Kagyu scholars on the other regarding the proper understanding of this philosophical school and the place of epistemology in the Madhyamaka program. This debate raged with great ferocity from the 15th through the 18th centuries, and continues still today.

These two volumes study that debate and present translations of the most important texts produced in that context. Volume I provides historical and philosophical background for this dispute and elucidates the philosophical issues at stake in the debate, exploring the principal arguments advanced by the principals on both sides, and setting them in historical context. This volume presents English translations of each of the most important texts in this debate.

Knowing Illusion: Bringing a Tibetan Debate into Contemporary Discourse--Volume II: Translations, The Yakherds, Oxford University Press, Paperback, 504 pp, $45.00

The Yakherds is a collective of scholars in Philosophy and Buddhist Studies based in the USA, India, Australia, Nepal, and Germany, and comprises both Western and Tibetan scholars. Between them, they have translated, edited, and written over 70 books and several hundred articles and reviews, including numerous important translations of Tibetan philosophical texts and books on Buddhist philosophy.

Contributors:

• Jose Ignacio Cabezon, Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies and Dalai Lama Professor of Tibetan Buddhism and Cultural Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara
• Ryan Conlon, doctoral student in Classical Indology at the University of Hamburg
• Thomas Doctor, Associate Professor, Rangjung Yeshe Institute
• Douglas Duckworth, Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Religion, Temple University
• Jed Forman, doctoral candidate in Religious Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara
• Jay L. Garfield, Doris Silbert Professor in the Humanities, Professor of Philosophy, Logic and Buddhist Studies and Director of the Buddhist Studies and Logic programs, Smith College
• John Powers, Professor in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Deakin University
• Sonam Thakchoe, Senior Philosophy Lecturer, University of Tasmania
• Tashi Tsering, Professor and Dean of Sakya Studies, Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies
• Yeshes Thabkhas, Professor Emeritus of Indian Buddhist Philosophy, Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies

CONTENTS: Knowing Illusion--Volume II
Preface			vii
Acknowledgments			xi
Notes on Translation			xiii
The Translators			xv
1.	Taktsang Lotsawa Sherab Rinchen, Freedom from Extremes Accomplished through Comprehensive Knowledge of Philosophy, Chapter 5 (translated by Thomas Doctor and Ryan Conlon with Jay L. Garfield and John Powers)		1
		Taktsang Lotsawa Sherab Rinchen: The Author, his Life and Times	1
		Freedom from Extremes Accomplished through Comprehensive Knowledge of Philosophy, Chapter 5	8
2.	Mikyo Dorje, Karmapa VIII, an Excerpt from One Hundred Thousand Discussions of Mahamudra and an Excerpt from Chariot of the Dakpo Kagyu Adepts (translated by Thomas Doctor with Jay L. Garfield and John Powers)		149
		Introduction	149
		Excerpt from One Hundred Thousand Discussions of Mahamudra	149
		Excerpt from Chariot of the Dakpo Kagyu Adepts	159
3.	Panchen Losang Chokyi Gyaltsen, The Lion's Roar of Scripture and Reasoning: A Response to the Objections of Drapa Sherab Rinchen (translated by Jose Cabezon and Sonam Thakchoe with Jay L. Garfield and John Powers)		165
		Introduction	165
		The Lion's Roar of Scripture and Reasoning: A Response to the Objections of Drapa Sherab Rinchen	165
4.	Wangchuk Dorje, Karmapa IX, Concise Compendium of the Middle Way and Conferring the Definitive Meaning (translated by Ryan Conlon with Thomas Doctor, Jay L. Garfield, and John Powers)		261
		Introduction	261
		Concise Compendium of the Middle Way and Conferring the Definitive Meaning	272
5.	Purchok Ngawang Jampa, Diamond Slivers: A Rejoinder to Taktsang Lotsawa (translated by Ryan Conlon and Thomas Doctor with Jay L. Garfield and John Powers)		340
		Introduction	340
		Diamond Slivers: A Rejoinder to Taktsang Lotsawa	345
Glossary of English Terms			407
Glossary of Tibetan Terms			417
Glossary of Tibetan Place Names and Orders			425
The Yakherds			427
References			431
Index			453
Citation Index			475