Madhyamaka is a potent and universally accessible means of calming our suffering and awakening to our innate wisdom. The Center of the Sunlit Sky artfully rescues this brilliant teaching from its unwarranted reputation for intellectual opacity and reinstates it as a supremely practical toolkit for everyday living.

The aim of this book is to take Madhyamaka out of the purely intellectual corner into which it--unjustly--gets boxed. It is an attempt to show Madhyamaka actually addresses and works with all of our experiences in life.

The book follows the original Indian sources as well as the standard commentaries on Madhyamaka in the Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism. At the same time, these materials are adapted for a contemporary audience, combining the familiar sharpness of Madhyamaka reasonings (launching a massive assault on our cherished belief systems) with exploring the practical relevance of the Madhyamaka way of mind training.

Part One of the book, "The General presentation of Madhyamka in the Kagyu Tradition," provides an overview of the transmission of Madhyamaka from India to Tibet and its relation to Vajrayana and Mahamudra, followed by a general presentation of Madhyamaka in terms of ground, path and fruition. Further chapters are devoted to the Autonomist-Consequentialist distinction, the controversial issue of "Shentong-Madhyamaka," the distinction between expedient and definitive meaning, and a penetrating presentation of the major differences between the Eighth Karmapa's and Tsongkhapa's interpretation of Madhyamaka.

Part Two consists of a brief introduction to the Bodhicaryavatara and a translation of the Second Pawo Rinpoche's commentary on its ninth chapter (on knowledge).

The Center of the Sunlit Sky: Madhyamaka in the Kagyu Tradition, Karl Brunnholzl, Snow Lion Publications, Hardcover, 2004, 800 pp., $78.00

Karl Brunnh�lzl, MD, was trained as a physician and also studied Tibetology. He received his systematic training in Tibetan language and Buddhist philosophy and practice at the Marpa Institute for Translators, founded by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche. Since 1989 he has been a translator and interpreter from Tibetan and English. He is presently involved with the Nitartha Institute as a teacher and translator.

Acknowledgments
Foreword
Preface
Introduction

PART ONE: THE GENERAL PRESENTATION OF MADHYAMAKA IN THE KAGYU TRADITION

1 The Transmission of Madhyamaka from India to Tibet and Its Relation to Vajrayana and Mahamudra

2 The Middle from Beginning to End
Madhyamaka Ground
What Ts Reality?
No Ground for the Two Realities
The Detailed Explanation of the Two Realities
The Meaning of the Terms
Painting the Sky: A Description of Their Defining Characteristics
Are the Two Realities One or Different?
Seeming Divisions of the Seeming
Dividing Space: Divisions of the Ultimate
A Critical Analysis of Some Other Tibetan Views on the Two Realities in Centrism
The Definite Number of Two Realities and the Purpose of Understanding Them
The Emptiness of Emptiness
Freedom Is the Nature of Not Having a Nature
Elaborations on Simplicity
The Twenty Emptinesses
The Sixteen Emptinesses
The Two Types of Identitylessness
Lost Identity
Phenomenal Identitylessness
Personal Identitylessness
Are the Two Identitylessnesses One or Different?
The Purpose of Teaching Two Identitylessnesses
From Knowledge to Wisdom
Madhyamaka Path
How Can Madhyamaka Be a Personal Practice?
Reasoning and Debate in Centrism
Three Stages of Analysis by Nagarjuna and Aryadeva
Is Reasoning Reasonable?
Reasons and Negations
What Is the Object of Negation in Centrist Reasonings?
The Status of Valid Cognition in Centrism
Do Centrists Have a Thesis or Position?
Illusory Lions Killing Illusory Elephants: Empty Reasonings for Liberation
Some Essential Points of Centrist Reasoning
Disillusionment with Phenomenal Identity
The Five Great Madhyamalta Reasonings
Other Reasonings
Unmasking Personal Identity
The Result of Centrist Reasoned Analysis
Madhyamaka Meditation
Why Is Analytical Meditation Necessary?
Calm Abiding and Superior Insight
Analytical Meditation and Resting Meditation
Working with the Mind in Meditation and Daily Life
How to Practice a Session of Analytical Meditation
The Progressive Stages of Meditation on Emptiness
Mental Nonengagement in Meditation
Madhyamaka Conduct
Madhyamaka Fruition

3 The Distinction between Autonomists and Consequentialists
Classifications of Centrism in India and Tibet
Refutation of Mistaken Assumptions about Autonomists and Consequentialists
The Actual Distinction between Autonomists and Consequentialists
How the Distinction between Autonomists and Consequentialists by Later Tibetans Is a Novelty
The Origin of the Controversy between Autonomists and Consequentialists
Do Hearers and Solitary Realizers Realize Emptiness?
Conclusion

4 Is There Such a Thing as Shentong-Madhyamaka?
The Yogacara System in General
The System of the Lineage of Vast Activity
The Treatment of Yogacara and the Rangtong-Shentong Controversy in Tibet
The Single Final Intention of the Two Philosophical Systems of the Great Vehicle

5 The Distinction between Expedient and Definitive Meaning

6 An Outline of Some Major Differences between Mikyo Dorje's and Tsongkhapa's Interpretations of Centrism

PART TWO: THE Bodhicaravatara AND PAWO TSUGLA TRENGWA

7 Some Remarks on the Bodhicaiyavatara and Pawo Rinpoche's Commentary

8 The Ninth Chapter of Pawo Rinpoche's Commentary on The Entrance to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life

Appendix I: A Short Biography of the Second Pawo Rinpoche Tsugla Trengwa
Appendix II: Non-Buddhist Indian Schools
Appendix III: Tibetan Text of the Ninth Chapter of the Bodhicaryavatara
Glossary: English-Sanskrit-Tibetan
Glossary: Tibetan-Sanskrit-English
Bibliography
Endnotes
Index