Emptiness tackles an oft-misunderstood topic in the Buddhist religion. Here, emptiness does not imply a nihilistic worldview but rather the idea that a permanent entity doesn't exist in any single phenomenon or being. Everything exists in dependence on an immeasurable quantity of causes and conditions. An understanding of emptiness allows us to see the world as a realm of infinite possibility, instead of a static system. Just like a table consists of wooden parts, and the wood is from a tree, and the tree depends on air, water, and soil, so is the world filled with a wondrous coexistence that extends to our own mind and awareness. In lucid, accessible language, Geshe Tashi Tsering guides the reader to the realization of this infinite possibility.

Emptiness: The Foundation of Buddhist Thought, Geshe Tashi Tsering, Wisdom Publications,
Paperback, 156 pp, $20.95

Geshe Tashi Tsering was born in Tibet in 1958 and received his Geshe Lharampa degree (similar to a doctorate in divinity) from Sera Monastery in India in 1987. Since 1994, he has been the guiding teacher of the Jamyang Buddhist Centre in London, while also teaching at other Buddhist centers worldwide.

After following the traditional study programme centred around the five key topics of the Nalanda Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism: Philosophy, Metaphysics, Epistemology & Logic, Psychology and Monastic Discipline, Geshe Tashi graduated with the highest honours becoming a Geshe Lharampa in 1990. He went on to study at Gyuto Tantric monastery from 1990. Geshe Tashi has been teaching in the West since 1991, first at Nalanda monastery in France, then from 1994 to 2018 at Jamyang Buddhist Centre London. He has also been the main teacher at Jamyang Buddhist Centre Leeds and Jamyang Bath. He has traveled to many other European countries, USA and Asia, to lead Buddhist courses, conferences, and interfaith dialogues.

Foreword		ix
	Preface		xi
	Editor's Preface		xv
	1.	The Revolution of Selflessness	1
	The Uniqueness of the Buddha's Concept of No-Self		1
	The Importance of Selflessness		3
	Selflessness in the Sutras		5
	Did the Buddha Invent Selflessness?		5
	Understanding Reality as It Is		7
	Selflessness in the Three Turnings of the Dharma Wheel		11
	The Commentaries that Deal with Emptiness		14
	2.	The Prerequisites for Developing an Understanding of Selflessness	19
	The Perfection of Concentration		19
	Calm Abiding		21
	Cultivating Calm Abiding		22
	The Best Object of Meditation		25
	Mindfulness and Alertness		27
	Insight		30
	How Insight Is Cultivated According to Tibetan Buddhism		32
	3.	The Concepts of Selfhood	35
	All Things Are No-Self		35
	Right View Is Supramundane Insight		35
	All Things Are No-Self		36
	Was the Prasangika View of Selflessness Taught by the Buddha?		38
	Levels of Selfhood		39
	The Two Types of Emptiness		39
	Acquired and Innate Self-Grasping		41
	The Self as an Unchanging, Unitary, and Autonomous Entity		43
	The Self as a Self-Sufficient, Substantial Entity		46
	The Self as an Intrinsic Entity		48
	Identifying the Thief		50
	Selflessness in the Four Buddhist Schools		52
	Selflessness in the First Three Schools		52
	Selflessness in Svatantrika Madhyamaka		55
	4.	The Differences Between Svatantrika and Prasangika	61
	The Main Differences Between The Subschools of Madhyamaka		61
	The Difference in the Line of Reasoning		61
	The Difference in Direct Perception		66
	The Difference in Ultimate and Conventional Levels		69
	The Difference in the Understanding of Dependent Origination		70
	The Difference in Identifying the Two Obscurations		71
	5.	Prasangika's Unique Presentation of Emptiness	77
	The Object of Negation		77
	Empty of What?		77
	Refuting the Referent Object		81
	The Object of Ultimate Analysis		82
	What Is Intrinsic Nature?		85
	Some Clarification of Innate Self-Grasping		88
	6.	Establishing Emptiness	91
	Lines of Reasoning		91
	The Seven-Point Analysis		93
	1.	The Chariot Cannot Be Identical with Its Parts	95
	1a.	The Self Cannot Be Identical with the Aggregates	95
	2.	The Chariot Cannot Be Posited as Something Separate from Its Parts	96
	2a.	The Self Cannot Be Posited as Something Separate from the Aggregates	97
	3.	The Parts of the Chariot Do Not Exist Intrinsically as the Base of the Chariot	98
	3a.	The Aggregates Do Not Exist Intrinsically as a Base of the Self	98
	4.	The Chariot Does Not Exist Intrinsically Dependent on Its Parts	98
	4a.	The Self Does Not Exist Intrinsically Dependent on the Aggregates	99
	5.	The Chariot Does Not Possess Its Parts	99
	5a.	The Self Does Not Possess the Aggregates in the Sense of Some Kind of Inherent Possession	99
	6.	The Chariot Is Not Identical with the Collection of Its Parts	100
	6a.	The Collection of the Aggregates Cannot be Posited as the Self	100
	7.	The Chariot Is Not Its Shape	100
	7a.	The Shape or Configuration of the Aggregates Cannot be Posited as the Self	101
	Refuting the Four Possibilities of Production		102
	The King of Reasons		105
	How The Person and Phenomena Appear Like an Illusion		107
	7.	Emptiness and Dependent Arising	109
	The Three Levels of Dependent Arising		109
	The Impact of Dependent Arising		109
	The Three Levels of Dependent Arising		110
	Causal Dependency		111
	Mutual Dependency		113
	Merely-Labeled Dependency		116
	Emptiness and Dependent Arising		118
	The Merging of Emptiness and Dependent Arising		121
	Conclusion		127
	Appendix		131
	Glossary		135
	Bibliography		143
	Notes		145
	Index		149
	About the Authors		157
	The Foundation of Buddhist Thought		159