This is the paperback edition of the first full study, translation, and critical annotation of the Essence of True Eloquence by Tsong Khapa (1357-1419), universally acknowledged as the greatest Tibetan philosopher. Supplementing our view of Buddhism as a contemplative and "mystical" religion, Robert Thurman's translation and introduction present a strain of Indian Buddhist thought emphasizing the need for both critical reason and contemplative realisation in the attainment of enlightenment.

"Robert Thurman's book is divided in two parts. The first part, an extensive introduction, can stand on its own as an insightful and incisive study of Tibetan philosophy, its roots in India, and its relevance to a twentieth-century Western audience. The second part translates Tsong Khapa's text....The quality of both the translation and the introductory essay makes this book a valuable contribution to the study of the central way."
--Karen Lang, Journal of Asian Studies
The Central Philosophy of Tibet: A Study and Translation of Jey Tsong Khapa's Essence of Eloquence, Robert Thurman, Princeton, 440 pp, $72.50

Robert A. F. Thurman is Jey Tsong Khapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University in New York City, where he has taught since 1988. He holds the first endowed chair in Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies in America. He received Upasika ordination in 1964 and Vajracharya ordination in 1971, both from His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Among the foremost Buddhologists and interpreters of Tibet and its Buddhist civilization; he is also an ordained Buddhist layman. He is a cofounder of Tibet House in New York City, a cultural nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the endangered civilization of Tibet. Robert Thurman is the author of Essential Tibetan Buddhism (1996); Inner Revolution: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Real Happiness (1998), Circling the Sacred Mountain (1999), Why the Dalai Lama Matters (2008), and many other original books and translations of sacred Tibetan texts.

CONTENTS: The Central Philosophy of Tibet
	List of Illustrations	ix
	Foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama	xi
	Preface	xiii
	Note	xvii
Introduction		1
I.	Reverence to the Guru, Manjughosha!	3
II.	Shambhu, Meghavahana, Hiranyagarbha	9
III.	I bow devoted to Maitreya and Manjughosha	18
IV.	I bow my head to the feet of Nagarjuna and Asanga	21
V.	Respectfully I bow to those Master Scholars	33
VI.	Many who did not realize That	49
VII.	But I have seen It quite precisely	63
VIII.	You who aspire to Peerless Philosophy	89
The Short Essence of True Eloquence		175
The Great Essence of True Eloquence		185
Prologue		187
I.	Statements from the Elucidation of Intention	191
II.	Explanations of the Scripture's Statements	209
III.	The Essential Centrist Message	253
IV.	Explanations of the Followers of the Savior Nagarjuna	265
V.	The Dialecticist Elucidation of the Holy Intention	288
VI.	Avoidance of Contradiction between the (Dialecticist) System and the Scriptures	345
VII.	The Chief Reason for Negation of Ultimate Status	364
Glossary of Technical Terms		387
List of Abbreviations		401
Bibliography of Principal Sources		407
Index		421