The Tibetan Traditions of Guides to the Madhyamaka View (dbu ma’i lta khrid): The Schooling of View with Meditation
Journal of Indian Philosophy March 14, 2025 Jacob D. Fisher 2 citations
Madhyamaka philosophy is inseparable from meditative practice. While traditional Indian and Tibetan scholarship has always understood Madhyamaka as a meditative tradition, contemporary interpretations often treat it as a purely theoretical or metaphysical system. This paper argues that the Madhyamaka insight into emptiness (śūnyatā) is unique and therefore requires a distinct method of meditative cultivation (bhāvanā). To demonstrate this, it surveys the Tibetan genre of dbu ma'i lta khrid (Guides to the Madhyamaka View), examining works by Réndawa, Tsongkhapa, Baso Chökyi Gyeltsen, Shakya Chokden, Jamyang Zhépa, and Ju Mipham. These texts provide specific meditative instructions for embodying different interpretations of Madhyamaka, revealing a Madhyamaka phenomenology and extending the methodology for interpreting this tradition.