Geshe Sherap began to teach the 400 Stanzas on Saturday, July 1, 2023. This is the third presentation to the students at Land of Enlightened Wisdom. Madhyamika is a philosophy of the middle way between two impossible extremes, that of reified or objective existence  and that of total non-existence.

Madhyamika philosophy demonstrates through the use of reasoning that though things do not exist independently and concretely as they seem to do, they neverless exist: their mode of existence is a dependent one. Mahayana practitioners must eliminate not only obstructions to liberation but also

obstructions to the perfect knowledge of all phenomena. This requires a powerful understanding of selflessness, coupled with a vast accumulation of merit, or positive energy, resulting from the kind of love, compassion, and altruistic intention cultivated by bodhisattvas. The first half of the text focuses on the development of merit by showing how to correct distorted ideas about conventional reality and how to overcome disturbing emotions. The second half explains the nature of ultimate reality that all phenomena are empty of intrinsic existence.  

AryaDeva 

Aryadeva, was a disciple of Nagarjuna and author of several important Mahayana Madhyamaka Buddhist texts. 

Text: "Aryadeva's Four Hundred Stanzas on the Middle Way",   July 21, 2008 Translated By Ruth Sonam, part of the Textual Studies and Translations in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism Series, can be purchased from Amazon.

This is a republished version of Yogic Deeds of Bodhisattvas.

Geshe Tenzin Sherap began teaching the Sunday class, "Candrakirti's Entering The Middle Way" on August 22, 2021.

Candrakirt's 7th century classic was written as a supplement to Nagarjuna's Root of the Middle Way.

This text integrates the central insight of Nagarjuna's thought - the rejection of any metaphysical notion of intrinsic existence- with the well-known Mahayana framework of the ten levels of the bodhisattva.

"Illuminating the Intent" is Lama Tsongkaphas's renowned commentary on Chandrakirti's Entering the Middle Way. Composed in 1418, Lama Tsongkapha set forth the meaning of emptiness in the context of bohisattva's ten perfections.

Geshe Tenzin Sherap will begin to teach the Wednesday/Friday class, "Nagarjuna's Seventy Stanzas of Emptiness" on January 10, 2024.

This volume contains a translation of Seventy Stanzas, a fundamental work of Nagarjuna on the Madhyamika system of Buddhist philosophy, along with a commentary on it from the Prasangika viewpoint by Geshe Sonam Rinchen.

This book will interest Buddhist practitioners, scholars, and psychologists who seek a deeper understanding of Buddhist psychology and epistemology.

Geshe Tenzin Sherap presented the third teaching of the Middle Way School at Land of Enlightened Wisdom. This course began  on Wednesday, December 02, 2020 and all 27 Chapters have been presented by December 2023.

The Middle Way is one the higher schools of thought consisting of two sub schools: Svatantrika and Prasangika. 

According to Tibetan Buddhism, Prasangikas are the highest authority on the nature of reality. Arya Nagarjuna and Acharya Chandrakirti are the greatest authority figures elucidating the Prasangika Madhyamika School of Thought.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama writes,"Nagarjuna's Root of the Middle Way" presents a clear, firm philosophical thesis with respect to things' lacking true existence. It argues that just as sentient beings are devoid of innate existence, so are all Buddhas, the cycle of existence, and the tranquility of nirvana. Such assertions are a great source of inspiration, for they suggest that each of us has the opportunity to scale the greatest spiritual heights, provided we tread on the right path."

Text: The Ornament of Reason - The Great Commentary to Nagarjuna's Root of the Middle Way by Mabja Jangchub Tsondru. Translated by The Dharmachakra Translation Committee.   The text can be purchased from Amazon

PAST CLASS TEXTS