Geshe Sherap will begin teaching the Refutation of Objections on Monday/Friday, September 09-11, 2026 at 4:30pm.

The Vigrahavyavartani — "Verses on Turning Back Disputes" — is Nagarjuna's defense of the Madhyamaka doctrine of emptiness against the charge that it is self-refuting. Written in India in the second century CE, it is one of the most important texts in Buddhist philosophy.

An opponent poses twenty objections:

If all things lack intrinsic nature, then Nagarjuna's own words lack intrinsic nature and cannot refute anything. His means of knowledge cannot establish anything. His thesis has no ground to stand on.

In seventy verses of precise dialectic, Nagarjuna dismantles every objection from within, showing that it is the realist who is trapped in contradiction, while the teaching of emptiness — which holds no thesis of its own — is free from all fault.

The Vigrahavyavartani is one of the Five Collections of Reasoning (Yukti corpus) by Nagarjuna, alongside the Mulamadhyamakakarika, the Sixty Verses on Reasoning, the Seventy Verses on Emptiness, and the Vaidalyasutra.

The crown verse — "For whom emptiness is possible, all things are possible" — is among the most cited lines in Buddhist thought.

Handout:    Refutation of Objections     Dispeller of Dispute          

Geshe Tenzin Sherap welcomes Geshe Ngawang Kunchen to the Land of Enlightened Wisdom center. Geshe Sherap extended the invitation to Geshe Ngawang Kunchen to become a residential monk at the Pomona center in October 2025. Geshe Kunchen was working in Dharamsala, India before coming to the Pomona center. To learn more about Geshe Ngawang Kunchen look on the Teachers page.

Geshe Sherap has completed his first presentation of Sixty Stanzas of Reasoning on Friday, July 10, 2026 which began on August 23, 2025. Geshe Sherap has begun to teach Sixty Stanzas Analysis, a second presentation of Chandrakirti's Commentary of Arya Nagarjuna's text, "The Sixty Stanzas of Reasoning" on Wednesday, July 15, 2026.

Geshe Tenzin holds a short discussion group before the Medicine Buddha Puja.

Geshe Sherap will begin a new class on Saturday, March 07, 2026 at 2:00pm and will be ongoing.

The Precious Garland or Ratnavali discusses the complete pathways to enlightenment. It provides antidotes to deal with our delusions and cultivate compassion and wisdom to be able to realize our fullest potential to be Buddha or Enlightened Being. This course will explain this poetic yet profound treatise of Arya Nagarjuna to enhance our spirituality.

We celebrate the completion of Geshe Tenzin Sherap's teaching of the "Nagarjuna's Letter to A Friend" Saturday class on February 28, 2026 through December 20, 2025; this was the second presentation of Letter to a Friend. Geshe Sherap's first presentation was in 2018-2019.

"The great Indian Buddhist master Nagarjuna (first-second century C.E.) wrote his celebrated poem "Letter to a Friend" as a gift of advice to a South Indian king, and it has since become a monument in the Indian shastra tradition."

Losar, the Tibetan New Year, begins on February 18, 2026 and for a period of fifteen days all virtuous acts are said to be multiplied 100,000 times.

The fifteenth day, March 3, 2026, is Chotrul Duchen, the “Day of Miracles,” commemorating the conversion of the six philosophical school leaders and their disciples after Buddha gave teachings and performed miracles during this time.

Geshe Tenzin Sherap began teaching the Saturday class, Nagajurna's Letter to A Friend" on December 20, 2025. This is the second presentation of Letter to a Friend (The first presentation was in 2018-19)."Nagarjuna's poetic presentation of the fundamental teachings of the Great Vehicle, or Mahayana, is remarkable for its concise style and memorable imagery, making it one of the most widely quoted sources in other commentaries on the Mahayana path. The great Indian Buddhist master Nagarjuna (first-second century C.E.) wrote his celebrated poem "Letter to a Friend" as a gift of advice to a South Indian king, and it has since become a monument in the Indian shastra tradition."

Text: Nagarjuna's Letter to A Friend: Amazon     PDF     PDF     Root Text

On August 23, 2025, Geshe Sherap began the first presentation of Sixty Stanzas of Reasoning to the students at Land of Enlightened Wisdom. This clas will be ongoing.

The Sixty Stanzas of Reasoning is the work of Arya Nagarjuna (2nd CE), and the commentary by his most influential successor, Chandrakirti (7th CE). These two treatises emphasize the non-foundationalist reasoning for which Madhyamaka thought is famed, here within the context of that quintessential Buddhist topic, universal compassion, thereby illuminating the nondual nature of these two fundamental components of Indian Buddhist thought.

Text: The Reason Sixty & Commentary:   Wisdom        Amazon Handout: Reason Sixty Root Text   

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.

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