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 will lead the Medicine Buddha Puja on Saturday, September 12, 2026 at 11:00am. A potluck will follow the puja, you are welcome to bring a main dish, vegetables, bread, dessert, and drinks if you wish.

There is no Saturday afternoon class after the Medicine Buddha puja.

On Saturday, September 26, 2026 Geshe Sherap has been invited to participate in a Dharma discussion at the IBAA Dharma Study Circle at 3:00-5:00pm.

The discussion will be held in the Conference Room at Hsi Lai Temple, 456 Glenmark Dr, Hacienda Heights, CA 91745

The dharma presenters and their topics are:
1. Ven. Ngim Saosamkhan (Theravada): Dhamma, Healing, and Community
2. Ven. Hui Ze (Mahayana):Humanistic Buddhist Approach to Interreligious & Interdenominational Dialogue
3. Ven. Geshe Tenzin Sherap (Vajrayana): What is Nirvana?

There will be no Saturday Precious Garland class on September 26, 2026.

Geshe Tenzin Sherap welcomes Geshe Ngawang Kunchen
to the Land of Enlightened Wisdom center.