The Abhisamayalamkara summarizes all the topics in the vast body of the prajnaparamita sutras. Resembling a zip-file, it only comes to life through its Indian and Tibetan commentaries. Together, these texts not only discuss the "hidden meaning" of the prajnaparamita sutras, the paths and bhumis of sravakas, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas, but also serve as contemplative manuals for the explicit topic of these sutras--emptiness--and how it is to be understood on the progressive levels of realization of bodhisattvas. Thus, these texts describe what happens in the mind of a bodhisattva who meditates on emptiness, making it a living experience from the beginner's stage up through buddhahood.

Groundless Paths contains the first in-depth study of the Abhisamayalamkara (the text studied most extensively in higher Tibetan Buddhist education) and its commentaries from the perspective of the Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism. This study consists mainly of translations of Maitreya's famous text and two commentaries on it by Patrul Rinpoche. These are supplemented by three short texts on the paths and bhumis by the same author as well as extensive excerpts from commentaries by six other Nyingma masters, including Mipham Rinpoche. Thus, this book helps close a long-standing gap in the modern scholarship on the prajnaparamita sutras and the literature on paths and bhumis in mahayana Buddhism.
Groundless Paths: The Prajaparamita Sutras, The Ornament of Clear Realization, and Its Commentaries in the Tibetan Nyingma Tradition; Karl Brunnholzl; Snow Lion; Hardcover; 893 pp; $54.95

Karl Brunnholzl was trained as a physician and presently works as a Tibetan translator and Buddhist teacher. He studied Tibetology, Buddhology, and Sanskrit at Hamburg University and Tibetan language and Buddhist philosophy and practice at the Marpa Institute for Translators in Kathmandu. Currently he works as a translator and interpreter for the Tsadra Foundation, Nalandabodhi, and the Nitartha Institute. In 2009 he was appointed as the first Western khenpo (abbot, in the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages) by Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche. He is the author and translator of The Center of the Sunlit Sky (2004), the first in-depth study of the Kagyu interpretation of Madhyamaka in a Western language; Straight from the Heart (2007), an anthology of Buddhist pith instructions; Nagarjuna's In Praise of Dharmadhatu (2007) with commentary by the Third Karmapa; Luminous Heart (2009), the Third Karmapa on buddha nature, consciousness, and wisdom; and Gone Beyond, vols. 1 and 2 (2010-2011).

CONTENTS: Groundless Paths: The Prajnaparamita Sutras, The Ornament of Clear Realization, and Its Commentaries in the Tibetan Nyingma Tradition
INTRODUCTION					19
Translations					35
The General Topics of The Treatise on the Pith Instructions on Prajnaparamita, The Ornament of Clear Realization					37
	Presentation of the body of the text				58
	Detailed explanation of the branches				71
		Explanation of the knowledge of all aspects			72
			Generation of bodhicitta (the nature of the path)		72
			Receiving the instructions (what purifies the generation of bodhicitta)		79
			The branches conducive to penetration (the fruition of the instructions)		114
			The foundation of practice		124
			The focal object of practice		134
			The aim of practice		136
			The practice of donning the armor of the mahayana		138
			The practice of engagement		142
			The practice of the equipments		156
			The practice of final deliverance		185
		Detailed explanation of the branches of the knowledge of the path (the means of attainment)			186
			The branches of the path		186
			The path of sravakas		199
			The path of pratyekabuddhas		201
			The path of seeing		204
			The function of the path of familiarization		210
			The path of familiarization as aspiration		211
			Its benefit		213
			The path of familiarization as dedication		213
			The path of familiarization as rejoicing		214
			The path of familiarization as accomplishment		215
			The pure path of familiarization		216
		Detailed explanation of the branches of the knowledge of entities (what is to be relinquished)			219
			The nature of the knowledge of entities		219
			The reasons for presenting closeness and distance		220
			The divisions of the factors to be relinquished and their remedies		225
			The nature of the training		228
			The aspects of the training		231
			Explaining the actual path of seeing		231
		Detailed explanation of the complete training in all aspects--the cause that makes one gain mastery			235
			Explaining the aspects to be trained in		235
			The training's own nature		274
			The qualities to be attained		276
			The flaws to be rejected		278
			The defining characteristics to be known		283
			The factors conducive to liberation (what is to be relied on in the mind stream)		289
			The time of the arising of the special training		291
			The irreversible persons		294
			What makes one attain buddhahood (the supported)		302
			What purifies the twofold buddha realm (the support)		303
			The cause for promoting the welfare of others in this buddha realm, the training in skill in means		303
		Detailed explanation of the branches of the culminating training--the result over which mastery is to be gained			309
			The culmination of the path of preparation		310
				The culmination of heat	310
				The culmination of peak	311
				The culmination of poised readiness	312
				The culmination of the supreme dharma	312
			The culmination of the path of seeing		313
			The culmination of the path of familiarization		337
			The culmination of the uninterrupted path		346
			Its factors to be relinquished		347
		Detailed explanation of the branches of the serial training (the cause of stabilization)			355
			The serial training that is the path		355
			The serial training that makes the path special		356
			The serial training that makes the path pure		357
		Detailed explanation of the branches of the instantaneous training (the result of stabilization)			358
			The instantaneous training in terms of nonmaturation		358
			The instantaneous training in terms of maturation		359
			The instantaneous training in terms of the lack of characteristics		359
			The instantaneous training in terms of nonduality		359
		Detailed explanation of the branches of the dharmakaya (the fruition of having engaged in the trainings)			360
			The svabhavikakaya		362
			The wisdom kaya		363
			The sambhogikakaya		363
			The naimanikakaya		364
			The nature of enlightened activity (their activity)		367
A Word Commentary on The Treatise on the Pith Instructions on Prajnaparamita, The Ornament of Clear Realization					397
	Presentation of the body of the text				400
	Detailed explanation of the branches				406
		The explanation of the knowledge of all aspects			406
			Generation of bodhicitta		406
			Receiving the instructions (what purifies the generation of bodhicitta)		409
			The branches conducive to penetration (the fruition of the instructions)		414
			The foundation of practice		422
			Its focal object		424
			Its aim		425
			The armorlike practice (the practice of donning the armor through motivation)		425
			The practice of engagement		426
			The practice of the equipments		427
			The practice of final deliverance		437
		The detailed explanation of the branches of the knowledge of the path (the means to attain the knowledge of all aspects)			438
			The branches of the path		439
			The knowledge of the path of knowing the path of sravakas		440
			The knowledge of the path of knowing the path of pratyekabuddhas		441
			The path of seeing		443
			The function of the path of familiarization		447
			The path of familiarization as aspiration		447
			Its benefit		448
			The path of familiarization as dedication		449
			The path of familiarization as rejoicing		450
			The path of familiarization as accomplishing the qualities		451
			The pure path of familiarization		451
		The detailed explanation of the branches of the knowledge of entities (what is to be relinquished)			454
			The nature of the knowledge of entities		455
			The reasons for presenting closeness and distance		455
			The divisions of the factors to be relinquished and their remedies		456
			The nature of the training that is the manner of practicing it		458
			The quality of training		460
			The fruition of having practiced this way		460
		Detailed explanation of the complete training in all aspects--the cause that makes one gain mastery			463
			The aspects to be trained in		464
			The training's own nature		469
			The qualities to be attained		471
			The flaws to be rejected		472
			The defining characteristics to be known		473
			The factors conducive to liberation (what is to be relied on in the mind stream)		483
			The time of the arising of the special training		485
			The persons who are the supports for the arising of the special training in the mind stream		487
			What makes one attain buddhahood (the supported)		498
			What purifies the twofold buddha realm (the support)		499
			The cause for promoting the welfare of others in this buddha realm (the training in skill in means)		500
		Detailed explanation of the branches of the culminating training--the result over which mastery is to be gained			501
			The culmination of the path of preparation		501
				The culmination of heat	502
				The culmination of peak	502
				The culmination of poised readiness	503
				The culmination of the supreme dharma	504
			The culmination of the path of seeing		504
			The culmination of the path of familiarization		512
			The culmination of the uninterrupted path		518
			The factors to be relinquished (wrong ideas)		519
		Detailed explanation of the branches of the serial training (the cause of stabilization)			521
		Detailed explanation of the branches of the instantaneous training (the result of stabilization)			522
			The instantaneous training in terms of nonmaturation		522
			The instantaneous training in terms of maturation		523
			The instantaneous training in terms of the lack of characteristics		524
			The instantaneous training in terms of nonduality		524
		Detailed explanation of the branches of the dharmakaya (the fruition of having engaged in the trainings)			524
			The svabhavikakaya		525
			The wisdom dharmakaya		525
			The sambhogikakaya		530
			The instruction on the naimanikakaya		538
			The activity of the kayas		538
APPENDIX I: A CONCISE ENUMERATION OF THE PATHS AND BHUMIS OF BODHISATTVAS, THE CHILDREN OF THE VICTORS					545
APPENDIX II: A SPECIFIC EXPLANATION OF THE MANNER OF GRADUALLY PROGRESSING THROUGH THE FIVE PATHS AND THE MANNER OF ATTAINING THE QUALITIES OF THE TEN BHUMIS					553
APPENDIX III: A GENERAL TOPIC OF THE ORNAMENT OF PRAJNAPARAMITA, [CALLED] "ITS BRIEF PROGRESSIVE STAGES OF MEDITATION, AN EXCELLENT EXPLANATION OF THE SCRIPTURAL TRADITION:					585
APPENDIX IV: THE DEFINITIONS AND BOUNDARY LINES OF PRAJNAPARAMITA, THE EIGHT TOPICS, AND THE SEVENTY POINTS ACCORDING TO LSSP/PSD AND LNG					611
APPENDIX V: THE DEFINITIONS FO THE EIGHT TOPICS AND THE SEVENTY POINTS ACCORDING TO PVSD					619
APPENDIX VI: THE DEFINITIONS AND BOUNDARY LINES OF PRAJNAPARAMITA, THE EIGHT TOPICS, AND THE SEVENTY POINTS ACCORDING TO PGSD					627
APPENDIX VII: THE DEFINITIONS FO THE EIGHT TOPICS AND THE SEVENTY POINTS ACCORDING TO MCG					635
APPENDIX VIII: THE DEFINITIONS AND BOUNDARY LINES OF THE EIGHT TOPICS AND THE SEVENTY POINTS ACCORDING TO MPZL					643
APPENDIX IX: PGSD'S PRESENTATION OF THE DISPOSITION					651
APPENDIX X: PGSD'S EXPLANATION OF THE SIGNS OF IRREVERSIBILITY					661
APPENDIX XI: THE DIFFERENT MODELS OF THE SEQUENCE OF THE SAMADHIS OF THE PREPARATORY LION'S SPORT AND THE ACTUAL CROSSING IN ONE LEAP ON THE PATH OF FAMILIARIZATION					671
GLOSSARY: ENGLISH--SANSKRIT--TIBETAN					673
GLOSSARY: TIBETAN--SANSKRIT--ENGLISH					681
NOTES					687
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY					875
INDEX					881