The Dalai Lama's translator and author of the definitive biography of Tsongkhapa here presents the first translation of one of that master's seminal and best-known works.

This work is perhaps the most influential explanation of Candrakirti's seventh-century classic Entering the Middle Way (Madhyamakavatara).

Written as a supplement to Nagarjuna's Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way, Candrakirti's 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, and it became the most studied presentation of Madhyamaka thought in Tibet.

Completed the year before the author's death, Tsongkhapa's exposition of Candrakirti's text is recognized by the Tibetan tradition as the final standpoint of Tsongkhapa on many philosophical questions, particularly the clear distinctions it draws between the standpoints of the Madhyamaka and Cittamatra schools.

Written in exemplary Tibetan, Tsongkhapa's work presents a wonderful marriage of rigorous Madhyamaka philosophical analysis with a detailed and subtle account of the progressively advancing mental states and spiritual maturity realized by sincere Madhyamaka practitioners.

The work remains the principal textbook for the study of Indian Madhyamaka philosophy in many Tibetan monastic colleges, and it is a principal source for many Tibetan teachers seeking to convey the intricacies of Madhyamaka philosophy to non-Tibetan audiences.

Though it is often cited and well known, this is the first full translation of this key work in a Western language.

Illuminating the Intent: An Exposition of Candrakirti's Entering the Middle Way, Tsongkhapa, Wisdom Publications, Hardcover, 720 pp, $79.95

Thupten Jinpa Langri (translator) was educated in the classical Tibetan monastic academia and received the highest academic degree of Geshe Lharam (equivalent to a doctorate in divinity). Jinpa also holds a BA in philosophy and a PhD in religious studies, both from the University of Cambridge, England. Since 1985, he has been the principal translator to the Dalai Lama, accompanying him to the United States, Canada, and Europe. He has translated and edited many books by the Dalai Lama, including The World of Tibetan Buddhism, Essence of the Heart Sutra, and the New York Times bestseller Ethics for the New Millennium.

Jinpa has published scholarly articles on various aspects of Tibetan culture, Buddhism, and philosophy, and books such as Songs of Spiritual Experience: Tibetan Poems of Awakening and Insight (co-authored) and Self, Reality and Reason in Tibetan Thought. He serves on the advisory board of numerous educational and cultural organizations in North America, Europe, and India. He is currently the president and the editor-in-chief of the Institute of Tibetan Classics, a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to translating key Tibetan classics into contemporary languages. And he also currently chairs the Mind and Life Institute and the Compassion Institute.

CONTENTS: Illuminating the Intent
Preface		xiii
Introduction		1
Technical Note		27
Illuminating the Intent: An Exposition of Entering the Middle Way
1.	Preliminaries	31
PART I. THE FIRST FIVE GROUNDS
2.	General Presentation of the Grounds	59
3.	The First Ground, Perfect Joy	69
4.	The Second Ground, The Stainless	117
5.	The Third Ground, The Luminous	129
6.	The Fourth Ground, The Radiant	147
7.	The Fifth Ground, Hard to Conquer	151
PART II. THE SIXTH GROUND, THE MANIFEST
8.	Introducing the Sixth Ground	157
9.	Identifying the Object of Negation	171
10.	Refuting Arising from Self and Other	191
11.	The Two Truths	221
12.	The Merits of Negation	259
13.	Refuting the Cittamatra Standpoint	301
14.	Refuting the Proof of Intrinsic Existence of Dependent Nature	337
15.	How to Read the Sutras	369
16.	Refuting Arising from Both and from No Cause	395
17.	The Selflessness of Persons	419
18.	Extending the Analysis	471
19.	Enumerations of Emptiness	485
PART III. THE FINAL GROUNDS
20.	The Seventh Ground, Gone Afar	515
21.	The Eighth Ground, The Immovable	517
22.	The Ninth Ground, Perfect Intellect	523
23.	The Tenth Ground, Cloud of Dharma	525
24.	Qualities of the Ten Grounds	527
25.	The Resultant Ground	531
Appendix 1. A Complete Outline of the Text		569
Appendix 2. Table of Tibetan Transliteration		593
Notes		595
Glossary		653
Bibliography		665
Index		679
About the Translator		697