Maitreya's Distinction between Phenomena and the Nature of Phenomena distinguishes the illusory phenomenal world of samsara produced by the confused dualistic mind from the ultimate reality that is minds true nature. The transition from the one to the other is the process of mining for wisdom within delusion. Maitreya's text calls this the fundamental change, which refers to the vanishing of delusive appearances through practicing the path, thus revealing the underlying changeless nature of these appearances. In this context, the main part of the text consists of the most detailed explanation of nonconceptual wisdom the primary driving force of the path as well as its ultimate result in Buddhist literature.

The introduction of the book discusses these two topics (fundamental change and nonconceptual wisdom) at length and shows how they are treated in a number of other Buddhist scriptures. The three translated commentaries, by Vasubandhu, the Third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje, and Go Lotsawa, as well as excerpts from all other available commentaries on Maitreya's text, put it in the larger context of the Indian Yogacara School and further clarify its main themes. They also show how this text is not a mere scholarly document, but an essential foundation for practicing both the sutrayana and the vajrayana and thus making what it describes a living experience. The book also discusses the remaining four of the five works of Maitreya, their transmission from India to Tibet, and various views about them in the Tibetan tradition.

Karl Brunnholz 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 a three-volume work on the prajnaparamita sutras and the Abhisamayalamkara - Gone Beyond, vols. 1 and 2 (2010-2011) and Groundless Paths (2012).

	Contents: MINING FOR WISDOM WITHIN DELUSION: Maitreya's Distinction between Phenomena and the Nature of Phenomena and its Indian and Tibetan Commentaries by Karl Brunnholzl
	PREFACE	11
	INTRODUCTION	13
	"The five dharmas of Maitreya" and their transmission from India to Tibet	15
	Various assertions about the nature and the view of the five Maitreya texts in the Tibetan tradition	21
	The Dharmadharmatavibhaga and its major topics	47
	The different version of the text	47
	A summary of the Dharmadharmatavibhaga	48
	The fundamental change	52
	Nonconceptual wisdom	132
	The Commentaries on the Dharmadharmatavibhag	149
	TRANSLATIONS	155
	The Prose Version of The Distinction between Phenomena and the Nature of Phenomena	157
	The Versified Version of The Distinction between Phenomena and the Nature of Phenomena	163
	Vasubandhu's Commentary on The Distinction between Phenomena and the Nature of PhenomenaKongtrul	173
	The Third Karmapa's Ornament That Explains The Treatise on The Distinction between Phenomena and the Nature of Phenomena	199
	Presentation of the body of the text	202
	The actual topics	205
	Brief introduction	205
	General instruction	205
	The distinction of both phenomena and the nature of phenomena	205
	The explanation of the defining characteristic of phenomena	210
	The defining characteristic of the nature of phenomena	213
	The manner of being mistaken	214
	If one does not exist, phenomena and the nature of phenomena are not tenable as two	216
	Not asserting phenomena and the nature of phenomena as being one or different	217
	Detailed explanation	219
	The explanation of comprehending phenomena	219
	The first three points being as in the brief introduction above	220
	The Matrix of phenomena	221
	The Manner of comprehending the nonexistence of the appearance of apprehender and apprehended	223
	The explanation of comprehending the nature of phenomena	228
	Defining characteristic	229
	The matrix of the nature of phenomena	230
	The path of preparation	233
	The path of seeing	236
	Explanation of the path of familiarization	240
	The path of completion (arrival)	249
	Explanation of the fundamental change	250
	Explanation of the nature of the fundamental change	251
	Which Entities undergo the fundamental change	252
	The persons who undergo the fundamental change	254
	Instruction on the distinctive features of the fundamental change	255
	Explanation of comprehending the distinctive features of the prerequisites	256
	Instruction on the foundation of all this, based on which the fundamental change takes place	257
	Explanation of the mental engagement	274
	Comprehending the training	280
	Knowing the shortcomings if there were no fundamental change	292
	Explanation of comprehending the benefits of there being the fundamental change	294
	Explanation through examples and conclusion of the treatise	296
	Go Lotsawa's Commentary on The Distinction between Phenomena and the Nature of Phenomena	301
	APPENDIX 1: THE DHARANI OF ENTERING NONCONCEPTUALITY	329
	APPENDIX 2: TOPICAL OUTLINE OF OED	337
	GLOSSARY: ENGLISH-SANSKRIT-TIBETAN	341
	GLOSSARY: TIBETAN-SANSKRIT-ENGLISH	345
	The Hearing Lineage from Bomta Khenpo	347
	Notes	349
	Bibliography	467
	Index	479