ABOUT THE BOOK

Donald S. Lopez Jr. presents a clear and extensive picture of Svatantrika Madhyamika through analysis of issues and positions central to Indian philosophy during the final development of Buddhist thought in India. Central issues are considered: the division of Madhyamika into Svatantrika and Prasangika, the meaning of emptiness, the root cause of suffering, the division of objects of knowledge into the two truths, and the reasoning employed to refute the existence of a self. Included are overviews of Madhyamika in general and Svatantrika in particular.

DONALD S. LOPEZ JR. holds a PhD in Religious Studies from the University of Virginia, where he specialized in Tibetan Buddhism. As a Fulbright scholar in India, he studied Madhyamika philosophy with leading Tibetan scholars. After teaching in the Department of Religion at Middlebury College, he is now Chair of the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Michigan. He is the author of numerous books on Buddhism and Tibet, including Elaborations on Emptiness and The Heart Sutra Explained.

 

 

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