| 🤓 Admin Zone 🛠️ hidden to non-admins | |
मध्यमकहृदयवृत्तितर्कज्वाला
Madhyamakahṛdayavṛttitarkajvālā
དབུ་མའི་སྙིང་པོའི་འགྲེལ་པ་རྟོག་གེ་འབར་བ།
dbu ma'i snying po'i 'grel pa rtog ge 'bar ba
"The Blaze of Reasoning," A Running Commentary on "The Heart of the Middle Way" (84000)
Text
Please note that many items in our library are simply pages that represent a detailed library catalog entry and citation of someone else's work, presentation, or performance. Read our General Disclaimer for more information.
Description
The Madhyamakahṛdayavṛttitarkajvālā (Tibetan: Dbu ma'i snying po'i 'grel pa rtog ge 'bar ba) is an influential sixth-century commentary written by the Indian Madhyamaka philosopher Bhāvaviveka (or Bhavya) on his own verse text, the Madhyamakahṛdayakārikā. It is a foundational text in the Yogācāra-Madhyamaka dialogue.
The text functions as a comprehensive commentary (vṛtti) that utilizes logic and debate (tarka) to explain and defend Bhāvaviveka's understanding of Madhyamaka, often known as Svātantrika.
It provides an in-depth analysis of various Buddhist and non-Buddhist philosophical systems. Notably, it refutes the Yogācāra school's view on reality and the path to Buddhahood.The text addresses important philosophical topics, including:
- The Buddha's Omniscience: Chapter 10 defends the omniscience of the Buddha against critics, using examples from the Buddha's life.
- "Non-production from Others": It refutes the Sautrāntika, Vaibhāṣika, and Vaiśeṣika schools regarding the nature of causality and existence.
- Distinction between Conventional and Ultimate Reality: Bhāviveka argues that the "imagined nature" exists conventionally, but ultimately, things are empty.
It is a vital text for understanding the development of Madhyamaka philosophy in India and its reception in Tibet.
Quoted in the aligned translations
Reference
Bhāviveka (slob dpon chen po b+ha bya). madhyamakahṛdayavṛttitarkajvālā [मध्यमकहृदयवृत्तितर्कज्वाला]. dbu ma'i snying po'i 'grel pa rtog ge 'bar ba [དབུ་མའི་སྙིང་པོའི་འགྲེལ་པ་རྟོག་གེ་འབར་བ།]. ["The Blaze of Reasoning," A Running Commentary on "The Heart of the Middle Way" (84000)]. Tengyur, RKTST 3201 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=3201&typ=2.
Interconnections
1 Recensions
Bhāviveka (ca. 500–560 CE) lived at a time of unusual creativity and ferment in the history of Indian Buddhist philosophy. The Mahayana movement was emerging as a vigorous and self-conscious intellectual force, while the earlier traditions of the eighteen "schools" (nikaya) resisted the authority of the Mahayana and continued to elaborate the fundamental concepts of Buddhist thought.
Bhāviveka’s "Verses on the Heart of the Middle Way" (Madhyamakahṛdayakārikā) with their commentary, known as "The Flame of Reason" (Tarkajvālā), give a unique and authoritative account of the intellectual differences that stirred the Buddhist community in this creative period.
Bhāviveka and His Buddhist Opponents gives a clear and accessible translation of Chapters 4 and 5 of this text: the chapters on the Śrāvakas, or eighteen schools, and the Yogācāra, Bhāviveka’s most important Mahayana opponents. The translation is introduced by an essay that situates Bhāviveka in the intellectual context of sixth-century India, and it is accompanied by copious notes, commenting on Bhāviveka’s sources and explaining his controversial method. The book also contains a critical edition of the Sanskrit text of Bhāviveka’s verses and the Tibetan translation of the verses and commentary. (Source: Harvard University Press)1 Classical commentary of
Madhyamakahṛdaya. (T. Dbu ma’i snying po). In Sanskrit, "Essence of the Middle Way"; the major work of the sixth-century Indian Madhyamaka (and, from the Tibetan perspective, Svātantrika) master Bhāvaviveka (also referred to as Bhavya and Bhāviveka). The text is written in verse, accompanied by the author's extensive prose commentary, entitled the Tarkajvālā. The Madhyamakahṛdaya is preserved in both Sanskrit and Tibetan, the Tarkajvālā only in Tibetan. The work is in eleven chapters, the first three and the last two of which set forth the main points in Bhāvaviveka's view of the nature of reality and the Buddhist path, dealing with such topics as bodhicitta, the knowledge of reality (tattvajñāna), and omniscience (sarvajñātā). The intervening chapters set forth the positions (and Bhāvaviveka's refutations) of various Buddhist and non-Buddhist schools, including the Śrāvaka, Yogācāra, Sāṃkhya, Vaiśeṣika, Vedānta, and Mīmāṃsā. These chapters (along with Śāntarakṣita's Tattvasaṃgraha) are a valuable source of insight into the relations between Madhyamaka and the other Indian philosophical schools of the day. The chapter on the śrāvakas, for example, provides a detailed account of the reasons put forth by the mainstream Buddhist schools as to why the Mahāyāna sūtras are not the word of the Buddha. Bhāvaviveka's response to these charges, as well as his refutation of Yogācāra in the subsequent chapter, are particularly spirited. (Source: "Madhyamakahṛdaya." In The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 487–88. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)
1 Partial translations
Bhāviveka (ca. 500–560 CE) lived at a time of unusual creativity and ferment in the history of Indian Buddhist philosophy. The Mahayana movement was emerging as a vigorous and self-conscious intellectual force, while the earlier traditions of the eighteen "schools" (nikaya) resisted the authority of the Mahayana and continued to elaborate the fundamental concepts of Buddhist thought.
Bhāviveka’s "Verses on the Heart of the Middle Way" (Madhyamakahṛdayakārikā) with their commentary, known as "The Flame of Reason" (Tarkajvālā), give a unique and authoritative account of the intellectual differences that stirred the Buddhist community in this creative period.
Bhāviveka and His Buddhist Opponents gives a clear and accessible translation of Chapters 4 and 5 of this text: the chapters on the Śrāvakas, or eighteen schools, and the Yogācāra, Bhāviveka’s most important Mahayana opponents. The translation is introduced by an essay that situates Bhāviveka in the intellectual context of sixth-century India, and it is accompanied by copious notes, commenting on Bhāviveka’s sources and explaining his controversial method. The book also contains a critical edition of the Sanskrit text of Bhāviveka’s verses and the Tibetan translation of the verses and commentary. (Source: Harvard University Press)1 A topic of
Bhāviveka (ca. 500–560 CE) lived at a time of unusual creativity and ferment in the history of Indian Buddhist philosophy. The Mahayana movement was emerging as a vigorous and self-conscious intellectual force, while the earlier traditions of the eighteen "schools" (nikaya) resisted the authority of the Mahayana and continued to elaborate the fundamental concepts of Buddhist thought.
Bhāviveka’s "Verses on the Heart of the Middle Way" (Madhyamakahṛdayakārikā) with their commentary, known as "The Flame of Reason" (Tarkajvālā), give a unique and authoritative account of the intellectual differences that stirred the Buddhist community in this creative period.
Bhāviveka and His Buddhist Opponents gives a clear and accessible translation of Chapters 4 and 5 of this text: the chapters on the Śrāvakas, or eighteen schools, and the Yogācāra, Bhāviveka’s most important Mahayana opponents. The translation is introduced by an essay that situates Bhāviveka in the intellectual context of sixth-century India, and it is accompanied by copious notes, commenting on Bhāviveka’s sources and explaining his controversial method. The book also contains a critical edition of the Sanskrit text of Bhāviveka’s verses and the Tibetan translation of the verses and commentary. (Source: Harvard University Press)
