A Companion to Buddhist Philosophy

The culminating philosophy and practice for Buddhist traditions in Tibet is what is found in tantra, or Vajray ā na. Yet Tibet is unique in the Buddhist world in that it is a place where not only the traditions of tantra (for which it is widely known) are practiced, but where the epistemological traditions of valid cognition ( pram āṇ a ) and what came to be known as Pr ā sa ṅ gika-Madhyamaka also took root. It is hard to underestimate the signifi cance of this fact, and the enormous infl uence this convergence had upon the distinctive forms of philosophical and contemplative practices that fl ourished in this culture. In particular, the intersection of valid cognition (inspired by Dharmak ī rti) and Prā sa ṅ gika-Madhyamaka (inspired by Candrak ī rti) led to a vibrant philosophical tradition in Tibet. The deconstructive critiques of Madhyamaka and the systematic phenomenology of Yog ā c ā ra had already come to a synthesis in India, in the works of Śā ntarak ṣ ita in the eighth century. As one of the fi rst Buddhist scholars to visit Tibet, Śā ntarak ṣ ita was particularly infl uential in the early transmission of Buddhism in “the Land of Snow.” His tradition of Yog ā c ā ra-Madhyamaka – which presents the conventional truth in accord with Yog ā c ā ra and the ultimate truth in accord with the Madhyamaka – was a powerful synthesis that he brought to Tibet in the formative era of the assimilation of Buddhism there. The systematic philosophy of Yog ā c ā ra-Madhyamaka contrasts sharply with Prā sa ṅ gika-Madhyamaka. Candrak ī rti, who was renowned in Tibet as a proponent of Prā sa ṅ gika, had argued against central positions of Yog ā c ā ra, namely, that there could be minds without objects and that awareness was refl exive (self-aware) by nature. Since Candrak ī rti came to be widely accepted in Tibet as the defi nitive interpreter of N ā g ā rjuna after the twelfth century, Yog ā c ā ra, despite its importance, tended to take a back seat 6