The first stanza of the first chapter of Nāgārjuna’s Fundamental Treatise on the Middle Called “Wisdom” is:

Not from self, not from others,
Not from both, not causelessly
Do any things
Ever arise anywhere.

Uncharacteristically, Nāgārjuna says nothing more about the first leg of this reasoning—that things are not produced from self. He immediately proceeds to the reasoning proving that things are not produced from other by examining the four types of conditions. His principal Indian commentators, however, explain the refutation of production from self in varying
detail, the differences engendering the split between what came to be called the Autonomy School and the Consequence School.
Buddhapālita’s commentary on the refutation of production from self provoked Bhāvaviveka into extensive criticism and hence into a demonstration of his own preferred style of commentary. The present book provides two Tibetan explanations of the controversy, shorter and longer, by the Tibetan scholar Jam-yang-zhay-pa Ngag-wang-tsön-
drü. Included also are translations of Buddhapālita’s and Bhāvaviveka’s commentaries as well as the first translation into English of Avalokitavrata’s extensive Bhāvaviveka’s
presentation, his minute examination allowing Bhāvaviveka’s terse text to be seen in high relief. Bhāvaviveka’s argument is seen as it could not be otherwise.
This complex topic is used in Tibetan monastic colleges to draw students into fascinating reflections about how phenomena appear and thereby to explore the nature of the reality behind appearances.