Expanding Wisdom and Compassion
Through Study and Contemplation
 

The Translation Project focuses on Tibetan expositions of Four Great Indian Books, together with a related theme of the Mind of Clear Light. The Four Great Indian books are essential Buddhist texts that form the basis of philosophical study and contemplation in Tibetan Monastic Colleges. They are Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations, Nāgārjuna’s Fundamental Treatise on the Middle Called "Wisdom," Chandrakīrti’s Supplement to (Nāgārjuna’s) "Treatise on the Middle," and Dharmakīrti’s Commentary on (Dignāga’s) "Compilation of Valid Cognition."

 

The Four Great Indian Books are taught through levels of Tibetan textbooks, exploring detailed issues through exposition and debate. Each Tibetan Monastic College has its preferred textbook author; UMA translations focus on Jam-yang-shay-pa (1648-1721) together with commentaries by the Mongolian author Ngag-wang-pal-dan (b. 1767) and others. To date UMA has published forty-five annotated translations of textbook literature in English and Chinese (free for downloading), including three translations of a treatise on the Mind of Clear Light by the Nying-ma scholar Mi-pam-gya-tsho (1846-1912).

 

UMA's publications offer a wide-ranging, researched, and explorative body of work about these indispensable repositories of Buddhist philosophical thought so profound that it becomes meditative contemplation of the nature of reality and a call to compassion. A feature of the Project is the usage of consistent vocabulary and format throughout the translations which enhances comprehension.p>

 

-- Jeffrey Hopkins

Recent Publications

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Categorized List of Books available
for free download