Madhyāntavibhāga

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LibraryCommentariesMadhyāntavibhāga


मध्यान्तविभाग
Madhyāntavibhāga
དབུས་དང་མཐའ་རྣམ་པར་འབྱེད་པའི་ཚིག་ལེའུར་བྱས་པ།
dbus dang mtha' rnam par 'byed pa'i tshig le'ur byas pa
辯中邊論頌
Bian zhong bian lun song
Distinguishing the Middle from the Extremes
D4021   ·  T1601
SOURCE TEXT
In Sanskrit, “Differentiation of the Middle Way and the Extremes”; one of the Five Dharma Treatises of Maitreya (byams chos sde lnga) said to have been presented to Asaṅga by the bodhisattva Maitreya in the Tuṣita heaven. Written in verse, it is one of the most important Yogācāra delineations of the three natures (trisvabhāva), especially as they figure in the path to enlightenment, where the obstacles created by the imaginary (parikalpita) are overcome ultimately by the antidote of the consummate (pariniṣpanna). The “middle way” exposed here is that of the Yogācāra, and is different from that of Nāgārjuna, although the names of the two extremes to be avoided—the extreme of permanence (śāśvatānta) and the extreme of annihilation (ucchedānta)—are the same. Here the extreme of permanence is the existence of external objects, the imaginary nature (parikalpitasvabhāva). The extreme of annihilation would seem to include Nāgārjuna’s emptiness of intrinsic nature (svabhāva). The middle way entails upholding the existence of consciousness (vijñāna) as the dependent nature (paratantrasvabhāva) and the existence of the consummate nature (pariniṣpannasvabhāva). The work is divided into five chapters, which consider the three natures, the various forms of obstruction to be abandoned on the path, the ultimate truth according to Yogācāra, the means of cultivating the antidotes to the defilements, and the activity of the Mahāyāna path. (Source: The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, p. 489)
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Translations of This Text

Book
Maitreya's Distinguishing the Middle from the Extremes
Maitreyanātha’s Distinguishing the Middle from the Extremes (Madhyāntavibhāga) was transmitted to us by the noble Asaṅga, great saint and champion scholar of fourth century CE Indic Buddhism—along with Vasubandhu’s commentary on the text. It is one of the five seminal texts of what the Tibetans call the “magnificent deeds tradition of universal vehicle Buddhism, according to its spiritual focus and ethical impact. Its emphasis on the nondual, primarily mental nature of reality most powerfully supports the great messianic vow of the bodhisattva, the entry into the universal vehicle lifestyle. In his study introducing the translation, Dr. D’Amato analyzes and elucidates the teachings of this text and its associated school with great learning and insight. (Source: Tibet House)
D'Amato, Mario, trans. Maitreya's Distinguishing the Middle from the Extremes (Madhyāntavibhāga): Along with Vasubandhu's Commentary (Madhyāntavibhāga-bhāṣya); A Study and Annotated Translation. Treasury of the Buddhist Sciences. Tengyur Translation Initiative. New York: American Institute of Buddhist Studies, Columbia University's Center for Buddhist Studies and Tibet House US, 2012.
Book
Middle Beyond Extremes
Middle Beyond Extremes contains a translation of the Buddhist masterpiece Distinguishing the Middle from Extremes. This famed text, often referred to by its Sanskrit title, Madhyāntavibhāga, is part of a collection known as the Five Maitreya Teachings. Maitreya, the Buddha’s regent, is held to have entrusted these profound and vast instructions to the master Asaṅga in the heavenly realm of Tuṣita.

In pithy verses, Distinguishing the Middle from Extremes employs the principle of the three natures to explain the way things seem to be as well as the way they actually are. Unraveling the subtle processes that condition our thinking and experience, Maitreya’s teaching reveals a powerful path of compassionate vision and spiritual transformation.

Distinguishing the Middle from Extremes is presented here alongside commentaries by two outstanding masters of Tibet’s nonsectarian Rimé movement, Khenpo Shenga and Ju Mipham. (Source: Shambhala Publications)
Dharmachakra Translation Committee, trans. Middle Beyond Extremes: Maitreya's Madhyāntavibhāga with Commentaries by Khenpo Shenga (gzhan phan chos kyi snang ba) and Ju Mipham ('ju mi pham rgya mtsho). Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2006.

Recensions of This Text

Maitreya. Madhyāntavibhāga. (Distinguishing the Middle from the Extremes). Recension information:
Sanskrit मध्यान्तविभाग (madhyāntavibhāga).
  • Ārya Maitreya's Madhyānta-Vibhāga-Shāstra, with Extracts from Sthiramati's Tīkā. Edited by Sharma, Chandradhar. Jabalpur: Shrimate Shanti Sharma, 1963.
  • "Madhyāntavibhaṅga." Edited by Chatterjee, Ashok Kumar. In Readings on Yogācāra Buddhism, p. 9-24,39-40. 62-64. 69-74 Varanasi: Banares Hindu University, 1971.
  • Madhyānta-vibhāga-śāstram. Edited by Pandeya, Ram Chandra. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1971. Input by members of the Sanskrit Buddhist Canon Input Project. View on GRETIL: http://gretil.sub.uni-goettingen.de/gretil/1_sanskr/6_sastra/3_phil/buddh/bsa010_u.htm.
Tibetan དབུས་དང་མཐའ་རྣམ་པར་འབྱེད་པའི་ཚིག་ལེའུར་བྱས་པ། (dbus dang mtha' rnam par 'byed pa'i tshig le'ur byas pa). BCRD Link: http://databases.aibs.columbia.edu/index.php?id=878baea5cb17ca80aa4d58c02fcb65f3&enc=sanskrit_romanized_author&coll=tengyur.
  • Derge 4021, sems tsam, phi 40b1-45a6 (vol. 123), translated by Jinamitra, Śīlendrabodhi, and Ye shes sde.
  • Also appears in Q 5522, sems tsam, phi 43b4-48b1 (vol.108, p.19-21); N 4290, sems tsam, phi 38a2-42a6 (vol. 132).
Chinese

Text Metadata

Other Titles ~ Madhyāntavibhaṅga
~ Madhyāntavibhaṅgakārikā
~ dbus mtha' rnam 'byed
Text exists in ~ Tibetan
~ Chinese
~ Korean
Canonical Genre ~ Tengyur · Sūtra · sems tsam · Cittamātra

This Text on Adarsha

This refers to a series of five texts that, according to the Tibetan tradition, Asaṅga received directly from Maitreya in the pure realm of Tuṣita. Tib. བྱམས་ཆོས་སྡེ་ལྔ་

This refers to a series of five texts that, according to the Tibetan tradition, Asaṅga received directly from Maitreya in the pure realm of Tuṣita. Tib. བྱམས་ཆོས་སྡེ་ལྔ་

Along with Madhyamaka, it was one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Asaṅga and Vasubandhu in the C. 4th Century, many of its central tenets have roots in the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra and the so-called Third Turning of the Dharma-Wheel (See tridharmacakrapravartana). Skt. योगाचार Tib. རྣལ་འབྱོར་སྤྱོད་པ་ Ch. 瑜伽行派

According to the Yogācāra school, all phenomena can be divided into three natures or characteristics: the imaginary nature parikalpitasvabhāva, the dependent nature paratantrasvabhāva, and the perfect or absolute nature pariniṣpannasvabhāva. Skt. त्रिस्वभाव Tib. རང་བཞིན་གསུམ་

According to the Yogācāra school, all phenomena can be divided into three natures or characteristics: the imaginary nature parikalpitasvabhāva, the dependent nature paratantrasvabhāva, and the perfect or absolute nature pariniṣpannasvabhāva. Skt. त्रिस्वभाव Tib. རང་བཞིན་གསུམ་

An antidote or remedy that contributes or supports the elimination or pacification of a particular ailment or affliction. Skt. प्रतिपक्ष Tib. གཉེན་པོ་ Ch. 對治

The first of the three natures, according to the Yogācāra school. It is the imaginary nature which is falsely projected onto an object out of confusion. Skt. परिकल्पितस्वभाव Tib. ཀུན་བཏགས་ཀྱི་རང་བཞིན་

The first of the three natures, according to the Yogācāra school. It is the imaginary nature which is falsely projected onto an object out of confusion. Skt. परिकल्पितस्वभाव Tib. ཀུན་བཏགས་ཀྱི་རང་བཞིན་

The nature or essence of a thing, which originates only from itself and is not dependent on any external entities, causes or conditions. Skt. स्वभाव Tib. རང་བཞིན་ Ch. 自性

The nature or essence of a thing, which originates only from itself and is not dependent on any external entities, causes or conditions. Skt. स्वभाव Tib. རང་བཞིན་ Ch. 自性

The second of the three natures, according to the Yogācāra school. It is the dependent nature that is used to describe the relationship between mind and its objects, though there is a clear emphasis on the latter. Hence, this nature is concerned with the nature of seemingly external objects that arise in dependence upon causes and conditions. Skt. परतन्त्रस्वभाव Tib. གཞན་དབང་གི་རང་བཞིན་

The second of the three natures, according to the Yogācāra school. It is the dependent nature that is used to describe the relationship between mind and its objects, though there is a clear emphasis on the latter. Hence, this nature is concerned with the nature of seemingly external objects that arise in dependence upon causes and conditions. Skt. परतन्त्रस्वभाव Tib. གཞན་དབང་གི་རང་བཞིན་

The third of the three natures, according to the Yogācāra school. It is the perfect nature which represents the most authentic understanding of phenomena, which is classically defined as the complete absence of the imaginary nature within the dependent nature. Skt. परिनिष्पन्नस्वभाव Tib. ཡོངས་སུ་གྲུབ་པའི་རང་བཞིན་

"Ultimate truth" or "absolute truth;" the reality of things as they truly are. Skt. परमार्थसत्य Tib. དོན་དམ་བདེན་པ་ Ch. 第一義諦,眞諦

Literally that which obscures or conceals. They are often listed as a set of two obscurations (sgrib gnyis): the afflictive emotional obscurations (Skt. kleśāvaraṇa, Tib. nyon mongs pa'i sgrib pa) and the cognitive obscurations (Skt. jñeyāvaraṇa, Tib. shes bya'i sgrib pa). By removing the first one becomes free of suffering and by removing the second one becomes omniscient. Skt. आवरण Tib. སྒྲིབ་པ་

The Buddhist Canons Research Database a project of the American Institute of Buddhist Studies (AIBS) and the Columbia University Center for Buddhist Studies (CCBS) http://databases.aibs.columbia.edu/

Though it is sometimes used synonymously with Yogācāra, it is in fact one of the more prominent philosophical theories associated with this school. It asserts that the objects in the external world with which we interact are actually mentally created representations appearing as those objects. The character of these perceptions is predetermined by our own karmic conditioning that is stored in the ālayavijñāna. Skt. चित्तमात्र Tib. སེམས་ཙམ་

Though it is sometimes used synonymously with Yogācāra, it is in fact one of the more prominent philosophical theories associated with this school. It asserts that the objects in the external world with which we interact are actually mentally created representations appearing as those objects. The character of these perceptions is predetermined by our own karmic conditioning that is stored in the ālayavijñāna. Skt. चित्तमात्र Tib. སེམས་ཙམ་

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