More than twenty-five centuries ago, the Buddha explained suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the paths leading to its cessation to four ascetics at Varanasi. From this simple beginning, his teaching unfolded and gave birth to a tradition of practice, discussion, and composition. In texts such as Maitreya's Ornament for Clear Realization (abhisamayalamkara), the message of an alternative to cyclic existence (khor ba, samsara) was woven into a rich exposition of the Buddhist journey and the attainments that follow from practice of the Buddhadharma. Later, as one aspect of Tibet's entry into the enormous wealth of the Buddhist tradition, Tibetan scholars carefully analyzed the Indian texts and composed original treatises in which they accounted systematically for the paths (lam, marga) and fruits ('bras bu, phala) set forth by the various Indian texts and schools.
This dissertation is based upon two such Tibetan treatises and upon oral explanations of their meaning given by contemporary Tibetan scholars. The principal text, written from the standpoint of the Middle Way Consequence School (dbu ma thal 'gyur pa, prasangikamadhyamika), was composed by the twentieth century Mongolian scholar Lo-sang-da-yang (blo bzang rta dbyangs, 1867-1937). The secondary text, written from the standpoint of the Yogic Practice Middle Way Autonomy School (rnal 'byor spyod pa'i dbu ma rang rgyud pa), was composed by the eighteenth century Tibetan scholar Gon-chok-jik-may-wang-bo (dkon mchog 'jigs med dbang po, 1728-1791). A translation of Lo-sang-da-yang's text is included within this study and is preceded by an analysis that is intended to set this material in context, explicate it, and thereby portray a living system of study and practice.
