The Madhyāntavibhāgakārikā (Chinese: 辯中邊論頌; pinyin: Biàn zhōng biān lùn sòng), or Verses Distinguishing the Middle and the Extremes is a key work in Buddhist philosophy of the Yogacara school attributed in the Tibetan tradition to Maitreya-nātha and in other traditions to Asanga.
Text
The Madhyānta-vibhāga-kārikā consists of 112 verses (kārikā) which delineate the distinctions (vibhāga) and relationship between the middle (madhya) view and the extremes (anta); it contains five chapters: Attributes (laksana), Obscurations (āvarana), Reality (tattva), Cultivation of Antidotes (pratipakṣa-bhāvanā) and the Supreme Way (yānānuttarya). Along with Chinese, Tibetan and Mongolian translations, the text survives in a single Sanskrit manuscript discovered in Tibet by the Indian Buddhologist and explorer, Rahul Sankrityayan. The Sanskrit version also included a commentary (bhāsya) by Vasubandhu. An important sub-commentary (tīkā) by Sthiramati also survives in Sanskrit as well as a Tibetan version.
Editions and translations
A Sanskrit edition was prepared by Gadjin M. Nagao in 1964.[1] The Madhyāntavibhāga-kārikā has been translated into English at least nine times, often with the Indian commentaries, in the following volumes:
Madhyāntavibhāga-ṭikā: An Analysis of the Middle Path and the Extremes by David Lasar Friedmann. Rijksuniversiteit te Leiden. 1937
A Buddhist Doctrine of Experience: A New Translation and Interpretation of the Works of Vasubandhu the Yogacarin by Thomas Kochumuttom. Motilal Banarsidass. Delhi: 1982.
Seven Works of Vasubandhu by Stefan Anacker. Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi: 1984
The Principles of Buddhist Psychology by David J. Kalupahana. State University of New York Press. Albany: 1987
A Study of the Madhyāntavibhāga-bhāṣya-ṭikā by Richard Stanley. Doctoral dissertation, Australian National University, April, 1988
Mind Only: A Philosophical and Doctrinal Analysis of the Vijnanavada by Thomas E. Wood. University of Hawaii Press. 1991
Middle Beyond Extremes: Maitreya's Madhyantavibhaga with Commentaries by Khenpo Shenga and Ju Mipham by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee. Snow Lion Publications. Ithaca: 2007. ISBN1-55939-270-3
Distinguishing the Middle and the Extremes by Asaṅga, Commentary by Vasubandhu: Draft Translation with brief annotations. by John D. Dunne. Unpublished.
Maitreya's Distinguishing the Middle from the Extremes (Madhyāntavibhāga): Along with Vasubandhu's Commentary (Madhyāntavibhāga-Bhāṣya): A Study and Annotated Translation by D'Amato, Mario. New York, American Institute of Buddhist Studies 2012. ISBN9781935011057
Notes
^Gadjin M. Nagao (ed.), Madhyantavibhaga-bhasya, A Buddhist Philosophical Treatise Edited for the First Time from a Sanskrit Manuscript (Tokyo: Suzuki Research Foundation, 1964).
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