01 May The Middle Way: Faith Based on Reason
In this presentation, the Dalai Lama intends to expose the Middle Way - 'the way of the intelligent person' - which addresses all issues, including those relating to faith and devotion, in the spirit of critical inquiry, and seeks to do so without falling into traps of fixed ideas or extreme views. With stimulating emphasis, this teacher aims to link Tibetan Buddhism to its deep roots in the ancient scholastic tradition of Nalanda University and to the analytic teachings of Nagarjuna, an Indian master. As he explores Nagarjuna's Fundamental Stanzas on the Middle Way, the Dalai Lama seeks to clarify such topics as the nature of self and non-self, dependent origination, and the differentiated roles of relative and absolute truths. This book also includes an exploration of Tibetan Tsongkhapa's Three Main Aspects of the Path, with the aim of providing the reader with an opportunity to put these themes into practice.