The Ninth Karmapa Wangchuk Dorje

The Ninth Karmapa Wangchuk Dorje (1556–1603) was born in the Trewo region of eastern Tibet and is one of the most important figures of Tibetan Buddhism's Kagyü lineage. Most renowned for his powerful writings on the meditation system known as Mahāmudrā, he also played a vital role in ensuring the continuity of the Kagyü lineage's longstanding tradition of academic studies.

Tyler Dewar

Tyler Dewar is a student of the Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche and lives with his wife and daughter in Seattle, Washington. A founding member of the Nitartha Translation Network, he serves both as an oral and literary translator and as a teacher for Nalandabodhi, an international organization of Buddhist centers, and Nitartha Institute, an educational organization devoted to preserving and making accessible to the West the vibrant tradition of Buddhist intellectual studies.

"The Ninth Karmapa Wangchuk Dorje's succinct commentary on the Madhyamakāvatāra is one of the finest masterpieces of the Kagyü tradition. The remarkable translation by Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche and Tyler Dewar does superb justice to this text. This is the way an authentic translation should sound: a partnership of the pandit and the lotsawa both working with love of their mother tongues." —E. Gene Smith, author of Among Tibetan Texts and founder of the Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center

"Anyone wishing to understand the special teachings of Middle Way philosophy taught in the Kagyü tradition of Tibet should read The Karmapa's Middle Way. Tyler Dewar has spent many years studying this subject with several Kagyü masters. His intimate familiarity with the tradition's literature and history deeply informs his introduction and enriches his marvelous translation of Karmapa Wangchuk Dorje's Feast for the Fortunate. This book is an indispensable contribution to the study of Buddhist philosophy in Tibet." —Cyrus Stearns, author of Taking the Result as the Path and King of the Empty Plain

"It is important for our meditation to develop certainty in emptiness. In order to gain certainty, studying the Entrance to the Middle Way helps up completely comprehend the Prasangika view. The Eighth Karmapa Mikyö Dorje wrote an important and extensive commentary on the Entrance to the Middle Way called the Chariot of the Takpo Kagyü Siddhas. The Ninth Karmapa Wangchuk Dorje then distilled the key spiritual instruction of the Eighth Karmapa's text into this book. I think it is wonderful that his work is now available in English." —Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, author of Vivid Awareness

"Of all the philosophical traditions that claim to be the Middle Way, it is only the view of Nāgārjuna, the Middle Way tradition’s progenitor, that is universally accepted as the Middle Way. Chandrakīrti's Madhyamakāvatāra, moreover, is renowned in all four schools of Tibetan Buddhism as the supreme commentary on Nāgārjuna's approach to emptiness and is considered mandatory reading in all Tibetan Buddhist colleges. The Karmapa’s Middle Way is a presentation of the full text of the Madhyamakāvatāra along with an illuminating and at times controversial commentary by the Ninth Karmapa Wangchuk Dorje of Tibet’s Karma Kagyü lineage. By elucidating the intention of the Eighth Karmapa Mikyö Dorje’s Chariot of the Takpo Kagyü Siddhas, this book will provide a great contribution to the field of Middle Way studies and enlighten English language readers as to a unique and relatively unexplored presentation of the vital concept of emptiness." —Dzogchen Ponlop, author of Rebel Buddha