Chandrakirti Books
Destiny Olatunji
This list is given in order from 1 to 5. You can depart from this exact order, but I would recommend going through either (1) or (2) before tackling (3). Books (1) and (3) are experiential. I would recommend working your way closely through either one of them before reading either (4) or (5), as these latter two books require more familiarity with the emptiness teachings. But all of these books are extremely rewarding, and potentially life-changing.
This is the easiest book to understand of the five on our list. Even though it is by the Dalai Lama, this book is less doctrinaire, less filled with Buddhist details than the other four books. It also has meditative exercises for emptiness realization, as well as instructions for calming the mind. In the emptiness teachings, a calm mind is very helpful in realizing emptiness.
Overall, this is maybe the best single book to start with if you are new to a path of self-inquiry and wish to proceed with emptiness meditation. If you cannot find a teacher for this emptiness approach, then this book is even better because it takes you every step of the way.
This book is such a good first book on the emptiness teachings because it is written in everyday language, and it covers all the important points that one would need to get started, while not diminishing the transformational power of the emptiness teachings. The book does a particularly good job of showing how emptiness is not the same as utter nothingness, and how emptiness is not at all antithetical to conventional existence. In addition, this book discusses:
The first chapters are about Tibetan Buddhist history and doctrine, which will not interest every student. The more practical material begins on page 55. This book is particularly strong on why the realization of emptiness requires more than just quieting the mind. It explains why inference, analysis and insight are needed, but makes them easy. It also discusses a little about other paths, including Vedanta.
What I like very much about this book is that it links the Madhyamika approach to the anti-essentialism of Western thinkers such as Ludwig Wittgenstein, Jacques Derrida and Richard Rorty. This link gives the student a cross-cultural way to understand the emptiness teachings, and thereby broadens them significantly.
There are two more benefits to this influential and inspiring book. One benefit is the sustained insight that emptiness itself must be empty for it to do the soteriological work it is asked to do. The other benefit is the poetic, inspirational descriptions of the effects of emptiness meditation. It is almost as if you can savor the taste of emptiness from reading the text.
Candrakirti means something in Buddhism, Pali, Hinduism, Sanskrit, Jainism, Prakrit. If you want to know the exact meaning, history, etymology or English translation of this term then check out the descriptions on this page. Add your comment or reference to a book if you want to contribute to this summary article.
Vyakarana (व्यकरण, vyākaraṇa) refers to Sanskrit grammar and represents one of the six additional sciences (vedanga) to be studied along with the Vedas. Vyakarana concerns itself with the rules of Sanskrit grammar and linguistic analysis in order to establish the correct context of words and sentences.
Sanskrit, also spelled संस्कृतम् (saṃskṛtam), is an ancient language of India commonly seen as the grandmother of the Indo-European language family (even English!). Closely allied with Prakrit and Pali, Sanskrit is more exhaustive in both grammar and terms and has the most extensive collection of literature in the world, greatly surpassing its sister-languages Greek and Latin.
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