Introduction to Emptiness: As Taught in Tsong-kha-pa's Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path [Paperback]

Readers are hard-pressed to find books that can help them understand the central concept in Mahayana Buddhism—the idea that ultimate reality is emptiness. In clear language, Introduction to Emptiness explains that emptiness is not a mystical sort of nothingness, but a specific truth that can and must be understood through calm and careful reflection. Newland's contemporary examples and vivid anecdotes will help readers understand this core concept as presented in one of the great classic texts of the Tibetan tradition, Tsong-kha-pa's Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment. This new edition includes quintessential points for each chapter. Written with illumination from a terrific scholar. —Jeffrey Hopkins, author of A Truthful Heart 

This magnificent, readable, and thoroughly engaging work is a modern classic in the making. It invites new practitioners and learned scholars alike to look afresh at the dazzling array of teachings from one of the greatest figures in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. —Anne Carolyn Klein , author of Meeting the Great Bliss Queen and Unbounded Wholeness

Introduction to Emptiness is a marvelously clear, marvelously precise exposition of Tsong-kha-pa's understanding of emptiness and of the two truths as presented by Nagarjuna and Chandrakirti. . . . While the exposition is rich in technical detail and textual reference, it is absolutely accessible to the beginning student. It will be required reading in my Buddhist philosophy courses. —Jay L. Garfield, author of Ocean of Reasoning and Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way

Understanding emptiness is the key to the most important aspects of Buddhism—wisdom, compassion, tantra—but is difficult to lcJ