Unsaying the Two Truths: A Translation, Critical Edition, and Introduction to Two Madhyamaka Texts by Karmapa VIII Mikyö Dorje (1507-1554)

This dissertation is comprised of a translation, critical edition, and introduction to two Madhyamaka ('Middle Way') philosophical works by Karmapa VIII, Mikyö Dorje (Karma pa Mi bskyod rdo rje, 1507-1554), hierarch of the Tibetan Buddhist Karma Kagyü (Karma Bka' brgyud) monastic order. Those works, whose main polemical target is Tsongkhapa Lozang Drakpa (Tsong kha pa Blo bzang grags pa, 1357-1419), progenitor of the Dalai Lama's Gelukpa (Dge lugs pa) order, present worldly reality as being so tainted by erroneous conceptuality that it is unknowable, with Buddhist enlightenment being the complete cessation of all appearances since they are merely the product of delusion. This view is in stark contrast to the metaphysics and epistemology of Tsongkhapa, who considers phenomena to be knowable conventionally even if, ultimately, they lack any intrinsic nature. As such, the debate implicates such questions as what we can know for sure about the world, how this knowledge (or lack thereof) grounds our ethical decision making, and even how we establish hierarchies of authority. The Madhyamaka texts on which my dissertation is focused, The Praise to Dependent Arising (Rten 'brel bstod pa) together with its autocommentary and The Glorious Song of Delight on the Unerring Single Way (Tshul tshul gcig pa'i nges don 'khrul bral gyi glu dpal dbyangs can dga' ba), have not previously been translated or studied academically and were likely among the large tranche of texts banned by the government of Dalai Lama V, Ngawang Lozang Gyatso (Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, 1617-1682). As I argue in my introduction to the texts, Mikyö Dorje follows a hermeneutically conservative tradition that takes a philosophically radical approach to reality, while Tsongkhapa's less conservative interpretation of Buddhist scripture follows a strain of moderate realism. While mainstream narratives portray Tsongkhapa's view as the "central philosophy of Tibet," the force of Mikyö Dorje's compelling critique of that view, which largely went unanswered by scholars of the Gelukpa hegemony, suggests Tsongkhapa was more a politico-historical winner than a philosophical one. The dissertation thus centers one of the most important yet under-studied interpretations of Madhyamaka, offering a set of translations, critical editions, and intellectual-historical context in addition to explaining the motivations and justifications of Mikyö Dorje's liberation-oriented Buddhist philosophical view.