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Jacob D. Fisher

2 papers in the library · 2 citations · publishing 2025-2026

Papers

The Tibetan Traditions of Guides to the Madhyamaka View (dbu ma’i lta khrid): The Schooling of View with Meditation

Journal of Indian Philosophy March 14, 2025 Jacob D. Fisher 2 citations

Madhyamaka philosophy is inseparable from meditative practice. While traditional Indian and Tibetan scholarship has always understood Madhyamaka as a meditative tradition, contemporary interpretations often treat it as a purely theoretical or metaphysical system. This paper argues that the Madhyamaka insight into emptiness (śūnyatā) is unique and therefore requires a distinct method of meditative cultivation (bhāvanā). To demonstrate this, it surveys the Tibetan genre of dbu ma'i lta khrid (Guides to the Madhyamaka View), examining works by Réndawa, Tsongkhapa, Baso Chökyi Gyeltsen, Shakya Chokden, Jamyang Zhépa, and Ju Mipham. These texts provide specific meditative instructions for embodying different interpretations of Madhyamaka, revealing a Madhyamaka phenomenology and extending the methodology for interpreting this tradition.

Saying nothing is sometimes better than saying something: Candrakīrti's non-analysis as a meditative technique

British Journal for the History of Philosophy May 5, 2026 Jacob D. Fisher

Candrakīrti's use of 'non-analysis' (avicāra) serves both as a philosophical method to protect conventional reality and as embedded meditative guidance for contemplative realization. His arguments function as techniques to gradually pacify conceptual proliferation (prapañca), moving from analytical refutations of intrinsic existence (svabhāva) toward a state beyond all philosophical positions—the 'noble silence' of realized practitioners. This reading resolves the paradox of Nāgārjuna's rejection of theses while systematically deploying them, showing that Candrakīrti's analytical sophistication lies in bridging polemics and meditative insight.