Tenth Sangye Nyenpa’s verbal pith instructions on the 8th Karmapa’s Shentong Madhyamaka

I am currently in the process of translating an ‘Empty-of Other’ (gzhan stong) commentary on Mahāmudrā, written by the 10^th Sangye Nyenpa Rinpoche, called Music of the Ultimate Sphere (Nges don dbying kyi rol mo).  In this text, Rinpoche explains how the Mahāmudrā  Aspiration Prayer of the 3^rd Karmapa is related to the ‘Empty-of-Other’ view.  In this contemporary commentary, the 8^th Karmapa Mikyo Dorje (Mi bskyod rdo rje (1507–1554), who was a devoted student of the 1^st Sangye Nyenpa Rinpoche, Tashi Paljor[i]) is cited as a proponent of the ‘Empty-of-Other’ view, which considering he composed one well-known text, The Lamp that Excellently Discerns the Proponents of Empty-of-Other Madhyamaka (dbu ma gzhan stong smra ba´i srol legs par phye ba´i sgron me)[ii] is undisputable.  However, some scholars have asserted that the 8^th Karmapa refutes or criticises this view in his other works, in particular, an extensive commentary he wrote on Madhyamaka.  In this short note I will briefly consider this intellectual speculation, in the context of direct verbal comments recently given by the 10^th Sangye Nyenpa Rinpoche. For the full note click here.