Analysis of the Abhisamayalamkara

The Abhisamayalamkara is the text used in the Tibetan monastic curriculum to teach the path to Buddhahood. The Indian teacher Asanga requested the future Buddha Maitreya to systematize the teachings on the path from the large and diffuse Prajna-paramita Sutras, and this book is the result. It is a concise outline work, so it is studied in Tibet with the help of commentaries and study manuals.

Obermiller studied this text in the traditional way with Tibetan teachers. After first publishing a summary of it, here he undertook a full explanation of it according to the commentarial tradition. Unfortunately, he died before it could be finished, and the present book covers about three fifths of the whole. Despite the growth of Tibetan Buddhist studies in the West since his time, this work remains unparalleled. It is indispensable for the serious student.