A comprehensive and in-depth survey of the philosophical underpinnings of the Dalai Lama’s Geluk tradition written by one of the founding figures of Tibetan Buddhist studies in the West.

In this classic work of Buddhist studies scholarship, Jeffrey Hopkins—one of the world’s foremost scholar-practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism—offers a clear exposition of the Prasangika-Madhyamaka view of emptiness as presented in the Geluk tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. In bringing this remarkable and complex philosophy to life, he describes the meditational practices by which emptiness can be realized and shows throughout that, far from being merely abstract scholasticism, these classic teachings can be vivid and utterly practical.

Treating subjects ranging from the progressive path of meditation to the nature of emptiness and how it can be directly realized, this wide-ranging book guides the reader on an itinerary of intellectual and spiritual discovery, unpacking the distinctive Geluk synthesis of scholastic and meditative practices. The first study in any Western language to provide a comprehensive treatment of the doctrines and practices of a Tibetan Buddhist school, this book is indispensable for those wishing to delve deeply into Buddhist thought and its practical relevance.

About The Author

Jeffrey Hopkins

Jeffrey Hopkins was Professor Emeritus of Tibetan Buddhist Studies at the University of Virginia, where he taught Tibetan studies and Tibetan language for more than thirty years. He received a BA magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1963, trained for five years at the Lamaist Buddhist Monastery of America (now the Tibetan Buddhist Learning Center) in New Jersey, and received a PhD in Buddhist Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1973. From 1979 to 1989 he served as His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s chief interpreter into English on lecture tours in the U.S., Canada, Southeast Asia, Great Britain, and Switzerland. He published more than fifty books, including Meditation on Emptiness, a seminal work of English language scholarship on Tibetan Madhyamaka thought, as well as translations of works by Tsongkhapa, Dolpopa, and His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. At the University of Virginia he founded programs in Buddhist Studies and Tibetan Studies and served as Director of the Center for South Asian Studies for twelve years. Jeffrey passed away on July 3, 2024.

Product Details

Publisher: Wisdom Publications (March 4, 2025)
Length: 1056 pages
ISBN13: 9781614299134

Raves and Reviews

“I am particularly impressed by Jeffrey Hopkins’s thoroughness, meticulous attention, and loyalty to the original Tibetan sources in his translations. For this reason, I am able to very strongly recommend Professor Hopkins’s books to those who seek English materials on sophisticated topics, such as emptiness, precisely because of their faithfulness to the original Tibetan. I highly and unhesitatingly recommend this book for all those who are seeking not only excellent scholarship but also actual meditation practice on emptiness in its complete form.”

– Geshe Dorji Damdul, director, Tibet House, Cultural Center of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, New Delhi

"Since Meditation on Emptiness was first published in 1983 it has become one of the great classics of the academic study of Buddhism, initiating an extensive literature on Tibetan Madhyamaka in North America. A work of incredible breadth and depth, few subsequent works on the subject can be said to equal it in scope. This second revised edition, with a new introduction by Professor Don Lopez, makes Jeffrey Hopkins's work even more accessible. Forty years after its first edition, Meditation on Emptiness remains an invaluable source both for the specialist and the novice."

– José Ignacio Cabezon, Dalai Lama Professor Emeritus, University of California Santa Barbara

“Jeffrey Hopkins’s Meditation on Emptiness was an unprecedented achievement when it appeared fifty years ago. It set a compelling benchmark for meticulous, Tibetan-sourced scholarship, and remains an unparalleled compendium of key reflections on emptiness. Hopkins brings readers into direct contact with core Indian texts and, most especially, with the vaunted Geluk discourse that developed from them. What we find here are the guidelines of a living tradition that nourishes both philosophical and spiritual endeavoring.”

– Anne Carolyn Klein, Rice University and Dawn Mountain, author of Knowledge and Liberation and Being Human and a Buddha Too

“This is a new edition of one of the foundational works explaining Tibetan Madhyamaka philosophy to a Western audience, a must-read for those who want to go deeper into the rich Tibetan philosophical tradition, which undergirds the Tibetan interpretations of Indian Buddhism.”

– Georges B. J. Dreyfus, PhD, geshe lharamapa, professor of religion, Williams College