Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
The text, known as the Madhyamaṣaṭka or The Sixfold Middle Way, aims to describe a specific state of cognitive liberation. It posits the existence of a momentary cognition that transcends the four extremes, suggesting a state of awareness that is neither existent nor non-existent, neither one nor many. The author argues that this state is characterized by an absence of conceptual construction and is devoid of a distinct object of observation. By positioning this cognition outside the reach of conceptual proliferation, the text commits the reader to a non-dual understanding of emptiness where the distinction between the observing subject and the observed object is collapsed. The fragment indicates a focus on the immediate, experiential nature of liberation rather than a purely theoretical or dialectical analysis of emptiness.
Provenance
About this text
Defining a state of cognitive liberation, the Madhyamaṣaṭka, or The Sixfold Middle Way, is a treatise belonging to the General Unexcelled Yoga Tantra Works. The work is attributed to the Indian author Maitrīpa. It entered the Tibetan tradition through the efforts of the translators Vajrapāṇi and nags tsho, and is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཝི, where it extends to one page. The text argues for the existence of a momentary cognition completely liberated from the four extremes, characterized by an absence of conceptual construction and a lack of an object of observation. By positioning this cognition beyond the reach of conceptual proliferation, the work enacts a non-dual understanding of emptiness that collapses the distinction between the observing subject and the observed object. A scholar or serious reader consults this work today to examine its focus on the immediate, experiential nature of liberation, which prioritizes direct realization over purely theoretical or dialectical analyses of emptiness.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “The Six Verses on the Middle Way” (Toh 2230), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2230
Summary & commentary
Significance
This work is significant for its attempt to articulate the precise nature of the non-conceptual realization of emptiness. It provides a bridge between the philosophical negation of the Middle Way and the phenomenological experience of liberation.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Introduction and First Verse
The text provides its Indian and Tibetan titles, offers homage to the Buddha, and introduces the concept of a momentary cognition liberated from the four extremes.
Themes
The Four Extremes (1)
Non-conceptual Cognition (1)
Emptiness (1)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
In the language of India: Madhyamaṣaṭka. In the language of Tibet: dBu ma drug pa (The Sixfold Middle Way). Homage to the Buddha!
There is a momentary cognition that is completely liberated from the four extremes; it is empty of conceptual construction and without an object of observation. This should be understood as the position of those who propound that [cognition] possesses aspects.
Self-awareness is not annihilated; it appears as blue and so forth. Since it is not produced by way of its own characteristics, it is asserted as the path of the Madhyamaka.
Clarity that is liberated from the four extremes has the characteristic of being false. Like an illusion, it is non-dual; this is the philosophical system endowed with valid cognition.
Whatever awareness is the emptiness of entities, which is without appearance and without obscuration—that itself is the path of the Madhyamaka, the pure conventional of the post-meditative state.
Whether it is clear or not clear, that very [clarity] cannot be observed. Its nature is unproduced in every respect; others assert this to be the Madhyamaka.
Clarity liberated from the four extremes, possessing the nature of the deity, is the supreme non-dual reality, the very essence of dependent origination.
This concludes "The Sixfold Middle Way," composed by the learned master Maitrīpa. Translated by the guru Vajrapāṇi and Nagtsho.
Translation status: Not among 84000's published translations. A bibliography of the canon lists 2 English-language publication(s) on this text, e.g. Pathak, Suniti Kumar, ″The Madhyamasatka of Metri″ (1961). Adyar Library Bulletin ser. 2 vol. 25:539--549; texts p. 546-548, tr. p. 548-549 — these may include a full or partial translation. (source: 84000 catalogue + registry; checked 2026-11-10).
Set in Newsreader and EB Garamond; Tibetan in Noto Serif Tibetan; Chinese in Noto Serif SC.