To show how the illustrious ones will not pass into final nirvana when seeing the great variety of suffering that befalls the world, and how by virtue of this compassion they forgo the state of transcendence, it is said:

Illustrious One, you have compassion for this world that garners pain
And evil when unwisely thinking entities are real or not;
They’re born and pass away, they lose the pleasant, find unpleasant things –
Through love for them you spurn your peace, ignore your own transcendent state. (11.51)

Those who are unwise and have a strong belief in existence of things, thinking that the karmic causal relationships are real and that one can be born as a god or human, will certainly end up suffering birth and death, and experience the pain of being separated from pleasant things and meeting with the unpleasant. And when insisting on their mistaken ideas and believing that things are non-existent, their evil ways will take them to the states of hell and so forth, as well as suffering the above mentioned consequences. When in their compassion the illustrious buddhas see the suffering of beings, they will dismiss nirvana and instead remain.

The bhikshu Chandrakirti’s way
Is based upon the Treatise on
The Middle Way, conforming to
The scriptures and direct advice. (11.52)

Just as no other source presents
This dharma in this accurate way,
The wise should recognise that what
Is found herein is quite unique. (11.53)

Just as there is no other treatise that presents the teachings on emptiness in such an unmistaken way as the Middle Way Treatise, I encourage the wise to assess whether such a presentation of emptiness, and the way of the arguments and replies presented here, can indeed be found in any other treatise. Understand thus that those who propose that what the tradition of the Sautrāntikas claim to be the ultimate is held to be the relative by the Middle Way, are speaking without fully understanding the essential points presented in the Middle Way Treatise. And those who consider that what the Vaibhāṣikas present as the ultimate is the relative according to the Middle Way, likewise do not understand the actual point of the Treatise. This is because it makes no sense for a supramundane dharma to be in harmony with worldly dharmas, and the wise will recognise how the present tradition is an extraordinary one.

Thus, as there are some who misunderstand the Master’s intention, and in failing to grasp the actual meaning are alarmed just by his words, rejecting this world-transcending teaching, this Entry Into the Middle Way was composed to show the true and unmistaken point of the Treatise:

Some, frightened by the oceanic tinge of Nagarjuna’s mind,
Have kept their distance to this wonderful tradition; but right now
The dew that makes his verses open like a waterlily’s buds
Have settled, and the hopes of Chandrakirti, Famous Moon, are met. (11.54)

‘But were not the venerable Vasubandhu, Dignaga, Dharmapāla and so forth, in the treatises they authored, alarmed just by his words, and did they not reject that this was a genuine presentation of interdependence?’

They did indeed say that.

So how should one understand this? To explain:

The scary depths of this reality presented here, is only grasped
By those with some experience – though learned, others will not comprehend.
Thus seeing them as self-devised traditions – those who claim there is a self,
Or any other groups – place not your trust in any other school but this. (11.55)

It can be seen how the misguided, who lacked the required impetus from the past to be drawn towards emptiness, could still make a connection with other philosophical traditions and be successful in ridding themselves of the afflictions related to the desire, form and formless realms, but not develop any interest in the ultimate reality of the Lord of Sages. In the same way, one should understand that, although these individuals surely possessed traits of great learning, they lacked the seed that could make them appreciate emptiness and did not therefore work towards an understanding of it. Still, even these days there are some who did put in place the conditions for an interest in emptiness in other lifetimes, and just through this influence appear to reach an understanding of the depths of emptiness, just through such an influence lose their trust in the veracity of misguided traditions and instead come to fathom emptiness. Thus, when seeing that these other traditions are simply their own creations, one should give up all fondness for any tradition that is not the Middle Way, just as one would for the traditions that promote a self. Don’t be impressed by the intellectual ways of other traditions – let only the authentic understanding of this very view of emptiness impress you.

May all the merit gathered from explaining Nāgārjuna’s way fill all of space,
Their intellects, a sky obscured by the afflictions, be lit up by autumn stars,
And as they catch the jewel from the cobra’s head, their minds, may the entire world
Thus come to understand reality and swiftly travel to sugatahood. (11.56)

This completes the Commentary to Entering the Middle Way, elucidating the profound and the vast, composed by the master Candrakīrti, an upholder of the supreme vehicle who possessed invincible wisdom and compassion, and who by milking the painted cow defeated clinging to true existence.

The quotes should be rendered as found in the sutras.
And any future translators should
Be conscientious and honest in making
The translation comply with the root text’s commentary.

This was translated from a Kashmiri manuscript by the Indian preceptor Tilaka Kalaśa and the translator Patsab Nyimadrak in the Ratnagupta temple in the Kashmiri city Anupama (Shrinagar) during the reign of the Kashmiri king Śrī Āryadeva. It was subsequently edited and finalised based on a manuscript from the eastern country of Aparānta by the Indian preceptor Kanakavarman and the same Tibetan translator in the Ramoche temple in Lhasa (Rasa). The length of the text is 11 2/3 bundles.

English translation by Fredrik Liland, 2019.