地點：印度 菩提加耶
時間：2008年12月17日 Wednesday 17th December, 2008
報導：Jo Gibson
攝影：Tashi Paljor

中觀被認為是非常困難的課程，然而每一天前來聽講的信眾確有增無減，看著大殿裡的一大群人，讓法王想起了一段有趣的故事。法王說，有一位到外國弘法的格西，教授了中道課程，第一天，有許多人前來聆聽 格西的說法，但隨著天數的增加，前來聽法的人數卻越來越少，到了課程的最後一天，那時格西發現只有他自己一個人在一間空房間裡說法。法王說，但這確定是不會發生在這裡的（眾笑）。
Madhyamika is noted as being a very difficult area of study, yet, each day, the number of people attending the teaching has grown, and this prompted His Holiness to tell a funny story. Looking around the large assembly hall at Tergar, he told how a Geshe had gone abroad to deliver a teaching on the Middle Way approach. The first day there was a good number of people present. The following day there were fewer, and this continued until the final day, when the Geshe found himself addressing an empty room. His Holiness concluded that this was definitely not the case at Tergar.

法王開始談到了聖天提婆的故事，法王比對了漢譯和藏譯版本有關提婆論師的傳記。提婆論師最著名的就是他的《中觀四百論》和他與外道辯論的技巧。根據傳記，提婆來自於斯里蘭卡的皇室家族，但也有其實書 中說，他出生在南印度。提婆於南印度跟隨龍樹菩薩學習，並成為了龍樹菩薩的親傳弟子。
Gyalwang Karmapa began by relating the life of Aryadeva, comparing the Chinese and Tibetan versions of his life story. Aryadeva is famous for his “400 Verses”, and for his skills in debating with non-Buddhists. According to some sources, he came from a royal family in Sri Lanka, studied with Nagarjuna in South India, and became his direct disciple.

在課程正文中，法王返回昨天的討論主題，關於中觀應成學派的辯論方式，是不立主張只依於他人觀點而做回應承許。法王再次強調，這樣的不立主張並不是意指中觀師真正接受了他宗的觀點見解，中觀師依照他 人的主張言說，主要是為了辯論的目的。法王也說到中觀師的依他主張，而其對象有三種觀察的不同：不做觀察、做部份觀察和做圓滿的觀察。
His Holiness then returned to the previous day’s discussion of what it means when the Middle Way school says it does not make any assertions of its own while making assertions in others’ frames of reference . He emphasized again that it does not mean the Middle Way school adopts the view of the other school. It was important to recognize that accepting others’ assertions for the sake of argument did not mean accepting their views per se. As to the question of what is meant by ‘self’ and ‘other’, the ‘other’ referred to was not as we normally understand ‘other,’ but referred to one who is not in the state of meditative equipoise i.e. someone in the post meditative state. There were three phases of others’ frame of reference: no analysis, partial analysis, complete analysis.

另外，法王也說到，他是如何發現在自己的生活中實修『無我』的利益，因為這樣不只可以降低驕慢，也可以消除對自宗教派的執著。盲目執著自宗教派是危險的，因為它可能導致因偏見而產生的許多問題，就如 同我們所看到的在二十一世紀中所發生的那些事。是否成為一位佛教徒並不是很重要的，法王說到，在世界上仍有許多來自其它不同宗教傳統的人們，他們也從事了很多的善法，因此以是否成為佛教徒來評論他人是不 好的。
He explained how he had found it useful in his own life to remember “I have no assertions”, because, not only did this lead to a decrease in pride, it also reduced clinging to one’s own religion or sect. Such clinging was dangerous because it could lead to prejudice and many problems, as witnessed by events in the 21st century. In the end, it was not being a Buddhist which was so important, but what we do. There were people from many different religious traditions who were doing good in the world, and it was not good to criticize people for not being Buddhist.

關於藏傳佛教，它已發展為四個主要宗派，但重點是要記住他們的共同性而非差異性：所有學習中道的人也會修持戒律和金剛乘的法教。
With reference to Tibetan Buddhism, it had developed into four schools, but the important thing to remember was their commonality not their differences: all studied the Middle Way approach, all practised the Vinaya, and all followed a Vajrayana practice.