A Study of Sv?tantrika represents an important contribution to our understanding of M?dhyamika philosophy in India and Tibet. The M?dhyamika is considered to have two subschools, Sv?tantrika and Pr?sa?gika. The Pr?sa?gika school of Candrak?rti is better known than Sv?tantrika, in part because the major Sv?tantrika texts are preserved only in Tibetan translation. The Sv?tantrikas, however, made important contributions to Buddhist philosophy in their expositions of the nature of reality, the role of reasoning in the process of enlightenment, and in their delineations of the paths to nirvana. The synthesis of Yog?c?ra and M?dhyamika philosophy by the Sv?tantrika master ??ntarak?ita represents the final development of Buddhist thought in India. In Tibet, Sv?tantrika was the first Indian Buddhist school to gain currency, prior to the translation of the works of Candrak?rti into Tibetan.
In preparing this Study of Sv?tantrika, Donald S. Lopez, Jr. consulted the major Indian works of the Sv?tantrikas, figures central to the development of Buddhist thought in India such as Bh?vaviveka, Jñ?nagarbha, ??ntarak?ita, and Kamala??la, and analyzed a number of Tibetan expositions of Sv?tantrika. The result is the most extensive examination of this influential school available in the West.
