Nagarjuna's Vigrahavyavartani is an essential work of Madhyamaka Buddhist philosophical literature. Written in an accessible question-and-answer style, it contains Nagarjuna's replies to criticisms of his philosophy of the "Middle Way." The Vigrahavyavartani has been widely cited both in canonical literature and in recent scholarship; it has remained a central text in India, Tibet, China, and Japan, and has attracted the interest of greater and greater numbers of Western readers.In The Dispeller of Disputes, Jan Westerhoff offers a clear new translation of the Vigrahavyavartani, taking current philological research and all available editions into account, and adding his own insightful philosophical commentary on the text. Crucial manuscript material has been discovered since the earlier translations were written, and Westerhoff draws on this material to produce a study reflecting the most up-to-date research on this text. In his nuanced and incisive commentary, he explains Nagarjuna's arguments, grounds them in historical and textual scholarship, and explicitly connects them to contemporary philosophical concerns.

1 Introduction2 Text3 Commentary3.1 The status of the theory of emptiness3.1.1 The Madhyamaka dilemma3.1.2 The sound analogy3.1.3 The no-thesis view3.2 Epistemology3.2.1 Establishing the epistemic instruments3.2.2 The fire analogy3.2.3 The epistemic instruments as self-established3.2.4 Epistemic instruments and their objects3.2.5 The father-son analogy3.2.6 Summary3.3 Intrinsically good things3.4 Names without objects3.5 Extrinsic substances3.6 Negation and existence3.7 The mirage analogy3.8 Emptiness and reasons3.9 Negation and temporal relations3.10 ConclusionBibliography