Like Honey, Amidst Bees: Book Three: The Vipaśyanā Practices of Maitreya's Great Madhyamaka

The Vipaśyanā Practices of Maitreya's Great Madhyamaka is the final volume in a trilogy on the śamatha, bodhicitta, and vipaśyanā practices transmitted by the future Buddha Maitreya to Asaṅga-later known in Tibet as Great Madhyamaka (Shentong Madhyamaka). Great Madhyamaka emphasizes the ultimate nature of mind as luminous and self-aware, endowed with buddha-nature, while remaining empty of adventitious, conditioned phenomena. It unites classical Madhyamaka insight into emptiness with the third turning's emphasis on mind's intrinsic clarity.

Written for experienced practitioners and students of Buddhist philosophy, this book offers a detailed yet accessible guide to seeing experience clearly and uncovering the luminous wisdom at its core.

The book is divided into two parts. The first presents Maitreya's analysis of experience, exploring mind's natural luminosity, the sources of confusion, the role of conceptuality, and the precise meaning of "mind-only." It introduces the four yogas and explains how insight matures from conceptual understanding to direct realization.

The second part offers a practical manual of vipaśyanā, guiding readers through the rangtong and shentong views of emptiness, analytical and resting meditation, and a progression of practices structured around the three natures and Maitreya's four yogas. These practices reveal how the apparent divide between subject and object is constructed and empty, and culminate in resting within primordial awareness.

Drawing on classical Indian and Tibetan sources as well as contemporary Kagyu shentong interpretations, the book bridges careful reasoning and contemplative practice for readers drawn to a direct, experiential approach to mind, emptiness, and buddha nature.

Tim Addison entered the Buddhist path in 1990 and later trained as a monk at Gampo Abbey under Thrangu Rinpoche and Pema Ch鐰ron. He has studied, practiced, and taught widely, and since 2015 has lived in southern Germany, where he continues to practice and teach.