Maja Changchub Tsöndrü

Mabja Jangchub Tsöndrü (Tib. རྨ་བྱ་བྱང་ཆུབ་བརྩོན་འགྲུས་, Wyl. rma bya byang chub brtson 'grus, d. 1185) was an influential 12th century Tibetan Buddhist Madhyamaka scholar. He is known for his "Ornament of Reason", an important commentary on Nagarjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā.

Overview Mabja was a disciple of Kadampa scholars of Sangphu monastery such as Patsab Nyima Drak and Chapa Chökyi Seng-ge (1109-1169) as well as of the Indian Madhyamaka Jayānanda.

According to Adam C. Krug:"Mabja attempts to salvage Buddhist pramāṇa from the kind of categorical rejection leveled by Jayānanda and Patsab by maintaining a radical fallibilism with respect to the status of appearances. He rejects all notions that pramāṇas are related to their objects “by the force of fact” (Skt. vastubalapravṛtti, Tib. dngos po’i stobs zhugs), yet allows for a correct understanding of pramāṇas as relative truth (Skt. saṃvṛtisatya, Tib. kun rdzob bden pa) in light of their basis in a pre-analytic experience of dependent origination."

The Ornament of Reason, a commentary on Nagarjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā. The Appearance of Reality, Ornament to the Six Collections of Middle Way Reasoning. A series of root verses and a commentary on Madhyamaka reasoning. The work follows Jayānanda’s Logic Hammer (Skt. Tarkamudgara) in some respects. A Commentary on Candrakirti's Clear Words (Skt. Prasannapadā)

Influence Mabja's Madhyamaka scholarship was very influential on later Tibetan Madhyamikas like Longchenpa, Tsongkhapa, Gorampa, and Mikyö Dorje. All these figures read Mabja and responded to him in different ways, often drawing on his insights. In his Light Rays of the Authentic View, Gorampa even reproduces passages directly taken from Mabja’s Ornament of Reason (without mentioning his source).