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Debate in Tibetan Buddhism

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buddhalovely:
The purpose for debate

A Tibetan monastery is the center for the teaching of the Buddha’s doctrine and a gathering place for those
seeking inward peace and spiritual growth. The central purposes of Tibetan monastic debate are to defeat
misconceptions, to establish the correct view, and to clear away objections to that view.  To these ends, with
great effort the monks of the Gelugpa Sect engage in debate diligently, seeking to learn well the words and
to understand fully the meaning of the Buddhist doctrine (dharma). Debate for the monks of Tibet is not
mere academics, but a way of using direct implications from the obvious in order to generate an inference of
the non-obvious state of phenomena.  The diligent debaters are seeking to understand the nature of reality
through careful analysis of the state of existence of ordinary phenomena, the bases of reality.
Although reasoning has an essential and irreplaceable place on the path to liberation, even so, the Gelugpas
place a tremendous emphasis on devotion.  When one visits a monastery, one sees that the main activity
there is prayer, not study and debate.  Indeed, the monks identify the limits of reasoning, for even this
essential component is to be transcended by the development of direct perception.  Reasoning itself and the
inference it produces are not the actual antidotes to cyclic existence.  Only direct realization of
selflessness—the wisdom realizing emptiness (sunyata)-- is able to eradicate the foe of ignorance. 

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