Mādhyamaka (Sanskrit: मध्यमक, Mādhyamaka, Chinese: 中觀派; pinyin: Zhōngguān Pài; also known as Śunyavada) refers primarily to a Mahāyāna Buddhist school of philosophy founded by Nagarjuna. According to Madhyamaka all phenomena are empty of "substance" or "essence" (Sanskrit: svabhāva) because they are dependently co-arisen. Likewise it is because they are dependently co-arisen that they have no intrinsic, independent reality of their own.

The Madhyamaka school was founded by Nagarjuna, though it may have existed earlier.

The Madhyamaka school is regarded as a reaction against the development of the Abhidhamma, especially the Sarvastivadin. In the abhidhamma, the understanding of anatman is developed by analysing phenomena into single dhammas, "each with an inherent 'own-nature'". By doing so, the Abhidhamma analysis constituted independent existing 'things', contrary to the Buddha's teachings on the middle way.

The critique against this substantialist thinking is also worded in the Prajnaparamita sutras, which originated from the first century AD on. According to tradition, Nagarjuna retrieved the Mahaprajnaparamita Sutra from the realm of nāgas, though actual reference to Mahayana sutras seems to be scarce in his works. Nevertheless, traditionally Mādhyamaka is regarded as a source of methods for approaching prajnaparamita, or "perfection of wisdom".

Jan Westerhoff is a philosopher and orientalist with specific interests in metaphysics and the philosophy of language. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge and SOAS. At present he is a Reader in Philosophy at the University of Durham as well Research Associate at SOAS. For two years he was Research Fellow in Philosophy at the City University of New York and seminar associate at Columbia University. Before that he was a Junior Lecturer in philosophy at the University of Oxford.

He is a specialist in metaphysics and Indo-Tibetan philosophy. His research interests also include the history of ideas in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Guy Martin Newland (born 1955) is a scholar of Tibetan Buddhism who has been a professor at Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, Michigan since 1988. He served as Chairperson of Central Michigan University's Department of Philosophy and Religion during the periods 2000-2003 and 2006-2009. He was elected to the Mount Pleasant Board of Education in July 2003 and served until December 2007, including six months as President of the Board and one year as Secretary.

A former student of Jeffrey Hopkins, Newland has authored, translated, and edited a number of publications on Tibetan Buddhism, including:

Introduction to Emptiness: As Taught in Tsong-kha-pa's Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path. Snow Lion: 2008.

The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, Volume 2, by Tsong-kha-pa. Translated by the Lamrim Chenmo Translation Committee; Joshua W.C. Cutler, Editor-in-Chief, Guy Newland, Editor. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion, 2004.

The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, Volume 3, by Tsong-kha-pa. Translated by the Lamrim Chenmo Translation Committee; Joshua W.C. Cutler, Editor-in-Chief, Guy Newland, Editor. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion, 2002.

"A Whiter Shade of Pale" is the debut song by the British band Procol Harum, released 12 May 1967. The single reached number one in the UK Singles Chart on 8 June 1967, and stayed there for six weeks. Without much promotion, it reached #5 on the US charts, as well. It is one of the fewer than 30 all-time singles to have sold 10 million (or more) copies worldwide.^{[citation needed]}

With its haunting Bach-flavoured instrumental melody, soulful vocals, and unusual lyrics—by the song's co-authors Gary Brooker, Keith Reid, and Matthew Fisher-- "A Whiter Shade of Pale" reached #1 in several countries when released in 1967. In the years since, it has become an enduring classic. It was the most played song in the last 75 years in public places in the UK (as of 2009), and the United Kingdom performing rights group Phonographic Performance Limited in 2004 recognised it as the most-played record by British broadcasting of the past 70 years. Also in 2004, Rolling Stone placed "A Whiter Shade of Pale" #57 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Lonnie Liston Smith, Jr. (born December 28, 1940 in Richmond, Virginia) is an American jazz, soul, and funk musician who played with notable free jazz artists such as Pharoah Sanders and Miles Davis before forming Lonnie Liston Smith And The Cosmic Echoes, recording a number of albums widely regarded as classics in the fusion / Quiet Storm / smooth jazz and acid jazz genres.

Lonnie was born into a musical family; his father was a member of Richmond Gospel music group The Harmonizing Four, and Lonnie remembers groups such as the Swan Silvertones and the Soul Stirrers (then featuring a young Sam Cooke) as regular visitors to the house when he was a child. He learned piano, tuba and trumpet in High School and College, graduating from Morgan State University, Baltimore with a Bachelor of Science degree in music education. He has since cited Charlie Parker, John Coltrane and Miles Davis as major influences on his youth. While still a teenager at College, Lonnie became well known locally as a backing vocalist as well as pianist, and played in the Baltimore area with a number of his contemporaries, including Gary Bartz (alto), Grachan Moncur (trombone), and Mickey Bass (bass). He also backed a number of jazz singers such as Betty Carter and Ethel Ennis when, soon after graduating, he began playing live with the house band at the Royal Theater, Baltimore.