Understanding MAdhyamaka - 3

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Some objections against shUnyatA answered

 

Objection : If everything is shUnya, then why did the Buddha teach

the doctrine of the self, no-self, momentariness, atomism,

dependent orgination etc?

 

Answer : Like a skillful doctor who administers weak or strong

medicine to patients based on the seriousness of the affliction, the

Buddha too taught doctrines based on the intellectual capabilities

of the students.

 

Objection : If everything is empty, shUnyatA too is empty.

 

Answer : As a person in a dream cannot negate the dream as false

during the dream, the phenomenal world too cannot be negated by its

own logic. ShUnya is not mere negation, but the relativity of all

phenomena. Phenomena are neither real nor unreal. It is not real

because it is ultimately unintelligible. But that doesn't mean it

is unreal - for that is what is.

 

Objection : ShUnyavAda has no pramAna to establish itself.

 

Answer : The validity of pramAnas (means of knowledge) themselves

cannot be established. Like fire which cannot burn itself, a

pramAna cannot prove itself. A PramAna cannot be established by

another pramAna, for that would mean infinite regress (ie the pramAna

which acted as the basis of proof would itself need another pramAna

as proof for its own existence, which itself would need another

pramAna and so on). A pramAna cannot be proved by an object of

congnition (prameya), for that itself depends on the pramAna for

proof of existence! So the validity of pramAnas can be established

neither in itself, nor by other pramAnas nor by prameyas nor by

accident.

 

Objection : shUnyatA is nihilism.

 

Answer : NAgArjuna repeatedly warns that shUnyatA should not be

made an end in itself. According to him nihilism leads to hell

and it is better even to uphold a view of an eternal Self than

nihilism. ShUnyatA is just a tool to raise one to a higher

level of philosophical consciousness, after which it should be

abandoned. In this context Chandrakiirti quotes the RatnakUta

SUtra to the effect that a purgative taken for constipation,

should after cleaning the stomach should itself also come out.

If misunderstood, like a snake wrongly caught, shUnyatA will

destroy the aspirant. Chandrakiirti says that knowing that

shUnyatA cannot be easily grasped, the Buddha just after his

enlightenment became silent and uninclined towards teaching.

 

The misunderstanding of shUnyatA as nihilism is mainly due to

interpreting the MAdhyamaka dialectic from an ontological standpoint.

NAgArjuna doesn't say that a hard rock is empty in its physical sense.

One has to just try to punch through it to know that's not what he

means :-) NAgArjuna is arguing from an epistemological standpoint i.e,

from the stand point of knowledge. He only says what we know as a rock

is only a conditioned concept and is ultimately empty, because it

doesn't reveal to us the true nature of the object.

 

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Dear Nandaji:

 

Just wanted to thank you for sharing such educative articles with us. They

are really informative. I deeply appreciate for your time and presentation.

Thank you.

 

Yours,

Madhava