Understanding MAdhyamaka - 4

[Guest guest]

NirvAna

 

So if everything is empty, then what's the use of understanding the

four noble truths and practicing virtue?

 

NAgArjuna says such a reading of shUnya is erroneous and will cause

harm than good. The Buddhas have preached shUnyatA in order to

enable us to rise above all the entangling categories of the

intellect. Those who take shUnyatA in the sense of a category of

intellect, in the sense of affirmation or negation or both or

neither are incorrigible, hopeless and are destined to doom.

 

The phenomenal world where things exist in dependence on one another

(pratItya samutpAda) is the relative truth - samvritti satyam (in

the ultimate sense even pratItya samutpAda is empty for it is

not fully intelligible). The ultimate truth is the paramArtha

satyam.

 

So what's paramArtha or nirvAna?

 

NirvAna cannot be equated with existence, for what existence do we know

of, other than the phenomenal one? NirvAna cannot be non-existence, for

that itself cannot be without existence and hence is caused and dependent.

It cannot be both existence and non-existence, for that would be like light

and darkness together. It cannot be neither existence nor non-existence, for

that would make it beyond our reach.

 

In this sense since it is beyond the reach of our intellect, like

samsAra, nirvAna too is shUnya. (But this is only in the epistemologial

sense and should not be confused as NAgArjuna's ontological position).

 

So what's nirvAna in its ontological sense?

 

"aparapratyayam shAntam prapanchairaprapanchitam nirvikalpam anAnArtham

etat tattvasya lakshanam" - the Real is that which can only be directly

realized, that which is calm and blissful, where all plurality is merged,

that where all the cries of the intellect are satisfied, that which is the

non-dual Absolute".

 

"What is called the phenomenal world or the cycle of birth and death

from the empirical standpoint, viewed through the glasses of causation

and relativity, that very world is called nirvAna or the absolute,

from the ultimate standpoint viewed without causation and relativity".

It is due to avidhya or ignorance in the form of our conceptual

tendency that we view the world through the lenses of causality and

relativity. When this ignorance is destroyed the twelve linked wheel

of causation beginning with ignorance and ending with decay and death

will cease to revolve. So samsAra is but nirvAna viewed through

conceptions - the veil which covers us from the truth.

 

So the Buddha in reality never taught the dharma (truth). For the truth

is silence and comes of relinquishing all views.

 

Neither the individual eternal self of the brahmanical schools nor the

no-self of the early bauddhas are true. By clinging to the concepts

of Self and no-Self, the truth is obscured. When we let go of the notion of

the Self, the notions of "I" and "mine" also cease. With the erasure of

subjectivity and individuality, arises the transcendental truth - which is

quiesence of plurality.

 

To show that my reading of NAgArjuna is true I'm also quoting NirvAna as per

the MahAyAna SUtras

 

The MahAyAna SUtras are to the MAdhyamikas what the Upanishads are to

Advaitins.

 

Saddharma Pundarika : This is reality which is calm, deep and pure

knowledge of the Buddha which transcends the intellect and which is to

be directly realized through pure knowledge. It is the most excellent

and final enlightenment (uttama agra bodhi) by which we become one

with the Buddha.

 

AshtasAhasrika PrajnApAramita : There are six perfections (pAramitas) of

which the last and the highest is the Supreme or Perfect knowledge

(prAjnApAramita). It is clear and transparent like the sky, devoid of

plurality, to be beyond finite thought, indescribable, divine mother,

one with the Buddha, terrible to the fools, but affectionate to the

wise. It is unthinkable in the sense the intellect fails to describe

it adequately. Here the cries of the intellect are satisfied and its

contradictions reconciled. It is subtler than the subtle, profounder

than the profound. It transcends phenomena and is non-dual, independent,

real and absolute.

 

The real is at once immanent and transcendent. The suchness of

all dharmas is the suchness of reality. The phenomenal is the noumenal

and the noumenal is the phenomenal. Appearances are reality. They are

grounded in the real, the Brahman which atonce transcends the duality

of the relative and the absolute. They are two reals set against each

other, which are not diverse and do not form a duality.

 

To transcend the phenomenal we shall have to take the help of the

fully mature intellect itself. Those who deny it will themselves

be destroyed and will destroy others.

 

LankAvatAra SUtra : Reality is a spiritual experience which is beyond

the categories of the intellect, beyond discrimination and dualism and

which can be realized by pure knowledge. Buddhas become enlightened by

transcending the dualism of the intellect, by realizing the ultimate

reality of all objects and of empirical subjects, by removing the screen

of suffering and of ignorance in the form of objects covering the Real.

The Real is silence.

 

The absolute is preached through the phenomenal, but the phenomenal should

not be mistaken for the absolute. Ultimately even this distinction is

transcended. Appearances are reality. Reality is not to be sought for apart

from phenomenal. Like samsAra and nirvAna, all things are non-dual.

 

ShUnyata should not be understood in the sense of utter negation. It only

means that all things are unoriginated and are indescribable because they

can be described neither as existent nor as non-existent nor as both. They

are merely relative and unreal in the ultimate sense.

 

SamAdhirAja SUtra describing the levels of spiritual experience : In the

fourth and final state the intellect becomes one with experience. Pain and

pleasure are transcended and this yields a sort of unique bliss.

 

______________________

Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com

[Guest guest]

nanda chandran <vpcnk wrote:

> [...]

> "aparapratyayam shAntam prapanchairaprapanchitam

> nirvikalpam anAnArtham

> etat tattvasya lakshanam" - the Real is that which

> can only be directly

> realized, that which is calm and blissful, where all

> plurality is merged,

> that where all the cries of the intellect are

> satisfied, that which is the

> non-dual Absolute".

>

> "What is called the phenomenal world or the cycle of

> birth and death

> from the empirical standpoint, viewed through the

> glasses of causation

> and relativity, that very world is called nirvAna or

> the absolute,

> from the ultimate standpoint viewed without

> causation and relativity".

> It is due to avidhya or ignorance in the form of our

> conceptual

> tendency that we view the world through the lenses

> of causality and

> relativity. When this ignorance is destroyed the

> twelve linked wheel

> of causation beginning with ignorance and ending

> with decay and death

> will cease to revolve. So samsAra is but nirvAna

> viewed through

> conceptions - the veil which covers us from the

> truth.

>

> So the Buddha in reality never taught the dharma

> (truth). For the truth

> is silence and comes of relinquishing all views.

 

hariH OM! nandaji-

 

beautiful concise direct dissertation on nagarjuna's

madhyamika approach. this represents the mystical key

that will unlock the nondual foundation at the heart

of *all* teachings, from our ajativada advaita to the

rinzai zen, taoist to gnostic rosicrucian, cabalist to

sufi to toltec shaman.........universal tap.

 

these are the ageless metaphysical teachings referred

by aldous huxley as the 'perennial philosophy.' all

the religions bear this esoteric doctrine, that

equally assert the need for the aspirant to leave them

gratefully at the threshold of the final Awakening...

 

om peacelovepeace

 

 

 

Get Mail - Free email you can access from anywhere!

/