Written for the AQA syllabus by Upeksacitta (Robert Ellis), member of the Western Buddhist Order and a former Head of RS.
Madhyamika Teachings and Sunyata
The teachings of the Madhyamika School developed from about the 2nd Century CE, and are chiefly associated with the great Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna. There are many legends about Nagarjuna, including one that he gained his profound philosophy from the nagas: a serpent-like intelligent race who live under the sea, after whom he is named. This can be taken as a metaphor for the profound depths of meditation he needed to reach in order to create his philosophy.
In some ways, though, the philosophy of Nagarjuna is a philosophical explanation of the Perfection of Wisdom (Prajñaparamita) tradition that was central to the development of the Mahayana. It will be helpful to get some idea of this first.
The Perfection of Wisdom
You will recall that amongst the Six (or Ten) Perfections of the Bodhisattva is the Perfection of Wisdom. It is in order to guide the aspiring bodhisattva in the Perfection of Wisdom that a number of 'Perfection of Wisdom' texts developed in the early Mahayana. These included The Perfection of Wisdom in 8,000 Verses, The Diamond Sutra, and the very short and concise Heart Sutra. All of these have one central message, which is that wisdom is found by no longer being attached to concepts and ceasing to believe that words map onto reality. A lot of the Perfection of Wisdom literature is sceptical in the best sense of the word, in that it is continually trying to make us aware of what we do not know and get us to question our most basic assumptions.
The Heart Sutra is so short it can be reproduced in full below. From it you can see many of the characteristics of a Mahayana Sutra, as well as the central paragraph of Perfection of Wisdom teaching. Notice how it is apparently set in a real place in India, although there are no further realistic details. In this case the teaching is summarised in a mantra (the Perfection of Wisdom Mantra) which summarises the teaching and helps Buddhists to remember and venerate it through frequent repetition.
Thus have I heard. Once the Blessed One was dwelling in Rajagriha at Vulture Peak mountain, together with a great gathering of the sangha of monks and a great gathering of the sangha of bodhisattvas.
At that time the Blessed One entered the samadhi that expresses the dharma called "profound illumination," and at the same time noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, while practicing the profound prajnaparamita, saw in this way: he saw the five skandhas to be empty of nature.
Then, through the power of the Buddha, venerable Shariputra said to noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, "How should a son or daughter of noble family train, who wishes to practice the profound prajnaparamita?"
Addressed in this way, noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, said to venerable Shariputra, "O Shariputra, a son or daughter of noble family who wishes to practice the profound prajnaparamita should see in this way: seeing the five skandhas to be empty of nature. Form is emptiness; emptiness also is form. Emptiness is no other than form; form is no other than emptiness. In the same way, feeling, perception, formation, and consciousness are emptiness. Thus, Shariputra, all dharmas are emptiness. There are no characteristics. There is no birth and no cessation. There is no impurity and no purity. There is no decrease and no increase. Therefore, Shariputra, in emptiness, there is no form, no feeling, no perception, no formation, no consciousness; no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind; no appearance, no sound, no smell, no taste, no touch, no dharmas, no eye dhatu up to no mind dhatu, no dhatu of dharmas, no mind consciousness dhatu; no ignorance, no end of ignorance up to no old age and death, no end of old age and death; no suffering, no origin of suffering, no cessation of suffering, no path, no wisdom, no attainment, and no non-attainment. Therefore, Shariputra, since the bodhisattvas have no attainment, they abide by means of prajnaparamita.
Since there is no obscuration of mind, there is no fear. They transcend falsity and attain complete nirvana. All the buddhas of the three times, by means of prajnaparamita, fully awaken to unsurpassable, true, complete enlightenment. Therefore, the great mantra of prajnaparamita, the mantra of great insight, the unsurpassed mantra, the unequaled mantra, the mantra that calms all suffering, should be known as truth, since there is no deception. The prajnaparamita mantra is said in this way:
OM GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SVAHA
Thus, Shariputra, the bodhisattva mahasattva should train in the profound prajnaparamita.
Then the Blessed One arose from that samadhi and praised noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, saying, "Good, good, O son of noble family; thus it is, O son of noble family, thus it is. One should practice the profound prajnaparamita just as you have taught and all the tathagatas will rejoice."
When the Blessed One had said this, venerable Shariputra and noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, that whole assembly and the world with its gods, humans, asuras, and gandharvas rejoiced and praised the words of the Blessed One.
Glossary
Samadhi – Highly concentrated and inspired state gained through meditation, including both jhana and insight
Mahasattva – Great being (a title)
Shariputra – one of the best known disciples of the Buddha
Dharmas – Phenomena or things as they appear to us. We will be discussing this term more shortly
Dhatu – realm or sphere
Gate – (Pronounced “gartay”) gone (from samsara)
Paragate – Gone beyond
Parasamgate – Utterly gone beyond
Asuras – Titans or jealous gods, as in the realm on the Wheel of Life
Gandharvas – Legendary spirit-beings
Task
See if you can identify the core Buddhist teachings which are referred to in the long central paragraph.
What is being said about these teachings, and what is its significance?
What it is most important to remember when looking at Perfection of Wisdom literature is that it was all originally used in a context of positive practice. Thus, although it seems to just consist in a series of negative statements, these had a positive purpose in helping people to overcome attachments: even attachments to Buddhist teachings. Overcoming these attachments is obviously not a priority if you don’t have them in the first place, and Buddhists will first cultivate a reverence for the teachings before making use of this kind of critique of them, in order to reach a balanced and positive view in the end.
Madhyamika Philosophy
It is against this background that the Madhyamika philosophy developed, to give a more detailed conceptual understanding of the ideas that lie behind texts like the Heart Sutra. The term 'Madhyamika' just means 'Middle Way', and the teachings follow the Middle Way not just practically, but philosophically in accepting neither positive nor negative teachings in words of any sort as completely true. If we cannot put the truth in concepts, the alternative is the acceptance of Shunyata, a term usually translated as 'Emptiness' (though 'Insubstantiality' might be better).
The Madhyamika developed in the context of a philosophical debate about the status of dharmas, which is vital for understanding Madhyamika philosophy. Dharmas (not to be confused with Dharma, the Buddhist teaching or religious truth) are phenomena, the smallest possible building blocks of our experience. Examples of dharmas might be an experience of red, the experience of making a choice, or a feeling of sadness: both internal experiences (such as thoughts and feelings) and external ones from the senses (colours, sounds, smells etc) are included, but to be a dharma it an experience must be impossible to break down or analyse into anything simpler. The experience of seeing a delicious pastry, for example, can be broken down into the many different colours I perceive in the pastry, plus the internal dharma of my desire to eat it which affects my whole experience of it.
[Note to those who have studied Philosophy: the idea of a dharma here bears a close resemblance to the simple impressions of Hume, which could be either internal or external. However, the purpose and use of the concept is entirely different.]
Exercise
Which of these experiences is a dharma, and which could be further analysed into dharmas?
1. A thought about what I might have for lunch
2. Hearing the first movement of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony
3. Seeing the yellowness of a banana
4. A feeling of dislike for someone
5. Pain in the knees after falling over
6. Hearing a dog bark
7. Feeling the hard metal of a coin as I pay for something in a shop
The Hinayana interpretation of the dharmas
The third and more technical basket of the Pali Canon, the Abhidhamma Pitaka, is concerned with the analysis of these dharmas. It offered an extremely detailed analysis of all the elements of human experience, in doing so creating the world’s first psychology. It did this with one main aim, to aid non-attachment to these dharmas. If we know about the ways in which experiences can be analysed, this can aid our mindfulness of them. This is particularly obvious in the case of a feeling of desire or hatred: if I think “Oh, that’s just an experience of hatred type 37b”, I am much less likely to get carried away by it.
In the Hinayana schools by the time of the rise of the Mahayana, however, there developed an interpretation of this analysis which the Mahayana objected to. This was the view that all dharmas have own-being (svabhava). This means that you can gain non-attachment simply through the process of analysing experiences into dharmas. Each of these dharmas then exists in its own right. The Hinayana schools believed that to go any further would be nihilistic, because if the dharmas did not exist then nothing could exist. The basis of the Buddha’s message for them (including the anatta teaching), is that all these complex experiences that we get attached to are just made up of dharmas, but of course the dharmas exist themselves. The Theravada still hold to this view.
Mahayana objections to this view
However, the Mahayana schools took a very different view of the dharmas. To them, to claim that the dharmas ultimately existed is in direct contradiction to the Buddha’s teaching of anatta, or insubstantiality. The Mahayana took this to mean that all phenomena are insubstantial, even the simplest possible ones. This general view was in turn interpreted in two different ways by the two main philosophical schools in the Mahayana. In the Yogacara, all dharmas are mind-only, but in the Madhyamika, all dharmas are Shunyata, empty or hollow.
To claim that all dharmas are Shunyata means that they neither exist, nor do they not exist. We simply cannot say anything about their existence because we have no way of knowing for sure whether they exist or not based on our own perceptions. We simply have to come to terms with our ignorance and dwell in the Middle Way of uncertainty. This position can also be described as non-dualism, i.e. accepting neither side of the duality of things existing or not existing.
For philosophers like Nagarjuna, this way of thinking about dharmas was the natural implication of Early Buddhist teachings on insubstantiality, the Middle Way, and dependent origination. One could also point to the Buddha’s refusal to give answers to any other metaphysical questions (questions that cannot be answered on the basis of experience) such as whether or not he continued to exist after Parinirvana, or whether the universe is infinite or not. From the Madhyamika perspective, either to affirm these things or to deny them leads into one kind of error or another. If we were to claim that all dharmas exist, this would be to get attached to the idea of their existence, whereas to deny that they exist might lead to a negative denial of the world.
Madhyamika Arguments
Nagarjuna supported his position by a number of arguments. Most of these attack the idea that dharmas could be independently existent, which an implication of having own-being:
- Following the teaching of dependent origination, all phenomena are dependent on other phenomena, and do not exist independently. If all phenomena are dependent, they cannot ultimately exist separately.
- The fact that we conventionally recognise things around as existing does not mean that they really do exist. We must make a distinction between conventional and absolute truth.
- Following the Buddha’s teaching on impermanence, all dharmas are constantly changing. Yet if they were independently existent, they would never change. Independently existing dharmas would be eternal
- If all dharmas existed independently, then they could not cause or condition each other. But experience tells us that causes and conditions are possible, so dharmas must be constantly interrelated and interdependent.
Discussion
Are you convinced by these arguments? How do you think Hinayanists would reply?
The Shunyata Practice
The practical background to the teachings on Shunyata was a continuing practice of the Eightfold Path in its different elements. The teaching on Shunyata was particularly applied in meditation, so as to create a form of vipassana meditation systematically reflecting on it and overcoming successive layers of attachment. The same format can also be used for a set-piece debate, of a kind which is still used in the training of Tibetan monks. The meditation falls into several set stages:
- 1. The independent or inherent existence of dharmas is systematically refuted by going through set stages of reasoning. Terms are clarified and the value of the conventional is also recalled. For example:
The inherent existence of the self is empty.
If the self was inherently existent, it would be the same as the five skandhas or different
Since the five skandhas are empty, if the self is the same as the five skandhas then it is empty.
If it is different from the five skandhas, the inherent self is different from our experience of it. Since the self is an experience, this would be contradictory.
- 2. The meditator then gains concentration through samatha practice until jhana is gained, then returns to the reflection. Reflection is then alternated with samatha practice. Eventually the two fuse and insight is gained, because the emotional and physical resistance to the truth of Shunyata has been overcome.
- 3. All the remaining conceptual elements of this insight are then gradually removed. This will include attachment to the idea of Shunyata itself, which can be overcome by reflecting on the emptiness of emptiness. Direct, non-dual understanding of Shunyata is then achieved. 'When he arises from his meditation, the meditator still sees inherent existence, but knows this is not how things are, and he is like a magician viewing his own creations.' (Paul Williams)
Task
Read and take notes from the article on 'Dhamma and Non-Duality' from the Buddhist Publication Society Newsletter. This is by a Theravadin, Bhikkhu Bodhi, who is pointing out the disadvantages of the Madhyamika Philosophy from his point of view. He uses the Threefold Path as his structure, and points out disadvantages in the Madhyamika view in the practice of all three elements of the Threefold Path: make sure you note these arguments down clearly. When you have done this, discuss whether you agree with his arguments against the Madhyamika view.
Further Reading
Especially recommended extension activity: take notes on one or both of these*:
*Cush p. 106-110
*Williams Buddhist Thought p.140-152
Harvey An introduction to Buddhism p.95-104
Williams Mahayana Buddhism ch.3
Past questions in AQA syllabus
1. Explain the main teachings on Sunyata as presented by Nagarjuna in the Madhyamaka school of Buddhism
2. Outline Nagarjuna’s teaching on samsara and nirvana, and assess the view that 'Nagarjuna’s teachings are a radical departure from the traditional teachings of Gotama.'
3. Outline Madhyamika teachings on Sunyata (emptiness), and assess the claim that Nagarjuna taught nothing on Sunyata that the Buddha himself had not already taught.