Nagarjuna

Nāgārjuna (c. 150 - 250 C.E.) was arguably the most influential Indian Buddhist thinker after Gautama Buddha, who founded the Madhyamaka (Middle Way) school of Mahāyāna (Great Vehicle) Buddhism. He is credited with writing the most eloquent expositions of śūnyatāvada (the doctrine of emptiness), was the first to propose the two-truths doctrine, and was an Abbot of the famous Nalanda Buddhist university. Nagarjuna's writings had a major influence not only on the development of Mahayana Buddhist thought, but also in triggering Hindu responses to Buddhism (particularly evidenced in Advaita). Furthermore, Nagarjuna's ideas spawned the Three Treatise (Sanlun) School in China, and he is considered to be a "second Buddha" in Tibet (Ray, 82).

Biography

According to the Indian historian Kumarajiva (344-413 C.E.), Nāgārjuna was born in South India near the town of Nagarjunakonda in present day Andhra Pradesh into a wealthy Hindu Brahmin family. His Hindu upbringing may account for the fact that Nagarjuna was one of the earliest significant Buddhist thinkers to write in the Sanskrit language rather than in the Pali script. Tibetan records report that he was inspired early in his life by the conflict and turmoil in his region to give away all of his wealth and become a Buddhist monk. During his lifetime he was the Abbot of Nalanda university located in present day state of Bihar, India, and became renowned as a master of the five major branches of traditional Buddhist learning (grammar, logic and epistemology, the arts, medicine, and spiritual practice). After composing his written works at Nalanda, he was inspired by a vision of the bodhisattva Tara to renounce the comfort and status of his position at the university and to "wander forth in search of realization" (Ray, 394-395).

From a study of his writings, it is clear that Nāgārjuna was conversant with both the Abhidharma-based philosophies of his day, and the emerging Mahāyāna tradition, as well as non-Buddhist schools of thought (Ray, 394). Judging by the contents of the most commonly accepted list of texts he wrote, he was clearly a Māhayānist, although he does not mention any of Mahayana texts in his most famous work, the Mulamadhyamakakarika (Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way - ab. MMK). As a result, some western scholars have argued that he may have been a Theravadin. However, the fact that his Mulamadhyamakakarika text focuses on explicating one of the central concepts of Mahāyāna, (i.e. śūnyatā or emptiness), definitively shows that he was a follower of the Great Vehicle (Gyamtso, xi). His exclusive use of the Tripitaka in the MMK likely results from him wanting to make a convincing case to the Stahaviravadin Buddhists who would not have accepted the premises or authority of the Mahāyāna texts, thus negating their usefulness as a authoritative references. It could also be argued that the text was meant to serve as a logical stepping-stone to Second Turning of the Wheel teachings, by beginning with the premises of the First Turning in order to guide readers to the Second.

A statue of Nagarjuna, Kullu, India. 2005

Legends

Popular legends of Nagarjuna's life state that he traveled deep into the earth through his meditative powers (siddhi) to the lair of the nāga king, who had been entrusted by the Buddha with the Prajñā Pāramitā Sutras. Seeing that Nāgārjuna was the one prophesied by Gautama who would "give vast and perfect explanations of the Buddha's teachings" (Gyamtso, ix), he gave these texts to him to bring back to the surface. This story is used to explain the first part of his name (the second, arjuna, meaning 'bright', 'shining', or 'silver'), his close association with the Prajñā Pāramitā Sutras, and his depiction in iconography with snakes extending over his head (See picture insert).

Other common stories about Nāgārjuna claim that he was the 14th patriarch of Zen, and that he was 700 years old when he was the Abbot of Nalanda.

Philosophy

Nāgārjuna's primary contribution to Buddhist philosophy was his eloquent elucidation of the doctrine of śūnyatā, or "emptiness," which he taught as the logical extension of the Buddha's thought, particularly the doctrines of anatman (no-self) and pratītyasamutpāda (dependent origination). Typical of his method was the use of reductio ad absurdum (sanskrit prasanga) (Mitchell, 132). The pivotal Chapter 24 of the MMK begins by outlining the objections to the doctrine of emptiness that he anticipated from Theravadin thinkers:

If all these [things] are empty,

Nothing can arise and nothing can disintegrate.

Consequently the Four [Noble] Truths

Will not be there for you.

... And because the [Noble] Truths will be non-existent,

The sublime dharma will also not be there.

If Dharma and Sangha are non-existent,

How can there be a Buddha? (CTAO, 25)

In short, he believed they would accuse him of being nihilistic. However, he explains that it is because of them "not realizing the purpose of emptiness, its nature and the meaning" (Ibid, 26) that they attribute these logical faults to him. Nāgārjuna goes on to explain that the logical conclusion of the Buddha's teaching of pratītyasamutpāda (co-dependent origination) is not only that we are empty of ātman or independent existence, but that all things are without any svabhāva, ("self-nature"), and thus are empty of inherent being:

Whatever is dependently arisen

Is explained to be emptiness.

Its existence is imputed in dependence upon something else

And this is the path of the Middle Way (Madhyamaka). (Nagarjuna in Gyamtso, 157)

It is important to clarify that Nāgārjuna's philosophy, far from being nihilistic, is in fact tremendously life-affirming. He argues that if we existed in complete independence from other phenomena and had an unchanging essence, we could not come into being (we require a cause, such as our parents), nor could we ever grow or have new experiences. We would either always be in suffering or always in happiness (or some other state), and that those of us not already Buddhas could never become one.

One example of his use of prasanga method is again found in chapter 24 of the MMK:

If you view things

As arising from inherent existence,

Then you are viewing things

As having no causes and conditions (CTAO, 27)

Here he is pointing out the logical contradiction of believing that things are self-existent. If they were so, their creation could not be dependent on something else - that would negate their separate existence. If one argues that things have an essential nature, one must therefore give up the belief in causality - the two are logically incongruous. Thus the idea of svabhava is reduced to its absurd logical conclusion - the abandonment of causality - which is a logical (logic depends on causality) and practical (one must assume that eating will satiate hunger) impossibility. However, this argument does raise the interesting question of how one could simultaneously hold that all things are devoid of self-nature, and that there is causality at all. To answer this seeming paradox, Nāgārjuna put forth the two-truths doctrine.

Nāgārjuna was the first philosopher to propose the two-truths doctrine, which postulates that there are two types of truth, the "absolute truth" (paramārtha satya) of śūnyatā, and the "relative truth" (saṃvṛti satya) of appearances. This is another key area where we see that Nāgārjuna was not a nihilist. He argued that the world of names and forms (namarupa) does indeed exist, but only as appearances, not as something which is substantially real. They are "neither non-existent nor permanent" (CTAO, 24). In order to understand the true nature of the phenomenal world, we must understand emptiness. Likewise, it is the world of logic and forms that leads us to understand śūnyatā. Furthermore, without forms there is no emptiness, and without emptiness there are no forms. Thus even the two-truths are dependently arisen. Realization of this is said to lead to direct perception of "tathata" or suchness, which Tibetans refer to as the union of luminosity (appearances) and emptiness. This is the heart of Madhyamaka - the Middle Way between the extremes of nihilism and eternalism.

Writings

There are a number of influential texts attributed to Nāgārjuna, although many were likely written by later authors. The only text that all scholars agree was written by him is the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, which contains the essentials of his thought in twenty-seven short chapters.

Many other works are attributed to Nāgārjuna, some of which may be genuine and some not. There is evidence that a second, later Nāgārjuna was the author of a number of tantric works which have subsequently been incorrectly attributed to the original Nāgārjuna. The problem of compiling a complete biography is further exacerbated by the phenomena of future authors signing their works in his name as a sign of their reverence for him.

Other works attributed to Nagarjuna are:

• śūnyatāsaptati (Seventy Verses on Emptiness)
• Vigrahavyāvartanī (The End of Disputes)
• Vaidalyaprakaraṇa (Pulverizing the Categories)
• Vyavahārasiddhi (Proof of Convention)
• Yuktiṣāṣṭika (Sixty Verses on Reasoning)
• Catuḥstava (Hymn to the Absolute Reality)
• Ratnāvalī (Precious Garland)
• Pratītyasamutpādahṝdayakārika (Constituents of Dependent Arising)
• Sātrasamuccaya
• Bodhicittavivaraṇa (Exposition of the Enlightened Mind)
• Suhṝllekha (To a Good Friend)
• Bodhisaṃbhāra (Requisites of Enlightenment)

Influence on the Development of Buddhism

Nāgārjuna's writings would do more than any other thinker to shape the discourse in Mahāyāna Buddhist schools in India for over 700 years after his passing. His influence continues to be felt (albeit to a lesser degree) in the rest of Asia up to the present day. His works (most notably the MMK and Precious Garland) would have their most profound effect in Tibet, where they continue to be prized as the words of a "second Buddha". His teachings are often given as preliminary instructions during tantric initiations, and his debating style is still utilized in Tibetan monasteries.

Shankara, founder of the Hindu school of Advaita Vedanta, was often accused by his contemporaries as being a "closet Madhyamikan" because of the similarity between his philosophy and Nāgārjuna's. A key difference between their beliefs was that for Shankara, the underlying force of Brahman was needed to unite self (atman) and the cosmos, while for Nāgārjuna, we are already connected at all levels (i.e. matter, mind and spirit) through interdependent arising.

Related Topics

Buddhism

Mahāyāna

Madhyamaka

Nalanda

śūnyatā

Tibetan Buddhism

two truths doctrine

External links

• Nagarjuna Seminar
• Overview of traditional biographical accounts
• Mūlamadhyamakakārikā-s of Nāgārjuna: Sanskrit text
• Nāgārjuna: Sanskrit texts (Ratnāvalī, Lokātītastava, Acintyastava, Bodhicittavivaraṇa, Yuktiṣaṣtikākārikā-s, and Vigrahavyāvartanī)
• Nāgārjuna: texts and materials
• Kaccayanagotta Sutta on Access to Insight
• Nārāgjuna vis-à-vis the Āgama-s and Nikāya-s

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Campbell, W. L. Ed. 1975. The Tree of Wisdom: Being the Tibetan text with English translation of Nāgārjuna's gnomic verse treatise called the Prajñādanda. Calcutta University. Reprint: Sonam T. Kazi, Gangtok.
• Canadian Tibetan Association of Ontario (CTAO). 2004. Kalachakra 2004: Select Practice Texts in English and Tibetan. Toronto, ON: CTAO.
• McCagney, Nancy. 1997. Nāgārjuna and the philosophy of openness. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
• Kalupahana, David J. 1986. The Philosophy of the Middle Way. SUNY.
• Khenpo Tsültrim Gyamtso. 2003 The Sun of Wisdom: Teachings on the Noble Nagarjuna's Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way. Boston, MA: Shambhala Publications. ISBN 1570629994
• Mitchell, Donald W. 2002. Buddhism: Introducing the Buddhist Experience. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195139518
• Murty, K. Satchidananda. 1971. Nagarjuna. National Book Trust, New Delhi.
• Ramanan, K. Venkata. 1978. Nāgārjuna's Philosophy. Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi.
• Ray, Reginald A. 2002. Indestructible Truth: The Living Spirituality of Tibetan Buddhism. Boston, MA: Shambhala Publications. ISBN 1570629102.
• Samdhong Rinpoche, ed. 1977. Madhyamika Dialectic and the Philosophy of Nagarjuna. Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, Sarnath, India.
• Sastri, H. Chatterjee, ed. 1977. The Philosophy of Nāgārjuna as contained in the Ratnāvalī. Saraswat Library, Calcutta.
• Streng, Frederick J. Emptiness: A Study in Religious Meaning. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1967.
• Walser, Joseph. 2005. Nāgārjuna in Context: Mahāyāna Buddhism and Early Indian Culture. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
• Zangpo, Ngorchen Kunga. 1975. The Discipline of The Novice Monk. Including Ācārya Nāgārjuna's The (Discipline) of the Novice Monk of the Āryamūlasaryāstivādīn in Verse, and Vajradhara Ngorchen Kunga Zenpo's Word Explanation of the Abridged Ten Vows, The Concise Novice monks' Training. Translated by Lobsang Dapa et al. Sakya College, Mussoorie, India.

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