Mahayana-Sutras: Destructive Dialectic

Mahayana-Sutras: Destructive Dialectic Mahayana-Sutras: Destructive Dialectic>>The Saddharma-pundarika-Sutra says: Not knowing that in the reign of intellect, Relativity holds the sway, not knowing that everything phenomenal is dependent, not knowing that ‘this being, that arises’ is the empirical law called Dependent Origination, people, like blind-born men, go on revolving in the wheel of Birth-and-Death that is … Read more

Shunyavada

Shunyavada Shunyavada: Shunyavada  is one of the most important schools of Buddhism. Nagarjuna cannot be called its founder because it was present before him in the Mahayana Sutras,  some of which are prior even to Ashvaghosa, and in Ashvaghosa. Nagarjuna is only the first systematic expounder of Shunyavada. However it is to the glory of … Read more

Mahayana-Sutras: Constructive Dialectic

Mahayana-Sutras Mahayana-Sutras: The Shunyavadin is neither a thorough-going sceptic nor a cheap nihilist who doubts and denies the existence of everything for its own sake or who relishes in shouting that he does not exist.  His object is simply to show that all world-objects when taken to be ultimately real, will be found self-contradictory and … Read more

Shunyavada: Constructive Dialectic

Shunyavada: Constructive Dialectic Shunyavada: Constructive Dialectic, Nagarjuna defines Reality (tattva) as that which can only be directly realized, that which is Calm and Blissful, that where all plurality is merged, that where all cries of intellect are satisfied, that which is the Non-dual Absolute.   Buddha’s teaching relates to two aspects of Truth— the empirical and … Read more

Nirvana

Nirvana Nirvana, The  ideal saint of both the schools of Hinayana is the Arhat who has simply ‘blown’ himself out of existence by annihilating all desires and passions.   The ideal is said to be negative, individual and selfish. Nib-bana is said to be a negative cessation of all earthly miseries.   It is given … Read more