https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C5%ABlamadhyamakak%C4%81rik%C4%81
https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/zh/T1564
https://deerpark.app/reader/T1564/1
https://zh.wikisource.org/zh-hant/%E4%B8%AD%E8%AB%96_(%E4%BD%9B%E6%95%99)
https://www.ss.ncu.edu.tw/~calin/textbook2008/G6.pdf
https://www.blisswisdom.org/publications/sutras/a/108
What are the main points of Mūlamadhyamakakārikā? (ChatGPT, 2025-3-14)
Nāgārjuna’s Mūlamadhyamakakārikā (MMK), or Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way, is the foundational text of Madhyamaka Buddhism. It systematically critiques essentialist views and establishes the doctrine of śūnyatā (emptiness). The main points of the text are:
1. Dependent Origination (Pratītyasamutpāda) and Emptiness (Śūnyatā) Are Identical
• Nāgārjuna argues that all phenomena arise dependent on causes and conditions.
• Since things exist only in dependence, they lack intrinsic nature (svabhāva), meaning they are empty (śūnya).
• Emptiness is not an absolute void but the absence of inherent existence.
2. Refutation of Svabhāva (Inherent Existence)
• Nāgārjuna systematically deconstructs the notion that anything can exist independently.
• He shows that things cannot arise from themselves, from others, from both, or from neither (catuṣkoṭi logic).
• This applies to both conventional entities and metaphysical concepts like causality, time, motion, and even Nirvāṇa.
3. The Two Truths: Conventional and Ultimate
• Conventional truth (saṃvṛti-satya): The everyday reality in which things function.
• Ultimate truth (paramārtha-satya): The realization that all things are empty.
• Neither truth negates the other; Madhyamaka avoids both nihilism and eternalism.
4. Critique of Causality and Conceptual Constructs
• Nāgārjuna dismantles different models of causation (such as self-causation, other-causation, and spontaneous arising).
• He also deconstructs concepts like identity, difference, existence, non-existence, and agency.
5. Nirvāṇa as Non-Dual and Beyond Concepts
• Nirvāṇa is not an independent reality separate from saṃsāra; it is simply the realization of emptiness.
• This non-dual approach collapses the distinction between bondage and liberation.
6. Silence as the Final Position
• Since all conceptual categories are ultimately empty, the best response to metaphysical speculation is silence (śūnyatā śūnyatā).
• The Middle Way avoids all extreme positions, leading to a non-dogmatic and non-clinging approach.
Conclusion:
Mūlamadhyamakakārikā is a radical text that dismantles all essentialist views, offering a philosophy of śūnyatā that serves as the foundation of Mahāyāna Buddhism. It challenges not just non-Buddhist philosophies but also earlier Buddhist Abhidharma theories, emphasizing that the Middle Way is neither reification nor nihilism.
