NAGARJUNAS PHILOSOPHY NÄGÄRJUNA’S PHILOSOPHY As P resented in T he M a h ä -P rajnäpäramitä -S ästra By K. V enkata R a m a n a n Reissued with permission of Harvard-Yenching Institute MOTILAL B ANARSIDASS Delhi Varanasi Patna Bangalore Madras Dedicated to the memory of D r. P . C. B a g c h i Originally Published in 1966 by Charles E. Tuttle Company o f Rutland, Vermont & Tokyo, Japan Reprint Edition : Delhi, 1975, 1978, 1987 MOTILAL BANARSIDASS Bungalow Road, Jawahar Nagar, Delhi 110 007 Branches Chowk, Varanasi 221 001 Ashok Rajpath, Patna 800 004 24 Race Course Road, Bangalore 560 001 120 Royapettah High Road, Mylapore, Madras 600 004 Copyright in Japan 1966 by Harvard-Yenching Institute Cambridge, Massachusetts, U. S. A. All rights reserved PRINTED IN INDIA BY JAlNENDRA PRAKASH JAIN AT SHRI JAINENDRA PRESS. A-45 NARAINA INDUSTRIAL AREA, PHASE I, NEW DELHI 110 028 AND PUBLISHED BY NARENDRA PRAKASH JAIN FOR MOTILAL BANARSIDASS, DELHI 110 007. TABLE OF CONTENTS F o r e w o r d 9 P reface . 13 I. Introduction 25 LIFE AND WORK OF NAGARJUNA BASIC CONCEPTIONS IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF NAGARJUNA NAGARJUNA AND THE BUDDHA NAGARJUNA AND THE BUDDHIST SCHOOLS II. Concepts and Conventional Entities (Ndma a n d Laksana) ........................................................................................................ 70 NATURE OF CONVENTION MODES OF CONVENTION III.. Ig n o r a n c e ........................................................................................................ 89 NATURE AND FUNCTION OF IGNORANCE TJIE SENSE OF “ l” THE FALSE SENSE OF SELF IV . Ig n o r a n c e a n d K n o w l e d g e ................................................................. m IGNORANCE ANp KNOWLEDGE KINDS OF KNOWLEDGE LEVELS AND PERSPECTIVES OF UNDERSTANDING 5 NÂGARAJUNA'S PHILOSOPHY V. Knowledge (PrajHâ) as the Principle op Comprehension .. 127 THE MIDDLE WAY: THE NON-EXCLUSIVE WAY THE WAYS OP TEACHING VI. Extremes and Alternatives ............................................................... 151 THE EXTREMES THE ALTERNATIVES VII. Criticism of Categories ...................................................................... 171 THE MUNDANE AND THE ULTIMATE TRUTH CRITICISM OF CATEGORIES VIII. The W orld and t h eI n d i v i d u a l ..................................................... 209 NON-SUBSTANTIALITY OF THE ELEMENTS OF EXISTENCE THE NOTION OF SELF AS A SUBSTANTIAL ENTITY (SOUL) THE COURSE OF PERSONAL LIFE IX. R e a l i t y .................................................................................................................. 251 THE INDBTERMINATB GROUND THE UNDIVIDED BEING X . T h e W a y ....................................................................................... 276 THE WAY OP COMPREHENSION THE g r e a t WAY AND t h e s m a ll WAY (MahâyZtta a n d HlnayZna) THE FACTORS OF THE WAY AND THE GATES OF FREEDOM XI. Consummation ......................................................................................... 297 THE BODHISATTVA THE BODHISATTVA AND THE BUDDHA 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS XII. C o n c l u sio n ............................................................................................. 317 B ibliography ........................................................................................................................ 3 3 1 N o t e s ..................................................................................................................................... 3 3 5 In d e x ................................................................................................................................... 3 8 1 FOREWORD (TO TH E ORIGINAL 1966 EDITION) As one of the few Indian scholars of philosophy who in modem times have lived and studied in China, Dr. Krishniah Venkata Ramanan is unusually qualified to* undertake the study here presented, based on the Chinese version of a sutra commentary of which the Sanskrit original has long since vanished. He has left for another occasion his reasons for accepting the traditional but questionable ascription of the commentary to Nagarjuna, believing the identity of the author immaterial to the present purpose—“to give as far as possible an objective and complete picture of the Madhyamika philosophy as it can be gathered from the whole o f this te x t/’ Dr. Venkata Ramanan has produced a well-documented account of a difficult but important system of thought. His scholarly approach to his materials, his intellectual discrimination, and his command of Chinese sources (by no means confined to the Ta-chih-tu-lun) will surely earn him wide respect in India and abroad. This enterprising scholar is also well versed in modem Japanese Buddhist studies, and has lectured at Ohtani University and elsewhere in Japan. The present work, begun in China and substantially completed in India, was revised while the author was in residence at Harvard Uni­ versity as a Visiting Scholar under auspices of the Harvard-Yenching Institute. One of the last instructions given me by the Institute’s Direc­ tor, Professor Edwin O. Reisqhauer, before he went on leave to assume his post as American Ambassador to Japan, was to carry out* his plan to publish Dr. Venkata Ramanan’s book—in the interest of furthering scholarly relations between East and South Asia, as well as deepening 9 NÂGÂRJUNA’S PHILOSOPHY the understanding of Asia’s cultural traditions wherever the book read. G len W . B axter Acting Director HARVARD-YENCHING INSTITUTE Cambridge, Massachusetts March, 1965 ABBREVIATIONS AAA The Abhisamayâlankâràloka of Haribhadra (the Commen­ taries on the Prajflâpâramitâs, vol. I), ed. G. Tucci (Gaek- wad’s Oriental Series LXII), Baroda, 1932. Angu. Anguttara Niknya, edd. R . Morris, E. Hardy, 5 vols. Pali Text Society, London 1885-1900. Aspects Aspects o f Mahâyâna Buddhism and Its Relation to Hinayâna by Nalinaksha Dutt, Luzac & Co., London, 1930 Asia. Astasdhasrikâ PrajHâpâramitâ, ed. Rajendralala Mitra (Biblio- theca Indica), Calcutta, 1888. Bareau Les Sectes Bouddhiques du Petit Véhiculé, by André Bareau, École Française d'Extreme-Oricnt, Saigon, 1955. CCB (Central Conception) The Central Conception of Buddhism and the Meaning oj the Word " Dhanna/ ' by Th. Stcherbatsky, Royal Asiatic Society, London, 1923 (Prize Publication Fund, Vol. VII). Digha Dlgha Nikâya, edd. T.W. Rhys Davids, J. E. Carpenter, W. Stedc, 3 vols. Pali Text Society, London, 1908-1911. Fa-Ren Yi-pu-tsttng-lun-lun shu-chi-fa-ren Oyama, Kyoto, 1891. This includes K’uei-chi’s Shu-chi (ém) GOS Gaekwad’s Oriental Series, Oriental Series, Oriental Insti­ tute. Kârikà Mûlamadhyamakakârikâs de Nâgârjuna avec la Prasannapadâ Commentaire de Candrakirti), ed. Louis de la Vallée Pous­ sin (Bibl. Buddhica, IV), St. Petersbourg, 1915. NAGARJUNA’S PHILOSOPHY Kimura A Historical Study o f HtnaySna and MahJySna and the Origin o f MahSySna Buddhism, by Ryukan Kimura, Calcutta Uni­ versity, 1927. Majjh. Majjhima Nikaya, edd. V. Trenekrier and Lord Chalmers, 3 vols. Pali Text Society, London, 1888-1899. Masuda Origin and Doctrines o f Early Indian Buddhist Schools (a trans­ lation of Vasumitra’s Treatise with annotations), Asia Minor, vol. II, 1925, pp. 1-78. PaBcauimsati Paflcavimsati-sahasrika PrajRSpSramitd, ed. Nalinaksha Dutt (Calcutta Oriental Series, No. 28), London, 1934. PrasannapadS see Kdrika. Samyu. Samyutta NileSya, ed. L. Feer, 5 vols. Pali Text Society, London, 1884-1898. ¿Sstra The Mah3-prajRSp3ramit3~s3stra of Niglrjuna (tr. Kumara- jiva), T. 1509, vol. 25, pp. 57A-756C. T. Taisho-shinshu-daizokyo ed. Takakusu and Watanabe, Tokyo, 1922-1933. Vibhasd Abhidharma-mah3-vibh3s3-sdstra (tr. Hsfian-oajig), T. 1545, vol. 27, pp. 1-1004. (JOURNALS): JBORS Journal of Bihar and Orissa Research Society (later, since 1943 Journal of Bihar Research Society), Patna. JPTS Journal of Pali Text Society, London, published for the Society of the Oxford University Press. JRAS Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, London. PREFACE The present work as indicated in the title is devoted primarily to a study o f the Mahà-prajnâpâramitâ-iàstra T. 1509, vol XXV, pp. 57a-756c) (abbreviated in the present work as the Sâstra) which is a commentary on the Prajnâpâramitâ-sûtra of 25,000 gâthâs, the Pan- caviméatisâhasrikâ Prajnâpâramità. The Sâstra is the most comprehensive work of those traditionally attributed to Nâgârjuna, the well known teacher of the Màdhyamika philosophy or the philosophy of the Middle W ay. This work is lost in its original and is preserved only in its Chinese translation. Professor Étienne Lamotte has rendered into French the first eighteen of the one hundred chapters (chiian) o f this text (Le Traité de la Grande Vertu de Sagesse} vols. I& II, publ. 1944 and 1949, Bureaux du Muséon, Louvain). It is a magnificent work that Professor Lamotte has done, which he has furnished with copious literary and historical notes. This work of Professor Lamotte has been of great help to me. My present work, however, is a philosophical study intended to give as far as possible an objective and complete picture of the Màdhyamika philosophy as it can be gathered from the whole of this text. Professor Lamotte has advanced arguments to doubt Nâgârjuna’s authorship of the Sâstra. These arguments have not persuaded me and I believe that cogent arguments can be made in favour of the tradi­ tional view. I prefer, however, to postpone such arguments to a later date as they could not aid but would detract from the aim of the present work, which is to set forth the basic philosophical conceptions found in the Sâstra.