D

Philosophy Study, ISSN 2159-5313

May 2012, Vol. 2, No. 5, 347-361

DAVID

PUBLISHING

Emptiness (nyat) for Caring the Self in the Middle Path:

Reinvestigating the Middle Path Philosophy of Ngrjuna
Mathew Varghese
The Eastern Institute (Toho Gakuin)

Classical Indian Buddhist philosopher Ngrjuna is known for his philosophical interpretations of the central
conception of Buddhas teachings, the philosophy of Middle Path (Mdhyamika). Notably he had introduced the
unique concept of emptiness (nyat) to explain the Middle Path philosophy: the philosophical meaning of
emptiness is dependent co-arising of various elements that support the worldly experience. This study
investigates how this concept is used in explaining the subjectivity of a human person and how it is used for
interpreting the unique process of human existence. The discussions on subjectivity are imprecise in modern and
contemporary philosophy. But Ngrjunas philosophy enables us to explain subjectivity conclusively, without it
having to be explained using metaphysical positions. nyat may introduce a new definition for the concept of
non-self: not for negating the self but for caring self from the problems of life by making it centered in the
Middle Path (madhyama-pratipat), where one may naturally be able to use his wisdom (praj) as the guiding
principle: not mere knowledge (jna). nyat is understood using fourfold (catukoi) logical analysis, not
twofold analysis employed normally by other philosophers. Here, the Buddhist notion of self as the co-dependent
evolution process of five aggregates (pacaskandhas) is reinterpreted using the unique method of tetralemma
(catukoi). This critique explores the Western philosophys conceptions on human reasoning, logocentrism,
and the objective analytical method of modern science. After careful cross examination of the rival philosophical
positions, it reasons out why the rationale of nature is always superior to human reasoning and logocentrism.
Keywords: wisdom, subjectivity, Middle Path, co-dependent, co-arising, five aggregates, logocentrism

1. Introduction
Philosophical discourses in the early years of 21st century are obviously searching for a new perspective
and methodology that the discourses initiated in the 17th century have reached an end point. Today, among the
contemporary philosophers, there is an expressed concern about the sustainability and interdependence of
human life on earth. The discourses in the last few centuries were initiated to learn about the foundational
principles of natural laws using the human reasoning that centered around a kind of objective analytical
method for understanding everything in the living world. This movement has initiated the scientific world
view, where it is presumed that human reasoning can generate clear and certain knowledge by analyzing
deeply the laws of nature (rationale of nature) and, thereby, humans can dominate the rationale of nature. In
21st century those assumptions are faced with its own counter discourses in the form of environmental
Mathew Varghese , Ph.D., Post Doctorate, Researcher at The Eastern Institute (Toho Gakuin); Lecturer at Aoyama Gakuin
University, Japan; main research field: Buddhist and Comparative Philosophy.

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problems, resource depletion, poor distribution of wealth, etc., where the human person moves into the realm of
fears, worries, and sufferings. Today, evidently there is a kind of dialectics emerging between rationale of
nature and human reasoning. The human reasoning based on sciences that were suppose to have liberated
the humanity from the shackles of wrong knowledge (ignorance) is now created a jungle of viewpoints and
theories promoting only ignorance and speculative views.
The human person today is more confused and directionless than ever before. And now a new world
view should have to be emerged to counter the present systems promoted by Western philosophy since 17th
century: an accumulation of speculative views supported with ignorance-driven knowledge sources. Today,
with the emergence of cutting edge technologies the ignorance is further accentuated by machine-generated
speculative views. At this point it is important to reinterpret the world view of scientific philosophy. 1
Ngrjunian philosophy offers the unique resource of nyat that could interpret the subjectivity and self,
which is ignored in philosophy today, and may also help us generate authentic perspectives to understand the
natural laws or the rationale of nature. In the classical Western philosophy, the discourses on the conception
of self or subjectivity were based on the idea of soul and its intrinsic connection with the eternal reality:
God; this relationship may be understood as the dominion of subjectivity. But this conception of soul was
unacceptable to the modern Western philosophy after 17th century, which followed scientific reasoning where
the relationship between soul and God is anathema, and declined to discourse on it. Ngrjuna and the
Buddhists also declined to endorse intrinsic relationship between the individual human person and the
eternity, yet the conception of self was accepted on the basis of a different framework: a co-evolving,
internally structured, and self sustaining system formulated on the basis of the five aggregates (pacaskandha)
that is following the principles of dependent co-arising (prattyasautpada). Therefore, the concept of
dominion of subjectivity is used for contextually explaining the conception of self. It is argued here that the
conception of nyat of Ngrjuna makes us understand the dominion of subjectivity as co-dependent and
co-evolving elements, and the mechanism of it is meant to protect the self, not to decline it or reject it. It is
controlled by deep insight or wisdom (praj), not knowledge and ignorance; and the nature of it is compassion,
not fear, greed, anger, passion, or hatred. It is possible for humanity to find ways to live with the rationale of
nature, not by challenging it using the principles of logocentrism and the aggressive methods of scientific
philosophy.

2. Self and the Dominion of Subjectivity: Perspectives of Modern Western Philosophy

The ambiguity on the conceptions of self and dominion of subjectivity is the biggest controversy in
the contemporary philosophical discourses. It is clear that the philosophical discourses, in the modern period,
have deliberately avoided discussing self, fearing that an attempt to understand it may be equal to accepting
the soul conception of classical metaphysics. And it might upset the world view that is being permitted by
science: the rational foundations of the knowledge of nature (Gadamer 1976, 109, 119). Since the scientific
world view based on logocentrism has ignored the idea of subjectivity and promoted the method of objective
systematic analysis as the foundation for all sorts of analytical procedures, it had to find a new methodology:
the method of science. Philosophy, thus, became subservient to science or became a new school of thought
that follows science (Wallerstein 2004, 2). This is the reason why Heidegger honestly admitted that his
conception of dasein was the real scandal of philosophy (Gadamer 1976, 109, 119). Through the concept of
dasein he attempted to find solution to the problem of subjectivity and it could have given an understanding

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about the dominion of subjectivity, but the ambiguity, in interpreting it, has only increased the formation of
speculative views and ignorance (Japers 2004, 25). The quest for adducing pure knowledge using the
methodology of science, by analyzing the objective world, has failed to explain the real status of the human
person and his sense of being alive. The imprecision and vagueness of dasein is understood later as a singular
individual human person looking at the rest of the world. The isolated individual self now struggles to
survive in the world that all other selves are equated as objectified entities and are being analyzed for finding
the ultimate objectivity. This understanding and world view has now reached the most difficult situation as
the way Nietzsche perilously worried: the prospect of the human person being pushed into the depths of
nihilism.2
In the classical Greek philosophy the relationship between God and self is that of the creator and the
created. The Platonic conception on this relationship was explained as: God made first the soul, then the body.
The soul is compounded of the indivisible-unchangeable and divisible-changeable; it is a third and intermediate
kind of essence (Russell 1961, 158). The ambiguity in explaining clearly the relationship between God and
soul, especially the scientifically indefinable idea of indivisible-unchangeable and divisible-changeable,
may have prompted the modern Western philosophers to abandon the idea of soul and a precise and effective
discourse on the dominion of subjectivity. The definition of self in the contemporary philosophical
discourses is in its most minimalist conception: the awakened mind, being aware of its own existence, but on
which one may have the least reflective freedom. In this context, the Heideggerian conception of dasein and
hermeneutics as a method to achieve pure knowledge about subjectivity can be interpreted as a method to
dissect the ownership of God on soul. The structuring of the dominion of subjectivity in this case is vague,
and, with hermeneutical interpretation, it would turn in to an object, which is the biggest controversy in this
much acclaimed method of Heidegger that is inimically followed even today. The methods of scientific
philosophy isolated the individual human person and made him struggle in searching for his own identity which
is vaguely defined as freedom. On such a fulcrum of freedom, scientific philosophy advances all its
systems and the world view.

3. Ngrjunian View on Self and the Dominion of Subjectivity

The mind of such a person may assume a strange formulation. Ngrjuna equated such a freedom seeking
rationalistic mind to the consciousness of a thirsty deer chasing for water that is seen in a mirage
(mgatriajalam), or a farmer presuming that each harvested seed is going to produce another new plant.
We know very well that each seed does not produce a plant, though it has the potentiality, yet the mind of the
farmer is like that of a thirsty mind of a deer (mgatria), that chooses knowledge sources that may chase the
illusory notion of an oasis in the mirage, that moves faster and faster on closer approaches: moving closer to
infinity, vanishing itself at a zero dimension.
Through the philosophy of the Middle Path (Mdhyamika), Ngrjuna wanted us to understand that the
self of a person is nurtured naturally to follow a middle path in the dominion of subjectivity, and also
wanted to teach us that only by following the middle path a human person may survive successfully in the
living world. But to care the self in the way of middle path is the most difficult task as it requires a
method that should oppose the natural tendency of the human mind to follow extreme viewpoints. The frame
work of Middle Path is interpreted as the true meaning of emptiness (nyat) that it is not a theoretical idea but
a comprehensive discernment of the co-dependent evolution of various elements that makes a phenomenal

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experience possible. 3 So, the Ngrjunian view on the co-dependent structuring of the five aggregates
(pacaskandha) introduced in the Buddhist teachings as the dominion of subjectivity should be reinterpreted
with a proper conception of nyat. The reason for this is that he had strongly negated any real conception of
each of the elements of the five aggregates as it had been discoursed in the Abhdharma schools of Buddhist
philosophy4 as well as the singular entity conception of tman promoted mainly by the Vedic schools, because
such a conception may give a false notion that the self is protected by a soul connected with a transcended
entity of God who determines the fate of the self on which we have no control. Ngrjunian method is based
on a unique formulation of negative dialectics, through which he revealed to us the idea of emptiness (nyat)
that explains the structure of the Buddhist concept of no soul (nairtmya) as the co-dependent evolution of
the five aggregates (pacaskandha) together with the objective aspect of phenomena (caturbhta) in the
dominion of subjectivity of a person. 5 The idea of no soul (nairtmya) is not the negation of subjectivity
but its momentary existence in the dominion of subjectivity. We shall come back to the discussion on
negative dialectics later.

4. The Buddhss Discourses on No-Soul (Nairtmya) Principle

It is curious to note that almost 2,500 years ago, the Buddha taught about the problems of accepting the
idea of soul (tman) as the basis of subjectivity: the subtle relationship between tman and the eternal Brahman,
not any other such conception of soul (tman). Like the modern philosophers views against classical
metaphysics, he understood that with any such conceptions of tman as the essence of the dominion of
subjectivity, a person may be forced to fall into the trap of accruing wrong views, because one should have
to accept an extreme position, in discerning the phenomenal experiences. The Buddha taught the idea of a
Middle Path: when he refused to accept the idea of self as an eternal tman or the contrarian extreme
position of projecting self as an object for external reflection with a recognizable own being. To address the
extreme views, the Buddha introduced an original method of interpreting the conception of self and of
subjectivity of a human person (pudgala). Instead of a blatant rejection of tman and subjectivity, he
recognized another formulation that construes the dominion of subjectivity: the five aggregates
(pacaskandha) as the basis of the self (Sayutta Nikya 33.2, 1031). The Buddha proved, through
penetrating arguments, that his discourses on the dominion of subjectivity could take care of all intellectual
problems that may deter one to accept the concept of self, especially accepting a transcended entity as the
foundation of the self, so also rejecting it and considering human person as a material object, a view
followed by the classical Indian materialists (Varghese 2012, 60). Thereby the conception of five aggregates
(pacaskandha) addressed the problem that has been raised by the modern philosophers several centuries later:
the relationship between soul and God; and the critique of the modern philosophers views on the ontological
status of self, especially the questions regarding pure knowledge and human reasoning.
Discoursing on the relationship between soul (tman) and Brahman (the eternal reality), and how the
essence of tman is conceived as the Brahman, was a major part of the Brahmanical schools of classical Indian
philosophy. The foundation of the dominion of subjectivity may be understood as this intrinsic relationship
between tman and the Brahman; and the self can be explained as that on each birth the soul (tman) assumes
a new body with a distinct own being (svabhava), which is inherently conditioned by a set of karma-saskras
acquired from various previous births. As for the self of a human person, the tman is conditioned by
karma-saskras and the body that determines the dominion of subjectivity (Varghese 2012, 55). All the

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efforts of a person with his life in the living world are meant for purifying the self, to realize the tman.
The self should be liberated in the dominion of subjectivity by following the path of action (karma) and
knowledge (jna). Though various Vedic schools may vary their opinion on this, it is generally understood that
each person has distinct karmas and jnas determined by the selfs karma-saskras (Dasgupta 1922, 267).
The purpose of a life is to work, towards losing the influence of karmic saskras, by following the path
directed by the Vedas to realize the true nature of soul (tman), and in its perfect purity that it would be
merging with the eternityBrahman (Varghese 2008, 96).6 This is the life process and it happens within the
dominion of subjectivity. The relationship between tman and Brahman is described as: The fundamental
idea which runs through the early Upaniads is that underlying the exterior world of change there is an
unchangeable reality which is identical with that which underlies the essence in man (Dasgupta 1922, 42).
The Buddha identified that the Brahminical philosophy is inherently leaning towards extreme
understandings on the aspects of the existence of human person and shall put him into the trap of sufferings.
The tman as the basis of self is an extreme position leading only to neglecting the process of accruing
sufferings; in the same way, rejecting the tman is another extreme position creating the same suffering
situations. So instead of tman, in the text of Khandhasayutta (Sayutta Nikya 22.48), the Buddha
introduced the conception of five aggregates:
And what, bhikkhus, are the five aggregates? Whatever kind of form there is, whether past, future, or present, internal of
external, gross or subtle, inferior or superior, far or near: this is called the form (rpa) aggregate. What kind of feeling
there is this is called the feeling (vedana) aggregate. Whatever kind of perception there is this is called the
perception (saja) aggregate. Whatever kind of volitional formations there are these are called the volitional
formations (saskra) aggregate. Whatever kind of consciousness there is, whether past, future, or present, internal or
external, gross or subtle, inferior or superior, far or near: this is called the consciousness (jna) aggregate. These,
bhikkhus, are called the five aggregates. (Sayutta Nikya, 886, emphasis added)

In contrast to the classical Western philosophy or the Brahmanical schools of Indian philosophy, in the
Buddhist conception, the self of a human person is conceived as that each element of the five aggregates
co-depends with each other to evolve it. In the same way, the elements of each self of personalities would
co-depend and co-evolve in a unique structuring format with the nature and the world around. This
structuring of co-dependent evolution is the dominion of subjectivity. And the dominion of subjectivity and
the co-dependent structuring of the five cognizable aggregates may explain various factors that guide a persons
life in the living world, notably the conception of own being (svabhava) and how one develops
interdependent relations with other persons in inexplicable ways. In the Buddhist view, the own being
(svabhava) is not a permanent feature because it always changes, therefore, the definition that may be given to
the own being (svabhava) of a person may change into its counter definition soon: creating confusion. This
form of complex co-dependent evolution arises anywhere and everywhere in the living world: the human
reasoning may not be able to define it in the sphere of words (akarajnagocaram), or to bring it into the
principles of logocentrism. The reason for this is that the co-dependent evolution opens up innumerable
possibilities that are leaning to contradictions and infinite regress.
For example, people are driven towards material possessions and to materialism in general when form
faculty (rpa) is active; similarly they may be emotionally attached when feeling faculty (vedana) guides as
the source of co-dependent evolution. They can be dispositionally and culturally linked when the
dispositional faculty (saskara) is active. They may be ideologically connected when concept faculty

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(saja) is active. It is possible to have such relationship flourishing within a variety of combinatorial
possibilities in any situation that are supported by the infinite potential of each of the five aggregates to form
co-dependent relationships. But such possibilities can also easily destroy a human person when the
influence of any of the aggregates is extraneously dominating the dominion of subjectivity: say saskara
(dispositions), a person may become a religious fanatic; or following certain doctrinal positions saja, one
could be a theoretician, or a scientific philosopher, working only on cognizable theories. Therefore, Buddhist
philosophy stresses that all our perspectives and viewpoints are to be guided by true and direct knowledge
or wisdom (praj), and thereby it is possible to develop strong intuitive awareness about the co-dependent
evolution of the self in the dominion of subjectivity and save it from destruction. But the problem of
infinite regress due to the accentuation of the other elements in the dominion of subjectivity and the
knowledge will not be directed and well reflected with deep insight,7 then a person may fall into the depth of
ignorance (wrong knowledge) and will be controlled by speculative views.

5. The Formation of Ignorance into Speculative Views

The Buddha taught that ignorance is the real source of suffering in the living world. The text
Ktyyanvadnasutra explains the philosophy of the Middle Path where the conception of ignorance
(avidya) is the prime course of suffering (Varghese 2008, 141). In another instance, on a dialogue with sage
Vacchagotta, the Buddha cautioned him that the issue of ignorance (wrong knowledge) would create the
problem of speculative views, if the knowledge is not direct. He had explained to Vacchagotta (Sayutta
Nikya 33.2):
It is, Vaccha, because of not directly cognizing form (rpa) feelings (vedana) ... perception (saja) ... volitional
formulations (saskara) consciousness (jna) its origin, its cessation, and the way leading to its cessation that those
various speculative views arise in the world: The world is eternal or The Tathgata neither exists nor does not exists
after death, This, Vaccha, is the cause and reason why those various speculative views arise in the world: The world is
eternal or The world is not eternal; or This world is finite or The world is infinite; or The soul and body are same
or The soul is one thing or the body is another; or The Tathgata exists after death; or The Tathgata does not exist
after death, or The Tathgata both exists and does not exist after death, or The Tathgata neither exists nor does not
exist after death. (Sayutta Nikya, 1031, emphasis added)8

The intrinsic connection between speculative views and ignorance and the prospect of its controlling the
human life was something that worried the Buddha the most. The Buddha had clearly understood that
speculative views influenced by ignorance had been controlling the views of various schools of philosophies at
his time. Here, the speculative views are understood to have been produced out of the pursuance of the
infinite possibilities of the co-dependent evolutions of the five aggregates, the self forming views with
ignorance (wrong knowledge) in the consciousness faculty (vijna), which are proven to be true with the
support of rational and empirical evidences. In the context of a world view where knowledge is founded on
human reasoning and again directed by various conceptions of logocentrism, the Buddhist conception of
self and dominion of subjectivity could formulate an excellent counter discourse on the problem of wrong
knowledge (avidya) controlling all sorts of reasoning process that are to struggle with innumerable
speculative views pushing human life into sufferings and destruction. To advance such a discourse we may
have to know the structure of the negative dialectics of Ngrjuna.

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6. Ngrjunian Hermeneutics of Dominion of Subjectivity: The Application of Negative

Dialectics
Ngrjuna has identified that the occurrence of ignorance would be taking control of the Buddhist teaching
on five aggregates (pacaskandha) as each of the entities was assuming the status of permanence in the
Abhidharma discourses: notably the Pudgalavdins interpretations (Priestley 1999, 29, 54). And the conception
of self is defined as the continued existence of the human person like the conception of soul (tman). But
Ngrjuna should have been influenced by the renowned Mhayna text Prajnaparamita-Hridaya-Sutra
(PHS)the verse 2that is precise in explaining how the dominion of subjectivity is functioning within the
realm of nyat and that each element of the aggregates is reflected with nyat, like a picture which is
drawn on the canvas. This unique conception is explained in the text:
Here (according to) Sriputra form (rpa) is emptiness (nyat); form is in the realm of emptiness. There is no
form other than emptiness (nyat), and there is no emptiness other than form. What is from that is emptiness; and
what is emptiness is form. Similarly, feelings (vedana), conceptual understandings (saja), dispositional formulations
(saskra) and the consciousness (vijna) are all emptiness (nyat). (PHS, 2)9

When Ngrjuna introduced his philosophical hermeneutics of the dominion of subjectivity, he in fact
interpreted the view of these two discourses, Sayutta Nikya 33.2 and PHS, 2. Instead of advancing direct
criticism on the views of the Abhidhama schools, he candidly said that the idea of skandhas may not easily be
understood by everyone. He pointed out it in the text of Lokttastava: it was only through the skandhas the
Buddhas taught his courageous teachings to the most courageous thinkers (disciples) to understand that each of
the skandhas is essentially to be understood as manifestations of either an illusion (mya), a mirage (marici), a
celestial city (gandharvanagara), or a dream (svapna): or a combination of all these four manifestations. 10
The five aggregates (pacaskandhas) are perceived to be existing just because of certain causes (hetus), without
which we may not apprehend them, so they are only fit to be called as reflected images (not true entities). When
those causes are no longer valid, such entities or collection of them may cease to exist.11 He implicitly
criticizes the supremacy of human reasoning and the conception of logocentrism that we adduce
knowledge only from the reflected images, not true entities.

7. Negating the Subjectivity of Mental Phenomena

The formation of negation is a necessary aspect for our understanding of the living world. It should be
understood that the extreme of an extreme antithesis is identified and a system is constructed for the protection
of the thesis. For example, it is understood that a human person may live only for a maximum period of 120
years, yet he is circumvent by death and disease at anytime: a person is conditioned to live a life for a certain
number of years with lots of conditions. So one can negate all the negative aspects that may not collude the
positive aspects that help him live better: one shall negate all speculative views that may impede him in
respecting the nature and the world around. In the case of interpreting the pacaskandha, Ngrjuna uses
negation to understand the no own being (nisvabhava) of each of the elements from form faculty (rpa) to
consciousness faculty (vijna), and explains clearly how difficult it is to accept each element of the
phenomenal experience as a real entity that can be used for further analysis. The example of the fire that is
being discoursed in the text Agnivaccagottasutta (Majjima Nikya 72.19) is dependent on other entities, but
each of those entities is also dependent on other entities, but none is a permanent entity (Majjima Nikya, 593).

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The Pudgalavda schools taught that the skandhas may continue to exist till a person become a Buddha
(Priestley 1999, 53-59). But Ngrjuna explains that the fire extinguishes not just on the depending sources,
and the fire itself cannot be discerned clearly that it functions in the realm of nyat. Ngarjuna uses
tetralemma (catukoi) to explain the framework of nyat philosophically.

7.1. Negating the Permanence of Form (Rpa): Using Fourfold Analysis (Tetralemma)
As we have explained earlier (Sayutta Nikya 22.48) form faculty (rpa) reveals the objective basis of
our phenomenal experience. All the objects, according to Buddhist philosophy, are construed of four
elements (caturbhtas): earth, fire, water, and air. Ngrjuna has negated this view with an argument that we
cannot perceive each of the elements of those four elements separately, so how can it be possible to perceive
the true form of the objects with our eyes that are constructed out of inconceivable elements, which,
according to him, is an absurd understanding. Therefore, it is possible to negate the idea that one has truly
perceived the true form of an object (rpagrho nivrita).12 But at the same time it is not possible to
completely negate the cognition of the object of perception which is an epistemological fallacy. In the two
prong logical analytical method, we need to accept one proposition as true (p) and the other as untrue (p):
when p is accepted p is needed to be negated and vice versa. The possibility of accommodating p is negative
in this case. To solve this problem, the philosophy of Middle Path uses tetralemma (catuko), instead of
two prong logical method that had been established in the discourse of the Buddha with Vacchagotta (cf.
Sayutta Nikya 33.2). We can see that the phenomenal experience is beyond the realm of affirming the object
(p) or rejecting it (p), or both affirming and rejecting (p and p), or neither affirming nor rejecting ([neither p
nor p] Varghese 2012, 171). This conception on the true objectivity of the phenomenal experience proves the
conception of emptiness ([nyat] Varghese 2012, 245), because the conception of neither p nor p is not
the acceptance or rejection of the perceived phenomena (object p) ; but it entails the analyzer to use another set
of proposition using q; and the enquiry can proceed endlessly unless the truth is being found and established.
The establishment of the true knowledge about the object behind the phenomenal experience is proven to be
impossible, but by using this method, the process of analysis may continue for developing different
perspectives that may help one articulate an intuitive awareness on phenomenal experiences. The discernment
of nyat in this case is that it gives us a wider picture of the object of the phenomenal experience and it also
gives us an insight (praj) about the entities of our experience. The form element (rpa) according to the
text Prajparamitahdaya Stra is functional only within the realm of nyat (cf. PHS, 2).

7.2. Negating the Notion of Permanence of Feelings (Vedana)

True knowledge about the experienced object (rpa) is impossible to be established and it functions under
the sphere of nyat, it is true of the feeling faculty (vedana) of a human person which is functional only
for true objective experiences (vedanya). Since it is impossible to conclude on the value of phenomenal
knowledge that supports the feeling faculty, the value of various emotions is in fact essenceless (nirtmik)
and transitory with time. Human beings normally hold on to such vague knowledge and suffer assuming that
such knowledge is true. Ngrjuna negates the own being of all suffering because it is originated out of wrong
knowledge (ignorance). As we have noted earlier, the own being (svabhava) of the object (vedyam) behind
the phenomenal experience cannot be established with perfect knowledge: we are not able to find any clear
objective basis for our emotions such as fear, desire, anger, etc., and the efforts to find a basis for those are a

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futile exercise.13 On the contrary, whether the knowledge is true or false, the chances for emotions to breed
further and destroy a person are very high in normal human life. The only emotion that would not destroy a
person is compassion (karua) and it shall sprout in the mind when the dominion of subjectivity reflects the
phenomenal experience with deep insight (praj). Feeling faculty controls human emotions that lead to
sufferings and it is assumed that compassion (karua) is the only emotion that protects one from accruing
sufferings. Understanding the function of feeling faculty is important to understand the way world view is
forming in the contemporary situations. The conceptions of human reasoning and logocentrism are meant
to override the problems of emotions (vedana), but they always remain subservient to emotions, except in
situations where one conceptualizes (saja) on others or on ones own feelings (vedana). It is not always
possible.

7.3. Negating Authority of Concepts: The Analogy of Fire and Its Indistinct Burning Properties
As far as understanding the validity of the concept faculty (saja)14 is concerned, it is the element that
defines the characteristic features of being a human person. It explains the ability to conceive a phenomenon
and to create a conceptual framework for making the phenomenal experience possible; it is the element that
helps one form conceptual understandings and formulate his own ideas; it is the framework of all perceptive
faculties and freedom of the mind to perceive chosen things; it is the defining aspect of a human person to
use language and signs for interpreting his own intentions and thoughts. The defining feature of human
beings in comparison with other living beings in the world is the ability to use language such that one can
memorize and recollect the past and use it for future actions. All these aspects and other connected features are
in the realm of concept faculty (saja). Ngrjuna asks the Buddhist thinkers of his time (say,
Pudgalavdins), who attribute own being to saja, that if this element has an own being (svabhava) then
arguably the concepts it formulates also should have own being (svabhava). In that case, arguably, if one
utters the word fire, his face should burn immediately, because burning is an own being (svabhava) of
fire: an instance of p; contrarily, we take the opposite of this view that the word fire has no signifying value
(the sign and signified): should it mean then that what is being signified by the word fire is no fire (p)? Or
the word fire expresses both fire and no fire, like p and p, which again confuses us with an uncertain
inference that when we utter the word fire, it may and may not burn the mouth. The fourth possibility is
something one should look forward to its being neither p nor p; here the concept of fire is looking at finding
new definitions for fire using another preposition, q, and can be explained more than many other
characteristic prosperities of fire, not just mouth burning based on proposition p. Ngrjuna explained this
aspect in these words: If the concept15 (saja) and the object16 (artha) are the same (non-different) then the
mouth would burn when one utters the word fire. But, if they are different we cannot acquire any knowledge
about existence.17 This you said when you talked about the existents.18
The arguments of the Pudgalavdins, or other such schools of Buddhism, that consider the Buddhas
discourses on concept faculty (saja) as a real element of the self like various conceptions of tman in
the Vedic schools of philosophy should be aware of the impossibility of burning the mouth on uttering the
word fire. They cannot also escape from the fact that any defined form (lakya) of a phenomenal experience
and the definitions of it (lakaam) are different, then the information acquired from the form is false
definitions (alakaa),19 and is also not suitable for construing concepts.20 Ngrjuna might have expressed
his view on this, to confute some of the schools of Abhidharma Buddhism which propound the idea of own

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definitions (svalakaa) of the forms of the objects as the basis for constructing concepts.21 The word fire
signifies various properties of fire and human person may use it according to the situation, where the logical
possibility opens for further analysis by the method of tetralemma (catuko). In the contemporary situation
the method adopted is to analyze everything based on knowledge drawn from objectified entities where
creating concepts on empirical knowledge sources is a method. With the function of karma which originates
from ones inherent dispositions one is at liberty to redefine himself against any created knowledge on him.

7.4. Critiquing Karma and the Conception of Merit and Demerit

In Indian philosophy the idea of saskra (dispositions, volitions, karma) is considered as an important
aspect that defines the own being of a person, because the idea of karma (saskra) defines how each
individual is conceptually and basically different from the other. The Vedic schools of Indian philosophy give
due importance to this conception that each persons dispositions (saskra) are defined by his own karma
(svakarma)the fulcrum of ones religious dutiesdharma. The idea of caste system is based on this
fundamental principle that each person has to perform his caste duties (dharma) by performing an assigned
system of karma in order to fulfill his lifes purposes. The Buddha was not in agreement with such determinism
of karma; accordingly, Ngrjuna questions the authority of karma that if a human person (kartha) is
independent of his own karma (svakarma) and then the karma is also independent of that person (kartha).
Suppose that a person who has born in the carpenters caste does not practice carpentry or woodwork, then he
may not get any benefit from the carpentry work that is performed by other members of his caste. He is a
non-entity as far as carpenters job is concerned. Certainly, he may have some advantages on matters regarding
carpentry work over other people who may not be from the caste of carpenters. But he can get the benefit of
carpentry work (his svadharma) only by engaging the actual works of carpentry. As narrated in the text: The
individual subject (kart)22 is independent. The actions (Karma), as you said, are also independent. According
to your venerated opinion, the mutual dependence of these two (independent entities) accomplishes the
existence of both. 23 The conception of merit and demerit that one receives from any action should be
interpreted as the possibility of bringing the subject of an action (kartha) and the action itself (karma) together.
It is not generic. Only if the carpenter engages in the activity of woodwork, then he could be a beneficiary of
carpentry (bhokta). The complicated relations in the conception of saskra and karma are interpreted as:24
There is neither an individual subject (karta) nor one who enjoys the fruit of an action (bhokta); merit and
demerit comes from mutual dependence (prat-tya). You, who are the lord of the words, have clearly said that
that which is a dependent entity will not be originated by itself. 25
The notion of karma and its effect are a very contentious view in the philosophy of Middle Path that they
reject the deterministic value of karma and saskra (Varghese 2008, 105). The intention of an individual
person (kartha) is what determines the merit or demerit of an action, not the action (karma) per se. A mother
may kill the assaulter of her child instinctively which should not accrue any demerit on her. The well reflected
knowledge (praj) is the guiding principle in this case.

7.5. Critiquing the Truth-Value of Knowledge

While all other elements in the dominion of subjectivity of self may bound a person and push him to
suffer in the world of existence, the fifth element of the consciousness faculty (vijna) is the element that
could help him redeem from all bondages: it defines the spiritual merits and its inherent property of

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357

constructing knowledge (jna). Knowledge is revered by all systems of philosophy. The logocentric
perspective of modern Western philosophy that is based on pure knowledge directed by human reasoning
presumes that the true being of the natural laws and the nature can be revealed by its scientific methods. But as
we have discussed earlier, if the true knowledge about the form (rpa) of a phenomenal experience is
difficult to be established (ajnyamnam), then how can it be an object of knowledge (jeyam)? Since the form
(rpa) of the objects lacks an own being (svabhava) for establishing its objectivity, how can it be possible to
discuss on the validity of knowledge (jna)26 and the objects of knowledge (jeya) as entities with own
being? Ngrjuna explained the difficulties in accepting the eminence of knowledge. He explained it as: That
which is unknown cannot be an object of knowledge. No consciousness (vijnnam)27 is possible without an
object of knowledge. You have said clearly that knowledge and the object of knowledge have no own being
(svabhva) of their own.28
Mdhyamika philosophy of Ngrjuna may be the only school of thought that directly criticized the
authority of knowledge and the ways of our knowledge seeking methods, thereby criticizing the illogical
foundations of epistemology and logic. Ngrjunian critique asks questions on the premises of human
rationality and the conception of logocentrism that each of the entities, in the phenomenal world of
existence, is interdependent and the paradigm of which is expressed through emptiness (nyat).

8. Rationale of Nature versus Human Reasoning: Negating the Authority of Logocentrism

The entities of our phenomenal experience according to Ngrjuna are based on dependent co-arising
(prattyasamutpda). It is not possible to have true knowledge about the objects of experience: the true
knowledge is difficult to be established. The thatness (tathata) of the things is difficult to be established with
the help of logocentric views, because the entities of our experience are dependently arisen and soon
changeable. The method to understand the thing in itself is a futile one. According to Ngrjuna: If the
principles or theories that support the thatness (tathata) of all the entities of our phenomenal experience are
permanent (paramrtha), then the true nature (own being) of the Thing (thing in itself) is desired to be material
(with truth value). This is an indeclinable fact with all the existents. From that understanding the Buddha
speaks out.29
Therefore, with regard to the things of our phenomenal experience, we can have only conditioned
knowledge (samvti)30 that is changeable. The true being of an object (paramrtha) is an imposibilty and it is
impossible to find the objectivity of objects. Noted nuclear physist and philosopher George Sudarshan and
Tony Rothman explain it as the history of physics has been a process of just peeling off one layer of the onion
after another. Each time you have discovered the ultimate particle, you then find another (2001, 193). Or more
precisely, Stephen Hawking interpreted that the general characteristic of a physical theory is a construction
based on conditioned knowledge (samvti): A physical theory is just a mathematical model and it is
meaningless to ask whether it corresponds to reality (Sudarshan and Rothman 2001, 200). The true principles
of natural laws therefore are not flexible for science and its logocentric perspectives.

8.1. Analogy of Seed and Sprout to Confute Logocentrism and Human Reasoning
Ngrjuna has negated the logical structure of human reasoning by questioning the supremacy of
reasoning. It is illogical to say that from the principles of lost causes (vinat-kraatatvt)31 or the
opposite non-lost causes (avinat) can an effect come into being; at the same time, it is equally illogical to

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imagine that the effect comes into existence as it is being happened in a dream.32
Here, Ngrjuna expresses how difficult it would be to introduce logocentrism in explaining the true
expression of the natural laws. The way of analytical science in using this method indiscriminately to formulate
its concepts is only adding to the confusion instead of solving it: similar to the case of a sprout coming into
being from its lost causes (the destroyed seed) or the non-lost causes. The natural understanding about a
seed is that it produces a sprout, but when the sprout comes into being then what happens to the seed? If it is
to conclude that when the sprout is originated, its main cause, the seed gets lost: then one must admit that all
lost seeds are to be sprouted. The seed one has eaten would not have spouted. Otherwise, to avoid all
controversies it is good to say the sprout comes into being like an object originates in a dream. It is clear that all
seeds will not sprout even though it is a seed that causes the sprout, but the eaten seeds, or the dry seeds, or the
seeds sawed on rocks would not sprout. A seed needs to have certain dependent conditions like water, air, fertile
soil, and care of a farmer to sprout well and form itself into a tree. Logocentrism and human reasoning
presumptuously accept that each seed is a potential tree, and accept using methods of science to artificially
create a situation for each one to produce a tree. This method struggles against the rationale of nature. Now
those methods are being faced with its counter discourse: creating alarming fears on the continued existence of
the humanity.

9. A Short Discourse on nyat

The idea of emptiness (nyata) in the Mdhyamika philosophy is normally a misunderstood concept. The
understood meaning of nihilism (pure negation) may be a possible meaning; but concluding it as the only
meaning is strongly negated by Ngrjunian discourses. The etymology of this term is derived from the root
word vi which means to swell, to expand (Stcherbatsky 1999, 36), similar to a womb. Therefore, nyat
means the state of something expanding and swelling, like a womb with a baby that would expand only for 10
months, not endlessly. This idea plays an important part in the Mdhyamika interpretation extant in their
philosophical discourses. nya expands and shows the exact nature of the co-dependent evolution of the
phenomenal experience and the unpredictability of the objective world. It also swells into the situations where
the reasoning ends in forming irrational conclusions or counter discourses. It is like an empty vessel ready to be
filled. It is the potency of mind that can remove all misconceptions. It is the concept that helps one control the
multiplying thoughts in the mind. But it ceases to be relevant when its purpose is served. It can be equated to
the mathematical zero (nya) which takes any value given to it and transforms itself into that value; but when
multiplied with another value, the value turns into zero again, or when a finite number is divided by zero the
resultant value turns out to be infinity. As we have discussed, various conceptions of emptiness (nyat) help
us get control on multiplying thought structures (concepts and theories), to remove clichd attitudes and
presumptuous conceptions, to start from a zero state or absolute beginning. nyat is the greatest property
and hope of human subjectivity.

10. Conclusion
The subjectivity of a human person or the conception of self is one of the serious philosophical
questions discoursed in different traditions. The classical Western philosophical conception of it as the soul
that is intrinsically connected with God is a concept that is rejected by modern philosophy. It is largely silent on
this issue that their purpose was to introduce a world view that is acceptable to science. The scientific

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philosophy of the West objectified everything including the individual subject for the science to perform its
logocentric analytical methods. The ideas like dasein only accentuated the individualism based on
logocentric perspectives.
The Eastern philosophical views like the Brahmanical schools of Indian philosophys promotion of tman
as the basis of self have rejected the values of this worldly life and a necessary value for the materialistic
aspects of life. Their emphasis on the conception of tman and its purity has neglected the value of the self of
a human person in the living world.
The Buddhist conception of subjectivity as five aggregates opened up a way to understand the self of a
human person and its existence in this living world. For it uses the co-dependent evolution of all the elements
of human experience with the subjective and objective world as the basis of the self of a human person.
The conception of the dominion of subjectivity explains the subjective and objective aspects of this
co-dependent evolution process of all the elements that inhere with a persons life in the living world. To
avoid the prospect of a transcended entity controlling the life in the world, Ngrjuna argues that the framework
of this process is nyat and it reveals the Middle Path and it creates an insightful awareness (praj) in the
mind of a person about life in the world.
The idea of nyat enables us to protect our selves by helping us view the functioning of the nature and
the natural laws with apt attention and insightful awareness (praj). Ngrjuna used negative dialectics to
help one develop the intuitive awareness (praj). Now the world views are formulated on the basis of the
logocentric perspectives of science which functions on speculative views constructed on confusing
knowledge sources which are parochially chosen. The co-dependent evolution aspect that is ingrained in the
Buddhist conception of self would help us tremendously if we understand it using nyat. We may
understand the world and the natural laws with the help of continued investigations that are made possible by
the application of fourfold (catukoi) logical analysis. Modern science and scientific philosophy only follow
twofold logical analysis.

Notes
1. Karl Jaspers used to criticize the difficulties of an exclusive scientific method to explain the world of existence. That is
also endorsed here (Jaspers 2004, 24).
2. Nietzsche was a philosopher in the modern world who showed real concerns about the inabilities of the modern analytical
science to explain subjectivity: He [Nietzsche] prophesied the advent of a period of nihilism, with the death of God and the
demise of metaphysics, and the discovery of the inability of science to yield anything like absolute knowledge; but this prospect
deeply worried him. (Schacht 1993, 178).
3. Mlamdhyamika Krika, 24.18.
4 .The Pudgalavda Buddhist schools such as Vstiputryas and Soutrntikas promote implicitly the elements of
pacaskandha as having true existence.
5. Lokttastava, verses 21-22.
6. See also Dasgupta, 1922, 23.
7. Prakarena jnti sarva iti praj.
8. See also Majjima Nikya 72.14.
9. Iha riputra rpa nyat, nyataiva rpam / rpnna pthak nyat, nyaty na pthag rpam / yadrpa s
nyat, y nyat tadrpam // evameva vedansajsaskravijnni.
10 . Tepi skandhstvay dh-man dh-madbhaya saprakit / mymarcigandharvanagarasvapnasamnibh
(Lokattastava, verse 3).
11. Hetuta sabhavo ye tadabhvn na santi ye / katha nma na te spaa pratibimbasam mat (Lokattastava,
verse 4).
12 . Bhtny acakurgrhyi tanmayam ckua katham / rpam tvayaiva bruvat rpagrho nivrita

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(Lokattastava, verse 5).

13. Vedanya vin nsti vedanto nirtmik / tacca vedya svabhvena nstty abhimata tava (Lokattastava, verse 6).
14. Saja means knowing well, which is also concept formation, perception, etc..
15. Saja is the psychological aspect of perception which can be tentatively termed as idea or concept (saja) that would
recognize the distinctive characteristics of things, for example, it perceives the distinctive characteristic of fire that is to burn.
Saj is another part of the skandha.
16. In Buddhist parlance artha is object, aim, goal, purpose, etc..
17. If the concept of fire and the object fire are the same then the mouth should burn with the utterances of the word fire. In
the previous verses (5 and 6) we found the anomalies of accepting the skadhas like form (rpa) and feelings (vedana).
18. Samjnrthayor ananyatve mukha dahyeta vahnin / anyatvedhigambhvas tvayokta bhtavdin (Lokattastava,
verse 7).
19. Alakaam is the opposite of lakaam, meaning no indication or characteristic.
20. Lakyllakaamanyaccet syttallakyamalakaam / tayorabhvonanyatve vispaa kathita tvay (Lokattastava,
verse 11).
21. It is important to have both the characterized (lakaam) and characteristics (lakya) for both to be emphasized. There is
no possibility to have knowledge without objects of knowledge.
22. A subject is conditioned by his saskra. The moral and spiritual development of an individual is determined by it.
23. The existence of both can be discerned only by the mutual dependence of karta and karma.
24. Na kartsti na bhoktsti puypuya prattyajam / yat prattya na taj jta prokta vcaspate tvay (Lokattastava,
verse 9).
25. In this case, the existence of samskra that determines an individual person is refuted.
26. Consciousness (jna) is dependent on knowledge and object of knowledge. But they can exist only in mutual
dependence, cannot exist per se, as each of them has no nature of their own (swabhva).
27. Jnnam is the fifth element of the skandha. It means the consciousness or awareness in its active, discriminative form of
knowing and its subliminal or unconscious bodily and psychic functions. It must be noted that vijnna means not just a stream of
mental awareness (see Keown 2003).
28. Ajnyamnam na jneyam vijnnam tadvin na ca / tasmt svabhvato na sto jnnajneye tvam civn (Lokattastava,
verse 10).
29. Accintyastava, verse 41.
30. It is originated from v dhtu, meaning to cover. The word samvti should mean well covered with an existent meaning,
but it is dependent on certain conditions that we may overlook.
31. This is the main stay of Buddhists arguments that it will not support the conventional views on creation, at the same time
they will not reject them going in the way of the opposing arguments.
32. It is illogical to say that from the lost causes an effect comes into being; so also from the non-lost causes; nor do you
support the view that the effect is like a dream. Vinat krattvat kryotpattir na yujyate / na cvinat svapnena
tulyotpattir mat tava (Lokttastava, verse 17).

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