Nagarjuna

The exact years of Nagarjuna’s life are unknown, presumably of the 2nd – 3rd centuries ( 150–250 ), information about him is intertwined with fantastic and mythological plots, making it difficult to determine the true events of his life. A number of traditional texts claim that he lived for 600 years (from the 2nd century BC). Some critics suggest that there were two different Nagarjuns.

According to Kumarajiva ( 4th – 5th centuries ), Nagarjuna was born into a Brahmin family in southern India and completed a full course of Brahmin education, then converted to Buddhism himself and converted a local king; according to Xuanzang ( VII century ), Nagarjuna's activities took place in Northeast India.

E. A. Torchinov , referring to Tibetan and Chinese Buddhist sources, provides the following biographical data:

In his youth, he was a student of a Hindu yogi who taught Nagarjuna and his friends to become invisible. The young men used this ability very frivolously: they began to penetrate the royal harem and have fun with its inhabitants. The king, however, very soon realized what was the matter, and captured all the invisibles except Nagarjuna. Their harem entertainments ended on the chopping block, and Nagarjuna was so shocked by the consequences of frivolity and attachment to sensual pleasures that he immediately became a Buddhist monk, heading north to the famous Nalanda Monastery. The fruit of his intense thought was the vision that determined the nature of the philosophical teachings of Nagarjuna. He saw a stupa surrounded by Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Nagarjuna opened the stupa and saw another inside, exactly the same. Then he decided to find the very first, initial, stupa. He opened the second stupa and saw inside the same third, in it - the fourth and so on to infinity. And then Nagarjuna realized that there was no and could not be any first stupa, in other words, primary substance, primary principle. This understanding made him worthy to acquire the sutras of Prajna Paramita, the Beyond Wisdom, hidden five hundred years earlier by the Buddha from the serpent nages. Nagarjuna went down to the underwater palace of the king of the nagas and found there the sutras of Prajna-paramita , meditation on which led him to develop a philosophical system (or, perhaps, an “anti-system”). Nagarjuna for many years was the rector of Nalanda, but in his old age he returned to his native places, where he was invited by the king who ruled then, hoping that Nagarjuna would become his guru, spiritual mentor. Nagarjuna agreed, and the king built a new monastery for him, later called Nagarjunakonda (its ruins have survived to our time) ^[2] .

The teachings of Nagarjuna spread to China in the form of the Sanlun School (Three Treatises). They build the philosophy of Prajnaparamita “Mahaprajnaparamita-sastra” ( Chinese 大智 度 Да , Yes jidu lun ). The famous Buddhist University of Nalanda is associated with its activities.

Nagarjuna criticized the interpretations of Buddha’s teachings that existed at that time, polemicized with opponents of Buddhism, participated in missionary activity, was respected as a bodhisattva during his lifetime, and after leaving he became an object of veneration.

(Following the textbook " E. Torchinov Introduction to Buddhology " ):

The starting point for Nagarjuna's discourse is his recognition of the principle of causally dependent origin ( pratya-samutpada ) as a methodological basis. The main conclusion of Nagarjuna: everything exists only insofar as it is causally conditioned, and there is nothing (not a single dharma) that would not be causally conditioned. This means that nothing (not a single dharma) has its own existence ( svabhava ), that is, there is no entity that would be self-sufficient, which would exist by itself, by virtue of its own nature. Since this is all causally determined, there are no self-existing entities, for borrowed being is not genuine being, just as borrowed money is not real wealth. The causality chain is open: there is no absolute “lender” (God, the Absolute), and phenomena endlessly determine each other's existence.

Thus, all dharmas are empty, senseless and unsupported. Thus, madhyamaka complements the old Abhidharma : its principle of pudgala nairatmya (“selflessness of a person”) is supplemented by a new one, namely: the principle of dharma nairatmya (“selflessness of dharma”). Now it makes no sense to “distinguish dharmas”: they are completely “equal” with respect to each other (samata) in their emptiness. Therefore prajna can no longer be understood as discriminating wisdom; now this is an extra-miotic comprehension (intuition) of the nature of reality, the nature of what truly is. As the Prajna Paramita Heart Sutra states, “For all dharmas, emptiness is their [common] essential attribute. They are not born and do not perish, are not polluted and are not cleaned, do not increase and do not decrease. ” Nevertheless, that which is semiotic, symbolic, described, verbalizable is only an appearance and an impression, the result of the activity of discriminating thought (vikalpa) and its construct (kalpana).

Any attempt to create a metaphysical system adequate to reality or a relevant ontology is doomed to failure; thinking that we describe being, we only describe our ideas about being, created by our discriminating thought, which laid down primarily the subject-object dichotomy as a condition for empirical knowledge. First, we put labels on reality, and then we begin to study them, taking them for reality itself, or, in other words, take for the moon a finger pointing to the moon (the image of Chinese Taoist literature, which was actively used, however, by Chinese Buddhists).

Proving the unsuitability of philosophical categories (both Buddhist and Brahmin schools) to describe reality and create an adequate ontology, Nagarjuna uses a kind of negative dialectic called “prasanga” (“negative argumentation”).

Language, in principle, cannot adequately describe reality, for all linguistic forms are inadequate to reality. Inadequate to her and philosophical thinking, operating with concepts and categories. Logical thinking cannot comprehend reality as it is, and language cannot describe it. Therefore, no ontology, no “science of being” is possible, because it will always be connected not with reality, but with our ideas about it or even with some kind of pseudo-reality constructed by our mental skills and false ideas. Everything real is indescribable, everything described is unreal.

- E. A. Torchinov “Religions of the World”

In Mula-madhyamaka-karikas, Nagarjuna considers and rejects as irrelevant categories such as causality, movement, time, space, quantity, and a number of others. Consider two examples: criticism of the cause-effect relationship by Nagarjuna and criticism of the Buddhist theory of instantness and the category of time.

Nagarjuna asks the question: how are cause and effect related? Can we say that the effect is different from the cause? No, we cannot, because in this case it is impossible to prove that this consequence is a consequence of this, and not any other reason. Perhaps the effect and the cause are identical? Also not, because then it is generally pointless to distinguish between them. Maybe cause and effect are identical and different? No, this is also impossible, because this view will combine the errors of the first two statements. Is it possible to say that a cause produces an effect? It is impossible, because in this case we must assume the possibility of the following alternatives: a) the investigation was already present in the cause; b) the investigation did not pre-exist in the cause, but reappeared; c) both took place. These alternatives are equally impossible. In the first case, one cannot talk about cause and effect at all, since it is simply the same thing. In the second case, something unbelievable is affirmed, since being and non-being, like life and death, light and darkness, are opposing (mutually exclusive) opposites, and if something is not there, then it cannot be - “no” cannot go into “yes ”, From“ nothing ”,“ something ”cannot be obtained. The third case combines the incorrectness of both the first and second options. Thus, a cause does not give rise to a consequence; nothing can be produced at all. Causation is empty.

In much the same way, Nagarjuna shows the incorrectness of the time category. What is time? This is the past, present and future. But, it is clear that none of these dimensions is “original”, they exist only relative to each other, being completely determined by each other: the concept of “past” makes sense only with respect to the future and the present, the future with respect to the past and the present, and the present with respect to past and future. But the past is gone. There is no future yet. Where, then, is the present? Where is that “moment between the past and the future, which is called“ life “”? After all, this supposedly real “present” exists with respect to two fictions - that which is no longer there, and that which is not yet.

Thus, we get a strange picture: empirically there are causality, and time, and space, and movement, but as soon as we try to rationally analyze the categories denoting these phenomena, we immediately find ourselves immersed in an ocean of unsolvable contradictions. Therefore, all philosophical categories are only products of our mental activity, completely unsuitable for describing reality as it is.

From here Nagarjuna proceeds to the theory of two truths, or two levels of knowledge. The first level of cognition is the level of empirical reality (sanvritti satya), corresponding to everyday practice. In relation to this level, we can talk about the conditional existence of causality, movement, time, space, unity, multiplicity and the like. This level differs from pure illusion - dreams, hallucinations, mirages and other appearances, such as “rabbit horns”, “turtle hair” or “death of the son of a barren woman”. But he is just as illusory in relation to the level of absolute, or higher, truth (paramartha satya). This level is not available for logical discourse, but is comprehensible by the forces of yogic intuition.

Using the negative dialectic of madhyamaki, the ideas of the famous “atheistic” treatise of Nagarjuna (“That Vishnu could not create the world ...”), translated into Russian by F. I. Shcherbatsky, are also connected. In this treatise, Nagarjuna expresses the following anti-creationist arguments. First, theists say that since everything has a reason, the world as a whole must also have a reason, and this reason is God. However, in this case, God must also have a reason, it is his, and so on to infinity. It is completely incomprehensible why the chain of causation should end on God. Secondly, every action implies a certain goal, and the presence of such a goal is the imperfection of the activist. If God creates the world, then for some reason he needs it, he needs something, and therefore, he is not perfect and self-sufficient, which contradicts the very idea of ​​God. This means that either God does not create the world, or he is not perfect, that is, he is not God in theistic understanding. If God creates the world without motive and purpose, then he is like a little unreasonable child who does not understand what he is doing, and this is also incompatible with the concept of God. Finally, the idea of ​​creation is itself inherently contradictory: for if there is no world, then it could not have appeared, for being cannot exist from nothingness, but something from nothing.

From his premises, Nagarjuna draws another conclusion that is extremely important for the philosophical doctrine of the Mahayana: he affirms the identity of Sansara and Nirvana:

No difference at all
Between Nirvana and Sansara.
No difference at all
Between Sansara and Nirvana.

What is the limit of Nirvana,
There is also the limit of Samsara.
Between the two we cannot find
Even the faintest shadow of distinction.

- Nagarjuna. Mulamadhyamaka-karika, XXV, 19-20

This statement of Nagarjuna has two interpretations, and both were used in Buddhist tradition. Firstly, we can say that samsara is an illusory, constructed by discriminating consciousness aspect of Nirvana that disappears when reality is correctly grasped, just like a snake disappears, for which the rope was mistaken in the dark after realizing this error. In this case, all living beings were, are and always will be Buddhas. They never entered Samsara and were originally in nirvana. All the suffering of Samsara, the whole beginningless cycle of birth-deaths is only an illusion, which must be eliminated by the highest knowledge - Prajna-paramita, Beyond Wisdom.

The second interpretation is related to the relativism of Madhyamaki. Since Nirvana is Nirvana only in relation to Sansara, and Sansara is such only in relation to Nirvana, neither Sansara, nor even Nirvana possess their own existence (svabhava - Sanskrit.), And therefore, they are also empty and meaningless, and their common Tathata (Suchness, Ethnicity) or true nature is Shunyata (voidness). The Bodhisattva perceives the voidness of both Samsara and Nirvana and thus acquires the status of Buddha.

(In accordance with the article by V.K. Shokhin, Philosophical Encyclopedic Dictionary )

Of the 200 works attributed to Nagarjuna, the following five are considered the most reliable:

1. “Mulamadhyamaka-karika” ( Chinese: 中 論 頌 , “Stanzas fundamental to the doctrine of the middle way”) - about 450 verses distributed in 27 chapters. The text is devoted to the topic of “Voidness” of empirical reality and those concepts on which the experience of its knowledge is based. Criticism of generally accepted concepts is carried out by Nagarjuna at two levels of truth - relative and absolute. The text of the caricum is built on paradoxes, and the subsequent thinkers evoked various interpretations. At first, many Western commentators, relying on a superficial interpretation of the teachings of Nagarjuna, considered the concept of emptiness a universal denial, and Buddhist philosophy as an example of extreme nihilism, but in the second half of the 20th century, after the development of Buddhology and a more thorough acquaintance with tradition, the interpretation of Nagarjuna as a nihilist began to be rare.
2. In the seventy -year- old Vigraka-vyavartani ( Chinese 空 七十 論 , Kun qi shi lun , “What Eliminates the Debate”), accompanied by self-commentary, the central doctrine of Nagarjuna is developed - the doctrine of “voidness”, which is identified with the law of the dependent origin of states the existence of the individual and the absence of things of their own nature. Here, Nagarjuna criticizes the common Indian epistemology - the doctrine of the sources of knowledge - and tries to refute the main argument of the opponents of "negative dialectics" (which, in order to be consistent, must deny, in their judgment, itself).
3. “Yuktishashtika” ( Chinese 六十 頌 如 理論 , “Sixty Poems on Logical Coherence”) covers, despite its limited volume, many topics, starting with the dependent origin of the individual’s state of being and ending with the characterization of “great souls” that have already achieved “liberation” "Or approach it and to which souls are committed, committed to passions and" imprisoned in a cage of objects. "
4. In Vaidalya Prakaran (A Treatise on the Dust of False Teachings), the Nyaya ’s doctrine is criticized, especially its system of 16 dialectical topics.
5. “Ratna-wali” ( Chinese 宝 行 王正 Б , Bao Sin Van Zheng Lun , “Garland of Jewels”) - a poetic treatise of five chapters of 100 verses each - is devoted to ethical, soteriological and political perspectives in the perspective of Madhyamaki philosophy.

Followers of Nagarjuna since the era of Kumarajiva have become the founders of important Mahayana schools and outside of India. This is primarily about the Chinese school of Sanlun (the school of three treatises), founded in the VI century by the monk Jijiang (in Japan it was called Sanron-shu) and developed the teachings on the two levels of truth, on the “voidness” (shunyata) and that the sacred teaching Buddha cannot be conveyed in conceptual language (the criticism of which was carried out by Nagarjuna). For the Tiantai school (in Japanese - Tendai), founded by his contemporary Jizan - Jii, the teachings of Nagarjuna are the foundation of the teaching, according to which, although things are "empty", they have a certain temporary existence, proved by our perception of them, and there is still a third the beginning, which should connect these two parameters of their being. The influence of the teachings of Nagarjuna and the Ch'an (Zen) school, whose heritage includes the “Madhyamik koans”, is also significant. Kamalashila played an important role in spreading the teachings of Nagarjuna in Tibet - thanks to his victory in 792 over an opponent representing one of the Chinese schools (though this victory cost him his life). The main student of Nagarjuna was Aryadeva ( 3rd century ), the creator of the so-called Madhyamaka Prasangika, or “radical Madhyamaki” (in contrast to the Madhymaka Svatantrika, “moderate Madhyamaka”). the main commentators on his writings are Budapalita ( 5th century ), Bhavaviveka ( 6th century ) and Chandrakirti ( 7th century ).

Nagarjuna is often portrayed as a composite being that includes the characteristics of man and naga . At the same time, naga elements crown and protect the human head. The idea of ​​nagas comes from the Indian religious culture, where they are described as wise snakes or dragons responsible for rains, lakes and other bodies of water. In Buddhism, the nagas are arhats , that is, they are wise people who have achieved complete liberation from the flares and left the “ wheel of rebirth ” ^[3] .

• The twelve links of interdependent occurrence
• Shunyata
• Madhyamaka
• Prasangaka

in Russian

• Androsov V.P. Buddhism of Nagarjuna. Religious and philosophical treatises. - M .: Oriental literature , 2000.
• Androsov V.P. Nagarjuna and his teaching. - M .: Nauka , 1990.
• Androsov V.P. Teaching of Nagarjuna on the Middle. - M.: Eastern literature , 2006.
• Nagarjuna / Androsov V.P. // Mongols - Nanomaterials. - M .: Big Russian Encyclopedia, 2013. - P. 656. - ( Big Russian Encyclopedia : [in 35 vols.] / Ch. Ed. Yu. S. Osipov ; 2004—2017, vol. 21). - ISBN 978-5-85270-355-2 .
• Lifintseva T. P. Ontological basis of negativity in Mahayana Buddhism and the teachings of Nagarjuna // Ontology of negativity: Collection of scientific papers. M., 2015.- ISBN 978-5-88373-412-9 C.8-24.
• Shcherbatsky F.I. Selected Works on Buddhism. - M .: Nauka , 1988.S. 245-253.

in other languages

• Mulamadhyamakakarika of Nagarjuna. The Philosophy of the Middle Way. Introduction, Sansrkrit Text, English Translation and Annotation by DJ Kalupahana. - Delhi, 1999.
• Murty KS Nagarjuna. - New Delhi: National Book Trust, 1978.
• Ramanan KV Nāgārjuna's Philosophy. - Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass , 1978.
• Walser J. Nāgārjuna in Context: Mahāyāna Buddhism and Early Indian Culture. - New York: Columbia University Press , 2005.

• Vasiliev V.P. Biographies of Ashvaghoshi, Nagarjuna, Aryadeva and Vasubandhu (English)
• An article about Nagarjun in the Online World Encyclopedia
• Lyrics of Nagarjuna (English) (Sanskrit)