INTERDEPENDENCE AND THE CONCEPT OF SHUNYATA

I. THE CONCEPT OF THE MIDDLE WAY (MADHYAMIKA)
A. School of the Middle Way founded by Nagarjuna (c. 100 C.E.)
B. The Middle Way of the Buddha:
Practical: between the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification
Theoretical: between the extremes of Eternalism and Nihilism
Nagarjuna's Madhyamika an explanation and interpretation of Buddha's
theoretical middle way
II. NAGARJUNA'S MIDDLE WAY: THE CONCEPT OF EMPTINESS
A. Four basic points in the teachings of Nagarjuna on Shunyata
1. The Middle Way as Shunyata : Everything existing is Shunya
Shunya as "empty," "void" (-ta = -ness; shunya-ta = ("empty-ness")
Shunya as "interdependent"
Lack of self-existence (an-atta)
Things are relative or conditioned only
2. Two-decker theory of knowledge
Ordinary truth, the apparent existence and non-existence of things
Higher truth (Prajna), insight into the emptiness of things
3. Negation of opposites as absolute categories
Opposites are interdependent
Heat and cold, coming and going
Samsara and Nirvana
Ashubha vs. Shunya
4. What emptiness is not/what emptiness is
Emptiness is not absence (a rabbit has no horns)
Emptiness is not extinction (a fire goes out)
Emptiness is not vacancy (an empty room, unoccupied space)
Emptiness is empty of essences & reified objects; it is what makes
relativity possible: a "void" full of inexhaustible contents
Emptiness itself is empty
B. Conclusions
1. To effect the salvation of all beings, there must be a Bodhisattva
2. Ultimately, however, there is no such thing as a Bodhisattva
3. To realize this is perfect wisdom (prajna).
4. To realize perfect wisdom, there must be a Bodhisattva.