Madhyamaka (Buddhism)

This is study of the profound teachings of voidness and the ten perfections. In madhyamaka the dialectic is not the means to an end but the end in itself. It is implied that the real is overlaid with notions and views, which are ignorance (avidya) screening the real. The "middle way" is followed with respect to whether things really exist. The illusory and relative nature of appearances is demonstrated through the "eight negations" of Nagarjuna. The dependent nature of phenomena and their lack of a permanent "self" is the basis of the notion of [sunyata]

(emptiness) which implies both the emptiness of the self with the elimination of the "ego" and the experience thus arising, and liberation when the identity of emptiness with the Absolute is realized. This realization comes through working one's way through "relative truth" to come to the "supreme truth". The teaching here is referred to as [sunyatavada]

.

The dialectic puts forward four logical alternatives: A is B; A is not B; A is both B and not B; A is neither B nor not B. All these four facets are used in philosophical discussion as the warp and weft of conceptual knowledge are exposed. Having started at the level of the everyday attitude to truth - [samvriti satya]

- with its duality of outlook, one works one's way to the supreme truth - [paramartha satya]

- in which there is no duality or opposite. Reality is simply experienced (prajnaparamita).

Although not of absolute value, human experience is, however, seen to have value in a relative sense. The life of the [madhyamika]

is that of one who works with the world of appearances, conscientiously obeying moral precepts and striving for the liberation of all. Nonetheless, the relative value of such activity is clear and there is simultaneous awareness of [paramartha satya]

.

The second of the five primary subjects for the Geshe degree in Tibetan Buddhism.