Bodhisattva Nagarjuna -The Non-Arising Truth

“Dharmas are not self-arisen,

Nor are they other-arisen.

They do not arise together or without a cause.

Hence, we understand the non-arising.”

Root Verses on the Middle Way, Vol. 1

「諸法不自生，亦不從他生，不共不無因，是故知無生。」《中論》卷1

Remarks:

The notion of non-arising nature expounded by Bodhisattva Nagarjuna refers to the Mahāyāna emptiness-nature pertaining to prajñā, not to the notion of the emptiness-appearance of the five aggregates and their phenomenal world. That is, the Middle-Way emptiness of the tathāgatagarbha is not the emptiness-appearance of the arising and ceasing condition-based dharmas that is part of the Two-Vehicle teachings. As the five aggregates are impermanent dharmas and will ultimately become extinct, they do not have the inherently non-arising nature of the tathāgatagarbha, which is permanent, real, and imperishable. Hence, we know that the tathāgatagarbha is different from the five aggregates.

However, if the five aggregates differ from the tathāgatagarbha, then the tathāgatagarbha cannot abide in the bodies of the three realms (all beings have bodies) and will differ from the five aggregates in the three realms. Then, the tathāgatagarbha entity self has nothing to do with the five aggregates’ bodies. In this case, all cultivational efforts of practitioners will become empty, meaningless, and unachievable.

Therefore, a bodhisattva who has realized the tathāgatagarbha knows and can personally witness that it brings forth all the arising and ceasing dharmas in the three realms. That is, the dharmic nature of all dharmas arises and ceases, but the tathāgatagarbha entity does not arise or cease. Therefore, a bodhisattva leaves the two extremes of arising and ceasing and neither arising nor ceasing and abides in the Middle Way and the prajñā of non-arising. This is the true meaning of the verses taught by Bodhisattva Nagarjuna.

#Buddha #Nagarjuna #tathagatagarbha #middleway