The Prajñā-wisdom of the Middle Way

 

Quote from Madhyamaka, Vol. 1, Nāgārjuna : 

“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.”

【諸法不自生，亦不從他生，

　不共不無因，是故知無生。】

《中論》卷1，龍樹

Remarks (Excerpts from The Correct Meanings of Treatise on the Middle Way, 中論正義, pp. 67-71, authored by Teacher Sun Cheng-Te): 

To save Bodhisattva Vasubandhu from the karmic retribution of rebirth in hell due to his slandering of the Mahāyāna Dharma, Bodhisattva Asaṅga expounded the Compendium of the Great Vehicle to guide Vasubandhu in accepting and personally realizing the Mahāyāna teachings. This was directed at Vasubandhu’s context of having an unimpeded penetrating understanding of various Hīnayāna sectarian schools without being attached to their erroneous views. Asaṅga’s direct explicit exposition of the ālaya-consciousness mind entity and his profound training in higher wisdom that “all three realms are mind-only, and all phenomena are mere consciousness” enabled the exceptionally intelligent Vasubandhu to accept without doubt and directly realize these teachings. Although there was a limited explanation of the Middle-Way prajñā, it was fundamentally based on the same principal entity of the ālaya-consciousness. This was a skillful means devised by Bodhisattva Asaṅga for Bodhisattva Vasubandhu because the depth and breadth of the Mahāyāna Dharma are proficiently adapted to suit the varying capacities of different practitioners.

One who has realized the mind entity of ālaya-consciousness will be able to correctly ascertain the true characteristics of the arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing of the five aggregates. This means that the prajñā-wisdom associated with the sign of reality is contingent upon the faithful acceptance of the existence of ālaya-vijñāna and the direct realization of the mind entity of ālaya-consciousness. Thus, it is said that the mind entity of the ālaya-consciousness is the principal entity of prajñā. As such, through this direct realization, a bodhisattva personally verifies the doctrinal foundation of the dependent arising without an intrinsic nature of the aggregates, sense fields, and elements, as well as the Two-Vehicle nirvāṇa. He understands that the Two-Vehicle nirvāṇa is actually expounded based on this tathāgatagarbha mind. The so-called dependent arising denotes that all dharmas arise from the tathāgatagarbha mind through conditions; without the tathāgatagarbha mind, there would be no arising of myriad conditions and thus no dharma of dependent arising without an intrinsic nature to speak of. Therefore, it is said that the tathāgatagarbha mind is also the principal entity of the Two-Vehicle Bodhi and the Two-Vehicle nirvāṇa. The notion of nondual reality-nature described in prajñā belongs to the mind entity of the ālaya-consciousness, the tathāgatagarbha. This nondual reality-nature denotes the Middle Way, which falls neither into existence in the three realms nor into nihilistic nothingness. It does not conform to the view of perpetual existence resolutely held by the ordinary adherents of Sectarian Buddhism because none of the six consciousnesses of the consciousness concealment can continue into the next life and hence cannot extend to the infinite future. Nor does it align with the view of absolutely empty resolutely held by those with a wrong attachment to total nothingness because all arhats believe in the existence of the permanent and indestructible intrinsic vijñāna.

Those who have attained direct realization rely on the prajñā-wisdom associated with the sign of reality to directly observe the dependent arising with an empty nature of the dharmas of the aggregates, sense fields, and elements as well as to directly observe that the aggregates, sense fields, and elements basically should be inherently subsumed under the seed functions in the mind entity of the ālaya-consciousness. That is to say, without the continuous functional operations of the mind entity of ālaya-consciousness, the aggregates, sense fields, and elements would have no functionalities. The mind entity of the sign of reality is neither arising nor ceasing, is inherently nirvāṇic, and is inherently non-arising. A bodhisattva who personally realizes and directly observes as such can therefore thoroughly comprehend the Mahāyāna core tenet expounded by the Buddha to various bodhisattvas in the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, where it is stated that “the various dharmas of the aggregates, sense fields, and elements are also inherently non-arising.” Thus, with the wisdom gained from directly observing the dharmas of the aggregates, sense fields, and elements through the Middle-Way nature of the ālaya-consciousness mind entity, one directly observes and personally realizes that all dharmas are neither separate from nor identical to the mundane world. This denotes the prajñā-wisdom of the Middle Way.

#Middle Way #prajna #Mahayana #alayaconsciousness