Expressing the Fallacy from the Viewpoint of a Pervader: Nāgārjuna and the Putative Consequences of SvabhāvaExpressing the Fallacy from the Viewpoint of a Pervader:Nāgārjuna and the Putative Consequences of Svabhāva=從能遍的觀點論證錯誤認知的思維方式 -- 龍樹和虛設自性的後果
This paper describes how Nāgārjuna (klu grub, first to second century C.E. ) in his Treatise on the Middle (mūlamadhyamakakarikā?) refutes the existence of “own-being” (svabhāva, rang bzhin), or inherent existence, in reliance on a logical method referred to by later Tibetan exegetes as “expressing the fallacy from the viewpoint of a pervader.” Using this method, one does not directly refute the putative entity of own-being itself, but instead one points to numerous absurd consequences of own-being in order to describe how our world would be if, in fact, its mode of subsistence were own-being. Examples are taken from Nāgārjuna's analyses of motion and production. Philosophers discussed in this paper are in the Indian and Tibetan traditions of the Buddhist Middle Way School, including Chandrakīrti (zla ba grags pa, seventh century), considered by many to be the founder of the Middle Way Consequence School (prāsa?gika-mādhyamika) and zong-ka-a o-sang-drak-a[1](1359-1417), founder of the Tibetan Ge-luk lineage. According to these thinkers, the import of Nāgārjuna's thought is that all phenomena exist as mere imputations, without being established from their own side. Thus, while asserting that there is no own-being, Nāgārjuna details the impossibility of own-being through expressing its fallacy from the viewpoint of a pervader, i.e., something broader. For instance, if motion had own-being, then all motion would be findable under analysis. Being findable under analysis is broader than own-being, and thus is a “pervader.” Other pervaders of own-being are permanence, stability, and a lack of dependence on causes and conditions. Thus, an inherently existent chair would have the three attributes of being non-fabricated, independent, and immutable. Although there are limitless examples, this paper primarily lists the putative consequences of own-being in the analysis of production known as the vajra nodes, which searches for a findable mode of production that would involve a thing being produced either from itself, from causes that are inherently other than it, from causes that are both self and other, or causelessly. In addition, this paper discusses some mistaken ideas about Nāgārjuna's method as asserted by some non-Tibetan scholars, refuting in particular the assertion that the import of Nāgārjuna's intention is to refute Hindu philosophical assertions.
Contents: Introduction Emptiness in the Middle Way School Nāgārjuna and Ultimate Analysis Expressing Fallacies from the Viewpoint of a Pervader Modern Scholars and Nāgārjuna The Vajra Nodes There Is Production Conventionally Production from Self Production from Other Production from both Self and Other Production Causelessly Conclusion
