1. INTRODUCTION 77 1.1. The Nature of the Problem 78 1.2. The "Linguistic'Interpretation of Mddhyamika 79 1.3. "Reality as Fiction" - A Soteriological Approach 79 2. NIHILISM, ETERNALISM AND THE MIDDLE WAY 81 3. THE SYSTEM OF THE TWO TRUTHS 83 3.1. Samvrti 83 3.2. Paramdrthasatya 88 4. THE AMBIVALENT MEANING OF THE TERM SVABH,~VA 91 5. THE NEGATION OF SAM. VR. TI: QUALIFIED OR ABSOLUTE? 94 5.1. The Concpet of "dependent Origination"" 94 5.2. The Use of Metaphor and Simple to Describe the Yogic Vision 95 5.3. The Defense of Sam. vrti 97 5.4. The Yogi's Attitude Towards Samv.rti 98 6. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 98