This study, based on Candrakīrti’s views of the two truths and his critiques of self-existence expounded in Chapter Six of the Madhyamakāvatāra, aims to explore his analysis of the self by combing through the historical background of two truths in Buddhism, revisiting the four tenet schools’ interpretations of conventional truth and ultimate truth and examining Candrakīrti’s own conception of two truths.
In Madhyamakāvatāra, under the premise of no contradiction with conventional phenomena, Candrakīrti determines the two truths and critiques “the self” posited by different schools of philosophy within and without Buddhism. In addition, he elucidates Nāgārjuna’s thoughts and profound wisdom in Prasannapadā, refuting theories that assert an independent and inherent existence of self.
This study focuses on Chapter Six of the Madhyamakāvatāra, in which Candrakīrti not only repudiates the existence of a permanent, unified and independent self claimed in non-Buddhist tenet systems, such as Sāṃkhya and Vaiśeṣika, but also refutes the assertions made by the other Buddhist tenet schools, including the five aggregates as self by Vaibhāṣika, mental continuum by Sautrāntika, and foundation-consciousness （ālaya-vijñāna) by Cittamātra. It then elaborates on the characters of the two truths from Candrakīrti’s perspectives and comments on his critiques about self.
