It goes without saying that dependent co-arising (pratītyasamutpāda) plays an important role in Buddhist thought. But this was not necessarily the case in the early Mahāyāna. Surprisingly, there are also few examples of the use of this term in the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras. In particular, little importance was attached to it in early Prajñāpāramitā sūtras such as the Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā and the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā and related texts. Furthermore, in the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā and related texts, from the first chapter of entrustment onwards, there began to appear some noteworthy discussions of dependent co-arising that have a bearing on the Mūlamadhyamaka-kārikā.
In expanded versions of the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras, however, this situation changes completely. In particular, there appear several discussions of dependent co-arising that are notable for their influence on later Buddhist thought.
The main uses of dependent co-arising in expanded versions of the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras are the visualization of dependent co-arising as an antidote to ignorance and its use as a source for the verse of salutation in the Mūlamadhyamaka-kārikā, known as the eight negations. In this paper, I examine these and situate the verse of the eight negations in the context of the doctrines that developed as the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras grew in volume. Nāgārjuna brought together the negative expressions found in expanded versions of the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras in the form of the eight negations and linked them to the idea of dependent co-arising, which was then transmitted in later versions of the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras such as the Aṣṭādaśasāhasrikā-Prajñāpāramitā. In addition, Asaṅga’s *Madhyamakānusāra (Shunzhong lun 順中論) played a role in strengthening the ties between the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras and the eight negations.
