MADHYAMAKA SCHOOLS IN INDIA

This Volume traces the development of one of the most divisible debates in Buddhist philosophy in which leading parts were taken by Nagarjuna, Bhavaviveka and Candrakirti.

The interesting debate between the Prasangikas and Svatantrikas has thus far received comparatively little attention. It has been largely assumed that the division between the two schools occured as a result of the disagreements on the essentials of the Madhyamaka philosophical view.

In the present work the author argues that the schools split not over philosophical but over forensic methodology or, in other words, over the way in which the philosophy of emptiness was to be communicated to and vindicated for others. He draws substantially on the Tibetan sources to prove his viewpoint. He also makes use of Nagarjuna's Mulamadhyamakakarika and Candrakirti's Prasannapadanamamadhyamakavrtti.

The volume extends not only the current understanding of the Madhyamaka system, but also offers a new and eminently reasonable interpretation of the nature of the divisions between the Prasangikas and Svatantrikas.

About the Author:

Peter Della Santina (b. U.S.A.) graduated in Religion from Wesleyan University in 1972. He studied Indian Philosophy at Varanasi and Delhi. In 1979 he obtained Ph.D. from the University of Delhi.

Dr. Santina has worked as a research scholar for the Institute for Advanced Studies of World Religious in the U.S.A. He has lectured widely in Europe and Asia. Besides working as Co-ordinator of Buddhist Studies Programme for the Curriculum Development Institute of Singapore, a Department of the Ministry of Education, Government of Singapore, Dr. Santina has written a number of scholarly papers, and is the co-author of Nagarjuna's Letter to King Gautamiputra.

FOREWORD

INTRODUCTION

1. The Origins of the Madhyamaka Philosophy
2. The Principal Exponents of the Madhyamaka System in India.
3. The Madhyamaka Philosophy
4. Indian Logic and the Madhyamaka System
5. The Origin of the Division
6. The Development of the Controversy
7. The Development of the Controversy in Tibet
8. The Significance of These Interpretations Assessed
9. The Vigrahavyavartani and the Exposition of the Status of the Valid Instruments of Cognition
10. The Refutation of Origination
11. The Refutation of the First Alternative
12. The Controversy between Bhavaviveka and Candrakirti
13. Bhavaviveka's Independent Syllogism Criticised
14. The Refutation of the Second Alternative
15. The Refutation of the Third Alternative
16. The Refutation of the Last Alternative
17. A Final Look at the Difference between the Prasangika and Svatantrika Schools.

APPENDIX A. An Abridged Biography of the Teacher bSod-nams Sen-ge

APPENDIX B. English, Sanskrit, Tibetan Glossary

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX