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Shunyata, Screen Shot 2022-09-26 at 12.45.29 PM - Coggle Diagram
Shunyata
Nagarjuna d. C 250
All things in existence are empty
This century thinker
Madhyamika/The middle way
Major influence on Mahayana buddhism
Came from a Brahmin family, the highest caste in the Hindi tradition
Later converted to Buddhism
Eventually associated with the Mahayana branch (which was a minority at the time)
Key buddhist works
Mulamadhyamikakrika
Root verses of the middle way
New school of thought within Mahayana Buddhism - Madhyamika
The Middle Way
Buddhist Schools
Theravada (School of the elders)
Locations
Cambodia
Thailand
Myanmar
Sri Lanka
Mahayana (The great vehicle)
Largest branch of Buddhism
Location
China
Japan
Vietnam
Malaysia
Nepal
Vajrayana (Tantric buddhism)
Sometimes also seen as a part of Mahayana Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism
Differences between them
They accept different collections of text as authoritative
different monasteries rules
different practical differences
Basic Buddhist philosophies
Four noble truths
Life is suffering/life includes suffering
there is a reason being suffering
suffering can end
there is a way to end that suffering
Doctrine of No Self - Annata
there is no self
The thing we refer to as 'I' is an illusion
no enduring core/self in any human being
We are a collection of different skandas/aggregates
consciousness
sensation
we put together these skandas to create an idea of a unified self
All schools agree on this
Realising this is a central factor to reaching enlightenment/Nirvana
Doctrine of Dependent Arising
all things in the world are dependent in their existence on other things
everything is temporary and only exists in dependence on everything else
flower example
there are no things at all, all things we see in the world are a collection of other things that appear a certain way at a particular time. It is us, who conceptualize that thing into a false entity
Story of the chariot/King Milinda's questions
King is having a conversation with a buddhist sage called Nagasena
king asks about the droctine of no self, about how there could be no such thing as a personal self as it seems like an apparent reality to everyone
Nagasena points to a chariot and asks what is the chariot
if the chariot can not be found in any of the parts then there is no chariot.
chariot is a name that is applied to a combination of these various elements and doesn't actually have an independent existence of its own.
When we talk about ourself, we use words like 'I' which is convenient and useful in the everyday world.
In reality, there is no such thing. 'I' is a name we give to a collection of temporary aggregates.
Existential nihlism? Or more complicated than that
Existential nihilism is the philosophical theory that life has no intrinsic meaning or value. With respect to the universe, existential nihilism suggests that a single human or even the entire human species is insignificant, without purpose and unlikely to change in the totality of existence.
Nietzsche
Major themes in Nagarjuna's Writings
Shunyata
All things in the world are empty. i.e, they are empty of intrinsic nature or existence.
Doctrine of the Two Truths
