East Asian Madhyamaka refers to the Buddhist tradition in

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...

which represents the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Madhyamaka Mādhyamaka ("middle way" or "centrism"; ; Tibetan: དབུ་མ་པ ; ''dbu ma pa''), otherwise known as Śūnyavāda ("the emptiness doctrine") and Niḥsvabhāvavāda ("the no ''svabhāva'' doctrine"), refers to a tradition of Buddhist ...

(''Chung-kuan'') system of thought. In

Chinese Buddhism Chinese Buddhism or Han Buddhism ( zh, s=汉传佛教, t=漢傳佛教, p=Hànchuán Fójiào) is a Chinese form of Mahayana Buddhism which has shaped Chinese culture in a wide variety of areas including art, politics, literature, philosophy, ...

, these are often referred to as the ''Sānlùn'' ( Ch. 三論宗, Jp. ''Sanron'', "Three Treatise") school, also known as the "

emptiness Emptiness as a human condition is a sense of generalized boredom, social alienation and apathy. Feelings of emptiness often accompany dysthymia, depression, loneliness, anhedonia, despair, or other mental/emotional disorders, including schizoid ...

school" (''K'ung Tsung''),Hsueh-li Cheng, Empty Logic: Mādhyamika Buddhism from Chinese Sources, Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 1991 p. 9. although they may not have been an independent sect. The three principal texts of the school are ''the Middle Treatise'' (''Zhong lun''), ''the Twelve Gate Treatise'' (''Shiermen lun''), and ''the Hundred Treatise'' (''Bai lun''). They were first transmitted to China during the early 5th century by the Buddhist monk

Kumārajīva Kumārajīva (Sanskrit: कुमारजीव; , 344–413 CE) was a Buddhist monk, scholar, missionary and translator from the Kingdom of Kucha (present-day Aksu Prefecture, Xinjiang, China). Kumārajīva is seen as one of the greatest ...

(344−413) in the

Eastern Jin Dynasty Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways * Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air ...

. The school and its texts were later transmitted to Korea and Japan. The leading thinkers of this tradition are

's disciple Sēngzhào (Seng-chao; 374−414), and the later Jízàng (Chi-tsang; 549−623). Their major doctrines include

(''k'ung''), the middle way (''chung-tao''), the twofold truth (''erh-t'i'') and "the refutation of erroneous views as the illumination of right views" (''p'o-hsieh-hsien-cheng'').

History in China

Early period

The name ''Sānlùn'' derives from the fact that its doctrinal basis is formed by three principal Madhyamaka texts composed by the Indian Buddhist philosophers

Nāgārjuna Nāgārjuna . 150 – c. 250 CE (disputed)was an Indian Mahāyāna Buddhist thinker, scholar-saint and philosopher. He is widely considered one of the most important Buddhist philosophers.Garfield, Jay L. (1995), ''The Fundamental Wisdom of ...

(''Longshu'', 龍樹), and

Āryadeva Āryadeva (fl. 3rd century CE) (; , Chinese: ''Tipo pusa'' ��婆菩薩 = Deva Bodhisattva, was a Mahayana Buddhist monk, a disciple of Nagarjuna and a Madhyamaka philosopher.Silk, Jonathan A. (ed.) (2019). ''Brill’s Encyclopedia of Budd ...

, which were then translated into

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

by the

Kuchean Kuchean (also known as Tocharian B or West Tocharian) was a Western member of Tocharian branch of Indo-European languages, extinct from ninth century. Once spoken in the Tarim Basin in Central Asia. Tocharian B shows an internal chronological de ...

monk

(

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...

: ''Jiūmóluóshí'') and his team of Chinese translators in

Chang'an Chang'an (; ) is the traditional name of Xi'an. The site had been settled since Neolithic times, during which the Yangshao culture was established in Banpo, in the city's suburbs. Furthermore, in the northern vicinity of modern Xi'an, Qin Shi ...

's Xiaoyao garden. These three foundational texts are: * ''The Middle Treatise'' (Ch. 中論, pinyin: Zhonglun, T. 1564; Skt. Madhyamakaśāstra), comprising Nāgārjuna's ''

Mūlamadhyamakakārikā The ''Mūlamadhyamakakārikā'' ( sa, मूलमध्यमककारिका, ''Root Verses on the Middle Way''), abbreviated as ''MMK'', is the foundational text of the Madhyamaka school of Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophy. It was compose ...

'' ("Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way") alongside a commentary by * Vimalākṣa / * Piṅgala (Ch. 青目, pinyin: Qingmu). * ''The Treatise on the Twelve Gates'' (Ch. 十二門論, pinyin: Shiermenlun, T. 1568), allegedly Nāgārjuna's *''Dvādaśadvāraśāstra'', also reconstructed as *''Dvādaśamukhaśāstra'' or as *''Dvādaśanikāyaśāstra.'' * '' The Hundred(-Verse) Treatise'' (Ch. 百論, pinyin: Bailun, T. 1569; Skt. ''Śatakaśāstra'', or ''Śataśāstra''), consisting of a commentary by a certain master Vasu on some verses by

. Sometimes a fourth text is added, changing the collection's title to the "Four Treatises" (Ch. 四論, pinyin: Silun): * "Commentary on the Great Perfection of Wisdom" (Ch. 大智度論, pinyin: Dazhidulun, T. 1509; Skt. ''Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa''). Attributed to Nāgārjuna, but disputed by some modern scholars. Another text translated by Kumārajīva and his team, the

Satyasiddhi The ''Tattvasiddhi-Śāstra'' ("The Treatise that Accomplishes Reality"; , also reconstructed as ''Satyasiddhi-Śāstra''), is an Indian Abhidharma Buddhist text by a figure known as Harivarman (250-350). It was translated into Chinese in 411 by ...

shastra (''Ch'eng-shih lun''), while not being a Madhyamaka text per se, was influential in the study of Chinese Madhyamaka, since it also taught the emptiness of dharmas.

Sengrui Sengrui (僧睿; 371–438 AD) was a Buddhist monk and scholar. He was born in what is now Henan. He became a monk at age 18, traveling extensively from age 24, meeting among others Dao An. He ended up in Changan, where he took part in Kumarajiva ...

was one of Kumārajīva's main disciples, he aided in the translation project of numerous texts, including the Middle Treatise and the ''Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra''. Six days after Kumārajīva arrived in Chang'an, Sengrui requested that he translate a meditation manual now understood to be the ''Zuochan sanmei jing'' (''Sutra of sitting dhyāna

samādhi ''Samadhi'' (Pali and sa, समाधि), in Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism and yogic schools, is a state of meditation, meditative consciousness. In Buddhism, it is the last of the eight elements of the Noble Eightfold Path. In the Ash ...

,'' Taisho 15 no. 614).Tansen Sen, Buddhism Across Asia: Networks of Material, Intellectual and Cultural Exchange, volume 1, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2014, p. 117. Sengrui refers to this manual as “Chanyao” 禪要 in the preface he wrote for it: the ''Guanzhong-chu chanjing xu'' (''Preface to the Meditation Manual Translated in the Guanzhong Area'', T55: 65a–b) (dates uncertain)''.'' Another of Kumārajīva's main disciples, Sēngzhào continued to promote Madhyamaka teachings, and wrote several works from this standpoint, his main one being the ''Zhao Lun''. Two of the essays in this work ('' Prajña Is Without Dichotomizing Knowledge'' and ''Nirvana Is Without Conceptualization'') follow a similar debate format to Nagarjuna's MMK.Dippmann, Jeffrey, Sengzhao (Seng-Chao c. 378—413 C.E.), Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.https://www.iep.utm.edu/sengzhao Sēngzhào is often seen as the founder of the ''Sānlùn'' school proper''.'' His philosophy drew from various sources, including the three treatises,

Mahayana sutras The Mahāyāna sūtras are a broad genre of Buddhist scriptures (''sūtra'') that are accepted as canonical and as ''buddhavacana'' ("Buddha word") in Mahāyāna Buddhism. They are largely preserved in the Chinese Buddhist canon, the Tibetan B ...

such as the

Vimalakirti sutra The ''Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa'' (Devanagari: विमलकीर्तिनिर्देश) (sometimes referred to as the ''Vimalakīrti Sūtra'' or ''Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa Sūtra'') is a Buddhist text which centers on a lay Buddhist meditat ...

, as well as

Taoist Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the ''Tao'' ...

works such as

Lao-tzu Laozi (), also known by numerous other names, was a semilegendary ancient Chinese Taoist philosopher. Laozi ( zh, ) is a Chinese honorific, generally translated as "the Old Master". Traditional accounts say he was born as in the state of ...

, Chuang-tzu and Neo-Daoist "Mystery Learning" (''

xuanxue Xuanxue (), sometimes called Neo-Daoism (Neo-Taoism), is a metaphysical post-classical Chinese philosophy from the Six Dynasties (222-589), bringing together Taoist and Confucian beliefs through revision and discussion. The movement found its scri ...

'' 玄学) texts.Cuma Ozkan, A comparative analysis: Buddhist Madhyamaka and Daoist Chongxuan (twofold mystery) in the early Tang (618-720) University of Iowa, 2013. His use of Taoist influenced paradoxes made him a favorite in the

Chan Chan may refer to: Places *Chan (commune), Cambodia *Chan Lake, by Chan Lake Territorial Park in Northwest Territories, Canada People *Chan (surname), romanization of various Chinese surnames (including 陳, 曾, 詹, 戰, and 田) *Chan Caldwel ...

school who considers him a patriarch. Sēngzhào saw the central problem in understanding emptiness as the discriminatory activity of ''

prapañca In Buddhism, conceptual proliferation (Pali language, Pāli: ; Sanskrit: ; zh, s=戏论, t=戲論, p=xìlùn; ja, 戯論) or, alternatively, mental proliferation or conceptual elaboration, refers to conceptualization of the world through language ...

.'' According to Sēngzhào, delusion arises through a dependent relationship between phenomenal things, naming, thought and reification and correct understanding lies outside of words and concepts. Thus, while emptiness is the lack of intrinsic self in all things, this emptiness is not itself an absolute and cannot be grasped by the conceptual mind, it can be only be realized through non-conceptual wisdom ('' prajña'').

Tang era and Jízàng

An important ''Sānlùn'' figure during the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

was Fa-lang (507-581). He studied widely under various teachers, including the Madhyamaka master Seng-chuan (470-528) and eventually received an imperial decree to reside at Hsing Huang monastery in Ch'ien-k'ang, where he continued to give sermons on the Four Treatises for twenty five years. The most influential ''Sānlùn'' scholar of the Tang was Fa-lang's pupil Jízàng (549-623), a prolific writer who composed commentaries on these three treatises. One of his most famous works is the ''Erdi Yi'' (二諦意), or "Meaning of the Two Truths", referring to the conventional and ultimate truths. In one passage of the ''Erdi Yi'', Jizang cites Falang, and argues that the four treatises have the same goal, "to explain the two truths and manifest the doctrine of non-duality". Jízàng criticized numerous Chinese Buddhists for their unwarranted metaphysical assumptions. He ultimately rejects all metaphysical assertions of being and non-being as dogmatic conceptual confusions. Thus according to Hsueh-Lu Cheng, for Jízàng:

True wisdom (prajña) is the abandonment of all views. Chi-tsang argues that metaphysical speculation of Being and Nothingness is a disease (ping). It is the root of all erroneous or perverted views. The cure of the disease lies not so much in developing a new metaphysical theory as in understanding the proper nature and function of human conceptualization and language. Chi-tsang, following Nagarjuna, claims that the very language men create and use plays a trick on them and destroys their "eyes of wisdom." Enlightened men should discard conceptualization so as to avoid being taken in by this trick. Emptiness, for Chi-tsang, is a medicine (yao) for curing the "philosophical disease."

Jízàng called his philosophical method "deconstructing what is misleading and revealing what is corrective". He insisted that one must never settle on any particular viewpoint or perspective but constantly reexamine one's formulations to avoid rectification of thought and behavior.Fox, Alan, Self-reflection in the Sanlun Tradition: Madhyamika as the "Deconstructive Conscience" of Buddhism, Journal of Chinese Philosophy V. 19 (1992) pp. 1-24. In addition to popularizing Madhyamaka, Jízàng also wrote commentaries on the Mahāyāna sūtras such as the ''

Lotus Sūtra The ''Lotus Sūtra'' ( zh, 妙法蓮華經; sa, सद्धर्मपुण्डरीकसूत्रम्, translit=Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtram, lit=Sūtra on the White Lotus of the True Dharma, italic=) is one of the most influ ...

,'' the '' Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa Sūtra'' and ''

Tathāgatagarbha Buddha-nature refers to several related Mahayana Buddhist terms, including '' tathata'' ("suchness") but most notably ''tathāgatagarbha'' and ''buddhadhātu''. ''Tathāgatagarbha'' means "the womb" or "embryo" (''garbha'') of the "thus-gone ...

'' teachings.

Influence on Chan

After Jízàng, the school declined considerably, though its texts remained influential for other traditions such as

Tiantai Tiantai or T'ien-t'ai () is an East Asian Buddhist school of Mahāyāna Buddhism that developed in 6th-century China. The school emphasizes the ''Lotus Sutra's'' doctrine of the "One Vehicle" (''Ekayāna'') as well as Mādhyamaka philosophy ...

and

Buddhism. In, Chan (Zen), Nagarjuna is seen as one of the patriarchs of the school and thus its key figures such as

Huineng Dajian Huineng (); (February 27, 638 – August 28, 713), also commonly known as the Sixth Patriarch or Sixth Ancestor of Chan (traditional Chinese: 禪宗六祖), is a semi-legendary but central figure in the early history of Chinese Chan Buddhi ...

must have been familiar with the four treatises.Hsueh-li Cheng, Empty Logic: Mādhyamika Buddhism from Chinese Sources, Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 1991, p. 56. According to Hsueh-li Cheng, "Zen masters such as Niu-t'ou fa-yung (594-657) and Nan-ch'uan P'u-yuan (748- 834) were San-Iun Buddhists before they became Zen masters." Furthermore, major ''Sānlùn'' tenets such as the negation of conceptualization, the rejection of all views, and the twofold truth were adopted by Zen, thus Hsueh-li Cheng concludes that "in many respects Zen appears to be a practical application of Madhyamika thought."

Modern Chinese Buddhism

In the early part of the 20th century, the laymen

Yang Wenhui Yang Wenhui (; 1837-1911) was a Chinese lay Buddhist reformer who has been called "The Father of the Modern Buddhist Renaissance". His courtesy name was Rénshān (). He was a native of Shídài () county (modern Shítái 石台 county) in Anhui pr ...

and Ouyang Jian (Ch. ) (1871–1943) promoted Buddhist learning in China, and the general trend was for an increase in studies of Buddhist traditions such as

Yogācāra Yogachara ( sa, योगाचार, IAST: '; literally "yoga practice"; "one whose practice is yoga") is an influential tradition of Buddhist philosophy and psychology emphasizing the study of cognition, perception, and consciousness through t ...

, and the

Huayan school The Huayan or Flower Garland school of Buddhism (, from sa, अवतंसक, Avataṃsaka) is a tradition of Mahayana Buddhist philosophy that first flourished in China during the Tang dynasty (618-907). The Huayan worldview is based primar ...

. A major influential figure in the modern Chinese study of Madhyamaka is Yìnshùn (印順導師, 1906–2005)''.'' Yìnshùn applied his study of the Chinese

Agamas Religion *Āgama (Buddhism), a collection of Early Buddhist texts *Āgama (Hinduism), scriptures of several Hindu sects *Jain literature (Jain Āgamas), various canonical scriptures in Jainism Other uses * ''Agama'' (lizard), a genus of lizards ...

to Madhyamaka, and argued that the works of

Nagarjuna Nāgārjuna . 150 – c. 250 CE (disputed)was an Indian Mahāyāna Buddhist thinker, scholar-saint and philosopher. He is widely considered one of the most important Buddhist philosophers.Garfield, Jay L. (1995), ''The Fundamental Wisdom of ...

were "the inheritance of the conceptualisation of dependent arising as proposed in the

". Yìnshùn saw the writings of Nagarjuna as the correct Buddhadharma while considering the writings of the ''Sānlùn'' school as being corrupted due to their synthesizing of the ''

Tathagata-garbha Buddha-nature refers to several related Mahayana Buddhist terms, including '' tathata'' ("suchness") but most notably ''tathāgatagarbha'' and ''buddhadhātu''. ''Tathāgatagarbha'' means "the womb" or "embryo" (''garbha'') of the "thus-gone ...

'' doctrine into Madhyamaka. While he was seen among his colleagues as a ''Sānlùn'' scholar, he himself did not claim such direct affiliation:Many modern Chinese Mādhyamaka scholars such as Li Zhifu, Yang Huinan and Lan Jifu have been students of Yìnshùn.

History in Japan

The school was known in Japan as Sanron (三論宗) and was introduced around 625 by the Korean

Goguryeo Goguryeo (37 BC–668 AD) ( ) also called Goryeo (), was a Korean kingdom located in the northern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula and the southern and central parts of Northeast China. At its peak of power, Goguryeo controlled most ...

monk

Hyegwan Hyegwan (Japanese: was a priest who came across the sea from Goguryeo to Japan in the Asuka period. He is known for introducing the Chinese Buddhist school of Sanlun to Japan. Hyegwan studied under Jizang and learned Sanron. In 625 (the 33rd y ...

(Jp. = Ekan 慧灌) who resided at Gangōji Temple.

Prince Shōtoku , also known as or , was a semi-legendary regent and a politician of the Asuka period in Japan who served under Empress Suiko. He was the son of Emperor Yōmei and his consort, Princess Anahobe no Hashihito, who was also Yōmei's younger half- ...

is known to have had two Buddhist mentors from the Sanron school. Ekan is also known for introducing the Jōjitsu (

) school to Japan and the Satyasiddhi system was taught as a supplement, together with Madhyamaka, in Japanese Sanron. During the

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese. ...

, an important Sanron figure was master Chiko (709-781), whose commentary on the Heart Sutra became a classic work of Heian Buddhist scholarship and the most authoritative commentary on the Heart Sutra in the early Heian. This commentary criticized the Hosso (Yogacara) school's interpretation of the Heart Sutra, promoted the Heart Sutra as a text of definitive meaning (nītārtha) while also drawing on the work of Jizang.Mikael S. Adolphson, Edward Kamens, Stacie Matsumoto, Heian Japan: Centers and Peripheries, p. 188. This school was later overshadowed by other Japanese schools such as Tendai and Zen.

Notes

References

* * Ducor, Jérôme et Isler, Henry W. : Jizang 吉藏, Le Sens des arcanes des Trois Traités (Sanlun xuanyi / Sanron gengi 三論玄義), contribution à l'étude du Mādhyamika dans le bouddhisme d'Extrême-Orient ; Genève, Librairie Droz, 2022; 416 pp., bibliographie (ISBN-13: 978-2-600-06383-8) * Gard, Richard (1957)
Why did the Madhyamika decline?
Indogaku Bukkyogaku Kenkyu 5 (2), 10-14 * Brian Bocking (1995). Nagarjuna in China: A Translation of the Middle Treatise (The Edwin Mellon Press). * Ming-Wood Liu (1997). Madhyamaka Thought in China (Sinica Leidensia, 30), Brill Academic Pub. *

Robert Magliola Roberto Rino Magliola (born 1940) is an Italian-American academic specializing in European hermeneutics and deconstruction, in comparative philosophy, and in inter-religious dialogue. He is retired from National Taiwan University and from Assumpt ...

(2004). "Nagarjuna and Chi-tsang on the Value of 'This World': A Reply to Kuang-ming Wu's Critique of Indian and Chinese Madhyamika Buddhism." Journal of Chinese Philosophy 31 (4), 505–516. (Demonstrates Jizang neither denigrates 'this world' nor deviates from what was mainstream Indian Madhyamikan doctrine.) {{DEFAULTSORT:East Asian Madhyamaka Madhyamaka Buddhism in China Defunct schools of Buddhism in Japan Buddhism in the Nara period Religion in East Asia Treatises