Svatantrika

Nyingma

In the 19th century the concurring Nyingma, Kagyu and Sakya schools joined forces in the Rimé movement, in an attempt to preserve their religious legacy against the dominant Gelugpa school. Ju Mipham's commentary on Śāntarakṣita's Madhyamakālaṃkāra ("The Adornment of the Middle Way") is an example of this new impetus to older strands of Tibetan Buddhism. Mipham presents an alternative interpretation of the Svātantrika–Prāsaṅgika distinction, in which the emphasis is not on "dialectical preferences," (consequential reasoning versus syllogistic reasoning), but on the distinction between the "approximate ultimate truth" and the "actual ultimate truth," just like Bhāviveka did. According to Mipham, "the authentic Svatantrika is the approach that emphasizes the approximate ultimate, while the Prasangika approach emphasizes the ultimate in itself, beyond all assertions." His is a gradual approach, starting with sensory experience and the 'realness' of the "things" perceived through them, which are "provisionally accorded a certain existence." From there the approximate ultimate truth is posited, demonstrating that "phenomena cannot possibly exist in the way that they appear," invalidating the conventional reality of appearances. From there, "the ultimate truth in itself, which is completely free from all assertion, is reached." While the Svātantrikas do make assertions about conventional truth or reality, they stay silent on the ultimate in itself, just like the Prāsaṅgikas.