Indian Logic Forum

Plamen · Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 7:06 pm Post subject: Examination of Svabhava

What follows is a translation of the Svabhava-pariksa from the Sanskrit Bauddha Bharati 1989 edition of Mulamadhyamaka-karika of Nagarjuna with the Prasannapada of Candrakirti:

1. Svabhava is not constrained by conditioned grounds (pratyaya-hetu). Because, if created by something causally conditioned, svabhava would be something made.

2. How, again, a svabhava will be something created, if it is uncreated by, and indifferent to a parabhava (other being)?

3. And if svabhava is absent, how will be there a parabhava? In this case svabhava will be referred to as parabhava of the parabhava.

4. Again, how there will be something existent, remembering that there is neither svabhava nor parabhava? So, the existence of a bhava is proved by there being either svabhava or parabhava.

5. When bhava is not established, abhava also cannot be proved. People talk about abhava as the anyatha-bhava (different being) of the bhava.

6. Those who see svabhava and parabhava as just bhava and abhava, do not see the proper tattva, according to the Buddha's Doctrine.

7. According to the Katyayana-avavada, both asti (is) and nasti (is not) have been opposed by Bhagavan, who knew the difference (vibhava) of bhava and abhava.

8. If prakriti was existent (astitva), then its non-existence (nastita) would not exist. In this case the anyathabhava (the other being) of prakriti will never rise.

9. Granted that prakriti is non-existent, how would this anyathatva (otherness) come into being (bhavisyate)?
- [Nagarjuna: You ask] if prakriti is not existent, how would its otherness come into existence.

10. The [expression] "exists" is pregnant with eternity, while "does not exist" is [proper to] the philosophy of deconstruction (uccheda-darsana).

11. It is said that eternal (sasvata) is what exist by its svabhava, not what does not exist. It is also explained that uccheda (cutting off, eradication, complete deconstruction) is the non-existence of what has existed before.