Madhyamaka – Filosofía y prácticas budistas

ES Spanish Español

El Madhyamaka, también conocido como Śūnyavāda y Niḥsvabhāvavāda, se refiere a una tradición de filosofía y práctica budista fundada por el filósofo indio Nāgārjuna.

Origen de la visión Madhyamaka

El texto fundamental de la tradición Mādhyamaka es el Mūlamadhyamakakārikā de Nāgārjuna.

De manera más amplia, el Madhyamaka también se refiere a la naturaleza última de los fenómenos y a la realización de esta en el equilibrio meditativo.

La filosofía Madhyamaka

Según los pensadores clásicos del Madhyamaka, todos los fenómenos (dharmas) son vacíos (śūnya) de «naturaleza», una «sustancia» o «esencia» (svabhāva) que les confiere «existencia sólida e independiente», ya que surgen de manera dependiente.

Pero esta «vaciedad» en sí misma también es «vacía»: no tiene existencia por sí sola, ni se refiere a una realidad trascendental más allá o por encima de la realidad fenomenal.

En otras palabras, según la filosofía Madhyamika, los objetos solo existen en dependencia de causas y condiciones, y en dependencia de la mente que los aprehende.

Madhyamaka en la ciencia moderna

La mecánica cuántica involucra una entidad matemática (a menudo en forma de matriz) conocida como la función de onda cuántica (también llamada estado cuántico).

Esta función de onda cuántica es una entidad matemática que encapsula toda la información que tenemos sobre una partícula.

La función de onda cuántica presenta en realidad la probabilidad de que ocurra una medición si y solo si se realiza una medición sobre la partícula involucrada.

La mecánica cuántica no puede predecir la ubicación exacta de una partícula en el espacio, solo la probabilidad de encontrarla en diferentes ubicaciones.

En otras palabras, dado que la mecánica cuántica se refiere a mediciones realizadas por un observador y a lo que el observador puede encontrar, no proporciona reglas directas que gobiernen el comportamiento de las partículas.

Esta falta de reglas que gobiernen refuerza la visión Madhyamaka, ya que sugiere que ni el concepto de dualismo mente-cuerpo ni la conciencia pueden derivarse de la materia.

En este breve video, Geshe Dorji Damdul establece un paralelismo simple entre el Madhyamaka y la Física Cuántica para ayudarnos a comprender la similitud y los límites entre ambos ámbitos de estudio.

Personas y conceptos filosóficos

Este es un glosario de personas y conceptos filosóficos relacionados con la visión Madhyamaka.

Esencia

La esencia es un término polisémico, utilizado en filosofía y teología como una designación para la propiedad o conjunto de propiedades que hacen que una entidad o sustancia sea lo que fundamentalmente es, y que tiene por necesidad, y sin las cuales pierde su identidad. La esencia se contrasta con el accidente: una propiedad que la entidad o sustancia tiene de manera contingente, sin la cual la sustancia aún puede retener su identidad.

Je Tsongkhapa

Tsongkhapa, generalmente entendido como «el Hombre del Valle de Cebollas», nacido en Amdo, fue un famoso maestro del budismo tibetano cuyas actividades llevaron a la formación de la escuela Gelug del budismo tibetano. También es conocido por su nombre ordenado Losang Drakpa o simplemente como «Je Rinpoche». Además, es conocido en chino como Zongkapa Lobsang Zhaba. Fue el hijo de un líder tribal Longben tibetano que también sirvió una vez como funcionario de la Dinastía Yuan de China.

Camino del Medio

El Camino Medio, así como «enseñar el Dharma por el medio», son términos budistas comunes utilizados para referirse a dos aspectos principales del Dhamma, es decir, la enseñanza del Buda. La primera frase se refiere a una práctica espiritual que evita tanto el ascetismo extremo como la indulgencia sensual. Este camino espiritual se define como el noble óctuple sendero que conduce al despertar. La segunda formulación se refiere a cómo el Dharma (Enseñanza) del Buda aborda cuestiones ontológicas de la existencia y la identidad personal evitando el eternalismo y el aniquilacionismo.

Svabhava

Svabhava significa literalmente «ser propio» o «convertirse propio». Es la naturaleza intrínseca, la naturaleza esencial o la esencia de los seres vivos.

Prasaṅgika according to Tsongkhapa

The Svatantrika-Prasaṅgika distinction is a set of arguments about two different positions of emptiness philosophy which are debated within the Mahayana school of Buddhism. It is most prominently discussed in Tibetan Buddhism where Prāsaṅgika and Svātantrika, are viewed to be different forms of Madhyamaka philosophy.

Two truths doctrine

The Buddhist doctrine of the two truths differentiates between two levels of satya (Sanskrit), meaning truth or «really existing» in the discourse of the Buddha: the «conventional» or «provisional» (saṁvṛti) truth, and the «ultimate» (paramārtha) truth.

Ni uno ni muchos

El argumento de ‘ni uno ni muchos’ es un argumento empleado por diferentes filósofos y tradiciones espirituales por diversas razones. El argumento y sus permutaciones y antecedentes, particularmente el «problema del Uno y los Muchos» tal como lo describe McEvilley en su obra magna, tiene una antigüedad en las líneas de la filosofía india y la filosofía griega. McEvilley (2002) también proporciona argumentos muy persuasivos que inferen la influencia mutua y la iteración mutua de las tradiciones filosóficas indias y griegas antiguas, pero ofrece evidencia manifiestamente inconclusa e indemostrable, el eterno problema de la investigación histórica. El argumento es un factor en la función algorítmica del Catuskoti. En su uso budista, el argumento es uno de un conjunto de argumentos dentro del ámbito de Pramana y la lógica india para demostrar y probar varias doctrinas. Diferentes autoridades y fuentes proporcionan diferentes enumeraciones de estos argumentos mencionados; Khenpo Yonten Gyamtso los enumera así: ‘argumento de las astillas de diamante’ ‘refutación de la producción de efectos existentes y no existentes’ ‘refutación de la producción relacionada con cuatro alternativas posibles’ ‘argumento del surgimiento dependiente’ argumento de ‘ni uno ni muchos’.

Svatantrika–Prasaṅgika distinction

The Svatantrika–Prasaṅgika distinction is a doctrinal distinction made within Tibetan Buddhism between two stances regarding the use of logic and the meaning of conventional truth within the presentation of Madhyamaka.

Śūnyatā

Śūnyatā – pronounced in English as (shoon-ya-ta), translated most often as emptiness and sometimes voidness.

Within Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and other philosophical strands the concept has multiple meanings depending on its doctrinal context.

It is either an ontological feature of reality, a meditative state, or a phenomenological analysis of experience.

Similarities between Pyrrhonism and Buddhism

According to Edward Conze, Greek Skepticism can be compared to Buddhist philosophy, especially the Indian Madhyamika school. The Pyrrhonian Skeptics’ goal of ataraxia is similar to the Buddhist soteriological goal nirvana.

Pratītyasamutpāda

Pratītyasamutpāda, commonly translated as dependent origination, or dependent arising, is a key doctrine in Buddhism shared by all schools of Buddhism. It states that all dharmas (phenomena) arise in dependence upon other dharmas: «if this exists, that exists; if this ceases to exist, that also ceases to exist». The basic principle is that all things arise in dependence upon other things.

Patsab Nyima Drakpa

Patsab Nyima Drakpa (1055-1145?) was a Tibetan Buddhist scholar and translator of the Sarma era. He was a monk at Sangpu monastery and traveled to Kashmir where he translated Buddhist Madhyamika texts.

Madhyamakāvatāra

The Madhyamakāvatāra is a text by Candrakīrti on the Mādhyamaka school of Buddhist philosophy. It is a commentary on the meaning of Nagarjuna’s Mūlamadhyamakakārikā and the Ten Stages Sutra. As such, within the Tibetan Buddhist canon this text is classified as commentarial literature.

Madhyamakālaṃkāra

The Madhyamakālaṃkāra is an eighth-century Buddhist text, believed to have been originally composed in Sanskrit by Śāntarakṣita (725–788), which is extant in Tibetan. The Tibetan text was translated from the Sanskrit by Surendrabodhi and Jñānasūtra.

Bundle theory

Bundle theory, originated by the 18th century Scottish philosopher David Hume, is the ontological theory about objecthood in which an object consists only of a collection (bundle) of properties, relations or tropes.

Mabja Jangchub Tsöndrü

Mabja Jangchub Tsöndrü was an influential 12th century Tibetan Buddhist Madhyamaka scholar. He is known for his «Ornament of Reason», an important commentary on Nagarjuna’s Mūlamadhyamakakārikā.

Śāntarakṣita

Śāntarakṣita was a renowned 8th century Indian Buddhist and abbot of Nalanda. Śāntarakṣita founded the philosophical approach known as Yogācāra-Mādhyamika, which united the Madhyamaka tradition of Nagarjuna, the Yogacara tradition of Asanga, and the logical and epistemological thought of Dharmakirti.

Buddhapālita

Buddhapālita, बुद्धपालित, (470–550) was a commentator on the works of Nagarjuna and Aryadeva.

His works were criticised by his contemporary Bhāviveka, and then he was defended by the later Candrakīrti, whose terms differentiating the two scholars led to the rise of the Prasaṅgika and Svatantrika schools of Madhyamaka.

In this sense, Buddhapālita can be said to have been the founder of the Prasaṅgika Madhyamaka School.

Catuṣkoṭi

Catuṣkoṭi is a logical argument(s) of a ‘suite of four discrete functions’ or ‘an indivisible quaternity’ that has multiple applications and has been important in the Dharmic traditions of Indian logic, the Buddhist logico-epistemological traditions, particularly those of the Madhyamaka school, and in the skeptical Greek philosophy of Pyrrhonism.

East Asian Mādhyamaka

East Asian Madhyamaka refers to the Buddhist tradition in East Asia which represents the Indian Madhyamaka (Chung-kuan) system of thought. In Chinese Buddhism, these are often referred to as the Sānlùn school, also known as the «emptiness school», although they may not have been an independent sect. The three principal texts of the school are the Middle Treatise, the Twelve Gate Treatise, and the Hundred Treatise. They were first transmitted to China during the early 5th century by the Buddhist monk Kumārajīva (344−413) in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. The school and its texts were later transmitted to Korea and Japan. The leading thinkers of this tradition are Kumārajīva’s disciple Sēngzhào, and the later Jízàng. Their major doctrines include emptiness (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).

Sengzhao

Sengzhao was a Chinese Buddhist philosopher from Later Qin around 384-417 at Chang’an. Born to a poor family in Jingzhao, he acquired literary skills, apparently including the capacity to read Pali, and became a scribe. This exposed him to a variety of uncommon documents. He was influenced by Taoists, Laozi and Zhuangzi., and although we are told he enjoyed Lao Tzu’s Dotokyu-kyo, he was overjoyed when he discovered the Vimalakirti Sutra. This encounter transformed his life and he became a Buddhist. He was known as being among the ablest of the disciples of Kumārajīva.

Śataśāstra

The Śataśāstra is the reconstructed Sanskrit title of a Buddhist treatise in the Mādhyamaka tradition known only in its Chinese translation under the title Bai lun. Both names translate to the Hundred Verse Treatise, although the word «verse» is implied and not actually present in either Sanskrit or Chinese. It is attributed to Āryadeva, a student of Nāgārjuna. The text was translated into Chinese by Kumārajīva in 404 CE and came to be counted as one of the three foundational texts of the Three Treatise School. In the Chinese tradition, another text by Āryadeva called the Catuḥśataka—which was not translated into Chinese for another two and a half centuries, but is extant today in Sanskrit and Tibetan—was understood to be an expanded version of the Bai lun. However, scholars today have instead interpreted the Bai lun to be a summary the Catuḥśataka. Nonetheless, the sequence in which the topics are discussed differs, as do the specifics, and also the Bai lun has some content not seen in the Catuḥśataka at all. This has led to an alternative hypothesis that it may simply represent Kumārajīva’s understanding of the Catuḥśataka.

Reductio ad absurdum

In logic, reductio ad absurdum, also known as argumentum ad absurdum or apagogical arguments, is the form of argument that attempts to establish a claim by showing that the opposite scenario would lead to absurdity or contradiction. This argument form traces back to Ancient Greek philosophy and has been used throughout history in both formal mathematical and philosophical reasoning, as well as in debate.

Sakya Chokden

Serdok Penchen Sakya Chokden was one of the most important religious thinkers of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism. He was a student of Rongtön Shecha Kunrig (1367-1449), Dönyö Pelwa, Künga Zangpo and many other Tibetan scholars. He also received empowerments and studied under several Kagyu lineages. Sakya Chokden’s seat was the Thubten Serdogchen monastery in south Shigatse.

Mokshopaya

The Mokṣopāya or Mokṣopāyaśāstra is a Sanskrit philosophical text on salvation for non-ascetics, written on the Pradyumna hill in Śrīnagar in the 10th century AD. It has the form of a public sermon and claims human authorship and contains about 30,000 śloka’s. The main part of the text forms a dialogue between Vasiṣṭha and Rāma, interchanged with numerous short stories and anecdotes to illustrate the content. This text was later expanded and vedanticized, which resulted in the Yogavāsiṣṭha.

Quantum mechanics

Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles.

It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, quantum field theory, quantum technology, and quantum information science.

Quantum mechanics cannot predict the exact location of a particle in space, only the probability of finding it at different locations.

Hetucakra

Hetucakra or Wheel of Reasons is a Sanskrit text on logic written by Dignaga. It concerns the application of his ‘three modes’ (trairūpya), conditions or aspects of the middle term called hetu or linga in a valid inference within the Indian logico-epistemic tradition, sometimes referred to as Buddhist logic.

Prasannapada

The Prasannapada is a commentary on the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā of Nagarjuna by the 7th-century Indian Buddhist master, Chandrakirti. Its complete title is Mūlamadhyamakavṛtti-Prasannapadā.

Prajñaptir upādāya

Dependent designation is an important doctrine of Madhyamika Buddhism.

Aṭṭhakavagga and Pārāyanavagga

The Aṭṭhakavagga and the Pārāyanavagga are two small collections of suttas within the Pāli Canon of Theravada Buddhism. They are among the earliest existing Buddhist literature, and place considerable emphasis on the rejection of, or non-attachment to, all views.

Mūlamadhyamakakārikā

The Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, abbreviated as MMK, is the foundational text of the Madhyamaka school of Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophy. It was composed by the Indian philosopher Nāgārjuna.

Ātman (Buddhism)

Ātman, attā or attan in Buddhism is the concept of self, and is found in Buddhist literature’s discussion of the concept of non-self (Anatta).