Was Nagarjuna distilling potatoes?

It appears to me that Nagarjuna distilled his version of "The Middle Way" teachings primarily from the family of Prajna Paramita Sutras, but also from other sutras.  However, in his distillery Nagarjuna was working with certain extractions and not others in order to come up with his liqueur of 100% essence of emptiness.  This was like taking potatoes and distilling vodka from them then saying that vodka is the essence or spirit of potatoes.  In a manner of speaking it is true, that emptiness can be distilled from the Buddha's Dharma of teaching and practice and called its "spirit", but by making too much of Nagarjuna's distilled emptiness teaching one can become intoxicated, if not habitually intoxicated,  in the way of drinking too much of the spirits of potatoes.

Understanding this problem is why it is important for the follower of the Buddha Dharma (i.e., a Buddhist) to read the Prajna Paramita Sutras for oneself, not to rely on Nagarjuna's distillation.  One of the most obtainable English translations of the Prajna Paramita Sutra in 25,000 lines is the translation by Edward Conze titled "The Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom." In this Sutra, "emptiness" is virtually never mentioned by itself, but is virtually always discussed either with "signlessness and desirelessness" (the other two gates of the three gates of liberation and nirvana) or with Suchness.

For instance, in Conze's translation (pp. 530-531):

Subhuti: One speaks of 'enlightenment'. Of what is that a synonym?

The Lord: 'Enlightenment', that is a synonym of emptiness, of Suchness, of the Reality-limit, of the Dharma-element.  Moreover enlightenment is Suchness, nonfalsehood, unaltered Suchness, unaltered existence, therefore it is called 'enlightenment'. Moreover 'enlightenment'is a mere word and sign, therefore it is called 'enlightenment'. Moreover 'enlightenment' means an undifferentiated object.  Moreover because the Buddhas, the Lords have it, therefore is it called 'enlightenment'.  Moreover the Buddhas and Lords have fully known it, therefore it is called 'enlightenment'.

Notes on translations:  

"Lord" = not a mundane ruler, but an epithet of the Buddha, bhagavat/bhagavan, "the Illustrious One" or "the World Honored One."

"Reality-limit: = bhutakoti, also "edge of relality," "the highest culminating point for all beings," etc.

"Dharma-element" = dharmadhatu, the essence of Dharma, the Dharma-stratum, the Dharma-sphere, the Dharma-realm, the Dharma-domain, the Dharma-field, etc. i.e., the totality of the universe when perceived as unconditioned by duality.

"Unaltered existence" = the conjunction ananyathabhava can be either unaltered existence ananyatha-bhava (bhava = existence) or unaltered non-existence ananyatha-abhava (abhava = nonexistence), can also be translated as "non-different-being-as-it-is".

So from this extract, we can easily see that distilling the Prajna Paramita view of enlightenment down to just "emptiness" is a rather arbitrary and capricious process.  Emptiness and Suchness are synonyms along with the Dharma-realm, the Reality-limit, nonfalsehood, non-different-being-as-it is, etc., i.e. the full potato.  

Here's another instance (pp. 527-528):

Subhuti: For what reason has the knowledge of all modes no own-being?

The Lord:  It has no own-being acting in causal connection. And that which has no own-being acting in causal connection, that is nonexistence. It is by this method that all dharmas have nonexistence for own-being. Moreover, Subhuti, all dharmas have emptiness for own-being, the signless, the wishless.  Moreover, Subhuti, all dharmas have Suchness for own-being, the Reality limit, the Dharma element. By this method also, Subhuti, should one know that all dharmas have nonexistence for own-being.

Here we see emptiness conjoined as usual with signlessness and desirelessness making the three gates of liberation and Nirvana. So when Nagarjuna extracts emptiness from the triune Dharma food group, he is leaching out certain vitamins and nutrients of the teaching.  By not acknowledging on an equal basis that Suchness, with its Dharma food group of Reality limit and Dharma-realm, is as much a basis of own-being as emptiness, Nagarjuna again is presenting a framework for The Middle Way that is distorted, if not down-right perverted.

I admit that I have not studied Nagarjuna very much, and I am relying on how the Madhyamaka school has developed based on Nagarjuna's teachings.  If someone has experience with Nagarjuna studies and can let me know how Madhyamaka has not followed Nagarjuna and has misrepresented Nagarjuna, then I would be most appreciative and change my view accordingly. 

For now I will say, "Eat the potatoes; don't rely on the vodka for sustenance."

~ Dedicated to Jim Wilson, another Nagarjuna skeptic and kalyanamitra good friend of the Way..

Falling Into Subject and Object Relationship.

Question:

     There’s a lot of Buddhist exegesis on subject-object but little on the subject-subject relationship. Yet the latter is far more interesting to contemplate. Our lives revolve around it.

My Response:

     Apparently, there is a difference in the use in language. What could a subject-subject "relationship" even be?  Without an object, there is no subject, and thus no "relationship," because there is no distance. If there is distance, then there is objectification and relationship between subject-object, also known as person and environment. 

     The thought that the object is also a subject, is a thought-reflection that creates a characterization of the object thereby imagined as a subject from it's own perspective. But engaging in a object that is labelled "subject" does not make the object into a subject for relationship purposes.  That is, we still don't know what the object is perceiving and we can never perceive through the conscousness of the other even if we call that other a "subject."

     "Subject" means the sense of foundation and centeredness to our awareness. "Subject" is another word for "self-centered" awareness, or self-consciousness. The emergence of the subject depends on the 6th level of thinking-consciousness (mano-vijnana) coordinating the 5 consciousnesses of sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch into a coherency pattern, as the palm of the hand coordinates the five fingers, then by the function of 7th consciousness (manas) that coherency is then directed to be reflected in the mirror of the 8th consciousness (alaya-vijnana) to create the appearance of a subject. 

     On realizing that this process is what generates the entire field of conscious awareness we can realize the one mind, and thereby we realize there is no self or subject that is objectified within mind and that everything is a manifestation of mind. In this way we realize that our one mind is simultaneously subjectifying and objectifying to create the field of awareness polarized as self and object that we call consciousness that depends on the perspective of the awareness that emerges. But once awareness emerges by the self-awareness process, there is always distance between subject and object, because awareness, like a whirlpool in a stream, always has a centering aspect to it which is what we call "subject." That one whirlpool of self-awareness can recognize that other whirlpools of self-awareness have emerged, i.e., that I can recognize you, does not change the fact that "I" is the subject and "you" are the object within the polarized field of awareness.

I refer us to Case 62 in the Zen koan collection Record of the Temple of Equanimity:

Raised: 

Mihu directed a monk to ask Yangshan, “People of the present time turn to the phenomenal in denial of awakening.”

Shan said, “As to awakening, it is not that there is none; the struggle is how to bear falling into the second head.”

The monk returned and raised it to appear to Mihu. Hu deeply agreed.

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     No matter how awakened a person is, we always fall into the "second head" of subject-object relationship. This "fall" is like falling in love or the angle falling from heaven. The unawakened person has "fallen" into the second head of the polarized field without awareness that the field is polarized, and so they don't have to struggle to bear it. . The awakened person also falls into the polarized field of the "second head" but has the awareness of doing so, and because of this must struggle how to bear the awareness without regressing into unawareness.  This is the mystery of seeing every object as being simultaneously a subject in the one field that is neither mine nor yours, and engaging in every subject-object relationship as a subject-subject relationship where distance is an illusion of the field,

 

SONG OF THE STRAW THATCHED HUT

SONG OF THE STRAW THATCHED HUT

-- 艸庵歌 Caoan Ge  (J. Soanka)

By  Shitou Xiqian (Shih-t’ou Hsi-ch’ien, J. Sekito Kisen)

(b.700 - d.790)

Translated by Gregory Wonderwheel

I tied up the straw thatched hut without precious objects.

With the cooked rice finished, I followed the aim of appearances and soon slept.

As the first season was accomplished, I saw the thatch was new.

Later when it is worn out, I will repay my debt and reconstruct the thatch.

The resident hermit -- subdues permanent residency,

And does not categorize the middle space with inside or outside.

A worldly person resides in a place; I do not reside.

A worldly person has affection for a place; I do not have affection.

Although the thatched hut is small -- it contains the Dharma-realm (Dharmadhatu).

In a square ten feet, an old man studies liberation of the essential body.

A bodhisattva of the Supreme Vehicle trusts without doubt.

The middle and inferior hear it and surely give rise to (a sense of) strangeness.

Asking about this thatched hut -- poor or not poor?

Poor and not poor: the original master is present.

Not dwelling south or north and east or west

A foundation on top of "the firm and stable" therefore becomes superlative.

Green pines below -- light inside of the window.

The Jade Palace (of Heaven) and the Vermilion Tower (of Hell) do not compare.

With a patched cape covering the head, the 10,000 affairs come to rest.

Here and now, this mountain monk already does not meet (anyone).

Residing in this thatched hut -- ceasing to work on liberation.

Who boastfully spreads out a mat aiming for customers?

Revolve the light and turn back your illumination, then you come back to the origin point,

Breaking through to the boundless root of the spirit, you do not face backwards.

Meet the ancestral masters -- be intimate with the teachings.

Tie straw for a thatched hut; do not create backsliding.

Abandon your 100 years (of lifespan), yet be alive vertically and sideways.

Wave a hand, then do, just without doing wrong.

One thousand kinds of words -- ten thousand categories of liberation,

Are only necessary not to obscure the teaching for long.

If you desire to know the undying person inside the thatched hut,

How is it free from and yet right now covered by the skin bag?