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The Middle Way - Lecture 02
In the Middle Way Treatise, the self-nature of phenomena does not reside in conditions; because self-nature is originally empty, other-nature also cannot exist. Self-nature is “own being,” which would allow things to retain a separate identity, but when we look deeply into dependent co-arising, we do not find any fixed self-nature—this is called non-self-nature or emptiness.
There are two main approaches in Buddhist studies:
- The School of Characteristics (Manifestation-only/Buddhist psychology): examines the external forms, dharmas as objects of mind, each retaining its own mark so that we can recognize phenomena through the six sense organs and the six sense objects.
- The School of Nature (Emptiness studies): delves into the inner essence, breaking through the shell of appearances to realize non-self-nature, entering the nature through the forms.
To understand dharma is first to see it as an object of mind; the four kinds of dependent co-arising—primary cause, sequential condition, object condition, and predominant condition—combine to create all phenomena. Through the method of reductio ad absurdum by Nagarjuna, self-nature cannot be found in the four conditions: the camera, film, and screen; the flame; the block of ice; or the singer on the screen—all are manifestations of dependent co-arising but do not possess a fixed self-nature. The conclusion: both self and phenomena are without self-nature; we generate the mind of non-discriminative wisdom to transcend the duality of intellect, and step into the true space of emptiness.
