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Vol. III, 1997-2002
Conception of....
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dependent, and thus unreal. Both subject and the object are co-relative categories and that one cannot be had without the other. Consciousness without an object is unthinkable. Thus, Reality cannot be called Pure Consciousness. The Reality is above all these thought categories and is inexpressible. For Asanga, Consciousness is the only Reality, true existence. This is an idealistic standpoint. Reality is ideal and it is Pure Consciousness. But he does not stop at that point. For him, from the ultimate standpoint, Pure Subject ceases to be subject. It becomes something non-conceptual20. This dialectical awareness compelled him to transcend his Idealism to Absolutism. Adopting Nāgārjuna's dialectic method, he came to the conclusion that ultimate Reality i.e. Pure Consciousness is something that cannot be called a subject in the ultimate analysis. Owing to the influence of transcendental illusion, consciousness itself appears as the subject as well as the object. The objectivity is only a mode of consciousness. When this illusory idea of objectivity is removed, the subject-consciousness also ceases to exist : when there is nothing to know, consciousness also ceases to exist21. At the transcendental level pure consciousness alone exists. This is the ultimate Reality, the essence of everything. Consciousness free from the false duality of the Subject and Object is the Absolute. Asanga defines Absolute Reality (Tattva) as "That which is free from duality; ground for illusion, indescribable, and non-determinate."22 It is called 'dvaya-rahita' (free from duality) because in it there is no room for subject and object, positive and negative. The highest Reality transcends all opposites and in it, the positives and negatives are one and the same23. Reality is indescribable and non-determinate24. It is indescribable because words are not capable of describing it. It is non-determinate, beyond all thoughtdescriminations. Thought-descriminations imply duality. Duality is ignorance and it is unreal, but Reality is non-dual, free from all types of duality. It is beyond the grasp of intellect. Reason or intellect has its own limit. The reason cannot lead us to Reality25. It cannot be described positively or negatively. It is 'self existent' (sat) and non-relative. Thought categories are empirical. Thought cannot go beyond these categories of existence and non-existence. Reality cannot be conceived by any thought category. Asanga, therefore, denies the positive as well as negative predicates to Reality by saying: "Rise above the categories of thought-existence and non-existence, as both or neither is Reality26 Asanga calls this Absolute Reality in different terms such as Paramartha Satya (the highest truth), Dharmadhātu (essence of all things), Śūnya (beyond thought determination), Buddhattva (Buddhahood), Nirvāņa (Liberation), Suddhātman (Pure Soul), and Mahātman (Universal Soul). Asanga identifies highest Reality with Paramartha Satya by saying that the highest truth is that which is neither such nor otherwise, neither born, nor destroyed, neither increase nor decrease, neither pure nor impure27. Reality is also called Dharmadhatu i.e. essence of all elements. It is a substratum of all phenomena, permanent background of world, of phenomena. It is the principle of unity underlying the entire phenomenal world. It is essentially identical with all elements and yet cannot be defined in terms of any
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