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Traverses on less trodden path...
kinds of truth, viz., the empirical and the transcendental. 17 These two kinds of truth, are accepted by the Hinayānists also.18 But according to Nāgarjuna, Hinayānists have misunderstood these two kinds of truth. He severely criticises the so called truths of the Hinayänists, viz., dhātus, ayatanas, skandhas, aryasattyas, etc,, as matters of conventional, empirical and ultimately they are not truth at all. Paramartha satya is the truth relating to the Absolute Reality, that which is beyond all categories of thought. Samvṛti satya is the Pseudo-truth which relates to the world of Phenomena that which is concerned with empirical usage (loka vyavahāra). This distinction between the empirical, and the transcendental which is epistemic does not. however, import a difference into Reality. The Real is one and non-dual, beyond the categories of thought and can directly realised. 10
only be
Shortly after Nagarjuna some among the Mahāyānists who were not satisfied with the negative approach of Nagarjuna, adopted revolutionary way of thinking. They have started thinking in positive manner calling the Absolute Reality as pure consciousness. They have accepted the theory of Sunya of Nagarjuna and interpreted it in an idealistic manner. Pure consciousness is sole Reality for them and it is Sunya. This pure consciousness is free from subject-object duality, non-dual and indescribable in terms of human language.
Asanga (circa 270-350 A.D.) is one of the great thinkers who raised voice against Nagarjuna's doctrine and propagated Vijñānavāda. He is a very prominent and dominating thinker in the lines of VijñānavādaBuddhists. He agrees with Nagarjuna in criticising the Hinayānists by saying that not only pudgala (self) is non-substantial but all the dharmas (elements) are also non-substantial and unreal. Everything is appearance and unreal ultimately. Pure consciousness is the sole Reality and it is one only. He questions the very foundation of Sauträntika's logic that if Vaibhāṣika's seventy-five real dharmas can be reduced into forty-three rejecting others as subjective and unreal, why not on the basis of same logic other dharmas are also be discarded? Other ones also can be turned as subjective and unreal on the basis of same logic. On the basis of theory of causation, i.e., dependent origination (Pratityasamutpada, he proves the unreality of dharmas (elements). 90 He, thus, proclaims
17. Dve satye samupaśritya buddhanam dharmadeśanā.
Lokasamvṛti satyam ca satyam ca paramarthataḥ.-M.K. XXIV-8.
18. Kathāvastu, pp. 31-38.
19. M.K,-XVIII-9.
20. Mahāyāncsutralankara. XVIII-82, Commentary.
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