Through the Lens of Madhyamaka

ONE OF THE FIRST THINGS many of us hear about Buddhism is that nothing exists; everything is shunyata, emptiness, nothingness. This is the ultimate truth, the absolute or final truth expressed in the view of Madhyamaka, the school of Buddhist thought based on the writings of second-century Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna. When we begin traveling along the path of realization, this teaching receives a great deal of emphasis.

This truth of shunyata can be difficult to accept because we are completely steeped in the conventional view of reality. We assume without question that everything exists. This more familiar and comfortable way of perceiving our world is known as the relative truth in Buddhist thought. To help us experience the deeper and less apparent ultimate truth, the emptiness of all phenomena, Madhyamaka logic uses the tool of non-affirming negation. Whereas established logic tells us that when we negate one idea we must replace it with another—“not this, but that”—non-affirming negation is a statement that negates or refutes something but does not posit anything else in its place.

From the perspective of the Madhyamaka, both existence and nonexistence are extreme positions; the absolute truth is beyond any view of existence or nonexistence.

Using this method, we negate each aspect of existence, one after the other, until nothing is left. This beautiful flower does not truly exist, nor does this cool glass of water, this precious friend, this feeling of happiness, this thought of tomorrow, this body, this mind, this me.