Table Of ContentA HISTORY
OF INDIAN LITERATURE
DAVID SEYFORT RUEGG
THE LITERATURE OF
THE MADHYAMAKA SCHOOL OF
PHILOSOPHY IN INDIA
OTTO HARRASSOWITZ • WIESBADEN
DAVID SEYFORT RUEGG
THE LITERATURE OF
THE MADHYAMAKA SCHOOL OF
PHILOSOPHY IN INDIA
1981
OTTO HARRASSOWITZ • WIESBADEN
A HISTORY OF INDIAN LITERATURE
Contents of Yol. YH
Vol. VII: Buddhist and Jaina Literature
Fase. 1 : D. Seyfort Ruegg The Literature of the Madhyamaka School
of Philosophy in India
CIP-Kurzfcftelaufnahme der Deutschen Bibliothek
A history of Indian literature / ed. by Jan Gonda. - Wiesbaden : Harrassowitz.
NE: Gonda, Jan (Hrsg.]
Vol. 7. Buddhist and Jalna literature
Vol. 7. Fasc. 1. -► Ruegg, David Seyfort: The literature of the Madhyamaka School of Philosophy In India
Rnegg, David Seyfort:
The literature of the Madhyamaka School of Philosophy in India / David Seyfort Ruegg. —
Wiesbaden : Harrassowitz, 1981.
(A history of Indian literature ; Vol. 7, Fasc. 1)
ISBN 3-447-02204-3
© Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1981. Alle Rechte Vorbehalten. Photographische und photomechanische
Wiedergabe nur mit ausdrücklicher Genehmigung des Verlages. Gesamtherstellung: Allgäuer ZeltungBverlag
GmbH, Kempten. Printed in Germany. Sigel: HIL
CONTENTS
Introduction ..................................................................................................... 1
The early period: the formation of the Madhyamaka school................... .. 4
Nagârjuna ..................................................................................................... 4
Commentaries on Nâgârjuna’s works..............................................................47
Äryadeva . 50
Rähulabhadra .................................................................................................64
‘Naga’ ..................................................................................................................56
The middle period: the systematization of the Madhyamaka school .. .. 68
Buddhapälita..........................................................................................................60
Bhavaviveka..........................................................................................................61
Later Svâtantrikas................................................................................................67
Šrígupta..................................................................................................................67
Jñanagarbha..........................................................................................................68
Candrakirti..........................................................................................................71
Šantideva................................................................................................................82
The Yogäcära-Madhyamaka synthesis.................................................................87
Šántaraksita..........................................................................................................88
Kamalašila ..........................................................................................................93
Later Yogâcâra-Madhyamikas.........................................................................99
The Madhyamaka-Prajnäpäramitä synthesis.....................................................101
Madhyamaka and Vajrayäna...............................................................................104
The last period of the Indian Madhyamaka school.............................................109
Bodhibhadra, Dharmakïrti and Dípamkaraárijñana....................................109
Jayänanda ........................................................................................................113
Abhayäkaragupta................................................................................................114
Other later Mâdhyamikas...............................................................................115
Appendix I: Works on practice ascribed to Aévaghosa, Arya-Šúra, Dharma-
Subhütifghosa), and Mätrceta .......................................................................119
Appendix II: RatnälcaraJäntVs ‘Vijñapti-Madhyamaka'..............................122
Modern editions of the Sanskrit texts of the Madhyamaka school .. .. 125
Modern editions of the Tibetan versions of works of the Madhyamaka
school .................................................................................................................129
VI Contents
Abbreviations........................................................................................................132
Indices
I. Titles................................................................................................................133
II. Names ........................................................................................................139
III. Sanskrit key-words ...............................................................................141
IV. Tibetan terms .......................................................................................146
PREFACE
This outline of the philosophical literature of the Indian Madhyamaka
school is based on the Sanskrit sources to the limited extent they are now
available to us. The major part of this literature is unfortunately not extant in
the original and must be presumed lost. However, this loss is at least partly
compensated for by the fact that a very large number of important works of
this school were translated into Chinese and Tibetan; and for the purposes of
the present publication use has been made chiefly of the translations contained
in the Peking edition of the Tibetan bsTan-’gyur in the facsimile reprint of
the Tibetan Tripitaka Research Institute (Tokyd-Kyoto, 1958). The fact that
we possess few good modern editions of the surviving Sanskrit texts and the
very nature of our translated sources inevitably raise important philological
and exegetical problems which it has not always been possible to pursue in the
space available.
Limitations of space have moreover allowed the inclusion of short and hence
selective summaries of only some of the most fundamental texts from the 1000-
year history of the Indian Madhyamaka. The majority of the works from this
vast literature have had to be mentioned simply by title, with brief indications
being given as to the contents of some of the more important ones. A com
prehensive historical treatment and systematic analysis of the Madhyamaka in
its entirety will thus have to await much larger publications. Here an attempt
has of course been made to determine the relative—and whenever possible also
the absolute—chronology of the Madhyamikas; but the same name has not
infrequently been borne by more than one person, and in a number of cases
the attribution of a work to an author as well as even its precise Sanskrit title
remain doubtful and will have to be the subject of future investigation. Be
cause of the paucity of reliable historical materials and disagreements between
some of our sources many questions may remain open indefinitely; furthermore,
the fact that most of our texts are now available only in translations into
Chinese and Tibetan makes certain essential kinds of historical, literary and
sometimes even philosophical analysis exceedingly precarious if not quite im
possible. Since relatively few texts and masters of the Madhyamaka school have
hitherto been the subject of monographic study, the present work will in many
cases be a preliminary exploration in well-nigh uncharted territory.
Further research will also be needed in order to establish the relation of
the Madhyamaka with other schools of Indian thought, non-Buddhist as well
as Buddhist. If this has not been done extensively in the present book (on
earlier connexions with non-Buddhist schools see nevertheless p. 6 note 11),
this is because of the complex historical and methodological questions posed
VIH David Seyfort Ruegg • The Literature of the Madhyamaka School
by such an investigation and the lack of space to pursue such problems; it is
not because we would subscribe to the view that the schools of Indian philosophy
are to be kept apart according to the particular religion of their representatives:
Buddhist (and Jain) philosophers are surely as much part of the history of
Indian philosophy as ‘orthodox’ Hindu philosophers. It can at least be pointed,
out here, however, that in his Khandanakhandakhádya the twelfth-century
Vedántin Sriharsa—who admits the vitanda procedure (see § 168; cf. §§ 14—16)—
has throughout regularly employed a method of reasoning based on what he terms
khandanayukti, which is very close to the Madhyamika’s form of argument in
the prasanga-type of reasoning. At a much earlier period of the Vedanta also
the links between the Gaudapadiya- or Mándükya-Kárikás (c. 500?) and
Buddhist thought are well-known. Moreover, the continuous debates carried
on between Bráhmanical, Buddhist and Jain thinkers led not only to a sharp
ening of minds and a refinement of argument on all sides but also to commonly
recognized methods in philosophical discussion; but the precise history of
these developments still remains to be traced in detail.
In writing a work of this kind there arises the question of the extent to
which the secondary literature in Asiatic languages can be included by a
single writer and in a limited space. Scholars from East and Central Asia in
particular have in fact devoted themselves over the centuries to translating,
commenting on and explaining the Madhyamaka literature. (In Tibet for
example there has existed for over a millennium a tradition of study of a very
considerable portion of Indian literature, including even works that are not
specifically Buddhist; and with a view to both translation and exegesis Tibetan
scholars developed remarkable philological and interpretative methods that
could well justify us in regarding them as Indologists avant la lettre.) The
sheer bulk of the secondary literature in Chinese, Japanese, Tibetan, and
Mongolian relating to the Madhyamaka is, however, so great that it will have
to be the subject of separate publications.1
1 Although the Tibetan secondary literature to which it has been possible to
refer in this book cannot pretend to be representative of all schools, the works
used are all of the highest interest. Among historical sources these are mainly the
rGya^garchos^byuri by Täranätha (born in 1575) edited by A. Schiefner (St.
Petersburg, 1868), the well-known Chos*’byun by Bu’ston (1290—1364) in the Žol
edition reprinted by Lokesh Chandra (New Delhi, 1971) with page references
also to E. Obermil IiEr ’s incomplete English translation (2 parts, Heidelberg,
1931—32), and the Deb’ther-snon-po by ’Gos‘gŽon*nu*dpal (1392—1481) in the
Kun*bde‘glin edition reprinted by Lokesh Chandra (New Delhi, 1976) with page
references also to G. N. Roerich ’s English translation (The Blue Annals, 2 volumes,
Calcutta, 1949—53); hagiographies of several Madhyamaka masters are also to be
found collected together in the ByarrchuVlam-gyiTinrpa’rbla-ma'brgyud’pa’i*
rnam*par*tharpa by Ye*šesTgyal*mčhan (1713—93) reprinted by Ngawang Gelek
Demo (New Delhi, 1970). From the rich mine of Tibetan exegetical and doctrinal
literature reference has been made principally to the Legs’bSad'sniii'po (in the
lHa*sa edition of the gSurr’bum) and the Lam*rim’chen*mo (in the old bKra*šis*-
Preface IX
The above-mentioned considerations of a philological, bibliographical and
material nature will explain why the present work differs in certain respects
from many of the other volumes appearing in the same series. Some attempt
at a connected account treating this body of literature, however tentative, is
clearly a desideratum at the present time.
lhuirpo edition, reprinted by Ngawang Ge:lek Demo , New Delhi, 1977) by
(3orrkha*pa (1357—1419); to the 8ToA‘thun*chen*mo (in the lHa*sa edition of the
gSun*’bum) and the rGyud*sde*spyi*mam (in the edition by F. D. Lessing and
A. Wayman , Fundamentals of the Buddhist Tantras, The Hague, 1968) by
mKhas'grub’dGedegs-dpal-bzah (1385—1438); and to the invaluable doxographical
works (Grub'mtha’) by ’Janrdbyans'bzad’pavNag’dbaivbrdon-’grus (1648—1722)
reprinted by Ngawang Gelek Demo (New Delhi, 1973), and by lCan*skya*Rol*-
pa’rrdo'rje (1717—86) reprinted by Lokesh Chandra (New Delhi, 1977).
As for the extensive and important modern secondary literature from Japan,
references have had to be limited mainly to one of the few generally available
Japanese publications, the Indogaku bukkyogaku kenkyu (Journal of Indian and
Buddhist studies, abbreviated IBK). Useful bibliographical surveys of this litera
ture are to be found in the publications listed on p. 4 note 9.
