San Lun 三論

三論

The Three Treatise

Conditionality and Emptiness

The main object of the San-lun school is to shatter delusion and reveal reality. To do this, the school emphasizes a thorough understanding of emptiness and conditionality. The teachings of emptiness spoken of here do not deny the existence of the phenomenal world, only that all phenomena are empty of self nature.

When most people hear the word emptiness, they think of nothingness. To them, emptiness and existence are as different as night and day, and they preclude each other.

The teachings of San-lun dispel such mistaken notions. Actually, what we call existence is not as permanent and unchanging as it may seem, and emptiness is not the same as nothingness. According to the San-lun school, emptiness is the birthing ground of existence. Without emptiness, there cannot be existence, and there are many examples in our everyday living that attest to this. If we did not have the empty space of an auditorium, we would not be able to hold today's talk. The empty cavity of our nose makes breathing possible. Without the empty spaces in the mouth, ears, and pores, life will not be possible.

What we call existence is really the culmination of various causes and conditions. It is not the ultimate, but only apparent, reality. Let's say I have a shirt in my hand, and I ask you all if the shirt is real. You will no doubt say it is. Actually, what we call a shirt is only a name for a piece of cloth that is cut and sewn in a certain way. Some of you may then think that the true nature of the shirt is cloth. If we continue to dig further, we will see that the cloth is really cotton, which is nothing but the culmination of various elements including cotton seeds, soil, sunlight, air, water, and manpower.

It is only when all the necessary elements are present that cotton seeds grow into cotton, which can be spun into cloth and sewn into a shirt. A shirt, therefore, does not have a substantial nature of its own because its existence is interdependent on myriad factors. A shirt does not become a shirt on its own accord, and it does not independently cease to exist. Because its arising and ceasing are dependent on other factors, we say that the shirt is empty of self-nature. The same is true of all phenomena. The arising and ceasing of all phenomena is nothing but the temporary substitution of one phenomena for another-nothing is really created or destroyed. This is why it says in the Heart Sutra, "Such are the characteristics of the emptiness of all dharmas: neither arising nor ceasing, not defiled nor pure, nothing is added or taken away." While we say that all phenomena are empty of self-nature, they do exist in reliance of various causes and conditions.

Thus, when we look at the phenomenal world, we speak of conditionality, but when we investigate the reality of all things, we speak of emptiness. Conditionality and emptiness are the two sides of a coin. They are simultaneously present in all phenomena, without impeding each other.

It is one thing to see how existence arises from emptiness, it is another to put it into practice. Most people think that more is better than less. They may want a fancier car, more grandchildren, a nicer house, or simply a bigger bank account. How does one find happiness within emptiness? Most people look at us monastics and feel sorry for us. They feel that in renouncing the lay life, we have given up the possibility of owning a home or having a family of our own. True, we do not have a home of our own, yet we feel at home everywhere we go. We do not have children of our own, yet we have students and devotees who are like our sons and daughters. If we are not narrow in defining what constitutes happiness, then life is rich with possibilities.

C. How to Contemplate Emptiness

We can understand emptiness by contemplating the emptiness of self and the emptiness of all phenomena. The best way to contemplate the emptiness of self is to contemplate the different aspects of self: the body, senses, mind, and its environment.

Thus, there are four such contemplations. First is the contemplation of the body as impure and utterly filthy. After all, our body is simply a collection of processes, producing by-products and wastes like mucous, urine, or stool, which we deem unclean once they are passed out of the body. Second is the contemplation of [discriminative] sensation as the root cause of suffering. Third is the contemplation of the mind as impermanent, merely one thought after another. Fourth is the contemplation of all things as being interdependent and without a nature of their own. These contemplations can help us let go of our attachment to self and gradually realize the emptiness of self.

How should we contemplate the emptiness of phenomena? First, we need the right understanding of what emptiness means. When we say all phenomena are empty, we do not mean there is nothing, only that phenomena are conditioned.

In fact, the theoretical Sixth Patriarch of the Ch'an school once exclaimed that the intrinsic nature of all phenomena is neither created nor destroyed. After right understanding, we need to practice letting go of our attachments to the phenomena of this world. Only when we practice can we stay true to our beliefs and not become swayed by the sights and sounds of this world. Out of this serenity of the mind, wisdom grows and helps us to better see into the emptiness of all phenomena. Practice leads to serenity, which fosters wisdom. Wisdom, in turn, makes practice easier until it becomes instinctive. When our contemplation of emptiness reaches a certain stage, we will see that we even have to let go of our attachment to emptiness. This is the tranquility of nirvana.

THE THREE TREATISES DOCTRINE

Three Treatises doctrine is quite simply a restatement of Nāgārjuna's teaching in a new vocabulary, with few additional theses on matters such as the Two Truths where Nāgārjuna was too brief and vague. The Three Treatises lineage died out after Chi-tsang. He was not a meditation master, and the Chinese were not prepared by their type of education to pursue enlightenment through the therapeutic exercise of dialectic.1

While we share the observation of "new vocabulary" and the view that the two truths theory was subjected to exhaustive analysis in Chi-tsang's (549-623) writings, we need to suspend judgment on the meaning of "restatement" and the matter of pursuing illumination through reasoning alone. The basic underlying assumption of this study is that, despite the fact that a San-lun Buddhist such as Chi-tsang was committed to the scholarly exposition of the two truths theory, which necessarily implies a concern with the use of dialectic, the aim of his writings was not simply the theoretical analysis of doctrine, but also the clarification of various points concerning the meaning of the religious goal of enlightenment. While Chi-tsang's writings seem to favor the theoretical at the expense of the practical, it was to the conclusion of practice with which he was concerned. Proper understanding of San-lun thought, therefore, requires an orientation toward this aspect as well.

In describing the dimension of practice in San-lun thought, it is neither the aim of this study to demonstrate the Mādhyamika system, nor is it my

purpose to analyze again the transmission of this doctrine to China. Rather, our task is to isolate an historical and theoretical framework for practice in Chi-tsang's thought and to examine how the two truths theory provided both the foundation for systematic doctrine and the substance of the practical life. Specifically, we will explore a theory of practice called "concurrent insight" (erh-ti ping-kuana) described in one of Chi-tsang earliest works, the Erh-ti-i (Essay on the two truths).2 This practice is significant and deserves explication for two reasons. First, it raises the question of whether Chi-tsang's religious insight was a variation of an old Mādhyamika theme, or was in fact an innovative theme determined by a very practical concern for wisdom. This question, however, will only be considered on points where it is specifically related to the pivotal issue of the relationship between the theory and practice of the two truths. Second, it is also important to consider the relationship between the San-lun interpretation of the two truths and several practical elements present in the Buddhist world between the end of the North-South

Aaron K. Koseki is an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and Asian Studies at the University

of Illinois (Urbana).