Madhyamika Buddhism ― When used in reference to a MetaPhysical Orientation as to Tradition, Culture or Preferred Flavour, is primarily defined, usually selfdefined by its members and/or adherents as such, and holding the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama Buddha, and/or interpolations thereon as a primary or critical parameter of their Spiritual Paradigm. (also see: the complete entry on Buddhism.) The Sanskrit word "Madhyamika" means "one who holds to the middle". The concept of "The Middle Way" in Buddhism begins with the Buddha's description of his path to enlightenment as one which avoids the extremes of indulging in worldly pleasures, on the one hand, and engaging in severe ascetic practices on the other. The Middle Way of Madhyamika refers to the teachings of Nagarjuna, who, at a time when the Mahayana teachings were falling into decline, wrote his Six Treatises, four of which directly expound the doctrine of sunyata, or emptiness. Some postulate that there is no monolithic Buddhism as such, but that there are Buddhisms such as Sinhala Buddhism or more precisely Sinhala Theravada Buddhism, Siam or Thai Buddhism, Myanmar or Amarapura Buddhism and so forth. Emptiness refers to the ultimate nature of all things. It is the key concept in this physics. One who correctly understands emptiness is described as free from the extremes of existence and annihilation. To fall to the extreme of existence is to hold that, in the final analysis, phenomena truly exist. To fall to the extreme of annihilation is to hold that phenomena don't have any kind of existence at all. According to the theory of emptiness, phenomena exist in a relative state only, a kind of 'ontological relativity'. The termused to describe this mode of existence is dependent arising, which describes how it is that something which is empty of true existence can have any sort of existence - only in relation to something else. Phenomena are regarded as dependent events rather than things which have their own inherent nature; thus the extreme of permanence is avoided. By the same token, dependent existence is something more than none, and so annihilation is avoided. These doctrines of emptiness and dependent arising are central to all schools of Madhyamika. The works of Nagarjuna and his immediate follower Aryadeva are considered the basis of interpretation and understanding by later Madhyamikas. There is much that the two "Model Text" Madhyamikas did not directly establish, however, and in the centuries after their passing (the dates are disputed, but essentially we are talking about the first few centuries A.D./ Common Era) the loopholes were exploited by various scholars interested in establishing their notions on these open subjects as the highest interpretation. There are many ways in which the different interpretations were and are divided into "schools of thought" or "tenet systems", etc. In India, the scholars seem to have been content to argue their positions without concerning themselves about labeling their system. When Buddhism began to spread into Tibet, however, the effort to organize and delineate the arguments led to various systems of classification. During the early propagation of Buddhism in Tibet (c. 650-850 CE), one way to divide the schools of Madhyamika was to use the position held regarding certain aspects of ultimate truth, a method Tsongkapa described as deluded. Using position on the conventional (as opposed to ultimate) status of external objects as the criterium was an improvement, in that it classified schools of Madhyamika in a way that reflected the source-school of their assertions. Here, the system of Bhavaviveka, which attributed conventional existence to external objects, was called Sautrantika-Madhyamika, and the system of Santaraksita, which denied conventional existence to externals, was aptly named Yogacara-Madhyamika. This situation was nevertheless deficient because it failed to include the position of Candrakirti, who made even more subtle distinctions on the nature of external objects. This process was interrupted for a few centuries by the collapse of the Tibetan Empire and the persecution of Buddhism, but with the beginning of the later propagation in the 11th century came the distinction of systems which stands today, that of the Svatantrikas and the Prasangikas. The basis for this division was yet another loophole in Nagarjuna's writings; how the understanding of emptiness is to be produced in the mind of an opponent.

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Capital A with ring aboveÅ   Capital A with macronĀ   Capital A with breveĂ   Capital A with diaeresisÄ   Capital A with circumflex   Capital A with dot aboveȦ   Capital A with inverted breveȂ   Capital A with tildeà   Capital A with ogonekĄ   Capital AE ligatureÆ   Capital AE ligature with tildeÆ̃   Capital Glottal Stop⦾   Capital Palatoalveolar Click⊛   Regular English AA   Script Capital Lℒ   Capital L with macron aboveL̅   Capital L with dot belowḶ   Capital L with stroke, Dark L Ł   Regular English LL   Capital WHω   Capital W with macron aboveW̅   Capital W with dot belowẈ   Regular English WW   Capital Slide H with reverse solidusℋ⃥   Capital H with macron aboveH̅   Capital H with dot belowḤ   Aspirate^○   Slight Pause⚫   Very Slight Pause⚬   Regular English HH   Capital S with macron aboveS̅   Capital S with dot aboveṠ   Capital SH sign∫   Capital SKΣ   Regular English SS   Hard and Deep Capital DД   High and Light Capital D∇   Regular English DD   Capital O with ring aboveO̊   Capital O with macronŌ   Capital O with breveŎ   Capital O with diaeresisÖ   Capital O with solidusØ   Capital OE ligatureŒ   Capital O with Cyrillic Round OmegaѺ   Capital OIꙔ   Capital O with ogonekǪ   Capital O with double oo topტ   Regular English OO   Capital EZJHʑ   Capital Z with macron belowẔ   Capital Z with dot aboveŻ   Regular English ZZ   Capital K with macron aboveК̅   Capital K with dot below К̣   Capital Hard KHχ   Capital KHƙ   Regular English KK   Capital V with macron aboveV̅   Capital V with dot belowṾ   Regular English VV   Capital G with macronḠ   Capital G with dot aboveĠ   Capital GNΓ   Capital GRЖ   Capital GW   Capital Uvular Voiced ImplosiveϘ   Regular English GG   Capital rolled R with macronЯ̅   Capital rolled R with dot aboveЯ̇   Capital R with macron aboveR̅   Capital R with dot above Ṙ   Capital R with ogonek R̨   Regular English RR   Capital C with cedillaÇ   Capital CHЧ   Regular English CC   Capital N with macron aboveN̅   Capital N with dot belowṆ   Capital N with tildeÑ   Capital NGŋ   Capital NG with macron aboveŋ̅   Regular English NN   Capital Y with macron above Ȳ   Capital Y with dot aboveẎ   Capital Y with yaw aboveЎ   Regular English YY   Capital J with macron aboveЈ̅   Capital J with dot belowЈ̣   Regular English JJ   Capital U with a ring aboveŮ   Capital U with macronŪ   Capital U with breveŬ   Capital U with circumflex aboveÛ   Capital U with diaeresisÜ   Regular English UU   Capital F with macron aboveF̅   Capital F with dot aboveḞ   Regular English FF   Capital Q with macron aboveQ̅   Capital Q with dot aboveQ̇   Regular English QQ   Capital B with macronB̅   Capital B with dot belowḄ   Trilled B   Regular English BB   Capital M with macronM̅   Capital M with dot belowṂ   Capital M with tilde M̃   Capital MB   Capital MGⱮ   Regular English MM   Capital X with macron aboveX̅   Capital X with dot aboveẊ   Regular English XX   Capital I with macronĪ   Capital I with breveĬ   Regular English II   Capital T with macron aboveT̅   Capital T with dot belowṬ   Capital TH voicedΘ   Capital TH voicelessÞ   Capital TSЦ   Capital TSCHЩ   Regular English TT   Capital E with macronĒ   Capital E with breveĔ   Capital E with circumflexÊ   Capital schwa Ə   Regular English EE   Capital P with macron aboveP̅   Capital P with dot aboveṖ   Capital pT   Regular English PP

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