School of Emptiness - introduction

Introduction

The central motif for the conversion of Long Shu - a missionary work that laid the foundations for later Mahayana as well as many Buddhist philosophical writings - is the restoration of the Buddha's teachings. According to Long Shu, the key ideas of Buddhism are in danger of being lost in the philosophical scholastic trend of some Hinayan schools of that time. Long Shu uses a special dialectic instrument to support his method, which is the Four Divisions (sa catuṣkoṭi ). With that method, he seeks to outline the logical contradictions in assumptions stemming from his philosophical environment and then try to solve them. The purpose of the method, illustrated by the refutation of the "extremes", of extremist views, is to present the teachings of the Madhyamā pratipad ( It is a fundamental Path eliminating all prejudices that inhibit the process of cognition - especially the sāśvatavāda , the "dissolution of the permanent," and the sahara ( ucchedavāda ) "dissolve the annihilation" - and defend this position before the popular opinion of the time.

The development of the concept of emptiness (sa. Śūnyatā ) in direct relation to the doctrine of dependent origination (sa pratītyasamutpāda ) as well as the further development of the doctrine of the Two Truths (sa satyadvaya ) These are the main contributions of Long Shu, and they have made him the first of the great Indian masters to contribute to the development of Buddhist thought, especially in the Vajrayana tradition. vajrayāna and Zen .


About the Founder

According to one legend, Long Thu, by his sermons, persuaded some dragon species to be invited down to the Dragon to give the prajñāpāramitāstra (sa) to give grace. Legend has it that the Buddha gave the dragon to keep the business and wait until the conditions of fullness, human beings have been able to absorb this teaching. This legend has the Sanskrit name "Nāgārjuna", which means "pure white like a dragon" ( nāga = Long; arjuna = white, pure). However, this name is known by the Chinese as Long Thu, meaning "a species of dragon" ( arjuna is a tree, Terminalia Arjuna W. and A ). Another symbol for Long Shu is the dragon (or snake) in his aura .