Buddhist Philosophy in India and Ceylon c20.s2.13

c20.s2.13

It follows, therefore, that we cannot really make any affirmation regarding anything; all is merely appearance, the result of ignorance of the truth. Absolute reality, Ṣāntideva³ points out, does not fall within the domain of the intellect (buddhi), for that moves in the realm of relativity and error. Nāgārjuna⁴ denies consistently that he has any thesis of his own, for to uphold one would be wholly erroneous; the truth is silence, which is neither affirmation nor negation, for negation in itself is essentially positive in implying a reality. He confines himself to reducing every positive assertion to absurdity, thus showing that the intellect condemns itself as inadequate just as it finds hopeless antinomies in the world of experience. Whence, however, comes this illusion which appears in the form of the world of spirit and matter? There are two replies possible; in the first place, it is pure unreality, and it is needless to explain the unreal. Secondly, it has its origin in a previous state of illusion, and so on ad infinitum, rendering any further explanation needless.