Madhyamaka - Middle Way

It is an important school of Indian Mahayana Buddhism along with the Yogacara school, and its basic texts include Nagarjuna's (2nd and 3rd centuries) Madhyamaka-karika. With the Prajnaparamita Sutra as a background, Nagarjuna clarified the idea of ​​emptiness, that "everything does not have the unchanging and fixed essence that humans tend to assume," by exposing the contradictions in everyday words and thoughts through highly logical expressions. Later, Devadatta (3rd century) tried to systematize Nagarjuna's ideas, and in the 5th and 6th centuries, Butsugyo attempted to provide a faithful commentary on the Madhyamaka-karika, and Shoben established a method of actively demonstrating the idea of ​​emptiness using logical inference, and in the 7th century, Gessho criticized Shoben, arguing that abductive argument, which reveals the irrationality of the other person's reasoning in a way that follows his or her own reasoning, is more effective. Later, the Madhyamaka school split into the independent argument school led by Seiben and the reductive argument school led by Gekko, which is considered to have been caused by Gekko's criticism. During this period, there was a sharp conflict with the Yogacara school, but in the 8th century, a synthesis was attempted with the Madhyamaka school taking the upper hand.

[Ejima Yoshinori]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

インド大乗仏教において瑜伽行(ゆがぎょう)派と並んで重要な学派で、龍樹(りゅうじゅ)（2、3世紀）の『中論』などを基本的な典籍とする。龍樹は般若(はんにゃ)経典を背景として、「すべては、人間が想定しがちな不変で固定的な本質をもつものではない」という空(くう)の思想を、論理性の高い表現によって、日常的なことばや思考のもつ矛盾を暴露することを通じて明らかにした。その後、提婆(だいば)（3世紀）は龍樹の考えを体系化しようと努力し、5、6世紀には仏護(ぶつご)が『中論』の忠実な注釈を試み、清弁(しょうべん)は空の思想を論理学的な推論式で積極的に論証する方法を確立、7世紀には月称(げっしょう)が清弁を批判して、相手の論法に沿った形でその論法の不合理性を明らかにする帰謬(きびゅう)論証のほうがより有効であるとした。後代、中観派が清弁側の独立論証派と月称側の帰謬論証派に分裂するのは、この月称の批判が起因とみなされる。この時期、瑜伽行派と鋭く対立したが、8世紀には、中観派優位の立場で総合が図られる。

［江島惠教］

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例