IGNORANCE AND KNOWLEDGE not entertain the no tion of ultimacy in r eg ard to them, nor they entertain the no tion of any ultimate division between the determinate and the absolute The ultimate nature of ignorance: The sense of the real is our gro und for cancelling illusion; it is made more vivid by the revelation of the falsity of our beliefs And it is only in the case of one who is awar e of i gnoran ce that a critique of ignorance has sense It is intended to trace illusion to its root, in order to root it out completely But in the case of one who is already w holly beyond ignorance it has no use Again, if ignorance as concealment and misconstruction were ultimate, then it would be in eradicable; but in that case there would not be any aw areness of igno rance at all That there is such an awareness and that ignorance is ex perienced to have once functioned and then b ecome extinct in some cases is the only gr ound for man's cultivation in the path of knowledge The wise ins titute devices whereby t hey bring the meaning of certain cases of disillusionment to bear upon the entire network of ignorance in which the common people are caught They thus enliven in them the s ense of the real, reveal to them its true meaning and help them to realize the true nature of things.' The extinction of ignorance does not leave us in a blank; it is not an act separate from the arising of know ledge The two are simul taneous; they are two different sides of the same act, two phases of one principle The Siistra observes that in their ultimate nature there is no difference between ignorance and knowledge, even as there is no differ ence in the ultimate truth between the world of th e determinate and NirvaI].a, t he unconditioned reality When the myriad streams (flowing in myriad different places), each with its own col our , its own taste, enter the great ocean, they blend and become of one taste and derive one name In the same way, stupidity and wisdom enter prajiiiipiiramitii and blend and become of one essence (and then) there would be no difference· between them Again, when the five colours appro ach Mt Sumeru, they auto matic ally lose their own colours and all blend into the one golden hue In the s ame way , 113 NAGARJUNA'S PHILOSOPHY when all things internal and external enter prajnaparamita, they blend and become of one essence Why is it so? Because prajiiiipiiramitii is by nature completely pure Moreover, the real nature of stupidity is itself prajna But ifone would mistake and cling to this prajiia, then this itself would be stupidity Thus, (in truth), what difference is there between stupidity and wisdom? When one first enters the Way of the Buddha, then there is the distinction that this is stupidity and this is wisdom But later, when one's penetration gradua.Jly becomes deep, then, (at last), there would be no difference between stupidity and wisdom (32Ia-b) This is to deny not the presence of ignorance but its ultimacy With the correction of error the wrong notion does not persist; ignorance does not coexist with knowledge in regard to the same thing in the same mind.6 When the bodhisattva, with the intention of putting an end to ignorance, seeks to know its true nature (II), then: Ignorance would just become knowledge itself (.!lP�;I!ijIJ) (for it is then seen to be in its ultimate nature) the universal reality (bhiitalalqat;la), the bhiitako!i, itsel£ (697a) Even of the products of ignorance, the true nature is purity, which is another name for the ultimate realitY, the undivided being So the Siitra says: (In its ultimate nature) ignorance is purity itself; and so even the satpskaras (etc., the products of ignorance) are (in their ultimate nature) purity itsel£6 (sosb) Commenting on this, the Sastra says that the Buddha is speaking here about the ultimate nature of the three elements of poison, which as lewdness etc., owe their being to ignorance, while in their ultimate nature they are purity itself ('::: ••f£�i!F-) This holds good even of the mind, the )e1t: conscious principle of intellection, the centre of personality, as well as of all that it gives rise to II4 IGNORANCE AND KNOWLEDGE In the ultimate truth, even mind and mental elements cannot be how much less the further distinction of the mind with pas sion or the mind devoid of passion? (543b) obtained , The fact that in its ultimate nature ignorance is itself prajna has an important bearing on the nature of knowledge While a total ignorance of ignorance is impossible, a compl ete knowledge of knowledge is not only po ssible but essential This is the s ame as saying that while denial of ignorance is po ssible, knowledge knows no denial While extinction could be significantly spoken of in respect to ignorance, this is not the case with knowledge ; for the ultimate principle of knowledge knows no end, al though the par ticular acts of knowing arise and perish Prajilii as the ultinlate principle of knowledge is not itself anything conditioned When one speaks of the rise of wisdom strictly, from the standpoint of the ultimate prajna, it is to the extinction of ignorance that one refers Non-ultimacy of avidya is the sufficient ground for one's endeavour to remove it Sereion II KINDS OF KNOWLEDGE Prajna as ruTitp n",J prajiia as knowledge: Prajna as knowledge is to be dis tinguishf'd from prajiia as realtty Prajiia as reality is the_unconditioned dharma, the undivided being, the unnameable that is yet spoken through names PrajiiapiiramJta.is the real nature of all things, the undeni able , inde structible dharma Whether there IS the Buddha or there is not the Bud dha, this r('al nature of things eternally is This eternal nature of things (dharma-sthana).is not any thing made by the Buddha (or any one elsc).s (370fl) , Prajna is the ultimately real nature of the divided and dct�rmil1ate The ultimate reality is called praj1iii, the basic principle of knowledge IIS NAGARJUNA'S PHILOSOPHY imposing a name and that, in the mundane truth, on the plane of the relative, i.e., when it is contrasted with the objects and systems of objects that a rise and perish In the ultimate truth it is the r eality in which there is not even the distinction of kno wledg e and reality, knowing and being, or even of knowledge and ignorance It is the real which is the ultimate end of all our seeking PrajniI as reality pertains to the later part of the presen t work It is with prajnii as knowledge that the present part is concerned only by PrajniI as the ultimate prindple ofknowledge and prajniI as the act of know ing: PrajniI as knowledge is significant only in reference to the world the determinate, where there is the distinction of knowledge and reality , of knowing and being as well as of knowledge a nd ignorance According to the Siistra, prajniI as knowle dge can be distingui shed into two kinds which can be called the eternal (substantial) and the func tional (impermanent) While the eternal prajnii is the ultimate reality itself only derivedly called prajniI, i.e., as contras ted with the "objective" world of relativity and change, the functlonal prajfiiI is the function of the mind, the self-conscious intellect contrasted with ignorance and in regar d to the objective reality which it confronts of There are two kinds of prajniI The one is the eternal prajiiii The other is (the impermanent prajnii) which functions along with the five piira mitiis (The latter is) the functional prajnii-piiramitii (;ffffl��lBt.�) (while the former could be called the substantial or the stable prajiiiI) The functional prajnii can put an end to the darkness of ignorance, and can fetch the true (eternal) prajiiii In the eternal prajna (the undivi d ed reality) there cannot be found (even the distinction of ) igno rance and kno wledge (52Ib) The eternal prajnii is the ultimate, permanent p rinciple of knowledge which is the "eternal light in the heart of man." The prajiiii itself ever remains unextinct while the particular objects arise and perish It is th e permanent principle in the light of which alone the critical judgement of things as impermanent is meaningful No thing , not even Ni rvat;l a II6 IGNORANCE AND KNOWLEDGE (as set against samsiira) can claim absoluteness in the light of the criti cism instituted with the principle that the ultimate reality is the undi vided being The prajiiiipiiramitii (the ultimate principle of knowledge) can cancel all things, it can cancel even Nirv3.I;ta; it straightaway transcends all things, unimpeded (While all things perish) the power of wisdom does not itself perish, (as) it transcends all and there is nothing else that can deny it Therefore it is said that if there is anything excelling even Nirvat;ta, even that the power of wisdom can deny (But prajiiiipiirami.tii itself remains undenied).9 (449b) The functional prajnii is really the act of knowing which can be said to consist of I) analysis, II) criticism and III) comprehension.9> These acts of knowing as modes of the power of prajiiii, have their ground in the permanent principle of knowledge The knowledge if the unconditioned reality: The act of knowing that has for its object the unconditioned reality is in its basic form the judge ment that the real is the unconditioned, which is carried out in the light of the highest knowledge that is completely free from all distorting elements of ignorance and passion It is a knowledge (judgement) regarding the ultimate nature of things, the highest reality, and hence it is called the highest knowledge, prajnii par excellence This act of knowing which is also called prajiiiipiiramitii is, however impermanent and it should be recognized as such, despite the fact that it is called permanent In this regard the Siistra points out: Prajiiiipiiramitii is of the nature of knowledge; it is a seeing of things; it arises from the combination of causal factors Of the prajiiiipiira mita, the object is tathatii, dharma-dhiitu, bhiitako{i, the incomposite dharma; therefore it is (called) permanent (S2ra) Although tthis) knowledge arises from the combination of causes and conditions, still, it takes for its object the dharma which is devoid of birth and is by nature siinya Therefore (even this knowledge) is called II7 ... KNOWLEDGE In the ultimate truth, even mind and mental elements cannot be how much less the further distinction of the mind with pas sion or the mind devoid of passion? (543b) obtained , The fact... Commenting on this, the Sastra says that the Buddha is speaking here about the ultimate nature of the three elements of poison, which as lewdness etc., owe their being to ignorance, while in their... comprehension.9> These acts of knowing as modes of the power of prajiiii, have their ground in the permanent principle of knowledge The knowledge if the unconditioned reality: The act of knowing that has for