Cracking the Walnut, page 1
CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright
Preface
1: Examination of Conditions
2: Examination of Coming and Going
3: Examination of the Four Noble Truths
4: Examination of Being and Nonbeing
5: Examination of Fire and Fuel
6: Examination of Nirvāṇa
Appendix
Also by Thích Nhất Hạnh
Cracking the Walnut
Understanding the Dialectics of Nagarjuna
Thich Nhat Hanh
Parallax Press
Berkeley, California
Published by Palm Leaves Press
an imprint of Parallax Press
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Printed in the United States of America by Versa
Previously published in Vietnamese as
Đập Vỡ Vỏ Hồ Đào
by Sách Phuông Nam, 2014
Translation from Vietnamese to English
by Annabel Laity (Chan Duc, True Virtue)
Cover design by Katie Eberle
Text design and composition by Maureen Forys
Non-English terms are in Sanskrit unless otherwise indicated.
ISBN: 978-1-952692-46-8
E-book ISBN: 078-1-952692-47-5
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request
Preface
Just as Einstein’s outstanding intellect excelled at physics, so did Nāgārjuna’s heart excel at comprehending the teachings of the Buddha. Not only the intellect knows how to reason; so does the heart. Both intellect and heart can see and understand. Yet the heart can go farther than the intellect, because of its greater intuition. The dialectics of Nāgārjuna that follow are a transcendent kind of reasoning—a reasoning that destroys all notions, allowing the truth to reveal itself. The language of dialectics can do this in ways the language of mathematics cannot.
Nāgārjuna was born at a time when the doors of the Mahāyāna—the Great Vehicle of Buddhism—were beginning to open. Through this crack in the door, Nāgārjuna was able to access the jewels hidden in the Source Buddhist sutras.* He understood the essence of the Buddhist teachings. Letting go of dualistic views, Nāgārjuna touched reality—a reality that cannot be accessed by someone caught in notions. Science now struggles to transcend dualism. Birth/death, being/nonbeing, production/destruction, coming/going, inside/outside, object/subject, all of these are dualistic notions. Śākyamuni Buddha taught: “There is a not-born, a not-become, a not-made, a not-compounded. If there were not the not-born, not-become, not-made, not-compounded, there could be no escape from that which is born, become, made, compounded.”* We can only touch what is not born and does not die—that which is neither subject nor object—when we transcend the snare of dualistic notions. The dialectics of the Middle Way, as applied by Nāgārjuna, allow us to look with clarity and, in doing so, to transcend the snare of dualism. According to Nāgārjuna, this is the key to Buddhist study.
Nāgārjuna’s Mūlamadhyamakakārikā (Verses on the Middle Way) is the exemplary work of the intellect and of the heart in Buddhist studies. And yet, Nāgārjuna did not refer to the emerging Mahāyāna sutras to establish his Dharma door; instead, he based his dialectics only on the traditional Source Buddhist sutras and, in the Verses on the Middle Way, cites the Kaccānagottasutta.†
Just as Einstein discovered the Theory of Relativity, so Nāgārjuna used the theory of “reciprocity” 相待 (literally “waiting for each other”). In Buddhism, reciprocity means: this is present because that is present; this is absent because that is absent. Wherever there is wisdom there is the potential for ignorance, wherever there is left there is right, wherever there are lotuses there is mud. That is reciprocity: if there is this, there has to be that. Reciprocity means that things wait upon each other so that they can manifest together. Short and long have to arise together. There is being because there is nonbeing. There is birth because there is death. There is impurity because there is purity. There is dark because there is light. The Sattadhātu Sutta (SN 14.11 and SA 456) shows us that there is light because there is darkness, impurity because there is purity; there is space because there is matter, there is nonbeing because there is being, there is death because there is birth. These sutras are the source of the insight of reciprocity.
Despite its pairing of seemingly opposite concepts, reciprocity in the dialectics of Nāgārjuna helps bring us to a nondualistic insight. According to the wisdom of the Middle Way, scientific progress is hampered by duality—in particular by the idea that the subject and object of consciousness (or perception) are separate. In the Kaccānagotta Sutta, we learn that most people are caught in ideas of being and nonbeing. Nirvāṇa is the truth of no birth, no death; no being, no nonbeing; no space, and no matter. Nirvāṇa can be realized when there is the insight of nonduality. Our ideas about conditioned co-arising (pratītyasamutpāda), inter-arising, reciprocity, interbeing, and interpenetration all point to the same thing. The notions of emptiness, mere designation, and the Middle Way mean the same thing.
The text of the Verses on the Middle Way is a walnut: good to eat, but with a tough shell. If we do not break this shell, we will not be able to enjoy the walnut’s richness or its sweetness. With the aid of a nutcracker, you do not have to wait long to enjoy the rich and fragrant taste of the nut—you just put the nut between the pincers and press hard to quickly break the nut’s shell. This commentary is a nutcracker that helps to crack the nut of these verses.
Nāgārjuna was born into a Brahmin family at the end of the second century CE. As an adult he studied and practiced Buddhism. He wrote in Classical Sanskrit rather than in Pali or in Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit.
The Verses on the Middle Way expound and disseminate the ultimate truth (paramārthasatya) of Buddhism. Conventional or relative truth (saṃvṛtisatya) goes alongside ultimate truth. Although the conventional truth is not the ultimate truth, it can still point out to us the way of transformation and healing. As such, it is not in opposition to, nor does it contradict, the ultimate truth—in fact, conventional truth can help reveal the ultimate truth. Without the ultimate truth we would not have the means to guide us into the ultimate reality. As you read the Verses on the Middle Way, you will see that Nāgārjuna is sometimes critical of the teachings of Buddhist schools of his time, such as the Sarvāstivāda, Pudgalavāda, or Sautrāntika. Despite this criticism, he does not condemn or contradict any of these schools, nor does he take the side of or defend them. His only intention is to reveal the ultimate truth as taught by the Buddha.
Everything we learn in these teachings is connected to the suffering, fear, and worries that we experience in our daily life. These teachings are not pointless theories. In bringing these teachings down to earth, we will be capable of seeing that they are rooted in our own lives—in our daily experience of happiness and suffering.
I invite you to enjoy the taste of this sweet and delicious walnut.
Translator’s Note:Cracking the Walnut is an edited translation of the commentaries, delivered in Vietnamese, offered during two three-month Rains’ Retreats from 2001 to 2003 by Dhyāna Master Thích Nhất Hạnh on the following chapters of the Verses on the Middle Way:
Examination of Conditions (or Conditioned Arising)
(Pratyayaparīkṣā) Chapter 1
Examination of Coming and Going
(Gatāgataparīkṣā) Chapter 2
Examination of the Four Noble Truths
(Āryasatyaparīkṣā) Chapter 24
Examination of Being and Nonbeing
(Svabhāvaparīkṣā) Chapter 15
Examination of Fire and Fuel
(Agnīndhanaparīkṣā) Chapter 10
Examination of Nirvāṇa
(Nirvāṇaparīkṣā) Chapter 25
These chapters were chosen by Thích Nhất Hạnh because they best represent the spirit of the Verses on the Middle Way.
* The sutras of the Nikāyas and Āgamas.
* Udāna 8.3.
† SN 12.15 and SA 301迦旃延
1
Examination of Conditions
All phenomena, the Buddha taught, arise due to causes and conditions—also known as “conditioned co-arising”—and this chapter looks deeply into this matter. We may already have a notion about conditioned co-arising, but our notion may be naïve and largely mistaken. These verses help us to free ourselves from these notions.
Unborn and undying,
neither permanent nor annihilated,
neither the same nor different,
neither coming nor going—
the Buddha thus proclaims conditioned co-arising
that puts an end to all speculation.
I bow down to him,
the supreme and excellent teacher.
不生亦不滅
不常亦不斷
不一亦不異
不來亦不出
能說是因緣
善滅諸戲論
我稽首禮佛
諸說中第一
anirodham anutpādam anucchedam aśāśvatam
anekārtham anānārtham anāgamam ani
yaḥ pratītyasamutpādaṃ prapañcopaśamaṃ śivam
deśayām āsa saṃbuddhas taṃ vande vadatāṃ varam
These verses introduce the whole treatise and present the quintessence of its teachings. Nāgārjuna gives us, in the first four lines, what we call the eight negations. He does so with the aim of removing eight notions of what is not real: birth, death, permanence, annihilation, sameness, difference, coming, and going. We are unable to touch the truth because these eight notions are present in our mind. We believe that there is birth and death, permanence and annihilation, same and different, coming and going, and because of that, our view of reality becomes distorted. This is why the Buddha had to find skillful ways to remove these notions from our minds.
The eight negations express the teachings on emptiness (śūnyatā). Before the time of Nāgārjuna, emptiness had been taught by the Buddha Śākyamuni. Though these teachings were refined by the Prajñāpāramitā* writings, they had yet to be systematized. Nāgārjuna was the first person to do this. After him came Āryadeva and others, including Candrakīrti.
The Buddha thus proclaims conditioned co-arising
that puts an end to all speculation.
If we can offer these teachings on conditioned co-arising in terms of the eight negations, then we will be able to put a skillful end to all speculation.† Speculation refers to teachings and doctrines that do not lead us anywhere. Vain metaphysical speculation has no real benefit for our life.
I bow down to the Buddha,
the supreme and excellent teacher.
Thanks to the original Sanskrit version, which gives us the more accurate meaning, we are able to translate this as: “I bow down to the Buddha—the best teacher—because he has proclaimed the teaching on causality and the eight negations; these teachings have the capacity to extinguish all useless speculation.”*
1. Phenomena are not born from themselves,
nor from others,
nor both from themselves and others, nor without cause.
Therefore we know they are unborn.
諸法不自生
亦不從他生
不共不無因
是故知無生
The topic of this chapter is what the East Asian Buddhist tradition calls the four gates.† When we talk about birth, we have to think about it in this or that way. Does something arise spontaneously from itself? Or do other things give birth to it? Does it arise both from itself and from other things, or does it need no cause whatsoever in order to arise? From these questions come the four gates or four cases, which are:
A phenomenon arises spontaneously from itself.
A phenomenon arises from something other than itself.
A phenomenon arises both spontaneously from itself and from something other than itself.
A phenomenon arises without any cause.
Phenomena do not arise from themselves. This is what Nāgārjuna says regarding the first of the four cases.
Nor from others. It also cannot be the case that a phenomenon arises from something other than itself.*
Nor both from themselves and others, nor without cause. Phenomena cannot arise from themselves and at the same time from something else, nor can they arise without a cause.†
Therefore we know they are unborn. Because of this we know that no-birth is the nature of all phenomena.
In these four verses Nāgārjuna proposes four different cases and then asks: Which case is true for the arising of phenomena? The answer is that all four cases are unreasonable. The following verses prove this and show further that the nature of all phenomena is no birth (nirvāṇa).
2. Seed condition, condition of continuity,
object of cognition as condition and supportive condition:
These four conditions give birth to all dharmas,
and there is no fifth one.*
因緣次第緣
緣緣增上緣
四緣生諸法
更無第五緣
This verse is not difficult to understand; it presents the four conditions that are taken as being the reason for the arising of all phenomena. The teaching on the four conditions was refined by the Sarvāstivāda school in northwestern India. By the fourth century CE this teaching was also explained in the Abhidharmakośa-śāstra and subsequently adopted by the Manifestation-only school (Vijñaptimātra).
When Nāgārjuna went to northern India to pursue his studies in Buddhism, he was exposed to the teachings of the Sarvāstivāda school, which was prospering. As a result, the teaching of the four conditions is mentioned in the Verses on the Middle Way. However, we do not see any mention of the six conditions. This may suggest that the teaching on the six conditions was developed later.*
Seed condition (hetu-pratyaya) The seed condition is the first and foremost condition, just as the corn seed is the primary or chief cause of the corn plant. The Chinese character for “cause,” 因, looks like four walls limiting what is inside of them, the character 大, which means “large”: something large remains hidden by a small frame, but other conditions could allow this thing to become visible. For example, a sunflower seed is extremely small, but within the limits of the seed a much larger sunflower plant is contained. In time, thanks to soil, water, and sunlight, the walls that constrain the sunflower will be taken away; it will have a chance to grow large. The seed condition—or chief cause, as it is often translated—is the seed-cause of a phenomenon. Unfortunately, neither of these English terms used to translate hetu-pratyaya captures the full meaning of the Sanskrit term.
Continuity condition (samanantara-pratyaya) The Chinese term used for this condition is 次第緣. 次第 means “order” or “consequentiality.” Something goes before and something goes after. If the thing that goes before is not there, how can we have that which goes after? In Sanskrit the term means “immediately contiguous.” The literal translation is “thoroughly without an interval.” The equivalent in Chinese for this is 等無間緣. The character 等 means “equal.” 無間 means that there is nointerruption. Thissecondcondition is the condition of continuity, of an uninterrupted chain. If one ring of the chain is broken, how can the chain continue? This is the continuity condition. In this way a past instant is a condition for the following instant. If the previous instant were not there, then the next one could not follow. The same is true for us: if we did not have parents, how could we be here? It is because of our parents that we have a chance to continue them and our ancestors. Our parents are a condition of continuity for us.
Object of cognition as condition (ālambana-pratyaya) The Chinese characters for this condition can be simply 緣緣, but the complete form is 所緣緣. As long as there is a subject there must be an object. A perception must always have an object of perception. For hatred and love to arise there must be an object of the hate and of the love. The same is true for joy and for sadness. This is why the third condition for something to arise is the object of cognition.
Supportive condition (adhipati-pratyaya) The supportive conditions are those elements that help the other three conditions to bear fruit, to bring about a result. If there weren’t any supportive conditions, how could a grain of rice grow into a plant of rice? The grain of rice needs conditions like earth, fertilizer, rain, sun, and a farmer.
In these verses, Nāgārjuna is not trying to prove a point. He mentions these four conditions so that we can look deeply into them and see that the notions we have about them are still naïve.
It is possible that while reading the Verses on the Middle Way there will be one or two verses you do not understand. You can continue and read the next verses and then return to the one you have not understood. Over time you will understand the deep meaning.
3. The self-nature of phenomena
is not found in the conditions.
