Seldom Asked Questions
Here are some not so frequently asked questions pertaining to the Madhyamika practice, as well as to the Buddhist practice in general
Question:
It has been said that we go though life as if in a dream. Who is it that is having a dream? Is it awareness that is hallucinating?
Answer:
You have made the following assumptions when asking who is experiencing a dream:
- You’ve assumed that there is a subject (who experiences reality/hallucination)
- You’ve assumed that there is an object (the world)
- You’ve also assumed that there is an apparition (hallucination/illusion)
- Finally, you’ve assumed that all three above mentioned entities are kind of independent of each other, but could be brought together in the light of various scenarios
Reality is not organized like that. Your question “What is it that is hallucinating of doing things?” is an excellent one. When we say that we’re just hallucinating about doing something, the hallucination mentioned in there pertained not only to doing it, but to ‘us’ as well. So, not only is doing something a hallucination, the subject who is doing it is also a hallucination. It’s a phantom.
Question:
Is it true that there exists a state where nothing exists?
Answer:
It is a paradox — if such a state exists, then it is not true that nothing exists, but if it doesn’t exist, then everything exists, including that state (although under the condition that it doesn’t exist).
