Coomaraswamy, Ananda Kentish: Buddha and the gospel of buddhism (London, 1916)

Buddha & the Gospel of Buddhism
that the whole world of becoming is truly void and
unreal.
This ‘ nihilism ’ is carried to its farthest extreme in works
such as the Prajnapdramitas* and the Vajracchedika
Sutra : we read, for example, in the latter work :
“And again, O Subhuti, a gift should not be given by
a Bodhisattva, while he still believes in the reality of
objects; a gift should not be given by him while he yet
believes in anything; a gift should not be given by him
while he still believes in form; a gift should not be given
by him while he still believes in the special qualities of
sound, smell, taste, and touch. . . . And why ? Because
that Bodhisattva, O Subhuti, who gives a gift, without
believing in anything, the measure of his stock of merit
is not easy to learn 1 ”
And this denial of entity is carried to the logical extreme
of denying the existence of scripture:
“ ‘ Then what do you think, O Subhuti, is there any
doctrine that was preached by the Tathagata ? ’ Subhuti
said: ‘ Not so, indeed, O Worshipful, There is not any-
thing that was preached by the Tathagata.’ ”
Even more striking is the famous ‘ Middle Path of Eight
Noes’ of Nagarjuna:
“ There is no production tyctpada), no destruction (ucchedd),
no annihilation {nirodhd), no persistence (sasvatd), no unity
(ekarthd), no plurality (nanartka), no coming in (agamand),
and no going forth tyirgamd).”
This view, however, is not properly to be understood as
mere nihilism; it is constantly emphasized that things of
1 So called because they treat at length of the Six Perfections {Para-
muds') of a Bodhisattva, and the last of these in particular. The Six
Perfections are ddna, charity; sila, morality; khsanti, meekness; vlrya,
energy; dhyana, meditation; and frajna, wisdom.
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