25.1
Mūlamadhyamakakārikā / 25. Nirvāṇa (निर्वाण) / 25.1
यदि शून्यमिदं सर्वमुदयो नास्ति न व्ययः प्रहाणाद् वा निरोधाद् वा कस्य निर्वाणमिष्यते
yadi śūnyam idaṃ sarvam udayo nāsti na vyayaḥ prahāṇād vā nirodhād vā kasya nirvāṇam iṣyate
The line
If all this is empty, there is no arising and no passing away. Of what, then, by abandonment or by cessation, is nirvāṇa (निर्वाण) maintained?
नेपालीमा
यदि यो सबै शून्य हो भने उत्पत्ति छैन र नाश छैन। त्यसपछि त्यागले वा निरोधले कसको निर्वाण मानिन्छ?
Where it sits
24.18 identified emptiness with dependent arising. Chapter 25 begins with the fear that nirvāṇa (निर्वाण) then has nothing to be the end of. The fear is stated as an objection. Read yadi (यदि) as the objector.
Split: yadi (यदि) + śūnyam (शून्यम्) + idam (इदम्) + sarvam (सर्वम्) + udayaḥ (उदयः) + na (न) + asti (अस्ति) + na (न) + vyayaḥ (व्ययः) + prahāṇāt (प्रहाणात्) + vā (वा) + nirodhāt (निरोधात्) + vā (वा) + kasya (कस्य) + nirvāṇam (निर्वाणम्) + iṣyate (इष्यते)
Sanskrit, in depth
The words
| Word | Grammar | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| yadi (यदि) | indeclinable | if. |
| śūnyam (शून्यम्) | nominative singular, neuter | empty. |
| idam (इदम्) | nominative singular, neuter | this. |
| sarvam (सर्वम्) | nominative singular, neuter | all. |
| udayaḥ (उदयः) | nominative singular, masculine | arising. |
| na (न) | indeclinable | not. |
| asti (अस्ति) | present, third person singular | there is. |
| na (न) | indeclinable | not. |
| vyayaḥ (व्ययः) | nominative singular, masculine | passing away, dwindling. |
| prahāṇāt (प्रहाणात्) | ablative singular, neuter | from abandoning. By the giving-up of something. |
| vā (वा) | indeclinable | or. |
| nirodhāt (निरोधात्) | ablative singular, masculine | from cessation. |
| vā (वा) | indeclinable | or. |
| kasya (कस्य) | genitive singular | of what. Whose abandonment? |
| nirvāṇam (निर्वाणम्) | nominative singular, neuter | nirvāṇa (निर्वाण), the blowing out. |
| iṣyate (इष्यते) | present passive, third person singular | is held, is accepted. |
The phrases
The objector of this chapter: if everything is śūnya (शून्य), nothing arises and nothing passes, so there is nothing to abandon and nothing to cease, and nirvāṇa (निर्वाण) has no basis. kasya (कस्य) is his question.
Verse 25.2 will say the same problem hits the one who denies emptiness. The chapter does not answer by filling nirvāṇa (निर्वाण) back in as a thing.
Sanskrit in this line
Two ablatives, prahāṇāt (प्रहाणात्) and nirodhāt (निरोधात्), are two pictures of nirvāṇa (निर्वाण): as a giving-up, and as a stopping. kasya (कस्य) asks what is given up or stopped.
Say it back
What does the objector think emptiness removes from nirvāṇa (निर्वाण)?