In the First Turning of the Wheel of Dharma, the Buddha gave teachings on the Four Noble Truths, laying a foundation and framework by which all of his teachings could be understood. In the Four Noble Truths, the Buddha identified ignorance as the root of all suffering. Ignorance is a state of confusion about how the self exists. We perceive an independent, autonomous self, one that is the basis for all experience and continues from moment to moment. Through the teachings on the skandhas, ayatanas, and dhatus, the Buddha broke down the self, revealing the wisdom of selflessness as well as the path to the cessation of suffering.
The teachings of the Second Turning of the Wheel of Dharma build on these foundational teachings, introducing a more subtle and profound understanding of reality. The Prajnaparamita Sutras serve as the basis for the Second Turning. The 8000 verse Prajnaparamita Sutra is the earliest known sutra from around 100 BCE. This was later expanded into the 10,000, 18,000, 25,000 and 100,000 verse sutras, which bear close resemblance to the 8,000 verse sutra but expand on abbreviated sections and enumerate lists. The shorter Prajnaparamita Sutras include the Heart Sutra, also called the 25 verse sutra, as well as the Diamond Sutra, or the 300 verse sutra.
The Second Turning: Prajnaparamita and the Nature of Emptiness
We can see in the Heart Sutra how the understanding of the truth of origin becomes more subtle and profound in the Second Turning. Remember, in the First Turning we use the skandhas, ayatanas, and dhatus to deconstruct self-grasping and realize the wisdom of selflessness. In the Second Turning we find Avalokiteshvara exploring this even further in the Heart Sutra:
At that time, the Blessed One entered the meditative absorption on the varieties of phenomena called the appearance of the profound. At that time as well, the noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva, the great being, clearly beheld the practice of the profound perfection of wisdom itself and saw that even the five aggregates are empty of intrinsic existence.
The Heart Sutra starts by stating that the Buddha entered into meditative absorption called the “appearance of the profound.” Profound here means emptiness, the appearance of emptiness. It is profound because it is not easily realized, that it is beyond concepts and ideas about how things exist.
In the First Turning, we used the five skandhas to uproot self-grasping, but here Avalokiteshvara is saying that even the five skandhas or aggregates are empty of intrinsic existence. The teachings of the Second Turning examine not only the selflessness of the person, but also of all phenomena. Avalokiteshvara’s dialogue with Shariputra in the sutra challenges us to realize this perfection of wisdom in our own practice. Avalokiteshvara expands on the practice saying bodhisattvas should see clearly in this way:
Form is emptiness, emptiness is form;
Emptiness is not other than form, form too is not other than emptiness.
This famous verse describes the Middle Way free from extremes. We should analyze that form is empty of inherent existence, eliminating the extreme of eternalism or existence. We should also analyze that emptiness is inseparable from form, eliminating the extreme of nihilism or non-existence. The last two verses reiterate this union of appearance and emptiness free from extremes—and invites us into a direct experience of reality as it is.
Nagarjuna and the Two Truths: Clarifying the View
To clarify and refine the view of emptiness as presented in the Prajnaparamita Sutras, Nagarjuna composed the Mula-Madhyamakakarika (Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way). His presentation of the two truths—conventional and ultimate—addresses common misconceptions and provides a framework for understanding the union of appearance and emptiness:
The Buddha’s teaching of the Dharma
Is based on two truths:
A truth of worldly convention,
And an ultimate truth. XXIV.8
Those who do not understand
The distinction between these two truths
Do not understand
The Buddha’s profound teaching. XXIV.9
Without depending on the conventional truth,
The meaning of the ultimate cannot be taught.
Without understanding the meaning of the ultimate,
Nirvana is not achieved. XXIV.10
Through these verses, Nagarjuna reveals our confusion about how things appear versus how they actually exist. Conventionally, phenomena seem solid, independent, and self-existent. However, when analyzed, they are found to be empty of inherent existence, arising only through interdependent causes and conditions.
Establishing Emptiness: The Four Great Arguments
To logically establish the emptiness of all phenomena, Nagarjuna employed four primary arguments, known as the Four Great Arguments of the Madhyamaka tradition:
- Vajra Splinters: Examining the nature of causes.
- Investigation of Results: Analyzing the effect’s relationship to its cause.
- Chariot Argument: Demonstrating that phenomena are neither one nor many.
- Great Interdependence: Revealing emptiness through dependent origination.
Nagarjuna’s famous tetralemma forms the basis for the Vajra Splinter argument and refutes production or arising from any of the four alternatives:
Neither from itself, nor from another,
Nor from both,
Nor without a cause,
Does anything anywhere, ever arise. I.1
For our purposes, the easiest and perhaps best method of establishing emptiness is the Argument of Great Interdependence. This king of reasoning includes all of the other logical arguments because it examines the seemingly real appearances of dependent origination. According to the Middle Way as presented by Nagarjuna, all the illusory appearances of dependent origination and emptiness arise as the union of the conventional and ultimate truths. In the Mula-Madhyamakakarika:
That which is dependent origination
Is explained to be emptiness.
That, being a dependent designation,
Is itself the middle way. XXIV.18
There does not exist anything
That is not dependently arisen.
Therefore there does not exist anything
That is not empty. XXIV.19
This reasoning unites the two truths, showing that phenomena, while appearing conventionally, are ultimately empty of inherent existence. Nagarjuna makes it clear that whatever is dependently originated is empty of inherent existence: form is emptiness. To be dependently originated and to have some kind of independent existence are logical contradictions that cannot be maintained once they are revealed.
The wisdom of the two truths illuminates our confusion about how phenomena exist versus how they appear to us. This simple insight that all phenomena arise dependently based on causes and conditions reveals the nature of suffering, how that suffering arises, and whether we are able to eliminate it, as well as the actual path to be free from suffering. This insight underpins the path to liberation, as Nagarjuna succinctly summarizes in his Mula-Madhyamakakarika:
Whoever sees dependent arising
Also sees suffering,
And its origin,
And its cessation, as well as the path. XXIV.40
For whom emptiness makes sense,
Everything makes sense.
For whom emptiness does not make sense,
Nothing makes sense. XXIV.14
Actualizing Emptiness: Moving from Logic to Experience
Logically we can see that it is relatively easy to establish that all phenomena are empty of inherent existence. But to fully appreciate this profound wisdom we have to move beyond a simple intellectual understanding, beyond mere logic and conceptual analysis. We need to apply this view of emptiness to our own mind and our own experience. Like the Buddha in the Heart Sutra, we need to meditate on the appearance of the profound.
In Heart Advice, Younge Khachab Rinpoche encourages us to apply the two truths to our own mind and experience, for this is truly the doorway to the Middle Way. It is not necessary to undergo extensive philosophical and logical analysis, we simply need to carry a direct understanding of the union of dependent origination and emptiness, or appearance and emptiness, into our own meditation.
Focusing on our own mind, Rinpoche teaches the view of emptiness with five features: profound, peaceful, free of elaboration, luminous clarity, and uncompounded. By recognizing this view of emptiness with five features in our own meditation and relying on the union of shamatha and vipassana, we can enter into absorption on the appearance of the profound and realize the perfection of wisdom, the essence of the Middle Way.
The Union of Wisdom and Practice
The Middle Way teachings, as articulated in the teachings of the Second Turning, offer us profound insights into the nature of reality and the nature of our own mind. By integrating this wisdom with our own experience, we begin to unravel the roots of suffering and move toward liberation. Yet, this path is not solely an intellectual pursuit. It requires the courage to examine our own mind, to rest in meditative absorption, and to embody the teachings in daily life.
The Buddha’s practice, as reflected in the Heart Sutra, is an invitation to each of us. By meditating on the appearance of the profound and realizing the perfection of wisdom, we can actualize the Middle Way and discover the true nature of self and reality—free from extremes, luminous, and boundless.
