Truth and Error: Exploring the "Middle Way Discernment Treatise"

Author: Jiqun (Author)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-07-01
Features: Jiqun, the Venerable, has long been engaged in the study of Buddhist culture and popular propagation of Dharma. He is diligent in writing and has authored various works in the "Series of Life Buddhism." He frequently delivers lectures both domestically and internationally. On behalf of the Suzhou Jiezhuang Buddhist Studies Institute, which he has led, he launched the "Jiezhuang Buddhist Studies Series," reflecting contemporary Buddhist achievements and guiding the healthy development of Buddhism. This book is the first volume of the series, compiled from lecture notes by Jiqun on the renowned Buddhist classic "Zhongbian Lun" (Discerning the Middle Way) for the Southern Fujian Buddhist College. This treatise was composed by Maitreya in ancient India, explained by Asa?ga, and translated into Chinese by Xuanzang. It analyzes the relationship between the truth of the "Middle Way" and the fallacy of "edge views." The author presents the content in a clear and logical manner, easily understandable and thought-provoking for modern readers.
"The Truth and the Fallacy" is a set of lecture notes I delivered to students at the Southern Fujian Buddhist College on "Zhongbian Lun." It can also be considered a byproduct of my many years teaching Prātimok?a. Since graduating from the Chinese Buddhist College in 1984, I have continuously offered Prātimok?a courses at the Fujian Buddhist College and the Southern Fujian Buddhist College, covering texts such as the "?ūra?gama Sūtra," the "Abhidharmako?abhā?ya," the "Twenty Verses on the Mind-Only School," the "Thirty Verses on the Mind-Only School," the "One Hundred Dharmas," and the "Zhongbian Lun." Over the past two decades of teaching Prātimok?a, I have benefited greatly. It is through this connection that I have been able to deeply study these precious scriptures and gain a clearer understanding of the ordinary mind and the illusory world it manifests. At the same time, it has greatly helped me to correctly understand life.
"Zhongbian Lun" is one of the important treatises passed down by the Bodhisattva Maitreya and a key reference for the Yogācāra (Mind-Only) school. The "Yogācārabhūmi ?āstra," written by Maitreya and Asa?ga, the first patriarch of the Yogācāra school, is revered as the "fundamental treatise" by this tradition. The Yogācāra school's canonical texts are organized as "one root and ten branches," with the "Yogācārabhūmi ?āstra" as the root. The remaining ten branches are extensions of the content in the "fundamental treatise." Although "Zhongbian Lun" is one of the "ten branches," its status is second only to the "fundamental treatise."
From the title of "Zhongbian Lun," one can understand the purpose of this treatise. "Zhong" means the Middle Way, "bian" means edge views, and "bian" means to discern. In other words, this treatise helps us understand what the Middle Way is and what edge views are. As Master Ouyang Jingwu stated in the preface to the "Yogācārabhūmi ?āstra":
"The Zhongbian Lun explains the seven chapters to complete the Yogācāra doctrine, with the Middle Way as its essence."
This made me think of another treatise that elaborates on the Middle Way, namely the "Zhong Lun" revered by the Madhyamaka school. This treatise also takes the Middle Way as its essence and succinctly summarizes the Madhyamaka school's view of the Middle Way reality with the famous verse:
"All phenomena arising from causes and conditions, I say are empty; they are also called names and labels; they are also the meaning of the Middle Way."
Similarly, the opening of "Zhongbian Lun" begins with the verse:
"Illusory discriminations arise; in both of these, there is nothing; in this, there is only emptiness; in this, there is also emptiness. Therefore, all phenomena are neither empty nor non-empty; because of existence and non-existence, they are in accord with the Middle Way."
This clearly reveals the essence of the treatise and how to understand the Middle Way reality. The difference lies in that the Madhyamaka school teaches based on two truths, while the Yogācāra school teaches based on three natures.