Nagarjuna Story ;

Nagarjuna’s Philosophy

The time in which Nagarjuna lived is well before Adi Sankaracharya perhaps earlier to even 400 A.D. { the present reviewer cannot make a citation in support of this impression of his ; the readers are invited to clarify the matter with citations if accessible to them } ; it is interesting to note that the Buddha mentions someone will follow him to delineate some aspects of his non-traditional philosophy ; some authorities feel Nagarjuna is that ‘ someone ‘ ;

the Buddha’s philosophy takes the view that both is and is not are relative and bases His perspective and His philosophy on what is perceived as sentient { dic_ sen-tient adj having the power of perception by the senses } { dic_ sentient adj having the power of perception by the senses , characterized by sensation ; [-] n a person or thing that is sentient ; Archaic the conscious mind } i.e., amenable to perception by the senses ;; this seems to be like the modern scientific philosophy of positivism which refers all constructions of thought to what is in principle experimentally verifiable; Sankara and other Hindu philosophers give exclusive finality to the concepts of is and is not ; in contrast , the Buddha’s is a more humble approach and avoids any finality to the concept of existence and is a more gentle position ; because of His humane approach to the notions of is and is not , the logic behind His philosophy differs from the two-valued logic and admits a relative notion of truth ; this reviewer finds Wikipedia throws some light on the Buddhist logic ; ' thought ' says Krishnamurti is ever misleading ; and so , not wise to cling to ; Q: in the context of enlightenment what is light ? what does Quantum Mechanics ( QM ) say it is ? { this reviewer feels it is profitable to think of Science and Religion together ( though he cannot answer this question at the present time ) }

the Buddha speaks of sunyata which contrary to common understanding of it as void or empty , refers to the notion “ all is impermanent “ or tentative { dic_ tentative adj provisional or hesitant } ; our perceptions are the true guide to our knowledge ; and , as our perceptions are not in any way final , the truth that we perceive is not final but it would be insincere on our part to disown our perceptions ; this necessitates our admission that what we know is relative ; this approach to philosophy runs counter to the absolutist position which is traditionally taken in both the west and the east ; you can see this ( the Buddha's position ) discourages all enunciations { dic_ enunciate v state formally } of so called ultimate truth ; this is the concept of sunyata that Nagarjuna makes central to his philosophy of Buddhism ; Nagarjuna says “ everything stands in harmony with him who stands in harmony with Sunyata , which is not a rejection of existence or of understanding but of the misconstruction of the sense of the real or the error of misplaced absoluteness which is the origin of clinging and the root of conflict and suffering “ ; it is relevant to refer to the invitingindia.com article on Buddhism where an extract of Encyclopedia Britannica article entitled " the Buddha's teaching " on the Buddha’s eight-fold path with the right understanding of four noble truths is given ;

the Buddha’s teaching is that contemplativeness is the right attitude in life ; contemplative attitude denies { dic_ deny v t to refuse to accede ( = to give consent , approval or adherence = ) to } the common attitude of “ clinging “ ; the eight-fold path stresses the importance of right meditation ; Q: what is the right meditation ? it is “ freedom from time “ ; this needs a little explanation ; normally people take a parochial { dic_ parochial adj narrow in outlook } attitude and position and cling to things mentally ; this reviewer feels this is akin to { akin adj akin to similar , related } a perception of a black dot in the consciousness ; such a position gives rise to a movement in time and puts one in danger of inevitable sorrow ; what the Buddha teaches is to free oneself from such “ clinging “ and take an altogether healthy and wholesome attitude to life ; this “ freedom from time “ is associated with the Buddha’s right meditation ; what is commonly called meditation does not deny or avoid this clinging – and hence the Buddha’s call for right meditation ; the attitude of right meditation is conveyed by the Buddhist symbol of Avalokiteswara ; Avalokiteswara conveys an inward-seeing free of the clinging and conveys the image of Bodhisattva , one on the way of Buddha-hood ;

the Buddha’s attitude can inspire a fresh approach to music which involves time – such music subsumes { dic_ subsume v include ( an idea , case etc ) under a larger classification or group } time ; this is in contrast to the theme ‘ i am you ‘ which according to Vivekananda is the central theme of all raga-based Indian music ; raga is a movement within time ( no dogmatic position intended ) ; the Buddha-inspired music is a fresh approach to laya and tala in that it subsumes time ; this account of Buddha-inspired music is essentially a perception of this reviewer and he cannot quote any authorities to support his perceptions ;

References :
[ ]“Mulamadyamakakakarika“ of Nagarjuna ( abbreviated as Kakarika )- the philosophy of the Middle way - of Nagarjuna , David J. Kalupahana 1991 ;; { difficult }
[ ]Nagarjuna’s Philosophy – K.Venkata Ramanan ; Motilal Banarasidas Publisherers Private Limited ;;
ISBN : 81-208-0214-4 ( Paper ) Rp 195 ; { more approachable }