Introduction to Reality

Introduction to Reality offers the first comprehensive study, critical edition, and annotated English translation of Srigupta’s (c. 7th–8th century) Tattvavatarav?tti. As the earliest known synthesis of Nagarjuna’s Madhyamaka metaphysics with the Dignaga-Dharmakirti tradition of logic and epistemology, the Tattvavatarav?tti marks a pivotal moment in the development of Indian Madhyamaka thought. Its central focus is the “neither-one-nor-many argument,” later renowned as one of the five great Madhyamaka arguments for emptiness. An analysis of this line of reasoning reveals it to be, at its core, an attack on true unity: Srigupta rejects the possibility of an intrinsic nature by denying the existence of mereological simples, whether material or immaterial. The Tattvavatarav?tti also presents the earliest formulation of an influential threefold criterion for conventional reality, according to which whatever is conventionally real is dependently originated, causally efficacious, and satisfies our ordinary notions of existence and unity only when not subjected to critical analysis. This framework was central to later Madhyamaka-Yogacara syntheses, particularly in the work of Santarak?ita and Kamalasila. Srigupta’s other important philosophical contributions are brought to light, including his case for the non-standard view that certain instances of enlightened cognition are necessarily both conceptual and veridical, challenging the widespread assumption in Buddhist thought that conceptually mediated cognition is invariably erroneous.