To understand how **production** and **arising** are refuted in the Madhyamaka (Middle Way) philosophy, let’s break it down into simpler terms. The refutation is mainly concerned with the idea that things do not arise or get produced in the way we normally think.
### The Usual Way of Thinking:
In
everyday life, we think that things arise or are produced from causes. For example:
- A sprout arises from a seed.
- Fire is produced from striking a match.
It seems like there is a straightforward, linear relationship between causes and effects: one thing (the cause) brings another thing (the effect) into existence. This is called **production** or **arising**.
### Nāgārjuna’s Critique of Production and Arising:
Nāgārjuna, a key figure in Madhyamaka, challenges this idea. He points out that when you analyze it deeply, the idea of something being "produced" or "arising" from something else doesn't hold up logically.
Here’s how production and arising are refuted in a more understandable way:
#### 1. **A Thing Cannot Produce Itself (Self-Production)**:
- Imagine you say a seed produces a sprout.
- Now, if the seed and sprout are the **same**, then it doesn’t make sense to say the seed "produced" the sprout. Something cannot produce itself, because it would already exist. If it already exists, it doesn’t need to be produced.
- For example, you wouldn’t say "a sprout produces a sprout"—because it’s already there!
#### 2. **A Thing Cannot Be Produced by Something Completely Different (Other-Production)**:
- Let’s say a seed produces a sprout, and you say they are **completely different** things.
- If the seed and the sprout are completely different, how could the seed have anything to do with the sprout’s production? If they have no connection, how can the sprout "arise" from the seed?
- It’s like saying a rock could give birth to a tree—there’s no relationship.
#### 3. **A Thing Cannot Arise from Both Itself and Something Else (Self-Other Production)**:
- You might try to combine the two ideas and say that a sprout arises from both itself (its own nature) and from something else (the seed).
- But this doesn’t solve the problem either. If it already exists, it doesn’t need to be produced, and if it’s different, there’s no connection to cause the production. Combining them just adds confusion, and doesn’t explain anything.
#### 4. **A Thing Cannot Arise from Nothing (Production from Nothing)**:
- If something could arise from nothing, like a sprout appearing without a cause, then anything could happen at any time.
- For example, if a sprout could appear from nowhere, why wouldn’t things just pop into existence randomly, like a tiger suddenly appearing in your room?
- This violates our basic understanding of cause and effect, and doesn’t make sense even conventionally.
### The Conclusion: No True Arising or Production
- When you analyze things closely, **none of these explanations for production make sense**. Whether you say a sprout arises from itself, from something else, from both, or from nothing—all these options are logically flawed.
- Therefore, Nāgārjuna concludes that there is **no inherent, independent production or arising**. What we see as production is only an appearance—it works conventionally (in everyday experience) but has no ultimate, independent reality.
### A Simpler Example:
Think of a **mirage** in the desert. It appears that water is there, but when you go to look closely, there is no water. Similarly, it seems like things (like a sprout from a seed) arise and are produced, but when you analyze deeply, you find there’s no true, independent production. Things just appear to arise based on causes and conditions, but nothing has a fixed, permanent nature.
### Dependent Origination and Emptiness:
- Nāgārjuna isn’t denying that things seem to happen (like sprouts growing from seeds) in our everyday world. But he’s saying that these things only arise because of **dependent origination**—they depend on other factors and conditions.
- However, when you look deeply, everything is **empty** of an inherent, independent nature. Nothing arises on its own, and nothing is produced by something else in a truly independent way.
### Summary:
- Production and arising are refuted because logically, things cannot be produced by themselves, by something else, by both, or from nothing.
- Things seem to arise only in a dependent, interconnected way, and have no inherent existence.
- This is why Madhyamaka says production and arising are like an illusion—they seem real but don’t hold up when analyzed deeply.
In simpler terms, what we think of as cause and effect, or things being produced, is like a magic trick. It seems real, but when you look closer, you see it’s just an illusion based on many factors coming together.