Svātantrika Madhyamaka metaphysics: Bhāvaviveka’s conception of reality

Bhāvaviveka (c. 500– 578 CE) is said to have founded the Svātantrika Madhyamaka movement in India. This philosophic movement gave rise to two subschools of thought within the Svātantrika: (1) Sautrāntika Svātantrika Madhyamaka and (2) Yogācāra Svātantrika Madhyamaka. The latter, the view held by Śāntaraksita (c. 725- 783 CE) and his student Kamalasīla (c. 740– 795 CE), following the Madhyamaka, affirms the ontological non- foundationalism, that all things are ultimately unreal. Although, following Yogācāra idealism, it claims, conventionally, only the inner domains are intrinsically real whereas the external objects are mere mental fictions. The former is the view held by Bhāvaviveka himself, and his student Jñānagarbha (eighth century CE). In three philosophical works, Lamp of Wisdom (Prajñāpradīpamūlamadhyamakavrtti, PPMV ), Verses on the Heart of the Middle Way (Madhyamakahrdayakārikā , MHK ), Blazes of Reasoning: A Commentary on Verses of the Heart of the Middle Way (Tarkajvālā , TJ), Bhāvaviveka, following the ontological realism of the Sautrāntika, asserts the intrinsic reality of both the external and the internal entities. Ultimately, following the Mādhyamika, he asserts intrinsic unreality of both the external and the internal entities.