Moral Practice in Nagarjuna’s Philosophy: The Issue of the Other

Abstract

The present study is an attempt to investigate the ethical sphere of Nāgārjuna’s philosophy, concentrating on the issue of other. The crux of Nāgārjuna’s philosophy lies in his philosophical notions-Dependent Origination and Emptiness. It is very familiar to us that Nāgārjuna’s philosophy of Emptiness nullifies the reality of all, including the other. The present query will endeavor to show how Nāgārjuna’s radical deconstruction of the other, embedded in his core philosophical notion of Emptiness, offers the scope for the practice of morality and holding moral responsibility.

This paper discovers a new dimension which shows that people can easily continue their moral practices recommended in Nāgārjuna’s philosophy even if we deny the reality of other, as per the direction of Nāgārjuna’s philosophy. Again, this work will try to justify the point that accepting the reality of morality from the conventional standpoint gives the scope for the conventional reality of other, which in turn sorts out the issue of other in the moral practice of Nāgārjuna’s philosophy. And thereby it will verify that no contradiction will arise in the philosophy of Nāgārjuna through its recommendation of moral practice.

Furthermore, to show the uniqueness of Nāgārjuna’s morality with its concern of other, this paper has added a brief analysis of the notion of the other in the spectrum of Indian morality at the beginning of this study.