ABSTRACT
PRAJNĀPĀRAMITĀ as non-dual Intuition is the Absolute. This was shown in the last chapter. The converse is equally significant. The Real is non-dual—free from all empirical predicates and relation. It is Śūnya, devoid of every kind of determination. The Real (tattva) is invariably defined, in the Mādhyamika treatises, as transcendent to thought 1 as non-relative, non-determinate, quiescent, non-discursive, non-dual. 2 All possible modes of predication are classified under four heads: bhāva (existence, affirmation) and abhāva (non-existence, negation) are the primary modes which are conjointly affirmed (ubhayam) or disjunctively denied (na bhāvah, naivābhāvah) to make the third and the fourth class of predicates respectively. Tattva cannot be characterised by any of these predicates taken singly or in combination. 3 This point has been reiterated with regard to all categories of thought—causality, motion, substance, Relation, Self (ātman) and modes.
