Korea Journal of Buddhist Studies 불교학연구 ISSN:1598-0642(Print)

The main purpose of this study is to review Examination of the Twelve Causal Factors (Dvādasāṅgaparīkṣā, 觀十二因緣品) through ‘conditioned co-arising’ (pratīty-samutpāda, 緣起)’ of Nāgārjuna’s The Root Stanzas of the Middle Way’ (Mulamad-hyamakakārikā:MMK, 中頌) in light of the context in Nikāyas. Nāgārjuna tried to restore what the Buddha really said about conditioned co-arising, criticizing all the substantialism inside and outside of Buddhism. MMK consists of; Chapters 1 through 25 as an application of eight negations (八不), Chapter 26 as twelve-links of conditioned co-arising, and Chapter 27 as reverence for Buddha (歸敬). Since Abhidharms, the theory of the 12 links of conditioned co-arising has been identified with 'the theory of double causality on three periods (三世兩重因果說),’ and because Nāgārjuna negates Abidamma, the 12 links of conditioned co-arising in Chapter 26 has been understood with either the theory of 'mutual dependent co-arising (相依性緣起)’ or the theory of 'conditioned co-arising as eight negations (八不緣起).’ However, if Chapter 26 would be read in terms of the context of Mahāhatthipadopamasutta, Atthirāgasutta, etc, we could discover that the parts of 'consciousness (vijñāna)’ and 'name form (nāmarūpa)’ were overlaid with the part of self-organization (āhāra, 食). In this case, it explains not double causality on three periods, but the structure of selfconsciousness in which the self is grasping existence based on a self-recognition. Thus this study comes to the conclusion that the ultimate of MMK is the examination of the twelve causal factors in Chapter 26.