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

This article proposes a Middle-Way account of the myth of self-identity by bringing jeomchalna (點刹那, point-instant) and yin–yang (陰陽) into a cross-model structured around two analytic axes: momentary manifestation and conditional transition. Drawing on Theodor Stcherbatsky’s interpretation of Buddhist logic, it defines the point-instant not as a temporal atom but as a conditional event-node that arises and ceases when the relevant conditions are met. On this basis, the self is redescribed as an effect of santāna, a patterned array of momentary consciousness-events. Through Yogācāra analyses of svalakṣaṇa and santāna and the manas-ālaya mechanism, the article clarifies how attachment hardens into “I/mine” by repeatedly coupling memory, naming, and appropriative grasping; “continuity” is therefore a constructive outcome rather than an ontic feature.
By reinterpreting yin–yang dyad and circulation (對待·流行) as a non-substantialist rhythm of alternation, the article models how opposing tendencies in affect, embodiment, and speech respond to one another and provisionally integrate through sangban-eunghap (相反應合, responsive integration of opposing tendencies), thereby conditionally unfolding the phases of formation, persistence, alteration, and cessation (生住異滅).
The resulting cross-model is then aligned with Madhyamaka’s critique of svabhāva and its catuṣkoṭi strategy, redescribing the subject/object split and the myth of self-identity as relational and momentary structures of dependent arising. Methodologically, the argument proceeds through a cross-reading of the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā and Cheng Weishi Lun with the Yijing and Huangdi Neijing, while Western interpretations of Buddhist epistemology and modern consciousness studies are used only as limited conceptual contrasts. Finally, the article articulates practical implications in terms of point-instant awareness, offering a path between metaphysical substantialism and scientific reductionism.