The Madhyamaka concept of svabhāva: ontological and cognitive aspects

This paper considers the philosophical interpretation of the concept of svabhāva, sometimes translated as ‘inherent existence ’ or ‘own be-ing ’ in the Madhyamaka school of Buddhist philosophy. It is argued that svabhāva must be understood as having two different concep-tual dimensions, an ontological and a cognitive one. The ontological dimension of svabhāva shows it to play a particular part in theories investigating the most fundamental constituents of the world. Three different understandings of svabhāva are discussed under this head-ing: svabhāva understood as essence, as substance, and as the true nature of phenomena (absolute svabhāva). The cognitive dimension shows svabhāva as playing an important rôle in our everyday concep-tualization of phenomena. Svabhāva is here seen as a superimposition (samāropa) which the mind projects onto the world. Although it is never used in the sutras and is rare in the Pali canon the ter