Svātantrika Madhyamaka metaphysics: Bhāvaviveka’s conception of reality

Bhāvaviveka ( c. 500– 578 CE) is said to have founded the Svātantrika Madhyamakamovement in India. This philosophic movement gave rise to two subschools of thoughtwithin the Svātantrika: (1) Sautrāntika Svātantrika Madhyamaka and (2) YogācāraSvātantrika Madhyamaka. The latter, the view held by Śāntaraksita ( c. 725- 783 CE)and his student Kamalasīla ( c. 740– 795 CE), following the Madhyamaka, affirms theontological non- foundationalism, that all things are ultimately unreal. Although, followingYogācāra idealism, it claims, conventionally, only the inner domains are intrinsicallyreal whereas the external objects are mere mental fictions. The former is theview held by Bhāvaviveka himself, and his student Jñānagarbha (eighth century CE).In three philosophical works, Lamp of Wisdom ( Prajñāpradīpamūlamadhyamakavrtti ,PPMV ), Verses on the Heart of the Middle Way (Madhyamakahrdayakārikā , MHK ), Blazes of Reasoning: A Commentary on Verses of the Heart of the Middle Way ( Tarkajvālā , TJ), Bhāvaviveka, following the ontological realism of the Sautrāntika, asserts the intrinsic reality of both the external and the internal entities. Ultimately, following theMādhyamika, he asserts intrinsic unreality of both the external and the internal entities