The Tree of Enlightenment

It is interesting to note that these four alternatives are analytically
derived. Otherwise, one might wonder how it is that we
isolate only these four. e Madhyamaka isolates these four in
the following way: If phenomena do originate, they will originate
either with a cause or without a cause. Here we already
have two fundamental alternatives: phenomena originate either
with or without a cause. e latter position is represented in
the fourth alternative, according to which phenomena originate
without a cause. Now, if we accept that phenomena do originate
with a cause, then the effect and the cause can either be identical
or different. In this way, we isolate the first two of the four
alternatives: the identity of cause and effect, and the difference of
cause and effect. e third alternative – that the cause and effect
are both identical and different – is simply a combination of the
first two. In this way, we analytically arrive at the four alternatives,
each of which is, in turn, to be rejected.
Each of these four explanations of the nature of causality
was represented by a philosophical school contemporary with
the Madhyamaka. e position that maintains that cause and
effect are identical was advocated by the Sankhya system, one of
the classical systems of Indian philosophy. e position according
to which cause and effect are different was propounded by
the Hinayana schools of Buddhism, the Vaibhashikas and the
Sautrantikas, and by some of the Brahmanical schools. e position
according to which phenomena originate from causes that are
both identical and different was affirmed by the Jaina philosophers.
e last alternative, which holds that phenomena originate without
a cause, was affirmed by the materialists in ancient India.
e Madhyamaka refutes these four explanations of origina-
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