Catustava

Summary

This piece presents the Sanskrit text of the Acintyastava, a hymn forming part of the Catustava, restored from a Tibetan translation. The Catustava, attributed to the Buddhist philosopher Nāgārjuna or to early Madhyamaka thinkers, consists of four hymns addressed to the Buddha and the bodhisattva ideal. The Acintyastava (“Incomprehensible Hymn”) praises the ultimate reality that transcends conceptual elaboration. The editor provides an introduction explaining that only Tibetan and Chinese versions of the hymn were known, and that the Sanskrit original had been lost. By collating the Tibetan translation with parallel passages in the Mādhyamika texts and employing conjectural emendations, the author reconstructs a Sanskrit text. The hymn opens with homage to the Buddha and to the inconceivable state beyond arising and ceasing. It asserts that conditioned phenomena arise from dependent origination and lack intrinsic nature; therefore the ultimate is beyond all speech and thought. The stanzas compare the world’s seeming solidity to mirages, magical cities and dream images to illustrate emptiness. Verses on causality reiterate that origination is neither real nor unreal and that the middle way avoids both extremes. The text continues with metaphors of illusion and explicitly rejects nihilism. The editor provides footnotes citing Tibetan sources, Buddhist treatises and Indian philosophical works, tracing parallels in the Kārikās and the Mahāprajñāpāramitā literature. A brief commentary discusses difficult readings, philological issues and doctrinal implications. Special attention is paid to technical terms such as pratītya‑samutpanna, svabhāva and māyā, and to the stanza structure. The article concludes with a handful of textual variants and explanatory remarks. The Acintyastava thus emerges as a succinct poetic exposition of the Madhyamaka view that all phenomena are devoid of inherent essence and that nirvāṇa is simply the cessation of conceptual fabrications. By making the Sanskrit text available, the article supplies scholars with a valuable tool for studying the transmission of Mahāyāna doctrine from India to Tibet.