Sanlun

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Sanlun (traditional Chinese: 三論; simplified Chinese: 三论) or literally Three Treatise School was a Chinese school of Buddhism based upon the Indian Madhyamaka tradition, founded by Nagarjuna. The name derives from the fact that three principal Madhyamikan texts by Nagarjuna and Aryadeva were translated by Kumarajiva to form the basis for the tradition. The three texts are: The Treatise on the Middle Way (中論), The Treatise on the Twelve Gates (十二門論, both by Nagarjuna), and The One-Hundred-Verse Treatise (百論, by Aryadeva). Jizang is traditionally the founder of the school.

In 625, the Korean monk Ekan brought the Sanlun school to Japan, where it was known as Sanron. The Sanron sect held that all phenomena are unreal and exist only relatively to one another.

The Three Treatise School basically says that nothing is real. For example, a blind monk can see a fly in his begging bowl without the fly actually existing. Furthermore, since nothing is real, there can be neither affirmation or negation of any truths. So nothing is right or wrong. Everything is beyond all predication.

They identify three kinds of people who object to their beliefs. One group, the Abhidharmists objected that the world has physical substance.