The concept of nonexistence cannot be affirmed independently once the concept of existence has been eliminated.

After one has refuted the concept that things truly exist, Gorampa concedes that a person’s natural inclination might be to assume that things are therefore nonexistent. He argues, however, that if one were to affirm the nonexistence of things, this would amount to a view of nihilism, which is antithetical to the Madhyamaka position. In order to show that the acceptance of nonexistence is untenable, Gorampa argues that existence and nonexistence are concepts that depend upon each other, just lik