Overview
Nāgārjuna (traditionally c. 2nd–3rd century CE) is the foundational Madhyamaka philosopher of Mahāyāna Buddhism. The Mūlamadhyamakakārikā analyzes causation, motion, self, and nirvana to show that all dharmas lack svabhāva (intrinsic nature).
Main ideas
Whatever is dependently co-arisen is emptiness; emptiness as dependent designation is itself the middle way. Nothing arises from self, other, both, or no cause. There is not the slightest difference between saṃsāra and nirvāṇa when both are empty of intrinsic nature—emptiness is not a nihilistic void but the condition of conventional arising.
Major works
- Mūlamadhyamakakārikā
- Vigrahavyāvartanī
- attributed hymns and letters in the Madhyamaka corpus
Legacy
Nāgārjuna’s dialectic remains central to Tibetan, East Asian, and contemporary analytic Buddhist philosophy.