Person · Madhyamaka philosopher
Nāgārjuna
Also known as Nagarjuna, Acharya Nagarjuna
Founder of the Madhyamaka school, whose Mūlamadhyamakakārikā argues that nothing has an independent essence — not the self, not the elements, not even emptiness itself. It is the most consequential single text in Mahāyāna philosophy and is still the core curriculum in Tibetan monastic education.
- Date
- c. 150 – 250 CE
- Function
- Learning & scholarship
- Tradition
- Mulamadhyamakakarika; Tibetan and Chinese canons
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
Worth knowing
Tradition associates him with the Sātavāhana court and with the lower Krishna valley, which is why the Ikshvāku monastic city there carries his name. Later legend has him receive the Prajñāpāramitā texts from the nāgas at the bottom of the sea.
Connections (2)
- Teaching lineageNāgārjunakonda
Nāgārjuna is associated by tradition with the lower Krishna valley and the Sātavāhana court, which is why the Ikshvāku monastic city there carries his name. Whether he taught at this site or not, Madhyamaka is the philosophy the valley's monasteries were exporting to Sri Lanka and beyond. His Mūlamadhyamakakārikā argues that nothing has an independent essence, not even emptiness, and it is still the core curriculum in Tibetan monastic education eighteen centuries later.
- Founder ofRasaśāstra — Indian iatro-chemistry
The Rasaratnākara and the earliest systematisation of Rasaśāstra are attributed to Nāgārjuna.
On these journeys
Sources
Wikipedia, “Nagarjuna”. The subject’s own writings where they survive, and the standard biographical literature.
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