The ''Mūlamadhyamakakārikā'' (), abbreviated as ''MMK'', is the foundational text of the
Madhyamaka school of
Mahāyāna
Mahāyāna ( ; , , ; ) is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, Buddhist texts#Mahāyāna texts, texts, Buddhist philosophy, philosophies, and practices developed in ancient India ( onwards). It is considered one of the three main ex ...
Buddhist philosophy
Buddhist philosophy is the ancient Indian Indian philosophy, philosophical system that developed within the religio-philosophical tradition of Buddhism. It comprises all the Philosophy, philosophical investigations and Buddhist logico-episte ...
. It was composed by the Indian philosopher
Nāgārjuna (around roughly 150 CE).
[Siderits and Katsura (2013), p. 1.]
The MMK makes use of
reductio arguments to show how ''all'' phenomena (''
dharmas'') are empty of ''
svabhava'' (which has been variously translated as essence, own-being, or inherent existence).
The MMK is widely regarded as one of the most influential and widely studied texts in the history of Buddhist philosophy. The MMK had a major impact on the subsequent development of Buddhist thought, especially in
Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism is a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet, Bhutan and Mongolia. It also has a sizable number of adherents in the areas surrounding the Himalayas, including the Indian regions of Ladakh, Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, D ...
and
East Asian Buddhism.
Background

The MMK is the work of Nāgārjuna, an Indian Buddhist monk and philosopher writing in
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
. Very little is known about this figure, including exactly where he lived (somewhere in the
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...
), exactly what time (some time around the 2nd or 3rd century CE), and how many texts he composed.
[Westerhoff (2019), p. 89.] As with many early Indian historical figures, the biographical information which does exist is mainly
hagiographical and from later periods.
Most scholars agree that Nāgārjuna was a
Mahāyāna
Mahāyāna ( ; , , ; ) is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, Buddhist texts#Mahāyāna texts, texts, Buddhist philosophy, philosophies, and practices developed in ancient India ( onwards). It is considered one of the three main ex ...
Buddhist who believed all things (''
dharmas'') to be
empty, or without an intrinsic existence and nature (''svabhāva'').
Beyond that, little can be said about him with certainty.
During the second and third centuries, Mahāyāna ideas were held by a minority of Buddhists in India who lived within the communities of
Nikāya Buddhism (i.e. non-Mahāyāna Buddhism). Although all the major Buddhist schools at the time held that the person was
empty of any eternal self or soul, some of the
Abhidharma
The Abhidharma are a collection of Buddhist texts dating from the 3rd century BCE onwards, which contain detailed scholastic presentations of doctrinal material appearing in the canonical Buddhist scriptures and commentaries. It also refers t ...
schools conceived of
''dharmas'' (transient phenomena, impermanent events) as ultimately real entities (''dravyata'') that had
essences or "intrinsic natures" (''svabhāva''). These intrinsic natures were seen as an independent part of a phenomenon, an inherent self-sufficiency that was not caused by something else.
Abhidharma
The Abhidharma are a collection of Buddhist texts dating from the 3rd century BCE onwards, which contain detailed scholastic presentations of doctrinal material appearing in the canonical Buddhist scriptures and commentaries. It also refers t ...
schools like the Vaibhasikas accepted this doctrine and did not see it as conflicting with the idea of dependent origination.
In the ''Mūlamadhyamakakārikā'', Nāgārjuna sought to refute these
essentialist ideas found in Buddhist traditions such as
Vaibhasika and
Pudgalavada
The Pudgalavāda (Sanskrit; English: "Personalism"; Pali: Puggalavāda; zh, t=補特伽羅論者, p=Bǔtèjiāluō Lùnzhě; ) was a Buddhist philosophical view and also refers to a group of Nikaya Buddhist schools (mainly known as Vātsīputr� ...
, as well as in
Brahmanical schools of thought like
Nyaya
Nyāya (Sanskrit: न्यायः, IAST: nyāyaḥ), literally meaning "justice", "rules", "method" or "judgment", is one of the six orthodox (Āstika) schools of Hindu philosophy. Nyāya's most significant contributions to Indian philosophy ...
who also defended an essence based metaphysics.
As such, his philosophy is also often termed ''Niḥsvabhāvavāda'' (the no ''svabhāva'' doctrine).
Nāgārjuna's main contention with ''svabhāva'' theories was that they contradicted the fundamental Buddhist doctrine of
dependent origination
A dependant (US spelling: dependent) is a person who relies on another as a primary source of income and usually assistance with activities of daily living. A common-law spouse who is financially supported by their partner may also be included ...
(''pratītyasamutpāda''). Furthermore, essence theories are not in agreement with the
Mahāyāna sutras Nāgārjuna would have been familiar with. These sutras, particularly the ''
Prajñāpāramitā sūtras,'' teach a kind of comprehensive illusionist ontology that sees all dharmas, even
nirvana and
Buddhahood
In Buddhism, Buddha (, which in classic Indo-Aryan languages, Indic languages means "awakened one") is a title for those who are Enlightenment in Buddhism, spiritually awake or enlightened, and have thus attained the Buddhist paths to liberat ...
, as being empty and like an
illusion
An illusion is a distortion of the senses, which can reveal how the mind normally organizes and interprets sensory stimulation. Although illusions distort the human perception of reality, they are generally shared by most people.
Illusions may ...
.
[Westerhoff (2019), pp. 101-102.] This illusionism was not totally new, since similar ideas about
emptiness can be found in the
early Buddhist texts (see: ''
Samyutta Nikaya'' 22:95, as well as ''Samyukta
Āgama'' 335 and 297). However, the ''Prajñāpāramitā'' texts are unique in seeing all dharmas, including nirvana, as empty and like illusions.
The MMK cites the ''
Kaccānagotta Sutta,'' an early Buddhist text, from which it draws one of its major ideas regarding the middle way: the explanation of "
right-view" as being a middle way between saying that "everything exists" (referring to the view of permanent existence: Pali: ''atthitā'', Skt. ''astitva'') and saying that "everything does not exist" (non-existence; Pali: ''n'atthitā,'' Skt ''nāstitva''). This middle way is then defined as the 12 principles (''dvādaśāṅga'') of
dependent origination
A dependant (US spelling: dependent) is a person who relies on another as a primary source of income and usually assistance with activities of daily living. A common-law spouse who is financially supported by their partner may also be included ...
.
Thus, Nāgārjuna's main project was to develop the philosophical position of the Buddha's teaching of dependent origination and not-self/emptiness as well as the ideas of the ''
Prajñāpāramitā sūtras'' in a logical and systematic manner by refuting ''svabhāva'' theories and self theories.
Content
The text is a series of 450 verses (
karikas) organized into 27 chapters. The verses are aphoristic, often enigmatic, and extremely short. The text's arguments are presented in a highly compressed and concise form. This is because the text is a ''karika''-style work. Such texts were meant to be memorized as an aid to learning by students. The text's arguments would be filled out through the oral commentary of a master. As such, the ''karikas'' are like a verse outline of the major philosophical arguments of an oral tradition.
The text seems to be mainly addressed to a Buddhist audience, particularly those who followed Abhidharma doctrines which held that dharmas are ultimately real and have svabhava (an intrinsic nature). The MMK takes up numerous Buddhist Abhidharma categories and ideas and examines them to show that they are empty and cannot have intrinsic nature. The MMK presents various arguments, mostly
reductio in style, such as showing that an idea leads to an
infinite regress.
The text begins with the following dedication verse:
I salute the Fully Enlightened One, the best of orators, who taught the doctrine of dependent origination, according to which there is neither cessation nor origination, neither annihilation nor the eternal, neither singularity nor plurality, neither the coming nor the going nirvāṇa characterized by">Nirvana_(Buddhism).html" ;"title="f any dharma, for the purpose of Nirvana (Buddhism)">nirvāṇa characterized bythe auspicious cessation of hypostatization.[Siderits and Katsura (2013), p. 13.]
The dedication sets out the main goal of the MMK, to eliminate conceptual proliferation, reification and hypostatization (''
prapañca''), which expresses itself in different philosophical concepts such as essentialism, eternalism and annihilationism.
The first chapter discusses
causation. The main thesis to be defended is given in the first verse:
Not from itself, not from another, not from both, nor without cause: Never in any way is there any existing thing that has arisen.[Siderits and Katsura (2013), p. 18.]
To put it another way, the main thesis which Nāgārjuna will defend here is that phenomena (dharmas) do ''not'' come into being in any of the following four ways:
* By being self-caused, or due to the fact that the effect was already present in the cause (''hetu''). This view was called ''
satkāryavāda''.
* By being caused by something else (''asatkāryavāda''), the cause and the effect being distinct entities
* A combination of both of the above, i.e. the cause and the effect and both identical and different
* Acausality, phenomena originate without causes (''ahetu'')
The main view that MMK focuses on debating with is the second one, which is held by Buddhist Abhidharma theorists which put forth
four main forms of conditionality: the primary cause (''hetu-pratyaya''), the objective support (''ārambaṇa-pratyaya''), the proximate condition (''samanantara''-''pratyaya''), and the dominant condition (''adhipati-pratyaya''). The MMK takes up each one in order to refute them, arguing that, for those who hold that cause and effect are distinct, the producing relation can only be a conceptual construction.
Chapter overview
The 27 chapters of the MMK are as follows:
# : Analysis of conditions
# : Analysis of going and not going
# : Analysis of the eye and the other sense-organs
# : Analysis of the
skandhas ("aggregates")
# : Analysis of the
dhatūs ("constituents")
# : Analysis of desire and the desirous
# : Analysis of the constructed
# : Analysis of action and actor
# : Analysis of the past
# : Analysis of fire and fuel
# : Analysis of initial and final limits
# : Analysis of
suffering
Suffering, or pain in a broad sense, may be an experience of unpleasantness or aversion, possibly associated with the perception of harm or threat of harm in an individual. Suffering is the basic element that makes up the negative valence (psyc ...
# : Analysis of
mental constructions
# : Analysis of admixture
# : Analysis of
own-nature
# : Analysis of bondage and liberation
# : Analysis of action (''karma'') and its fruit
# : Analysis of the self (
''atman'').
# : Analysis of
Ātman (Hinduism)">''atman'').
# : Analysis of time
# : Analysis of combination
# : Analysis of becoming and un-becoming
# : Analysis of the
Tathāgata.
# : Analysis of Error
# : Analysis of the
Noble Truths
# : Analysis of
# : Analysis of the twelve links (of
Nirvana (Buddhism)">
# : Analysis of the twelve links (of dependent origination)
# : Analysis of View (Buddhism)">views
The authenticity of the last two chapters is disputed, and they may have been later additions, not composed by Nāgārjuna. However, most ancient commentaries take them to be canonical.
Different scholars divide up the work into different main parts. According to Jay Garfield, the MMK can be divided into four main sections:
# Chapters 1 through 7, which focus on the fundamental theoretical constructs in Buddhist ontology, such as dependent origination, change and impermanence, perception, the five aggregates, the elements or properties of things, and the relation between substance and attribute. All of these are shown to be empty of own-nature or essence.
# Chapters 8 through 13 focus on the nature of the self and of subjective experience.
# Chapters 14 through 21 are mainly concerned with the external world and the relation of the self to objects.
# Chapters 22 through 27 discuss phenomena associated with the ultimate truth, such as buddhahood, emptiness, and nirvana (it is argued that all of these are also empty), as well as the relation of the conventional truth to the ultimate phenomena.
Commentaries
As a kārikā-style text, the ''Mūlamadhyamakakārikā'' presents only aphoristic, often enigmatic and extremely short verses, much like the sūtra works of the various Hindu nāstika, philosophical schools. Since they served primarily as pedagogical or mnemonic aids for teachers, commentaries were required to make the meaning of this type of text more explicit to the uninitiated reader.
According to the Indian author Avalokitavrata, eight commentaries were written on the MMK: Nagarjuna's self-commentary, and those of Buddhapalita, Candrakirti, Devasharman, Gunashri, Gunamati, Sthiramati, and Bhavaviveka.
[Nguyen, Cuong Tu. "Sthiramati's Interpretation of Buddhology and Soteriology." PhD diss., p. 33. Harvard University, 1990.] Not all of these have survived in full or in the original. Devasharman and Gunamati's commentaries only survive in fragments and nothing is known of Gunashri's.
The Indian commentary called the ''Akutobhayā'', whose authorship is unknown, though is attributed to Nagarjuna in the tradition, is held by Ames to be the earliest commentary on the MMK.
[Ames, William L. (1993). "Bhāvaviveka's ''Prajñāpradīpa'' – A Translation of Chapter One: 'Examinations of Causal Conditions' (''Pratyaya'')". ''Journal of Indian Philosophy'', 1993, vol.21. Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers, p.209] C.W. Huntington has suggested that this commentary may not have been considered a separate text, but instead may have been a set of notes which may go back to oral explanations of the root text by Nāgārjuna himself.
The earliest known commentary on the MMK by another author is preserved within the first Chinese translation of the Kārikā, known as the "''Middle Treatise''" ( ''Zhong Lun''), translated by
Kumarajiva in 409. The author of this commentary is given as either "Blue Eyes" (; back translated as *Vimalākṣa) or *Piṅgala (). This is by far the best known commentary in the
East Asian Mādhyamaka tradition, forming one of the three commentaries that make up the Sanlun ("Three Treatise") school. An influential figure of the Sanlun school is
Jízàng (549–623), who wrote a commentary on the Middle Treatise in Chinese, the ''Zhongguanlun shu'' ().
Other surviving and influential Indian commentaries on the MMK include
Buddhapālita's (c. 470–550) "''Madhyamakvr̩tti''" and
Bhāviveka's (c. 500–578) "''Prajñāpradīpa"'' (''Lamp of Wisdom'').
These two survive in Tibetan translation.
The most influential commentary for
Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism is a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet, Bhutan and Mongolia. It also has a sizable number of adherents in the areas surrounding the Himalayas, including the Indian regions of Ladakh, Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, D ...
is
Candrakirti's (c. 7th century) ''
Prasannapadā'' (''Clear Words)'', which survives in Sanskrit and Tibetan translation.
An MMK commentary by the Indian
Yogacara
Yogachara (, IAST: ') is an influential tradition of Buddhist philosophy and psychology emphasizing the study of cognition, perception, and consciousness through the interior lens of meditation, as well as philosophical reasoning (hetuvidyā). ...
philosopher
Sthiramati also survives in Chinese translation.
[Westerhoff (2019), p. 121.] This is the ''Commentary on the Mahāyāna Madhyamaka'' (''Dasheng zhongguan shilun'' 大乘中觀釋論) which comments on the text from a Yogacara point of view.
In Tibet, various influential Tibetan language commentaries were written on the MMK. An early and important commentary is ''Ornament of Reason'' by
Mabja Jangchub Tsöndrü (12th century). In the Gelug school, the key and definitive commentary is
Je Tsongkhapa's (1357–1419) ''Ocean of Reasoning''. Meanwhile, in the
Nyingma
Nyingma (, ), also referred to as ''Ngangyur'' (, ), is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The Nyingma school was founded by PadmasambhavaClaude Arpi, ''A Glimpse of the History of Tibet'', Dharamsala: Tibet Museum, 2013. ...
school, the most important commentaries are by more recent figures, mainly
Ju Mipham and
Khenpo Shenga.
During the modern and contemporary periods, new commentaries have been written from different perspectives.
David Kalupahana, a Sri Lankan scholar, wrote a commentary (Kalupahana 1986) which interprets the text from an early Buddhist perspective. Meanwhile,
Jay Garfield has published an English translation and commentary (Garfield 1995) which, though influenced by Tibetan interpretations, also attempts to explain the text to Western philosophers.
Gudo Nishijima wrote a commentary from a
Soto Zen perspective, while Siderits and Katsura have published a translation and commentary (2013) which mainly follow the classical Sanskrit tradition.
Modern scholarly interpretations
As noted by Ruegg, Western scholarship has given a broad variety of interpretations of Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka thought in the MMK, including: "
nihilism,
monism
Monism attributes oneness or singleness () to a concept, such as to existence. Various kinds of monism can be distinguished:
* Priority monism states that all existing things go back to a source that is distinct from them; e.g., in Neoplatonis ...
,
irrationalism,
misology,
agnosticism
Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, the divine, or the supernatural is either unknowable in principle or unknown in fact. (page 56 in 1967 edition) It can also mean an apathy towards such religious belief and refer t ...
,
scepticism, criticism, dialectic,
mysticism
Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute (philosophy), Absolute, but may refer to any kind of Religious ecstasy, ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or Spirituality, spiritual meani ...
,
acosmism,
absolutism,
relativism,
nominalism
In metaphysics, nominalism is the view that universals and abstract objects do not actually exist other than being merely names or labels. There are two main versions of nominalism. One denies the existence of universals—that which can be inst ...
, and linguistic analysis with therapeutic value".
Some of the main scholarly interpretations of Nagarjuna's MMK include the following:
* The
Kantian interpretation, exemplified by
Theodore Stcherbatsky’s ''"The Conception of Buddhist Nirvāna"'' (1927). This Kantian interpretation saw Nagarjuna as dividing the world into a realm of appearance or
phenomenon
A phenomenon ( phenomena), sometimes spelled phaenomenon, is an observable Event (philosophy), event. The term came into its modern Philosophy, philosophical usage through Immanuel Kant, who contrasted it with the noumenon, which ''cannot'' be ...
(''
saṃsāra'') and a realm of absolute reality or
noumenon
In philosophy, a noumenon (, ; from ; : noumena) is knowledge posited as an Object (philosophy), object that exists independently of human sense. The term ''noumenon'' is generally used in contrast with, or in relation to, the term ''Phenomena ...
(''
nirvāṇa''). This is also seen in T. R. V. Murti's 1955 ''"The Central Philosophy of Buddhism".''
* The
Pyrrhonian skeptic interpretation. Some scholars, such as
Thomas McEvilley, have either argued that Nagarjuna was influenced by Greek Pyrrhonism or see Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka as similar to that of Pyrrhonist philosophers such as
Sextus Empiricus.
* The analytic interpretation, exemplified by
Richard Robinson's 1957 article ''“Some Logical Aspects of Nāgārjuna’s System”'', sought to explain Madhyamaka using
analytic philosophy
Analytic philosophy is a broad movement within Western philosophy, especially English-speaking world, anglophone philosophy, focused on analysis as a philosophical method; clarity of prose; rigor in arguments; and making use of formal logic, mat ...
's
logical apparatus. ,
Richard P. Hayes meanwhile, using analytical logic, critiques Nagarjuna as irrational and as relying on "fallacies and tricks".
[C. W. Huntington, Jr., The nature of the Madhyamika trick, J Indian Philos (2007) 35:103–131 DOI 10.1007/s10781-007-9018-4]
* The
Pragmatist interpretation, exemplified by
David Kalupahana's translation and commentary of the MMK.
* The
Wittgensteinian interpretation, exemplified by
Frederick Streng's ''"Emptiness"'' and Chris Gudmunsen's ''"Wittgenstein and Buddhism"'', which stressed the similarities between Nāgārjuna and the later
Wittgenstein's linguistic philosophy.
* American philosopher Mark Siderits has defended a
svātantrika position.
* Garfield,
Napper, Hopkins, have adopted
Gelug
file:DalaiLama0054 tiny.jpg, 240px, 14th Dalai Lama, The 14th Dalai Lama (center), the most influential figure of the contemporary Gelug tradition, at the 2003 Kalachakra ceremony, Bodh Gaya, Bodhgaya (India)
The Gelug (, also Geluk; 'virtuous' ...
prāsaṅgika influenced interpretation.
Jay Garfield has defended the use of modern logic to interpret Nagarjuna's MMK.
* C.W. Huntington criticizes the reading of Nagarjuna through the use of modern analytical logic, since he sees Nagarjuna as "distrustful of logic".
He puts forth a more literary interpretation that focuses on the ''effect'' Nagarjuna was attempting to "conjure" on his readers (i.e. an experience of having no
views).
*
Jan Westerhoff, argues that Nagarjuna's thought is a kind of
anti-foundationalism, "which does not just deny the objective, intrinsic, and mind-independent existence of some class of objects, but rejects such existence for any kinds of objects that we could regard as the most fundamental building-blocks of the world."
Translations
Quotations
1:1
: Neither from itself nor from another,
: Nor from both,
: Nor without a cause,
: Does anything whatever, anywhere arise.
15:9
: If intrinsic nature does not exist, of what will there be alteration?
: If intrinsic nature does exist, of what will there be alteration?
15:10
: अस्तीति शाश्वतग्राहो नास्तीत्युच्चेददर्शनं
:
:: To say "it is" is to grasp for permanence. To say "it is not" is to adopt the view of nihilism.
: तस्माद् अस्तित्वनास्तित्वे नाश्रीयेत विचक्षणः।
:
:: Therefore a wise person does not say "exists" or "does not exist".
16:10
: न निर्वाणसमारोपो न संसारापकषणम्
:
: यत्र कस्तत्र संसारो निर्वाणं किं विकल्प्यते
:
:: Where there is neither an addition of nirvana nor a removal of samsara; There, what samsara is discriminated from what nirvana?
18:6–12
: ātmetya api prajñapitam anātmetyapi deśitam
:: Although (the term) "
self
In philosophy, the self is an individual's own being, knowledge, and values, and the relationship between these attributes.
The first-person perspective distinguishes selfhood from personal identity. Whereas "identity" is (literally) same ...
" is caused to be known (of, about), and although (a doctrine or teaching of) "
no self" is taught,
: , 6
:: No "self" or any "nonself" whatsoever has been taught by the
Buddhas.
:
:: The designable is ceased when/where the range of thought is ceased,
: , 7
:: Nirvana is like
phenomenality, unarisen and unstopping.
:
:: Everything is actual, or not actual, or actual and not actual
: , 8
:: Or neither actual nor not actual; this is the Buddha's teaching.
:
:: Independent, peaceful, not delusionally diversified by delusional diversification
: , 9
:: Devoid of mental construction, without variation, this is the mark of thatness.
: pratītya yad yad bhavati na hi tāvat tad eva tad
:: Whatsoever
becomes dependently, is not insofar, that and only that.
: , 10
:: Nor is it the other; therefore, it is neither
exterminated nor
eternal.
: anekārtham anānārtham anuccedam aśāśvatam
:: Not singular, not plural, not exterminated, not eternal,
: , 11
:: This is the immortal teaching of the Buddhas, lords of the world.
:
:: And again, when the disciples are destroyed and full Buddhas do not arrive,
: , 12
:: The gnosis (knowledge, etc.) of the
independently enlightened Buddhas proceeds without association (with teachings).
22:11
: "Empty" should not be asserted."Nonempty" should not be asserted.
: Neither both nor neither should be asserted. They are only used nominally.
22:16
: तथागतो यत्स्वभावस्तत्स्वभावमिदं जगत्
: tathāgato yat svabhāvas tat svabhāvam idam jagat
:: What is the nature of the
thus-gone one (the Buddha), that is the nature of the world.
: तथागतो निःस्वभावो निःस्वभावम् इदं जगत्। १६
: , 16
:: The thus-gone one is devoid of nature; the world is devoid of nature.
24:18, 24:19
:Whatever is
dependently co-arisen / That is explained to be
emptiness.
:That, being a
dependent designation, / Is itself the
middle way
The Middle Way (; ) as well as "teaching the Dharma by the middle" (''majjhena dhammaṃ deseti'') are common Buddhist terms used to refer to two major aspects of the Dharma, that is, the teaching of the Buddha. The first phrasing, the Middle ...
.
:Something that is not dependently arisen / Such a thing does not exist.
:Therefore a non-empty
thing / Does not exist.
25:19–20
: न संसारस्य निर्वाणात् किं चिद् अस्ति विशेषणं
:
:: There is nothing whatsoever of samsara distinguishing (it) from nirvana.
: न निर्वाणस्य संसारात् किं चिद् अस्ति विशेषणं। १९
: , 19
:: There is nothing whatsoever of nirvana distinguishing it from samsara.
: निर्वाणस्य च या कोटिः।कोटिः। संसरणस्य च
:
:: (That?) is the limit which is the limit of nirvana and the limit of samsara;
: न तयोर् अन्तरं किंचित् सुसूक्ष्मम् अपि विद्यते। २०
: , 20
:: Even a very subtle interval is not found of (between) them.
25:22–24
:
: , 22
:
: , 23
:
: ,
:: When all dharmas are empty, what is endless? What has an end?
:: What is endless and with an end? What is not endless and not with an end?
:: What is "it"? What is "other"? What is permanent? What is impermanent?
:: What is impermanent and permanent? What is neither?
:: Auspicious is the pacification of phenomenal metastasis, the pacification of all apprehending;
:: There is no dharma whatsoever taught by the Buddha to whomever whenever, wherever.
[Malik, A., ''Survey of Buddhist Temples and Monasteries'' (]New Delhi
New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...
: Anmol Publications, 2007), p. 56.
See also
*
Buddhist philosophy
Buddhist philosophy is the ancient Indian Indian philosophy, philosophical system that developed within the religio-philosophical tradition of Buddhism. It comprises all the Philosophy, philosophical investigations and Buddhist logico-episte ...
*
Madhyamaka
Madhyamaka ("middle way" or "centrism"; ; ; Tibetic languages, Tibetan: དབུ་མ་པ་ ; ''dbu ma pa''), otherwise known as Śūnyavāda ("the Śūnyatā, emptiness doctrine") and Niḥsvabhāvavāda ("the no Svabhava, ''svabhāva'' d ...
*
Nāgārjuna
*
Similarities between Pyrrhonism and Buddhism
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
*Kalupahana, David J (1991). ''Mulamadhyamakakarika of Nagarjuna: The Philosophy of the Middle Way'', Motilal Barnasidass.
* Siderits, Mark; Katsura, Shoryu (2013). ''Nagarjuna's Middle Way: Mulamadhyamakakarika''. Simon and Schuster
* Westerhoff, Jan (2018). ''The Golden Age of Indian Buddhist Philosophy.'' Oxford University Press
* Westerhoff, Jan (2009). ''Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka: A Philosophical Introduction.'' Oxford University Press
External links
''Nāgārjuna: Mūlamadhyamakakārikā''Multi-Lingual Edition (Sanskrit, Chinese, Tibetan, English) with Several Commentaries at Bibliotheca Polyglotta (TLB)
''Mūlamadhyamakakārikā'' Sanskrit Source at Uwest Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon''Mūlamadhyamakakārikā-s'' of Nāgārjuna: Sanskrit textJay L. Garfield
*
ttp://bahai-library.com/winters_nagarjuna ''Nagarjuna's Middle Way''': A thesis on the Mulamadhyamakakarika,'' by Jonah Winters (Reed College, 1994; advisor
Kees Bolle)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mulamadhyamakakarika
Ancient Indian literature
2nd-century Sanskrit literature
Mahayana texts
Madhyamaka
Sanron-shū