Nagarjuna

For other uses, see Nagarjuna (disambiguation).

Nāgārjuna
नागार्जुन
Painting of Nāgārjuna
Bornc. 150 CE
South India[1]
Diedc. 250 CE
India
Occupation(s)Buddhist teacher, monk and philosopher
Notable workMūlamadhyamakakārikā
EraAncient philosophy
RegionEastern philosophy
School
Notable ideas
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Nāgārjuna (Sanskrit: नागार्जुन, Nāgārjuna; c. 150 – c. 250 CE) was an Indian monk and Mahāyāna Buddhist philosopher of the Madhyamaka (Centrism, Middle Way) school.[2] He is widely considered one of the most important Buddhist philosophers.[3] Jan Westerhoff considers him to be "one of the greatest thinkers in the history of Asian philosophy."[4]

Nāgārjuna is widely considered to be the founder of the Madhyamaka school of Buddhist philosophy and a defender of the Mahāyāna movement.[3][5] His Mūlamadhyamakakārikā (Root Verses on Madhyamaka, MMK) is the most important text on the Madhyamaka philosophy of emptiness. The MMK inspired a large number of commentaries in Sanskrit, Chinese, Tibetan, Korean and Japanese and continues to be studied today.[6]

  1. ^ Kalupahana 1994, p. 160.
  2. ^ Walser (2005) p. 1-3.
  3. ^ a b Garfield, Jay L. (1995), The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  4. ^ Westerhoff (2009), p. 4.
  5. ^ Walser (2005) p. 3.
  6. ^ Garfield (1995), p. 87.