Nagarjuna

Nāgārjuna (c.150-250 CE) was an Indian philosopher, the founder of the Madhyamaka (Middle Path) school of [[Mahayana|Template:Mahayana]] Buddhism, and arguably the most influential Indian Buddhist thinker after the Gautama Buddha himself.

His writings were the basis for the formation of the Madhyamaka (Middle Way) school, which was transmitted to China under the name of the Three Treatise (Sanlun) School. He is credited with developing the philosophy of the Prajnaparamita sutras, and was closely associated with the Buddhist university of Nalanda.

History

Very few details on the life of Nagarjuna are known, although many legends exist. He may have been born in South India, probably near the town of Nagarjunikonda. According to traditional biographers and historians such as Kumarajiva, he was born into a Brahmin family, but later converted to Buddhism. This may be the reason he was one of the few significant Buddhist thinkers to write in Sanskrit rather than [[Pali|PTemplate:Ali]] or Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit.

From studying his writings, it is clear that Nāgārjuna was conversant with the Nikaya school) philosophies and with the emerging Mahāyāna tradition. If the most commonly accepted attribution of texts (that of Christian Lindtner) holds, then he was clearly a Māhayānist, but his philosophy holds assiduously to the canon, and he virtually never quotes or refers to, let alone depends on, MahTemplate:AyTemplate:Ana texts. His philosophy is highly independent (as appropriate to one who cites the pratyekabuddhas for authority!), and his early Madhyamaka thought is in many ways a middle road between the two vehicles.

In Tibetan tradition, he is identified with a sorcerer of the same name. Some identify him with Nāgasena as well.

Writings

There exist a number of influential texts attributed to Nāgārjuna, although most were probably written by later authors. The only work that all scholars agree is Nagarjuna's is the M[[User:{{{1}}}|{{{1}}}]]lamadhyamakakārikā (Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way), which contains the essentials of his thought in twenty-seven short chapters. According to Lindtner the works definitely written by Nagarjuna are:

• [[Fundamental Verses of the Middle Way|Template:Mulamadhyamakakarika]] (Fundamental Verses of the Middle Way)
• Template:SH[[User:{{{1}}}|{{{1}}}]]nyatāsaptati (Seventy Verses on Emptiness)
• VigrahavyāvartanTemplate:I (The End of Disputes)
• VaidalyaprakaraNa (Pulverizing the Categories)
• Vyavahārasiddhi (Proof of Convention)
• Yukti{{{1}}}ā{{{1}}}{{[[Template:{{{1}}}|{{{1}}}]]}}ika (Sixty Verses on Reasoning)
• Catustava (Hymn to the Absolute Reality)
• RatnTemplate:AvalTemplate:I (Precious Garland)
• PratTemplate:ItyasamutpTemplate:AdahdayakTemplate:Arika (Constituents of Dependent Arising)
• STemplate:Atrasamuccaya
• BodhicittavivaraNa (Exposition of the Enlightened Mind)
• Suhllekha (To a Good Friend)
• Bodhisa[Template:M used without a valid code. See documentation.] bhTemplate:Ara (Requisites of Enlightenment)

There are other works attributed to Nāgārjuna, some of which may be genuine and some not. There is evidence for a second, later, Nāgārjuna who was the author of a number of tantric works which have subsequently been incorrectly attributed to the original Nāgārjuna.

It is worth noting that Lindtner considers that the MTemplate:AhaprajTemplate:NNNTemplate:AparamitopadeTemplate:SHa, a huge commentary on the Large PrajTemplate:NNNTemplate:Aparamita not to be a genuine work of Nāgārjuna. This is only extant in a Chinese translation by Kumarajiva. There is much discussion as to whether this is a work of Nāgārjuna, with some original comments by Kumarajiva, or an original work by Kumarajiva based on the philosophy of Nāgārjuna.

Philosophy

Nāgārjuna's primary contribution to Buddhist philosophy is in the development of the concept of [[shunyata|Template:Sunyata]], or "emptiness," which brings together other key Buddhist doctrines, particularly anatta and [[pratitya-samutpada|Template:Pratityasamutpada]] (dependent origination). For {{subst:Nagarjuna}}, it is not merely humans that are empty of Template:Atman; all things are without any svabhTemplate:Ava, literally "own-nature" or "self-nature", and thus without any underlying essence; they are empty of being. This is so because they are arisen dependently: not by their own power, but by depending on conditions leading to their coming into existence, as opposed to being.

{{subst:Nagarjuna}} was also instrumental in the development of the two-truths doctrine, which claims that there are two levels of truth in Buddhist teaching, one which is directly true, and one which is only conventionally or instrumentally true, commonly called upTemplate:Aya in later Template:Mahayana writings. Template:Nagarjuna drew on an early version of this doctrine found in the KaccTemplate:Ayanagotta Sutta, which distinguishes nTemplate:ItTemplate:Artha (clear) and neyTemplate:Artha (obscure) terms. {{subst:Nagarjuna}} differentiates between sa[Template:M used without a valid code. See documentation.] vti (conventional) and paramTemplate:Artha (ultimately true) teachings, but he seldom declares any to fall in this latter category; for him, even Template:Sunyata is Template:SH[[User:{{{1}}}|{{{1}}}]]nya--even emptiness is empty. For him, ultimately,

• निवृतम् अभिधातव्यं निवृत्ते चित्तगोचरे
• nivṛtam abhidhātavyaṁ nivṛtte cittagocare
  • The designable is ceased when/where the range of thought is ceased,
• अनुत्पन्नानिरुद्धा हि निर्वाणम् इव धर्मता। ७
• anutpannāniruddhā hi nirvāṇam iva dharmatā| 7
  • Nirvana is like phenomenality, unarisen and unstopping.

For more on {{subst:Nagarjuna}}'s philosophy, see [[Mulamadhyamakakarika|Template:Mulamadhyamakakarika]].

English Translations

Mulamadhyakakarika

Author	Title	Publisher	Notes
Garfield, J L	The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way	Oxford, 1995	A translation of the Tibetan version together with commentary
Inada, K	Mulamadhyamakakarika	Hokuseido, 1970	A translation of the verses only.
Kalupahana, D J	The Philosophy of the Middle Way	SUNY, 1986	Translation and commentary
Sprung M	Lucid exposition of the Middle Way	RKP, 1979	Partial translation of the verses together with Chandrakirti's commentary.
McCagney, N	Nagarjuna and the Philosophy of Openness	Rowman & Littlefield, c1997	Translation and Philosophical analysis

Other Works

Author	Title	Publisher	Notes
Lindtner, C	Nagarjuniana	Motilal, 1987 [1982]	Contains Sanskrit or Tibetan texts and translations of the Shunyatasaptati, Vaidalyaprakarana, Vyavaharasiddhi (fragment), Yuktisastika, Catuhstava and Bodhicittavivarana. A translation only of the Bodhisambharaka. The Sanskrit and Tibetan texts are given for the Vigrahavyavartani. In addition a table of source sutras is given for the Sutrasamuccaya.
Komito, D R	Nagarjuna's "Seventy Stanzas"	Snow Lion, 1987	Translation of the Shunyatasaptati with Tibetan commentary
Bhattacharya, Johnston and Kunst	The Dialectical Method of Nagarjuna	Motilal, 1978	A superb translation of the Vigrahavyavartani
Kawamura, L	Golden Zephyr	Dharma, 1975	Translation of the Suhrlekkha with a Tibetan commentary
Jamieson, R.C.	Nagarjuna's Verses on the Great Vehicle and the Heart of Dependent Origination	D.K., 2001	Translation and edited Tibetan of the Mahayanavimsika and the Pratityasamutpadahrdayakarika, including work on texts from the cave temple at Dunhuang, Gansu, China

See also: Shunyata

External Links

• http://www.gileht.com/#Nagarjuna
• Advayavada Buddhism
• Nagarjuna Seminar