Nagarjuna

Nāgārjuna – Life, Philosophy, and (Some) Famous Sayings

Explore the life and works of Nāgārjuna, the Indian Buddhist philosopher who founded Madhyamaka and articulated the doctrine of emptiness. Dive into his biography, core ideas, influence, and memorable insights.

Introduction

Nāgārjuna is one of the towering figures in Buddhist philosophy. Flourishing around the 2nd century CE, he is traditionally regarded as the founder of the Madhyamaka ("Middle Way") school of Mahāyāna Buddhism.

His philosophical system centers on the doctrine of śūnyatā (emptiness)—that all phenomena lack an inherent, independent existence—and a careful deployment of logic and dialectic to dissolve reified views.

Nāgārjuna’s influence has been vast: his writings have shaped Buddhist thought in India, Tibet, China, Japan, and beyond, and his doctrines continue to be studied and debated by scholars, practitioners, and philosophers today.

Early Life and Historical Context

Because Nāgārjuna lived in antiquity, many biographical details are uncertain or mixed with legend.

• Scholars generally place his life period as c. 150 – c. 250 CE.

• His birthplace is often given as South India, and some traditions associate him with Andhra Pradesh / Amarāvatī regions.

• Traditional accounts state that he was born into a Brahmin family, but later converted to Buddhism, becoming a monk and scholar.

• Hagiographical stories describe him retrieving hidden Mahāyāna sūtras from nāgas (serpent deities), or being able to traverse mystical realms. But these should be treated cautiously.

• Because many texts attributed to Nāgārjuna were composed centuries later, scholarly work must distinguish which works are likely authentic and which are later or pseudepigraphical.

Thus, while the details of his personal life remain mysterious, his intellectual legacy is well attested and enormous.

Philosophical System & Key Ideas

Nāgārjuna’s contribution is not merely a set of doctrines, but a radical reorientation of how one approaches Buddhist metaphysics, logic, and soteriology (liberation). Below are the core pillars of his philosophy.

Emptiness (Śūnyatā)

Nāgārjuna’s central insight is that all phenomena lack svabhāva (own-nature, inherent essence). That is, nothing exists independently or inherently; everything arises dependently.

He uses a dialectical method to critique all reified or essentialist views, showing that they lead to contradictions. He often employs the tetralemma (four alternatives: X, not-X, both, neither) to dissolve rigid positions.

Importantly, to say phenomena are empty is not to deny their functional existence in conventional terms. Nāgārjuna carefully maintains a distinction between conventional (saṃvṛti) and ultimate (paramārtha) truth.

Also, according to Nāgārjuna, emptiness itself is empty—i.e., emptiness is not a transcendent entity or ontological absolute. It too is devoid of inherent existence.

Two Truths Doctrine

Nāgārjuna develops or refines the doctrine that there are two levels of truth:

1. Conventional truth (saṃvṛtisatya): the level of everyday experience, names, constructs, functional causes.

2. Ultimate truth (paramārthasatya): the realization that all phenomena are empty of inherent existence.

He holds that one must not cling to either level exclusively; the insight into emptiness must be integrated into conventional life without reifying emptiness itself.

Dependent Origination (Pratītyasamutpāda)

Nāgārjuna asserts a deep connection between emptiness and dependent origination: because all phenomena arise in dependence on conditions, they cannot have independent existence. Thus emptiness and dependent arising are two sides of the same coin.

He rigorously critiques causalist views that posit hidden essences or permanent causes. His position dissolves fixed causal chains and reinterprets causality in a non-substantialist frame.

Critique of Philosophical Schools

Throughout his works, Nāgārjuna engages critically with contemporaneous Indian philosophical systems—Nyāya, Sāṅkhya, Mīmāṃsā, and various Buddhist schools. He argues against their assumptions of self-nature, permanence, and metaphysical grounding.

For example, in Vigrahavyāvartanī, he responds to opponents who attack his emptiness doctrine.

Soteriological Aim

Nāgārjuna sees his philosophical work not as purely speculative but as tied to the Buddhist path. The insight into emptiness is meant to dismantle attachment, reduce ignorance, and lead toward awakening (nirvana).

Thus, his mid-way approach is not nihilism; it is a path of liberation, avoiding extremes of eternalism and annihilationism.

Major Works & Authorship Issues

Many texts are attributed to Nāgārjuna, and determining which are genuinely his is a complex scholarly task.

Here are some of the more securely attributed works, or at least widely discussed:

• Mūlamadhyamakakārikā (Root Verses of the Middle Way): Nāgārjuna’s signature work.

• Śūnyatāsaptati (Seventy Verses on Emptiness)

• Vigrahavyāvartanī (The End of Disputes)

• Ratnāvalī (Precious Garland)

• Vyavahārasiddhi

• Sūtrasamuccaya

• Various hymns (stotras) and letters

• Because of later attributions, some tantric or alchemical works called “Nāgārjuna” may belong to later authors using the same honorific name.

Scholars such as Christian Lindtner, David Seyfort Ruegg, and T. R. V. Murti have offered critical analyses of the corpus and disputed attributions.

Legacy & Influence

Nāgārjuna’s intellectual and spiritual legacy has been profound:

• Foundation of Madhyamaka tradition
  His philosophical school became one of the central strands of Mahāyāna Buddhism, especially in Tibetan, Chinese (Sanlun), Japanese (Sōtō Zen influence), and East Asian traditions.

• Stimulus for commentarial traditions
  His texts attracted centuries of commentary—by Candrakīrti, Bhāvaviveka, Śāntideva, Tsongkhapa, and others—across India and Tibet.

• Philosophical dialogues with modern thinkers
  In modern philosophy of religion, comparative philosophy, and Buddhist modernism, Nāgārjuna’s thought is a frequent interlocutor. His critique of metaphysical realism, his emptiness logic, and his approach to language intersect with analytic philosophy, metaphysics, and epistemology.

• Practical spiritual influence
  For Buddhist practitioners, Nāgārjuna is revered as a master of insight: his thought informs meditation approaches, canonical interpretation, and ethical reflection across traditions.

• Bridge between early and Mahāyāna Buddhism
  He is often seen as linking the earlier teachings of the Buddha with evolving Mahāyāna sūtras and concepts, offering a philosophical architecture that unifies depth and adaptability.

Because of these roles, Nāgārjuna is sometimes given the honorific “Second Buddha” in Mahāyāna tradition.

Personality, Outlook & How He Thought

While we lack detailed historical accounts, from his work and tradition one can infer aspects of Nāgārjuna’s intellectual temperament:

• Dialectical rigor & precision
  His style is sharp, logical, and uncompromising. He seeks to expose contradictions in reified views.

• Avoidance of extremes
  True to the “Middle Way,” he steers between ontological extremes (eternalism, nihilism) and maintains a balance that deflates metaphysical absolutes.

• Humility toward language and meaning
  He was deeply cautious about what language can and cannot do; he regards ordinary discourse as provisional.

• Integration of philosophy and practice
  He did not treat insight as purely theoretical; emptiness is a lived realization, serving liberation.

• Transformative radicalism
  He pushed Buddhist philosophy into new terrain, redefining core doctrines (emptiness, dependent origination, cause) in ways that remain disruptive and generative.

Selected Sayings & Verses

Because Nāgārjuna wrote in verse and employed poetic-dialectical form, many of his insights are embedded in aphoristic lines. Below are some paraphrases or noteworthy lines commonly cited (translated):

• “Whatever is dependently arisen / That is explained to be emptiness. / That, being a dependent designation, / Is itself the Middle Way.”

• “Emptiness wrongly grasped is like picking up a poisonous snake by the wrong end.”

• “There is no suffering, no origin, no cessation, no path, / no wisdom, no attainment—those who speak of the Four Noble Truths / understand them in a conventional sense, but do not apprehend them ultimately.”

• “The emptiness of emptiness must also be understood, / For without realizing that emptiness is empty, one remains in conceptual attachment.”

• “Form is emptiness, emptiness is form; / emptiness is no other than form, form is no other than emptiness.”

(Note: some of these are paraphrases or later compound meditations rather than direct textual quotations. For rigorous scholarship, one should examine translations of Mūlamadhyamakakārikā and its commentaries.)

Lessons & Inspirations from Nāgārjuna

1. Question reification
   Nāgārjuna teaches that many of our conceptual “things” are constructs; we should question how we cling to ideas as if they were fixed.

2. Live the middle way
   Avoid extremes—not by compromising truth, but by seeing how extremes collapse through critique.

3. See dependent interconnection
   Recognize that all phenomena arise in networks of dependence; nothing is isolated or absolutely independent.

4. Use language skillfully, but ultimately let it go
   Nāgārjuna models how discourse is provisional; the greatest insight transcends conceptualization.

5. Philosophy as liberation
   His work reminds us that philosophy is not just for intellectuals—it can be a tool to free the heart and mind.

Conclusion

Nāgārjuna remains a luminous figure in the landscape of Buddhist and philosophical thought. Though his biographical contours are uncertain, his intellectual imprint is indelible. By diagnosing the problems of reified existence and defending the doctrine of emptiness through refined dialectic, he reshaped the way Buddhism (and philosophy) thinks about reality, knowledge, and freedom.