Nagarjuna
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'''Nāgārjuna ''' (c.150-250 CE) was an Indian philosopher, the founder of the Madhyamaka school of Mahāyāna Buddhism, and arguably the most influential Indian Buddhist thinker after the Buddha himself. He was 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 have something to do with his being one of the few significant Buddhist thinkers to write in Sanskrit rather than [[Pali|Pā li]] or Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit.
He was conversant with the Śravakayāna (Nikaya) philosophies and with the emerging Mahā yā na tradition. If the most commonly accepted attribution of texts (Lindtner's) holds, then he was clearly a Mahā yā nist, but his philosophy holds assiduously to the canon, and he virtually never quotes or refers to, let alone depends on, Mahā yā na texts. His philosophy is highly independent (as appropriate to one who !), and his early Madhyamaka thought is in many ways a middle road between the two vehicles.
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.
He may or may not have been the same person as Nāgasena.
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2 Philosophy 3 English Translations 4 External Links |
Based on his study and ardent meditation practice, Nāgārjuna
It is worth noting that Lindtner considers that the Mā
haprajÃÂñ
ā
paramitopadeś
a, a huge commentary on the Large PrajÃÂñ
ā
paramita 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
.
Nāgārjuna
's primary contribution to Buddhist philosophy is in the development of the concept of śūnyatā, or "emptiness," which brings together other key Buddhist doctrines, particularly anatta and pratītyasamutpāda (dependent origination). For Nāgārjuna
, it is not merely humans that are empty of ā
tman; all things are without any svabhā
va, 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.
Nāgārjuna
Writings
composed a number of influential texts. These included the ''Mū
lamadhyamakakārikā'' (Memorial Verses on the Middle Way), which contains the essentials of his thought in twenty-seven short chapters. Many other works are attributed to Nagarjuna. According to Lindtner the works definitely written by Nagarjuna are:
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
.Philosophy
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 ''upā
ya'' in later Mahāyāna
writings. Nāgārjuna
drew on an early version of this doctrine found in the Kaccā
yanagotta Sutta, which distinguishes nī
tā
rtha (clear) and neyā
rtha (obscure) terms. Nāgārjuna
differentiates between saṃ
vṛ
ti (conventional) and paramā
rtha (ultimately true) teachings, but he seldom declares any to fall in this latter category; for him, even śūnyatā
is ś
ū
nya--even emptiness is empty. For him, ultimately,
For more on Nāgārjuna
's philosophy, see Mūlamadhyamakakārikā.
| 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 |
| 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 |
External Links