2 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 Mulamadhyamakakārikā (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)
• unyatāsaptati (Seventy Verses on Emptiness)
• Vigrahavyāvartani (The End of Disputes)
• Vaidalyaprakara ṇa (Pulverizing the Categories)
• Vyavahārasiddhi (Proof of Convention)
• Yukti ṣā ṣ ṭika (Sixty Verses on Reasoning)
• Catu ḥstava (Hymn to the Absolute Reality)
• Ratnāvali (Precious Garland)
• Pratityasamutpādah ṝdayakārika (Constituents of Dependent Arising)
• Sātrasamuccaya
• Bodhicittavivara ṇa (Exposition of the Enlightened Mind)
• Suh ṝllekha (To a Good Friend)
• Bodhisa ṃbhāra (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 Māhapraj ñāparamitopade sa, a huge commentary on the Large Praj ñāparamita 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.

3 Philosophy

Nāgārjuna's primary contribution to Buddhist philosophy is in the development of the concept of , or "emptiness," which brings together other key Buddhist doctrines, particularly anatta and (dependent origination). For Nāgārjuna, it is not merely humans that are empty of ātman; all things are without any svabhāva, 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 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 upāya in later Mahāyāna writings. Nāgārjuna drew on an early version of this doctrine found in the Kaccāyanagotta Sutta, which distinguishes nitārtha (clear) and neyārtha (obscure) terms. Nāgārjuna differentiates between sa ṃv ṛti (conventional) and paramārtha (ultimately true) teachings, but he seldom declares any to fall in this latter category; for him, even sunyatā is sunya--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 Nāgārjuna's philosophy, see .

4 English Translations

4.1 Mulamadhyamakakarika

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	Translation
Kalupahana, D J	The Philosophy of the Middle Way	SUNY, 1986	Romanized text, 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	Romanized text, translation and philosophical analysis
Streng, F	Emptiness: A Study in Religious Meaning.	Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1967.	Translation and considerable analysis

4.2 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

5 See also

• Shunyata

6 External links

• Advayavada Buddhism
• Nagarjuna Seminar

7 References

• McCagney, Nancy, 1941. Nāgārjuna and the philosophy of openness. Lanham, Md. : Rowman & Littlefield, c1997.

• Kalupahana, David J. The Philosophy of the Middle Way. SUNY, 1986

• Streng, Frederick J. Emptiness: A Study in Religious Meaning. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1967.

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Nagarjuna is also an actor in Telugu films.

Buddhist philosophers Madhyamaka

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