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Nagarjuna
नागार्जुन
The master of emptiness — the greatest philosopher of the Mahayana
Years
c. 2nd century
Known as
Nagarjuna — the philosopher of the Madhyamaka school
Birthplace
The tradition of the South of Bhārat
Field
Scientists & Thinkers
“All things are empty of self-nature — and in that emptiness lies their freedom.”
— Nagarjuna, the Mulamadhyamakakarika
The Story
Tradition places Nagarjuna in the second century, born in the South of Bhārat, a Brahmin scholar who converted to Buddhism and became a monk of immense learning. He is said to have received his wisdom from the Nagas, the serpent beings — hence his name, 'the noble serpent' — in one of the great legends of the Buddhist tradition.
His great work, the Mulamadhyamakakarika, presented the doctrine of the middle way — the teaching that all things are empty of independent self-nature, and that the understanding of this emptiness is liberation. His dialectic, which refuted every fixed position, became the foundation of the Madhyamaka school, which spread through Tibet, China, and Japan.
He wrote not only philosophy but works on ethics and on the bodhisattva path, and he is counted, with Aryadeva and the later masters, among the supreme philosophers of Buddhism. His teaching influenced the greatest schools of Asian thought, and his name is honoured from Nalanda to the monasteries of Tibet.
Core Ideas
The Madhyamaka
The school of the middle way he founded.
Sunyata
The doctrine of emptiness that transformed Buddhist thought.
The Mulamadhyamakakarika
His great work, studied across Asia.
The Dialectic
His reasoning refuted every fixed position.
The Philosopher of Asia
His thought influenced philosophy from India to Japan.
Why it matters today
Nagarjuna is honoured as one of the greatest philosophers the world has produced — the master of emptiness whose thought shaped the Buddhism of all Asia. His works are still studied in the universities and monasteries of the world, and his name remains the greatest in the philosophical tradition of Buddhism.