Nagarjuna
Indian monk-philosopher who founded the Madhyamaka school of emptiness.
Nāgārjuna, an Indian scholar-monk and teacher of Mahayana Buddhism, lived in south India around the second and third centuries CE. His name in Sanskrit combines "Nāga" and "Arjuna," and he is known in Chinese as Lóngshù and in Tibetan as Klu sgrub. He founded the Madhyamaka school, also called the Centrism or Middle Way school. Many consider him the most significant Buddhist philosopher after the Buddha himself; in Tibetan Buddhism, he is even referred to as the "second Buddha." His writings, known as śāstras, form the core texts for the philosophy of emptiness, or Śūnyatāvāda, which is another name for Madhyamaka. These works on emptiness shaped Indian philosophical thought for a thousand years and remain essential to Mahāyāna doctrine in both East Asian and Indo-Tibetan traditions.
During the first and second centuries CE, India was split into various states, including the Kushan Empire and the Satavahana Kingdom. The Buddhist community had already split into multiple schools and spread across the subcontinent. At that time, the Mahāyāna movement was small and just beginning. According to scholar Joseph Walser, Mahāyāna before the fifth century was largely invisible, existing only as a minority and mostly unrecognized movement within the nikāya Buddhist fold. By the second century, early Mahāyāna sūtras like the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā were already circulating among certain Mahāyāna circles.
Very little is reliably known about Nāgārjuna’s life, and modern historians disagree on his exact dates and birthplace, though most place him in South India between the first and third centuries CE. The surviving accounts were written in Chinese and Tibetan centuries after his death and are mostly hagiographical, lacking historical verification. The earliest accounts come from Kumārajīva’s time (around 350–413 CE) and are sparse in detail; Tibetan accounts date from the eleventh century onward. Some scholars, including Joseph Walser, argue that Nāgārjuna served as an advisor to a king of the Sātavāhana dynasty, which ruled the Deccan Plateau in the second century. Most traditional hagiographies support this. Archaeological evidence at Amarāvatī suggests that if true, the king may have been Yajña Śrī Śātakarṇi, placing Nāgārjuna conventionally around 150–250 CE. Walser also believes that when Nāgārjuna wrote the Ratnavali, he likely lived in a mixed monastery whe
- born
- c. 150 CE (conventional, based on association with Sātavāhana king)
- died
- c. 250 CE (conventional)
- field
- Buddhist philosophy, Madhyamaka
- nationality
- Indian (south India)
- known_for
- Founder of Madhyamaka school; author of Mūlamadhyamakakārikā; defender of Mahāyāna movement
Lore & Background
Very little is reliably known of Nāgārjuna's life, and modern historians do not agree on a specific date or place. Most scholars place him in South India between the 1st and 3rd century CE. Surviving accounts were written in Chinese and Tibetan centuries after his death and are mostly hagiographical and historically unverifiable. The earliest accounts date to Kumārajīva's time (350–409 or 344–413) and are sparse. Some scholars, such as Joseph Walser, argue Nāgārjuna was an advisor to a king of the Sātavāhana dynasty, possibly Yajña Śrī Śātakarṇi (c. second half of the 2nd century), based on archaeological evidence at Amarāvatī. Walser also suggests that when Nāgārjuna wrote the Ratnavali, he likely lived in a mixed monastery where Mahāyānists were a minority, possibly affiliated with the Purvasailya, Aparasailya, or Caityaka sub-schools of the Mahāsāṃghika, in the Andhra region around Dhanyakataka (modern-day Amaravati).
Traditional accounts, primarily from Kumārajīva's circle, depict Nāgārjuna as the greatest bodhisattva since Śākyamuni, living during a time when the Dharma was 'decadent and weak' and saving the Mahāyāna through debate and textual composition. According to Huiyuan's preface to the Da zhidu lun, Nāgārjuna became a monk, dwelt in seclusion, practiced dhyāna, and after an awakening traveled to the Himālayas to receive Mahāyāna teachings from a śramaṇa. He then went to the palace of the nāgas, where he mastered all canons and secret texts, after which the Greater Vehicle flourished. Later Chinese and Tibetan hagiographies add miraculous stories, depicting him as a Brahmin who converted to Buddhism, a spellcasting wonderworker, and a master of mantras and alchemy. He is also associated with revealing the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras from the land of the nāgas, and with the Vajrayana and Pure Land traditions as a founding patriarch.
Reader's Guide
Nāgārjuna's significance lies in his foundational role for the Madhyamaka school of Buddhist philosophy, centered on the doctrine of emptiness (śūnyatā). His most important text, the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā (Root Verses on Madhyamaka, MMK), inspired a vast number of commentaries in Sanskrit, Chinese, Tibetan, Korean, and Japanese, and continues to be studied today. His philosophical writings on emptiness influenced Indian philosophy for a millennium and remain an indispensable doctrinal source for Mahāyāna Buddhism in both East Asian and Indo-Tibetan traditions. As a defender of the Mahāyāna movement, he is considered a key figure in all contemporary Mahāyāna traditions. The historical uncertainty surrounding his life—with no agreed-upon dates or places—does not diminish his legacy; rather, it highlights how his ideas transcended his own biography. Traditional accounts, though hagiographical, emphasize his role as a revivalist who championed Mahāyāna teachings through debate and textual composition, and his association with nāgas, mantras, and alchemy reflects his integration into later Buddhist esoteric and Pure Land traditions. His work remains central to Buddhist philosophy and practice across Asia.
Did You Know?
- Nāgārjuna is called the 'second Buddha' in Tibetan Buddhism.
- His Mūlamadhyamakakārikā (Root Verses on Madhyamaka) is the most important text on Madhyamaka philosophy of emptiness.
- Traditional accounts say he retrieved the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras from the palace of the nāgas, either in the Himalayas or at the bottom of the ocean.
- Both the Pure Land tradition and East Asian Buddhist esoteric tradition consider Nāgārjuna their first patriarch.
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