Nagarjuna argues in the Middle Way verses that all things are empty of own-being and arise in dependence; his Madhyamaka becomes the philosophical spine of the Mahayana across India, Tibet, and East Asia, and every later school answers him.
The Event
- Date
- c. 150 CE (approximate)
- Era
- Classical; Standard periodization of Buddhist history
- Location
- Andhra; today Andhra Pradesh, India
- Traditions
- Buddhism
- Streams
- Mahayana
- Key figures
- Nagarjuna
- Key texts
- Mulamadhyamakakarika
Primary Sources
- Nagarjuna, Mulamadhyamakakarika
Secondary Sources
- Harvey, An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices (Cambridge, 2nd ed. 2013)
- Buswell and Lopez, The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism (Princeton, 2014)
Provenance: HIST-0408; confidence 0.85; accessed 2026-10-27.
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