Mūlamadhyamakakārikā
Nāgārjuna's foundational work. 27 chapters, 449 verses.
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An Exposition of the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā
Background
The Mūlamadhyamakakārikā is the foundational work of the great master Nāgārjuna, the founder of the Madhyamaka school, one of the most profound streams of thought in Mahāyāna Buddhism. Written around the second century, this text consists of twenty-seven chapters with 449 verses (gāthā), focusing on the exploration of the nature of reality of all dharmas.
Nāgārjuna lived during a period when Indian Buddhism was developing vigorously and the Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna schools had already taken shape. He is regarded as the “Second Buddha” in the Buddhist tradition because of his immense contribution to explaining and defending the bodhisattva path. The Mūlamadhyamakakārikā is not a sūtra taught directly by the Buddha, but a verse treatise by a noble sage; nevertheless, it is considered the doctrinal foundation of the Madhyamaka school and has essential value in Mahāyāna practice.
Main Content
The Mūlamadhyamakakārikā begins with homage to the Buddha-nature of the three bodies (trikāya), then presents the core doctrine of Madhyamaka: emptiness (śūnyatā) and skillful means (upāya).
This work argues for the emptiness of all dharmas: no intrinsic self, no arising, no cessation, no difference, no unity. Nāgārjuna analyzes common concepts such as cause and effect (karma), motion, eternal entities, self and possessions, showing that all of them do not exist in the independent way we ordinarily imagine. Through each chapter, he deeply analyzes how all dharmas arise relatively, through causes and conditions (pratītyasamutpāda).
The most profound point of the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā is the union of emptiness and the Middle Way (Madhyama Pratipad). This is not an attitude of limitless negation, but the recognition that emptiness is precisely existence, and existence is precisely emptiness; both are restored together in harmony within the nature of reality. All the debates and analyses of the schools are brought by Nāgārjuna into a community of clarity, showing that no one has solid reason to absolutize one’s own view.
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