Nagarjuna's Root of the Middle Way
The Root Stanzas on the Middle Way Mulamadhyamaka-karika Nagarjuna
The Mahayana teachings of the Buddha gave rise to two traditions: the tradition of vast activities, Yogachara, expounded by Asanga through the inspiration of the Bodhisattva Maitreya, and the tradition of the profound view or Madhya-maka, descending through the Bodhisattva Mañjushri and systematically expounded by Nagarjuna. The Root Stanzas on the Middle Way (Mulamadhyamaka-karika), constitute the fundamental expression of the Madhyamaka view, in which the nature of phenomena is defined as emptiness, understood in terms of dependent origination. The crucial doctrine of emptiness is the basis on which the entire practice of the Mahayana, both sutra and tantra, is founded.
