The Indian philosopher Nagarjuna (c. 150-250 CE) was the founder of the Madhyamaka (Middle Path) school of Mahayana Buddhism and arguably the most influential Buddhist thinker after Buddha himself. Indeed, in the Tibetan and East Asian traditions, Nagarjuna is often referred to as the 'second Buddha.' His primary contribution to Buddhist thought lies is in the further development of the concept of sunyata or 'emptiness.' For Nagarjuna, all phenomena are without any svabhava, literally 'own-nature' or 'self-nature', and thus without any underlying essence. This book provides a systematic account of Nagarjuna's philosophical position. It tries to understand Nagarjuna in his own philosophical context, while also setting out to show that problems discussed in Indian and Tibetan Buddhist philosophy exhibit at least family resemblances to issues in European philosophy.

Reviews:

Dan Arnold in Religious Studies Review, 37, 2, 2011, 153-154 [link]

Claus Oetke: “Two Investigations on the Madhyamakakārikās and the Vigrahavyāvartanī”, Journal of Indian Philosophy, 39, 3, 2011, 245-325.

Jonardon Ganeri in Times Literary Supplement, 5584, 9th April 2010, 29.

Mark Siderits in Mind, 119, 2010, 864-867.

Richard Nance in H-Buddhism, December 2009 [pdf]
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