Nagarjuna Founds the Madhyamaka School and Systematises Mahayana Philosophy
- Date
- c. 150 CE
- Category
- Religion & ideology
- Region
- South Asia (Andhra region, southern India)
- Era
- Classical Antiquity
- Significance
Around the middle of the second century CE, the South Indian Buddhist monk and philosopher Nagarjuna (c. 150 – c. 250 CE) composed the Mulamadhyamakakarika (Root Verses on the Middle Way), the foundational text of the Madhyamaka, or Middle Way, school of Mahayana Buddhism.
Working most likely in the Andhra region under the patronage of the Satavahana dynasty, Nagarjuna systematised the doctrine of emptiness (sunyata), arguing that all phenomena lack svabhava, any inherent essence or independent existence, and exist only through dependent origination. By rigorously deconstructing substantialist metaphysics while affirming conventional reality, he provided Mahayana Buddhism with a coherent philosophical framework that distinguished it from earlier Buddhist schools. Widely regarded as the most important Buddhist thinker after the Buddha himself, Nagarjuna shaped Indian philosophy for roughly a millennium. His thought became an indispensable doctrinal source for all later East Asian Mahayana traditions and for Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, where Madhyamaka became the dominant interpretation of Buddhist philosophy.
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Empires active in c. 150 CE
- Roman Empire27 BCE – 476 CE
- Han Dynasty202 BCE – 220 CE
- Kingdom of Funan50 CE – 550 CE
- Zapotec State of Monte Albán500 BCE – 800 CE
- Kushan Empire30 CE – 375 CE
- Parthian Empire247 BCE – 224 CE
Related religion & ideology events
- Codification of the Caste System in the Manusmriti (Laws of Manu)c. 100 CE
- Judah ha-Nasi Codifies the Mishnahc. 200 CE
- Roman destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem70 CE
- Crucifixion of Jesus and the origins of Christianityc. 30 CE
- Founding of the Way of the Celestial Masters (Tianshi dao)142 CE
- Battle of the Milvian Bridge and the Edict of Milan28 October 312 – 313 CE
Further reading
The wider story
A Little History of Religion
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