Mūlamadhyamakakārikā
Introduction
The Mūlamadhyamakakārikā — "Fundamental Stanzas of the Middle Way" — are the masterpiece of Nāgārjuna (c. 150–250), the founder of the Madhyamaka school. This text of 27 chapters is considered one of the most profound in all of Buddhist philosophy.
Nāgārjuna develops the doctrine of emptiness (śūnyatā) by showing, through relentless logic, that all concepts — cause and effect, movement, birth, time, identity — are internally contradictory and thus empty of inherent existence (svabhāva).
We present here a selection of key chapters: chapter 1 (the examination of conditions), chapter 24 (the two truths and the famous stanza on emptiness and dependent arising), and chapter 25 (the examination of Nirvāṇa). This selection offers the heart of Nāgārjuna's philosophy without the technicality of all 27 chapters.
Chapter 24 — The Examination of the Four Noble Truths (excerpts)
眾因緣生法。我說即是空。亦為是假名。亦是中道義。
What arises from causes and conditions, I declare to be empty; it is also a conventional designation, and that is the meaning of the Middle Way.
未曾有一法。不從因緣生。是故一切法。無不是空者。
There is not a single phenomenon that does not arise from causes and conditions; therefore, there is no phenomenon that is not empty.
以有空義故。一切法得成。若無空義者。一切則不成。
It is because things are empty that all phenomena can exist; if there were no emptiness, nothing could be.
Chapter 25 — The Examination of Nirvāṇa (excerpts)
涅槃與世間。無有少分別。世間與涅槃。亦無少分別。
Between Nirvāṇa and the world, there is not the slightest difference; between the world and Nirvāṇa, there is also not the slightest difference.
涅槃之實際。及與世間際。如是二際者。無亳釐差別。
The limits of Nirvāṇa and the limits of the world: these two limits do not have the smallest difference.
受諸因緣故。輪轉生死中。不受諸因緣。是名為涅槃。
Through attachment to causes and conditions, one turns in the wheel of birth and death; without attachment to causes and conditions, that is what is called Nirvāṇa.