Madhyamaka

Madhyamaka is a Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophical tradition that uses emptiness to deny that things exist inherently. It presents dependent origination as a way to avoid extremes such as eternalism and nihilism.

Śūnyatā: The Buddhist doctrine that phenomena lack independent, inherent existence. Madhyamaka identifies emptiness as the absence of inherent nature, not as a hidden substance.
Prasaṅga: A method of argument that derives unwanted consequences from an opponent's assumptions. Prāsaṅgika Madhyamaka uses this method to undermine claims without asserting an independent thesis.
Nāgārjuna: An Indian Buddhist philosopher traditionally regarded as Madhyamaka's founder. His writings established the tradition's central analysis of emptiness and dependent origination.
Yogācāra: A Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophical tradition emphasizing consciousness and the structure of experience. Madhyamaka and Yogācāra offer influential, sometimes competing analyses of experience and emptiness.
Tibetan Buddhism: A Buddhist tradition shaped in Tibet and the Himalayan region, with distinctive institutions and lineages. Madhyamaka became a central framework for philosophical study across Tibetan Buddhist schools.
Dependent origination: The principle that phenomena arise through conditions and relations rather than independently. Nāgārjuna connects dependent origination directly with emptiness.
Nāgārjuna's tetralemma: A fourfold analysis examining whether something exists, does not exist, both, or neither. Nāgārjuna uses this structure to challenge fixed positions about arising and reality.
Āryadeva: An early Indian Madhyamaka philosopher and close successor to Nāgārjuna. His works extended Madhyamaka arguments against competing Indian philosophical positions.
Abhidharma: A body of Buddhist analytical traditions that classifies mental and physical phenomena. Madhyamaka challenges Abhidharma accounts that treat certain phenomena as ultimately real.
Prāsaṅgika: A Madhyamaka interpretive approach that relies chiefly on consequences drawn from opponents' claims. It is a major Tibetan classification of how Madhyamaka establishes the absence of inherent existence.

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