The Philosopher Who Wanted to Disappear
How Nagarjuna's Radical Emptiness Became the Hidden Engine of Global Buddhism Nagarjuna (c. 150–250 CE) stands as the most influential Buddhist philosopher after the Buddha himself, yet his name remains surprisingly unknown to the general public across India and East Asia. This paradox lies at the heart of his legacy. Nagarjuna founded the Madhyamaka (Middle Way) school, but he did not build a philosophical monument—he ran a controlled demolition. His central concept, Śūnyatā (emptiness), does not mean nothingness. Rather, it reveals that all things lack inherent, independent existence (svabhāva) and arise only in dependence on other things. This insight, drawn from the Buddha’s own teaching of Dependent Origination, becomes a radical cognitive therapy for human suffering. By dismantling our deep-seated habit of reifying the self and the world, Nagarjuna’s relentless logic aims to cut the root of grasping itself. His method, transmitted to East Asia through the legendary transl...