The Madhyamika Philosophical School

The Madhyamika School’s Origins and Key Tenets

The Madhyamika school was founded by Nagarjuna, who is traditionally regarded as the second Buddha.
This tradition focuses on the doctrine of emptiness, or Shunyata, suggesting that nothing has an independent self-existence.
Nagarjuna made the extensive use of logical paradoxes to demonstrate the unsatisfactoriness of every philosophical position.
The Madhyamika school adopted the four-fold negation: not this, not that, not both, not neither. This negation strategy further emphasised the concept of emptiness.

Madhyamika is characterised by the two truths doctrine: the conventional truth (Samvrtisatya), and the ultimate truth (Paramarthasatya).
Conventional truth involves the perceived reality of all phenomena and experiences; ultimate truth involves the emptiness or absence of inherent existence in those phenomena.
According to Madhyamika, the two truths are not separate realities, but two aspects of the same reality.

Emphasis on emptiness has led Madhyamika to be often misunderstood as nihilistic.
The Madhyamika philosophy drastically reinterpreted the Buddha’s teachings and gave a new perspective on the understanding of reality, suffering, and the path to liberation.
The Madhyamika school has a profound influence on later Buddhist developments, especially in Tibet and East Asia, including the development of the Zen and Vajrayana traditions.