Mulamadhyamaka-karika

Nagarjuna

Mulamadhyamika-karika (Skt. Prajñā-nāma-mūlamadhyamakakārikā; Tib. uma tsawa sherab; Wyl. dbu ma rtsa ba shes rab), The Root Verses on the Wisdom of the Middle Way. The most famous and important treatise on Madhyamika philosophy, composed by the great master Nagarjuna.

Outline

There are twenty-seven chapters:

1. Examination of Conditions
   
2. Examination of Motion
   
3. Examination of the Senses
   
4. Examination of the Skandhas
   
5. Examination of the Dhatus
   
6. Examination of Desire and the Desirous
   
7. Examination of the Conditioned
   
8. Examination of the Agent and Action
   
9. Examination of the Prior Entity
   
10. Examination of Fire and Fuel
    
11. Examination of the Initial and Final Limits
    
12. Examination of Suffering
    
13. Examination of Compounded Phenomena
    
14. Examination of Connection
    
15. Examination of Essence
    
16. Examination of Bondage
    
17. Examination of Actions and their Fruits
    
18. Examination of Self and Entities
    
19. Examination of Time
    
20. Examination of Combination
    
21. Examination of Becoming and Destruction
    
22. Examination of the Tathagata
    
23. Examination of Errors
    
24. Examination of the Four Noble Truths
    
25. Examination of Nirvana
    
26. Examination of the Twelve Links
    
27. Examination of Views
    

Translations

• The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way, Jay Garfield, Oxford University Press 1995.
• Nagarjuna: A Translation of his Mulamadhyamikakarika, Kenneth Inada, Tokyo, The Hokuseido Press, 1970
• Nagarjuna: The Philosophy of the Middle Way, David Kalupahana, Albany: State University, 1986
• Emptiness: A Study in Religious Meaning, Fredrik Streng, Nashville: Abdingdon Press 1967

Internal Links

• Collection of Middle Way Reasoning