Candrakirti Quotes
Candrakirti was an Indian Buddhist philosopher of the seventh century and the most important Madhyamaka commentator of the consequentialist, or Prasangika, school. His Madhyamakavatara, a comprehensive verse exposition of the bodhisattva path through the perfection of wisdom, became the most widely studied summary of Madhyamaka philosophy in Tibet, while his Prasannapada, the only complete surviving Sanskrit commentary on Nagarjuna's Mulamadhyamakakarika, set the terms of Tibetan Madhyamaka exegesis for the next millennium. The quotes below are attributed to Candrakirti, organized by topic.
Candrakirti on Nature
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Attributed to Candrakirti:
“Things arise dependently; therefore they have no intrinsic nature.”
Candrakirti on Truth
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Attributed to Candrakirti:
“The Madhyamika has no thesis of his own; he refutes only by consequence.”
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Attributed to Candrakirti:
“Emptiness is not the death of phenomena; it is the explanation of how phenomena are possible at all.”
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Attributed to Candrakirti:
“The wise do not cling to emptiness any more than to existence.”
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Attributed to Candrakirti:
“What dependently arises is what is empty, and what is empty is the path.”