Nagarjuna Quotes
Nagarjuna was a 2nd or 3rd-century AD Indian Mahayana Buddhist philosopher and the founder of the Madhyamaka or Middle Way school, regarded as one of the most important philosophers in the Indian Buddhist tradition. His central work, the Mulamadhyamakakarika or Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way, develops the doctrine of emptiness, arguing that all phenomena lack inherent existence and exist only in relations of dependent origination. The quotes below are attributed to Nagarjuna, organized by topic.
Nagarjuna on God
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Attributed to Nagarjuna:
“I bow down to the Buddha, the supreme teacher, who has taught dependent origination.”
Nagarjuna on Knowledge
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Attributed to Nagarjuna:
“Emptiness wrongly grasped is like seizing a snake by the wrong end.”
Nagarjuna on Life
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Attributed to Nagarjuna:
“Samsara is nothing essentially different from nirvana; nirvana is nothing essentially different from samsara.”
Nagarjuna on Nature
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Attributed to Nagarjuna:
“Nothing whatsoever has ever existed in itself.”
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Attributed to Nagarjuna:
“Whatever is dependently co-arisen, that is explained to be emptiness.”
Nagarjuna on Truth
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Attributed to Nagarjuna:
“Without dependence on conventional truth, the meaning of the ultimate cannot be taught.”
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Attributed to Nagarjuna:
“If I had any thesis, that fault would apply to me; but I have no thesis at all.”