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    Federico Drasal
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    This document summarizes the main texts of Mādhyamika, beginning with those authored by Nāgarjuna. It lists Nāgarjuna's principal philosophical work, the Madhyamakakārikā, as well as several other treatises. It also mentions collections of hymns and shorter treatises attributed to Nāgarjuna. Next, it lists important texts by Āryadeva, Buddhapālita, and Bhāvaviveka that provide commentary on Nāgarjuna's work. It then discusses Candrakīrti's influential commentaries. Finally, it groups the most important Mahayana sutras according to the ideas they

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    This document summarizes the main texts of Mādhyamika, beginning with those authored by Nāgarjuna. It lists Nāgarjuna's principal philosophical work, the Madhyamakakārikā, as well as several other treatises. It also mentions collections of hymns and shorter treatises attributed to Nāgarjuna. Next, it lists important texts by Āryadeva, Buddhapālita, and Bhāvaviveka that provide commentary on Nāgarjuna's work. It then discusses Candrakīrti's influential commentaries. Finally, it groups the most important Mahayana sutras according to the ideas they

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    138 views2 pages

    Mādhyamika's Main Texts

    Uploaded by

    Federico Drasal
    This document summarizes the main texts of Mādhyamika, beginning with those authored by Nāgarjuna. It lists Nāgarjuna's principal philosophical work, the Madhyamakakārikā, as well as several other treatises. It also mentions collections of hymns and shorter treatises attributed to Nāgarjuna. Next, it lists important texts by Āryadeva, Buddhapālita, and Bhāvaviveka that provide commentary on Nāgarjuna's work. It then discusses Candrakīrti's influential commentaries. Finally, it groups the most important Mahayana sutras according to the ideas they

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 2

    Mādhyamika’s main Texts

    Nāgarjuna

    (i) The analytic corpus.

    (a) Madhyamakakārikā – simply ‘Verses on Madhyamaka’, Nagarjuna’s principal


    philosophical work.8
    (b) Yuktiṣaṣṭikā – ‘Sixty Verses on Reasoning [ yukti]’.
    (c) Śūnyatāsaptati – ‘Seventy Verses on Emptiness’.
    (d) Vigrahavyāvartanī – ‘Countering Hostile Objections’ – a reply to objections against
    his work.
    (e) Vaidalyaprakaraṇa – ‘The Treatise that Grinds into Little Pieces’ – an attack on
    the categories of the Hindu epistemologists (Nyāya).
    (f ) Vyavahārasiddhi – a proof of the conventional realm. This work is lost save for a
    few verses, and some Tibetans substituted the Ratnāvalī (‘The Jewel Garland’).

    (ii) The collection of hymns. A number of hymns have been attributed to Nagarjuna, one
    group of four being termed the Catuḥstava, although there is some dispute as to which
    four should be included.

    (iii) The collection of shorter treatises and epistles. This includes two works attributed to
    Nagarjuna which he apparently wrote as letters to his friend the king, the Suhṛllekha
    (‘Letter to a Friend’) and the Ratnāvalī (if it is not included in the analytic corpus above)

    Āryadeva
    Catuḥśatakakārikā
    Treatise called the Four Hundred Verses

    Buddhapālita
    Mulamadhyamakavritti
    Commentary to the Madhyamakakārikā

    Bhāvaviveka
    Prajñāpradīpa
    Commentary to the Madhyamakakārikā,
    Madhyamakahṛdaya
    ‘encyclopedia of Indian philosophy’, together with an auto-commentary called the
    Tarkajvālā, the ‘Blaze of Reasoning’.

    Candrakīrti
    Prasannapadā
    commentary to the Madhyamakakārikā
    Madhyamakāvatāra,
    together with its Bhāṣya, an auto-commentary
    The most important Mahayana sūtras can be conveniently grouped according to the
    characteristic ideas they expound:

    Sūtras setting out the stages of the bodhisattva path: the Bodhisattva-piṭaka, the
    Dasabhumika Sūtra.

    • The 'perfection of wisdom' (prajnā-pāramitā) sūtras. These are among the earliest
    Mahāyāna sūtras, and of these the earliest is probably the Aṣṭasāhasrikā or 'Perfection of
    Wis- dom iii 8,ooo Lines'. The characteristic teaching is the 'emptiness' of dharmas.

    • The 'ideas only' (vijñapti-mātra) sūtras. These sūtras introduce the idealist doctrine
    that the 'mind', 'ideas' or 'information' (vijñapti) alone is real. The most important
    early Sūtra is the Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra but its teachings along with associated
    theories are found developed in the next group of sfltras.

    • The’embryo of the Tathagata’(tathāgatagarbha) sūtras: the Tathāgatagarbha


    Sūtra, Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, Śrīmālādevī-siṃhanāda Sūtra.

    • Two sūtras of particular importance in East Asian Buddhism are the


    Saddharmapulṇḍarīka Sūtra ('Discourse of the Lotus of the True Dharma',
    commonly referred to simply as the 'Lotus Sūtra'), which expounds the notion of
    the 'one vehicle' (seep. 228), and the (Buddha-) Avataṃsaka Sūtra (incorporating
    the Gaṇḍavyūha and Daśabhūmika Sūtra), which develops the notion of the
    'interpenetration of all phenomena' (see pp. 264-5).

    • The’pureland' Sūtra: the smaller and larger Sukhāvatī-vyuha Sūtras, the Amitāyur-
    dhyāna Sūtra. These Sūtras describe the 'pure land' of the Buddha of Boundless
    Light and become the basis for the Pure Land school of East Asian Buddhism.

    • Meditation Sūtras: Pratyutpanna-buddha-sammukhāvasthita- samiidhi Sūtra,


    Samādhi-rāja Sūtra, Śuraṅgama-samādhi Sūtra. These Sūtras describe particular
    meditation practices.
    Such a list indicates only in outline the nature and scope of a few of the most
    important Mahayana Sūtras. Let us now turn to the summary exposition of the
    ideas articulated in these Sūtras and the related expository manuals or Śastras.

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