Nāgārjuna: A Translation of his Mūlamadhyamakakārikā with an Introductory Essay

The book begins with an introductory essay that places Nāgārjuna within the wider development of Buddhist thought and explains the philosophical significance of Madhyamaka analysis. The main body then translates the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā through twenty-seven chapters, each examining a major doctrinal or philosophical theme. The early chapters analyze relational condition, what has and has not transpired, the eye-faculty, the aggregates, the elements, passion and the impassioned self, and the created realm of existence. Subsequent chapters examine the doer and the deed, the antecedent state of the self, wood and fire, antecedent and consequent states, suffering, mental conformation, combination or union, self-nature, bondage and release, action and its effect, the bifurcated self, time, occurrence and dissolution of existence, the Tathāgata, error, the Four Noble Truths, nirvāṇa, the Twelvefold Causal Analysis, and dogmatic views. Across these chapters, Nāgārjuna repeatedly tests ordinary and scholastic assumptions about reality, causation, identity, and liberation, showing that all fixed positions collapse when examined through dependent origination and emptiness.