Mulamadhyamakakarika of Nagarjuna

David Kalupahana, Professor of Philosophy, University of Hawaii. …….The most significant aspect of the author’s examination of the complex and subtle metaphysical issues that blinded sarvastivadins, and Sautrantikas is the way in which they did so. This was in an environment in which speculative philosophical thought had reached a high level both among Buddhists and traditional Indian philosophers. ….examined almost all aspects of their speculations. These included epistemology and ontology as well as philosophy of language and moral philosophy. He reconnected disjointed concepts, and dissolved both the hardened and solidified.
This is a completely new translation of Nagarjuna’s major work the Mulamadhyamakakarika, accompanied by a detailed annotation of each of the verses. An annotation is provided to identify the metaphysical theories of the scholastics that Nagarjuna has criticized and trace the origin material and arguments used in his refutation back through the early discourses on the Buddha. This introduction proposes a new hypothesis regarding the nature of treatise. The work is a grand commentary on the Buddha’s “Discourse to Katya Yana” (Kaccayanaqotta-sutta). The Introduction’s concluding section compares the teachings of Nagarjuna and the Buddha in terms of epistemology and ontology. It demonstrates how Nagarjuna was determined to reconstruct the Buddha’s teachings in a faithful way, without resorting to the substantialist metaphysics of the Scholastics. Nagarjuna is not a Mahayanist.