Root Verses on the Middle Way or the MMK

by Nāgārjuna

A key text in Buddhist religious texts. Use of reductio ad absurdum (proof by contradiction) to show how all phenomena exhibit emptiness.

Nāgārjuna is a phenomenologist.

Within it, heavy use of the tetralemma form of argument that is composed of 4 forks

1. Affirmation: $X$
2. Negation: $\neg X$
3. Both: $X\wedge \neg X$
4. Neither: $\varnothing$

Objection posed that emptiness is nihilistic and would lead to the non-existend of the Four Noble Truths, Three Jewels, and Buddha. Yet, Nāgārjuna shows this not to be the case.

“Like a poisonous snake when held incorrectly or a magic spell when improperly used, emptiness, when incorrectly understood, devastates the simple minded”