The Emptiness of Emptiness: An Introduction to Early Indian Madhyamika

The Madhyamika or middle way, a school of Buddhist thought that originated in India in the second century, was a decisive influence on the subsequent development of Mahayana Buddhism. In a new approach, this book reconsiders the central doctrine of emptiness and shows that the Madhyamika critique of all philosophical views is both subtler and more radical than most western interpretations indicate. In this analysis, the self deconstructing categories of Nagarjuna and his immediate followers emerge as an edifying philosophy that may have a great deal to offer to discussion to the related problems of objectivity and relativism.