About Sengzhao

Sengzhao was a Chinese Buddhist philosopher from Later Qin around 384-417 at Chang'an. Born to a poor family in Jingzhao, he acquired literary skills, apparently including the capacity to read Pali, and became a scribe. This exposed him to a variety of uncommon documents. He was influenced by Taoists, Laozi and Zhuangzi., and although we are told he enjoyed Lao Tzu’s Dotokyu-kyo, he was overjoyed when he discovered the Vimalakirti Sutra. This encounter transformed his life and he became a Buddhist. He was known as being among the ablest of the disciples of Kumārajīva.
Nāgārjuna (right) and Āryadeva (middle).

Madhyamaka – Buddhist philosophy and practices

20
May
2022
Dharma
Madhyamaka also known as Śūnyavāda and Niḥsvabhāvavāda refers to a tradition of Buddhist philosophy and practice founded by the Indian philosopher Nāgārjuna. The foundational text of the Mādhyamaka tradition is Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā. More broadly, Madhyamaka also refers to the ultimate nature of phenomena and the realization of this in meditative equipoise. According to the classical madhyamaka thinkers, all phenomena () are empty (śūnya) of "nature," a "substance" or "" (svabhāva) which gives them "solid and .
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