Nagarjuna

High school (ages 12+)
Philosophy & Big Questions

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/nagarjuna

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the period of activity?Late 2nd to early 3rd century CE
2. What is the founding school of thought?Madhyamaka ('Middle Way')
3. Who was Nagarjuna and when did he live?Nagarjuna was a very smart Buddhist thinker from India who lived around the 2nd century CE.
4. What is shunyata and why is it important?Shunyata means emptiness. It says things don’t have a fixed self‑nature and shows that everything depends on other things.

Svabhava: An inherent, independent, and unchanging essence or self-nature that Nagarjuna argued phenomena lack.
Dependent Origination (Pratītyasamutpāda): The principle that all phenomena arise in dependence upon causes and conditions, lacking independent existence.
Nihilism: The philosophical belief that life is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value.