Chandrakirti

Chandrakīrti – Hub Overview

Chandrakīrti (c. 7th century) is a central Prāsaṅgika Madhyamaka philosopher whose readings of Nāgārjuna define the main lens used in this brain for understanding Madhyamaka.

This thought serves as a hub for Chandrakīrti-related strands:

• Textual strand
  • Prasannapadā – Chandrakīrti’s clear-word commentary on Nāgārjuna’s Mūlamadhyamakakārikā.
  • Introduction to the Middle Way – Madhyamakāvatāra and its commentary tradition.
  • Madhyamakāvatāra Chapter 6 – Main Arguments – key analytic moves against self and phenomena.
  • Nāgārjuna vs. Candrakīrti on Emptiness – internal comparison.

• Comparative/doctrinal strand
  • Madhyamaka – with Chandrakīrti as primary Prāsaṅgika voice.
  • Key Figures and Schools – Comparison – places Chandrakīrti among Vaibhāṣika, Sautrāntika, Cittamātra, and other Madhyamikas.
  • Pramāṇa / Buddhist Epistemology – for his stance on pramāṇa vs prasaṅga.

• Practice/applied strand
  • Practice Styles vs Epistemology – Gelug, Dzogchen, Mahāmudrā – how Chandrakīrti’s view is used or reframed.
  • View vs Meditation – Gelug, Nyingma, Kagyu, Zen.
  • Tsongkhapa – Gelug’s Chandrakīrti-centered Prāsaṅgika.

Chandrakīrti’s distinctive stance

• Refuses to posit any thesis with intrinsic existence; uses prasaṅga (reductio) rather than autonomous syllogisms in ultimate analysis.
• Critiques both Abhidharma realism (Vaibhāṣika, Sautrāntika) and Cittamātra mind-only when they posit ultimately real dharmas or consciousness.
• Insists that all dharmas, including mind and emptiness itself, lack svabhāva, and that pramāṇa operates only at the level of conventional truth.

This hub anchors the rest of the grid: other schools and practice styles are often read here in light of Chandrakīrti’s Prāsaṅgika perspective.

Experiential echo: Bankei (Unborn mind)

Bankei’s teaching on the “Unborn mind” feels like a direct, experiential counterpart to Madhyamaka:

• Candrakīrti: deconstructs all views via dependent arising and the absence of svabhāva.
• Bankei: points, in everyday language, to an “Unborn” mind that is:
  • not produced,
  • not ceasing,
  • already present in all experience.

The function is similar: to interrupt grasping at any solid “me” or “thing,” but Bankei does this by re-educating habit and attention rather than through formal reasoning.

Orientation – Chandrakirti Hub

Core texts & commentaries:

• Madhyamakāvatāra
• Introduction to the Middle Way
• Madhyamakāvatāra Chapter 6 – Main Arguments
• The Emptiness of Emptiness

Your focused notes & syntheses:

• Chandrakirti notes
• Reading Notes - The Emptiness of Emptiness
• Homage to Prince Mañjuśrī, The Bodhisattva of Wisdom

Language, method & comparison:

• Prasangika
• Svabhāva
• Chandrakīrti vs Other Madhyamikas
• Chandrakīrti on Acceptable Language about Emptiness and Mind

Cross-tradition & practice bridges:

• Dzogchen
• Pramāṇa / Buddhist Epistemology
• Practice Styles vs Epistemology – Gelug, Dzogchen, Mahāmudrā
• View vs Meditation – Gelug, Nyingma, Kagyu, Zen
• Nagarjuna–Chandrakīrti–Śāntideva – Focused Connections