Acharya Nāgārjuna
Acharya Nāgārjuna (Telugu: నాగార్జున) (c. 150 - 250 CE) was an Indian philosopher and the founder of the Madhyamaka school of Mahāyāna Buddhism.
His writings are the basis for the formation of the Madhyamaka school, which was transmitted to China under the name of the Three Treatise (Sanlun) School.
He is credited with developing the philosophy of the Prajnaparamita sutras, and was closely associated with the Buddhist university of Nalanda.
In the Jodo Shinshu branch of Buddhism, he is considered the First Patriarch.
Nāgārjuna is one of the eighty-four Siddhas associated with eighty-four Yogic postures (āsanas), according to popular tradition in Jodhpur, Rājasthān.
These posture-performing Siddhas are drawn from illustrative sources known as the Nava-nātha-caurāsī-siddha from Vȧrāṇasī and the Nava-nātha-caruāsī-siddha-bālāsundarī-yogamāyā from Puṇe.
They bear some similarity between the eighty-four Siddhas painted on the walls of the sanctum of the temple in Mahāmandir.
The names of these Siddhas (eg., Nāgārjuna) to 19th-century inscription on a painting from Jodhpur, which is labelled as “Maharaja Man Singh and eighty-four Yogis”.
The association of Siddhas with yogis reveals the tradition of seeing Matsyendra and his disciple Gorakṣa as the founders of haṭhayoga.
Shaivism
Nāgārjuna (नागार्जुन) is the disciple of Ādinātha: a teacher to whom the Kāpālika doctrine was revealed, mentioned in the Śābaratantra.
The Śābara-tantra is an early tantra of the Kāpālika sect containing important information about the evolution of the Nātha sect.
It also lists the twelve original Kāpālika teachers and their disciples (eg., Nāgārjuna).
Several of these names appear in the Nātha lists of eighty-four Siddhas and nine Nāthas.
Nāgārjuna (नागार्जुन).—The Kakṣapuṭa-tantra is traditionally attributed to the famous Buddhist philosopher Nāgārjuna.
In medieval India, Nāgārjuna was worshipped as a siddha who was accomplished in various magical sciences, such as rejuvenation and alchemy.
We find stories narrating his magical feats in the Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain traditions.
Yijing states that Nāgārjuna had extensive knowledge of the vidyādharapiṭaka.
The figure of Nāgārjuna as a master of magical sciences seems to have been already established in seventh-century India.
General definition (in Buddhism)
Nagarjuna in Buddhism glossaries
A Bodhisattva in South India, born into a Brahman family about 800 years after the Nirvana of Shakyamuni, i.e., 200 AD.
He was the founder of Madhyamika (Middle Way) and Sunya (emptiness).
He had plenty of writings in Buddhism.
He was one of the chief philosophers of Mahayana Buddhism.
Nāgārjuna (ca. 150–250 CE) is widely considered one of the most important Buddhist philosophers after Gautama Buddha.
Along with his disciple Āryadeva, he is considered to be the founder of the Madhyamaka school of Mahāyāna Buddhism.
Nāgārjuna is also credited with developing the philosophy of the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras and, in some sources, with having revealed these scriptures in the world, having recovered them from the nāgas (snake-people).
Furthermore, he is traditionally supposed to have written several treatises on rasayana alchemy as well as serving a term as the head of Nālandā University.
Nagarjuna II (1100-1034 BCE) was the founder of Shunyavada and Madhyamika school of Mahayana Buddhism.
Tibetan sources record that Nagarjuna was born in a Brahmana family and received the “siddhi” from the Tara during his stay at Kahora, a part of Kanchi.
Nagarjuna proceeded over the Sitavana to Nalendra (Nalanda) where he became a monk and attained the zenith of his knowledge in the five sciences.
The Nagas used to attend Nagarjuna’s sermons at Nalendra (Nalanda) in the form of young boys.
They begged him to take up his permanent domicile in the domain of the Nagas which he declined saying that he had to propagate in entire Jambudvipa.
He went back to Nalendra with costly presents, with jewels of immense value, and with the religious text called “Nagasahasrika”.
Because his connections with the Nagas, he received the name of “Nagarjuna”.
After the death of Rahula Bhadra or Saraha Bhadra, Nagarjuna became the head of Nalendra (Nalanda).
