A central concept in this thinker's philosophy is the notion of pratitya-samutpada, or "interdependence," which characterizes conventional reality, and he advocated mahakaruna, or "great compassion," as a means of transcending samsara.
One story about this figure relates how he supposedly obtained the Perfection of Wisdom texts from the king of the nagas in exchange for teaching the king his philosophy. A central concept in this thinker's philosophy is the notion of pratitya-samutpada, or "interdependence," which characterizes conventional reality, and he advocated mahakaruna, or "great compassion," as a means of transcending samsara. According to this thinker, the true cause of suffering was ignorance, which could be overcome through the realization of the anatman, or "no-self," and he argued that in order to have svabhava, or "essence," a thing must have a non-relational identify. Since nirvana is conceived of in opposition to samsara, this thinker argued that nirvana was not utimately real, and neither is anything else, and advocated that ignorance be counteracted through meditations on sunyata, or emptiness. For 10 points, identify this Mahayana sage who is famous for developing the Madhyamika, or "middle way," school of Buddhism.
One story about this figure relates how he supposedly obtained the Perfection of Wisdom texts from the king of the nagas in exchange for teaching the king his philosophy.
Nagarjuna