"Things derive their being and nature by mutual dependence and are nothing in themselves"
About this Quote
Nagarjuna detonates a commonsense assumption in a single stroke: that anything - a self, an object, an idea - has its own sealed, independent core. “Mutual dependence” isn’t soft relativism; it’s a surgical claim about how reality shows up. A thing isn’t an essence wearing relationships like accessories. It is the relationships. Pull on the thread of “being” and you find causes, conditions, language, perception, and social agreement all braided together, with nothing left over that could qualify as a standalone nugget of identity.
The line lands with a paradoxical calm: “nothing in themselves” sounds nihilistic until you hear the trick. Nagarjuna isn’t saying nothing exists; he’s saying nothing exists in the way we instinctively want it to - as self-grounded, self-explaining, immune to contingency. The subtext is a critique of philosophical and spiritual craving: we keep reaching for metaphysical bedrock to make the world feel secure, and that reaching is precisely what generates confusion and suffering. If you believe there’s a fixed “me” inside experience, you will defend it, decorate it, panic for it.
Context matters: Nagarjuna is writing in a Buddhist milieu obsessed with avoiding two traps, eternalism (things are solid and lasting) and annihilationism (nothing matters, nothing is real). Dependent origination becomes his escape hatch. Emptiness here isn’t a void; it’s the name for interdependence taken seriously. That’s why the line works: it doesn’t flatter the reader with certainty. It removes the floor - and, in doing so, loosens the grip.
The line lands with a paradoxical calm: “nothing in themselves” sounds nihilistic until you hear the trick. Nagarjuna isn’t saying nothing exists; he’s saying nothing exists in the way we instinctively want it to - as self-grounded, self-explaining, immune to contingency. The subtext is a critique of philosophical and spiritual craving: we keep reaching for metaphysical bedrock to make the world feel secure, and that reaching is precisely what generates confusion and suffering. If you believe there’s a fixed “me” inside experience, you will defend it, decorate it, panic for it.
Context matters: Nagarjuna is writing in a Buddhist milieu obsessed with avoiding two traps, eternalism (things are solid and lasting) and annihilationism (nothing matters, nothing is real). Dependent origination becomes his escape hatch. Emptiness here isn’t a void; it’s the name for interdependence taken seriously. That’s why the line works: it doesn’t flatter the reader with certainty. It removes the floor - and, in doing so, loosens the grip.
Quote Details
| Topic | Wisdom |
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