Candrakirti

Candrakirti is the great systematizer of Prasangika Madhyamaka — the “consequentialist” reading of Nagarjuna that Tibetan Buddhism, especially the Gelug school, treats as the summit of Indian philosophy.

Life

Little is recorded: a southern-born? — an Andhra-born scholar of Nalanda’s tradition in the 7th century, remembered for refusing the ritual defense of the monastery’s crops (a tantric mask of the lion-faced deity is the legend’s device) and for his books. Tsongkhapa’s Gelug tradition built itself on his interpretation.

Teachings/Works

The Prasannapada (“Clear-Lamplighted” — Clear Words), his commentary on Nagarjuna’s Mulamadhyamakakarika, is the only complete Indian commentary on that text to survive in Sanskrit — philologically priceless. The Madhyamakavatara (“Introduction to the Middle Way”), ten chapters following the ten bodhisattva grounds, teaches emptiness through the bodhisattva path and defines the Prasangika method: reduce opponents’ positions to their consequences, assert little oneself. Against Yogacara’s consciousness-only and against Svatantrika’s autonomous inferences, Candrakirti holds that convention is the only working truth and emptiness its final meaning.

Legacy

Gelug monastic curriculum begins its Madhyamaka sequence with his Entrance; the 20th-century Western discovery of the Prasannapada made him central to Buddhist philosophy studies.

Verification notes

• Biographical detail is thin; dating follows citation history (criticized by Bhavaviveka’s line, answered by Shantarakshita’s).
• Audited against Wikipedia (September 2026).