Madhyamaka (
Sanskrit: मध्यमक,
Madhyamaka, ; also known as
Śūnyavāda) refers primarily to a
Mahāyāna Buddhist school of philosophy founded by
Nāgārjuna. According to Madhyamaka all phenomena (
dharmas) are empty (
śūnya) of "nature," a "substance" or "essence" (
svabhāva) which gives them "solid and independent existence," because they are
dependently co-arisen. But this "emptiness" itself is also "empty": it does not have an existence on its own, nor does it refer to a transcendental reality beyond or above phenomenal reality.