What I take from Nagarjuna is emptiness, and the nerve to apply it to itself. He's one of the two distant gods of Epistry. At the risk of being reductive, Aristotle inspires my head and Nagarjuna touches my heart.
How the word moved
In April 2023, in Empty World, I used his emptiness of emptiness to describe a world where everything from politics to technology lacks intrinsic existence - emptiness escaping from the monastery into the street. In July 2026 I made him co-patron of Epistry.
In my words
"At the risk of being reductive, Aristotle inspires my head, while Nagarjuna touches my heart."
from Habitability: Recasting the Planetarity Syllabus, 27 Jul 2026
Related
- Related Emptiness - his doctrine.
- Related Empty World - his emptiness, applied to the street.
- Related Epistry - he's its co-patron.
- Related Aristotle - the other distant god.