Nagajuna and the Philosophy of Upaya is written by John Schroeder. The goal of this paper is to provide a different perspective on Nagajuna than what is currently available in Western research. It will not inquire into what it means to be "empty" of inherent nature in terms of causality, truth, the self, or consciousness in a broad sense, but rather how Nagajuna philosophy relates to Buddhist soteriological practices and what it means for such practices to be "empty" of inherent nature. Rather than characterizing Nagajuna as a metaphysician, our research will place him fully within the early Mahayana tradition and the philosophical challenge of practice stated through the notion of skill-in-means. The doctrine of upya has little in common with Western metaphysics, as will be seen in what follows. It is unconcerned about issues of causality.
