Acharya Nāgārjuna was an Indian philosopher, the founder of the Madhyamaka school of Mahāyāna Buddhism, and arguably the most influential Buddhist thinker after Gautama Buddha himself.

His writings were the basis for the formation of the Madhyamaka school, which was transmitted to China under the name of the Three Treatise School. He is credited with developing the philosophy of the Prajnaparamita sutras, and was closely associated with the Buddhist university of Nalanda. In the Jodo Shinshu branch of Buddhism, he is considered the First Patriarch.