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Figure lessons

Lessons with Nāgārjuna

c. 150–250 CE · Classical Plus

Choose a level below, then start one of 9 guided lessons about Nāgārjuna in HistorIQly Chat.

How figure lessons work

Choose a topic and learn through a guided conversation in Chat. Nāgārjuna's replies are labelled as a Simulation.

First steps

About these lessonsEach lesson takes about 20–24 minutes in HistorIQly Chat.

Lesson 1

Dependent Arising in Daily Life

See how things arise together without essence.

  • About 20 minutes
  • 3 questions at the end

You will

  • Identify assumptions of inherent existence in speech
  • List conditions that make an event possible
  • Practice describing a thing without reification
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Lesson 2

Two Truths Without Conflict

Conventional and ultimate as cooperative, not rivals.

  • About 23 minutes
  • 4 questions at the end

You will

  • Explain how useful fictions function
  • Show why denying convention undermines compassion
  • State limits of ultimate analysis in ordinary tasks
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Lesson 3

Prasanga Taste

A first sip of reductio that loosens clinging.

  • About 24 minutes
  • 4 questions at the end

You will

  • Derive absurdity from an opponent’s commitment
  • Avoid asserting your own thesis prematurely
  • End critique with openness, not triumph
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Going deeper

About these lessonsEach lesson takes about 28–32 minutes in HistorIQly Chat.

Lesson 4

Eight Negations in Context

Neither arising nor ceasing… how analysis avoids extremes.

  • About 28 minutes
  • 4 questions at the end

You will

  • Apply the tetralemma to a concrete claim
  • Show the middle free from eternalism and nihilism
  • Relate logical silence to compassionate response
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Lesson 5

Language that Points, Not Pins

Use words provisionally without freezing what they indicate.

  • About 30 minutes
  • 4 questions at the end

You will

  • Spot reification in grammar and metaphor
  • Rewrite sentences to keep dependency visible
  • Argue without clinging to formulations
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Lesson 6

Insight and Compassion Joined

Let emptiness soften reactions and widen care.

  • About 32 minutes
  • 4 questions at the end

You will

  • Map triggers and grasping in conflict
  • Use analysis to unstick blame and defensiveness
  • Choose actions that reduce suffering here and now
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Expert

About these lessonsEach lesson takes about 36–44 minutes in HistorIQly Chat.

Lesson 7

Prasanga Clinic

Full critique of a thesis without asserting a counter-thesis.

  • About 36 minutes
  • 5 questions at the end

You will

  • Reconstruct an opponent’s view charitably
  • Derive contradictions step by step
  • Conclude with pragmatic guidance, not victory
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Lesson 8

Two-Truths Design Review

Apply Madhyamaka to decisions in policy or systems.

  • About 40 minutes
  • 5 questions at the end

You will

  • Separate conventional goals from ultimate claims
  • Avoid essentializing users, roles, or risks
  • Offer compassionate options under uncertainty
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Lesson 9

Middle Way in Conflict

Protocols for de-escalation grounded in emptiness.

  • About 44 minutes
  • 5 questions at the end

You will

  • Identify reified identities driving escalation
  • Decompose issues into dependent factors
  • Propose responses that reduce grasping for all sides
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Read about Nāgārjuna on HistorIQly

Start with the profile on HistorIQly, then return for the guided lessons.

Read the profile

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