Madhyamaka scholars

Nāgārjuna (, ; ) was an Indian philosopher and Mahāyāna Buddhist monk of the Madhyamaka (Centrism, Middle Way) school. Nāgārjuna is widely considered one of the most important Buddhist philosophers. He was the founder of the Madhyamaka school of Buddhist philosophy and a defender of the Mahāyāna movement. His Mūlamadhyamakakārikā (Root Verses on Madhyamaka, MMK) is the most important text on the Madhyamaka philosophy of emptiness. The MMK inspired a large number of commentaries in Sanskrit, Chinese, Tibetan, Korean and Japanese and continues to be studied today.

Kumārajīva (Sanskrit: ; , 344–413 CE) was a Buddhist monk, scholar, missionary and translator from Kucha (present-day Aksu Prefecture, Xinjiang, China). Kumārajīva is seen as one of the greatest translators of Chinese Buddhism. According to Lu Cheng, Kumarajiva's translations are "unparalleled either in terms of translation technique or degree of fidelity".

Atiśa (c. 982–1054 CE) was a Buddhist religious teacher and leader from Bengal. He is generally associated with his body of work authored at Vikramaśīla Monastery in Bihar. He was a major figure in the spread of 11th-century Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism in Asia and traveled to Sumatra and Tibet. Atiśa, along with his chief disciple Dromtön, is regarded as the founder of the Kadam school, one of the New Translation schools of Tibetan Buddhism. In the 14th century, the Kadam school was supplanted by the Gelug tradition, which adopted its teachings and absorbed its monasteries.

Shantideva (Sanskrit: Śāntideva; ; ; ; ) was an 8th-century CE Indian philosopher, Buddhist monk, poet, and scholar at the mahavihara of Nalanda. He was an adherent of the Mādhyamaka philosophy of Nāgārjuna. Abhayadatta Sri also lists Shantideva as one of the eighty-four mahasiddhas and is known as Bhusuku Pa (布苏固巴).

Chandrakirti (; Sanskrit: चंद्रकीर्ति; ; , meaning "glory of the moon" in Sanskrit) or "Chandra" was a Buddhist scholar of the Madhyamaka school who was based out of the monastery of Nalanda. He was a noted commentator on the works of Nagarjuna () and those of his main disciple, Aryadeva. He wrote two influential works on Madhyamaka, the Prasannapadā and the Madhyamakāvatāra.

right|275px|thumb|Aryadeva

Kamalaśīla (Skt. Kamalaśīla; Tib. པདྨའི་ངང་ཚུལ་, Pemé Ngang Tsul; Wyl. pad+ma'i ngang tshul) (c. 740-795) was an Indian Buddhist monk and philosopher of Nalanda Mahavihara. Notably he accompanied Śāntarakṣita (725–788) to Tibet at the request of Trisong Detsen.

thumb|Acharya|Ācārya Bhāviveka Converts a Nonbeliever to Buddhism, [[Gelug 18th-century Qing painting in the Philadelphia Museum of Art]]

thumb|Jizang, Todaiji 13th century

Chinese Buddhist monk and scholar (1906–2005)

8th-century Indian Buddhist philosopher

thumb|Thangka of Gorampa Gorampa Sonam Senge (, 1429–1489) was an important philosopher in the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism. He was the author of a vast collection of commentaries on sutra and tantra whose work was influential throughout Tibetan Buddhism. Gorampa is particularly known for his writings on madhyamaka philosophy, especially his critique of the madhyamaka views of Tsongkhapa and Dolpopa. Gorampa defended the mainly anti-realist interpretation of madhyamaka held by the Sakya school (which sees conventional truth as a false illusion).

thumb|275px|Mahasiddha Chandragomin, Black Schist, Bangladesh, 12th century thumb|upright=1.25|An 11th-century Shisyalekha manuscript, originally authored in 5th-century CE by Chandragomin. It is a Buddhist Sanskrit text in the [[Devanagari script discovered in Nepal. Chandragomin's composition is an ornate epistolary genre Buddhist poetry about a monk who falls in love and breaks his celibacy vow.]] Chandragomin (Skt. Candragomin) was an Indian Buddhist lay scholar and poet. The Tibetan tradition believes he challenged Chandrakirti. Chandragomin was a teacher at Nalanda Monastic University du