As Mahayana developed two schools of thought emerged, the Madhyamika ('the Middle Way ') and the Yogacara. The former developed out of the teachings of Nagarjuna (c.150-250 CE), a Buddhist sage from the south of India . His most important work - the Mulamadhyamika-karika (Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way ) - aimed to show the truth of the emptiness or sunyata doctrine through the application of dialectic.
Sunyata is beyond opposites, hence the term 'middle way'. His basic argument is that all things are conditioned and therefore cannot be said to have an inherent nature, an undying essence. The world we perceive is made up of ever-changing dharmas, mental and physical constituents that only have significance in the way that they relate to each other. This world, therefore, has a relative truth but is not which is beyond the opposites that make up the world we see.
The Yogacara or 'Mind Only' school emerged in about the third century CE from the teachings of Maitreyanatha. By the fourth century CE it was flourishing, two leading proponents being the brothers Asanga and Vasubandhu from the south of India . This school argued that the world as we perceive it is a creation of the mind. As individuals we therefore create imaginary worlds which are mistaken for real existence. From this ignorance, karmic seeds are sown, falling into what is termed 'store consciousness' or 'base consciousness' out of which the process begins again.
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Five wisdom buddhas in the center of a taizokai mandala ; Japan. From http:///www.kaladarshan.arts.ohio-state.edu.
