Candrakīrti gave Madhyamaka a durable classical expression by defending Nāgārjuna's emptiness analysis through commentary, dialectic, and an account of ordinary convention.
Intellectual setting
Buddhist scholastic communities developed competing accounts of knowledge and reality, and Candrakīrti argued for a reading of Madhyamaka against both Buddhist and non-Buddhist rivals.
Key ideas
Emptiness and convention
Things lack intrinsic nature while ordinary practices and explanations remain intelligible as dependent conventional designations.
Prāsaṅga critique
Philosophical claims can be tested by drawing out unwanted consequences rather than asserting an independent metaphysical thesis.
Legacy
His works became especially authoritative in Tibetan Madhyamaka traditions and continue to shape debates about two truths, language, and the scope of philosophical negation.