Within the Chinese Madhyamaka tradition known as Sanlun, the very name of the school points directly to its key scriptures: the “Three Treatises.” These three works are not merely texts among others, but function as the primary lenses through which the Middle Way and the doctrine of emptiness are contemplated and articulated. They are revered as the doctrinal heart of the school, shaping both its philosophical rigor and its contemplative orientation. Through them, the Sanlun tradition receives and transmits the Indian Madhyamaka vision in a distinctly Chinese idiom.

The first of these is the *Madhyamaka-śāstra* (Zhong lun, often identified with Nāgārjuna’s *Mūlamadhyamakakārikā*), which sets forth the Middle Way and the radical insight into emptiness (śūnyatā). It explores how all phenomena lack inherent existence, and how this insight avoids the extremes of eternalism and nihilism. The second is the *Dvādaśanikāya-śāstra* or *Dvādaśamukha-śāstra* (Shiermen lun, “Twelve Gates Treatise”), also attributed to Nāgārjuna, which approaches emptiness through twelve analytical “gates,” each dismantling a different kind of clinging to fixed views. Together, these two works establish the core dialectical method that characterizes Madhyamaka thought.

The third foundational text is the *Śata-śāstra* (Bailun, “Hundred Treatise”), attributed to Āryadeva, traditionally regarded as Nāgārjuna’s disciple. This treatise extends and deepens the Madhyamaka analysis, further refining the critique of inherent existence and reinforcing the insight that all conceptual fabrications ultimately collapse under careful examination. In the Sanlun tradition, these three treatises are not treated as isolated works, but as mutually illuminating strands of a single tapestry of meaning. Their study, especially through the commentarial efforts of later masters such as Jizang, became the living practice of the school, a disciplined inquiry into the nature of reality that aims to free the mind from all rigid attachments to views.