Nagarjuna said nothing exists on its own — only in relation to everything else

The 2nd-century Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna argued that no thing has fixed, independent existence: a chariot is only a chariot relative to its wheels, its rider, its use. He called this quality "emptiness" (shunyata), not nonexistence, but existence that is entirely dependent on causes, parts, and relations rather than standing on its own.

— Nagarjuna, Mulamadhyamakakarika (Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way) — c. 2nd century CE