If somebody stating that Madhyamikas is Nihilisim, then it is nothing but a false altercation. lol. Before stating that one needs to check what Nagarjuna meant by anucchedam as well as asAsvatam.What Advaita said about illusion and what Madhyamikas said about illusion is not a same thing. However, it looks similar in term of word but it is not same in term of meaning.
Buddha is not only self-awaken, he is also an arhat. If the teachings from the pali canon are not included, then please say which Mahayana scriptures explain following terminologies (i.e. the eight deliverances, the nine attainments of successive stations, and the nine unlovely perceptions, etc.) provided in MahaPrajnaparamita Sutra.
Thus having stood in the perfection of wisdom, a Bodhisattva, a great being should fulfil the four stations of mindfulness; the four right efforts; the four bases of psychic power; the five dominants; the five powers; the seven limbs of enlightenment; the eightfold Path. He should develop the emptiness concentration, the sign-less concentration, the wish-less concentration. So he should develop the four trances, the four Unlimited, the four formless attainments, the eight deliverances, the nine attainments of successive stations, and the nine unlovely perceptions. Which nine? I.e. he perception of a swollen corpse, a worm-eaten corpse, a festering corpse, a bloody corpse, a bluefish corpse, a corpse being devoured, a scattered corpse, a burned corpse, a corpse of only bones. He should develop the perception of revulsion from food. He should develop the recollection of the Buddha, of the Dharma, of the Sangha, of morality, of renunciation, of the Gods, of breathing, of agitation, of death, of what belongs to the body; the perception of impermanence, of ill, of not-self, un-loveliness, death, lack of delight in anything in the world, distrust for everything in the world; the cognition of ill, origination, stopping, path; the cognition of extinction, of non-production, the cognition of dharma, the subsequent cognition, the cognition conforming to worldly convention, the cognition of mastery, the cognition according to the letter. He should develop the concentration with thoughts adjusted and discursive; the concentration without thoughts adjusted, and with only discursive thoughts; the concentration without either thought adjusted or thoughts discursive. He should develop the dominant “I shall come to understand the not yet understood”, the dominant of understanding, the dominant of one who has understood. He should develop the stations of mastery, the all-bases, the cognition of the all-knowing, both calming-down and insight, the three knowledges, the four analytical knowledges, the four grounds of self-confidence, the five imperishable super-knowledges, the six perfections, the seven prizes, the eight discoursings of the Superman, the ten powers of a Tathagata, the eighteen Buddha-dharmas; the great friendliness, the great compassion, the great pathetic joy, the great even-mindedness.
The Large Sutra On Perfect Wisdom With The Divisions Of The Abhisamayalamkara Translated By Edward Conze pp 67-68