Nagarjuna
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Nāgārjuna (c. 150 – 250), sometimes called the "second Buddha" in Tibetan and East Asian Mahayana traditions, was an Indian Buddhist monk and philosopher. He systematized Mahayana Buddhist philosophy around the central concept of the emptiness (shunyata) of all existents (dharmas).
Mūlamadhyamakakārikā
No suffering is self-caused.
If suffering were caused by each,
Nothing causes itself.
If another is not self-made,
How could suffering be caused by another?
Suffering could be caused by both.
Not caused by self or by other,
How could suffering be uncaused?- Mūlamadhyamakakārikā 14.8–9
- trans. Jay Garfield, The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way (1995), ISBN 0195093364
- "I, without grasping will pass beyond sorrow,
And I will attain nirvāṇa," one says.
Whoever grasps like this
Has great grasping.- § 16.9
- If you think you see both
Destruction and becoming,
Then you see destruction and becoming
Through impaired vision.- § 20.11
Major attributed works
Ratnāvalī (Precious Garland)
- Due to having faith one relies on the practices,
Due to having wisdom one truly knows.
Of these two wisdom is the chief,
Faith is its prerequisite.- The Precious Garland, 5
- trans. by Jeffrey Hopkins, "Buddhist Advice for Living and Liberation: Nagarjuna's Precious Garland" (1998), ISBN 1559398515
- "I am not, I will not be.
I have not, I will not have."
That frightens all the childish
And extinguishes fear in the wise.- § 26
- Even if you seek to harm an enemy,
You should remove your own defects and cultivate good qualities.
Through that you will help yourself,
And the enemy will be displeased.- § 132
- There is pleasure when a sore is scratched,
But to be without sores is more pleasurable still.
Just so, there are pleasures in worldly desires,
But to be without desires is more pleasurable still.- § 169
- Without hope of reward
Provide help to others.
Bear suffering alone,
And share your pleasures with beggars.- § 272
- Even three times a day to offer
Three hundred cooking pots of food
Does not match a portion of the merit
In one instant of love.- The Precious Garland, 283
Suhṛllekha (Letter to a Good Friend)
- To those possessed of breeding, learning, handsome looks,
Who have no wisdom, neither discipline, you need not bow.
But those who do have these two qualities,
Though lacking other virtues, you should revere.- Letter to a Friend (Snow Lion: 2013), stanza 28
Other attributed works
Prajñadanda (The Staff of Wisdom)
- The science, which teaches arts and handicrafts
Is merely science for the gaining of a living;
But the science which teaches deliverance from worldly existence,
Is not that the true science?- Prajñadanda (The Staff of Wisdom) attributed to Nagarjuna
- "Although you may spend your life killing,
You will not exhaust all your foes.
But if you quell your own anger,
your real enemy will be slain."- Nagarjuna & Sakya Pandita. (1977). Elegant sayings. Cazadero, California: Dharma Publishing.
Misc
- If you desire ease, forsake learning.
If you desire learning, forsake ease.
How can the man at his ease acquire knowledge,
And how can the earnest student enjoy ease?