Nāgārjuna

[Snoopy]

Here you go then, Tariki. Taken from Between Heaven and Earth:

“Finally, Nagarjuna reiterates the words of the Buddha in the Kaccanagottasutta: life is neither eternal, nor finite; life neither has an end, nor is without end. Life is just at this moment of the present. Nagarjuna suggests that in reality, there are no views and no-one to hold views. The Buddhist state is a state where we let go of discussion; relinquishing all views. The Buddhist view, the dharma of the middle, is no view. And just at the moment when we relinquish all views, we experience the world as it is; we are able to see that reality is just this moment, just this place, just here and now.”

s.

[Netti-Netti]

Karma accumulated through ignorance and the other afflictions are the cause of the appearances of the aggregates. Ignorance is the soil that alows the seeds of craving to grow, thereby leading to repeated rebirth in Samsara.

~Nagarjuna, Good Hearted letter

[Francis king]

my fave:

Nagarjuna's Mahayanavimsika...

Homage to the Buddha (inconceivable glory)
mind unattached: whose compassion taught the law (expressed th unexpressible)

Buddha's and beings are of one essense-like space-
do not arise though an essence, do not cease in reality

And we are impelled to this world: to nirvana
by what does not occur by what is born in
dependence by what the omniscient know

for all things are pure and calm beyond
duality, like a reflection
reality

and we think there is a self when there is no self
happiness and sorrow and realisation are real for us

the six destinies and this world- the highest happiness of heaven, great suffering in hell- old age,
disease and death

we see what isn't there and burn in hell, burn by our own fault, as reeds are consumed by fire

and experience things at the magic show, go to
a destiny, born in dependence

at the magic show

fools fear the world, a painter paints a demon and screams, a child digs at the mud-hole, falls in

sunk in the mud of imposing upon reality
and can't get out, and see no:thing as real
feel sorrow: false poison tormenting with
the poison of fear

but the buddhas: constant in compassion
seek to help see us as helpless and lead us to
enlightenment

that we may be buddhas-knowledge
attained and freed from the net of things
-friends of the world

they see reality, unborn, unmade, they see
the world, empty, and without beginning,
without middle, without end

they see there is no world (no nirvana)
stainless it is unchanging and radiant in the
beginning and the middle in the end

he who has awakened does not see what he saw in his dream,
he who has awakened from the delusion does not see

the world;

a magician puts on a magic show when he
stops: nothing. The nature of reality
nothing but thought

a magic trick; and then we do good and evil,
and we go to good and evil destinies

we construct a world and we do not occur,
occurance is a construct, and things do not
exist

fools conceive of permanence; and self and happiness
in things essenceless
and are wrapped in darkness, wandering in
the ocean of existence.
.....

[Francis king]

I have precious garland, Friendly letter, the mahayanavimsika (posted above), I also have... madhyamakasastra, which I will post later...

cheerio for now

FK

[Clear_Lake]

You can also request a free copy of the Chandrakirti's Madhyamakavatara with Commentary by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche at Khyentse Foundation - Publications Fund. Audio teachings on this are also available for a fee.

[Snoopy]

Believers believe in buddhas
Who vanish in nirvana.
Don’t imagine empty buddhas
Vanishing or not.

-Nāgārjuna.

s.

[earl]

Good to see you back Snoopy. earl

[Snoopy]

..................................

s.

[Qi1]

Originally Posted by Snoopy

I thought I’d create a receptacle for all things Acharya Nāgārjuna. I don’t have anything specific to post at present, I just thought I’d start a thread for quotes, references, resources, book recommendations, comments, discussion…whatever…for “the second Buddha.”

Feel free….....

s.

Nāgārjuna's primary contribution to Buddhist philosophy is in the use of the concept of śūnyatā, or "emptiness,


Nagarjuna - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is a profound notion. We are always so focused on the material, here is the origin of the focus on the non-material.

which brings together other key Buddhist doctrines, particularly anattā (no-self) and pratītyasamutpāda (dependent origination), to refute the metaphysics of Sarvastivāda and Sautrāntika (extinct non-Mahayana schools).

The idea of "no-self" is very humbling, indeed.

For Nāgārjuna, as for the Buddha in the early texts, it is not merely sentient beings that are "selfless" or non-substantial; all phenomena are without any svabhāva, literally "own-being" or "self-nature", and thus without any underlying essence;

The idea of "self-nature" is very intriguing. It could mean that one needs to define their self through meditation and practice.

they are empty of being independently existent; thus the heterodox theories of svabhāva circulating at the time were refuted on the basis of the doctrines of early Buddhism. This is so because all things arise dependently: not by their own power, but by depending on conditions leading to their coming into existence, as opposed to being.

This idea could relate to the timelessness of the universe or its temporary nature.

Nāgārjuna was also instrumental in the development of the two-truths doctrine, which claims that there are two levels of truth in Buddhist teaching, one which is directly (ultimately) true, and one which is only conventionally or instrumentally true, commonly called upāya in later Mahāyāna writings.

Early ideas of relativism came from here.

Nāgārjuna drew on an early version of this doctrine found in the Kaccāyanagotta Sutta, which distinguishes nītārtha (clear) and neyārtha (obscure) terms

Bringing clarity is an important objective.