Nagarjuna

Nagarjuna

   

Little is known about the life of Nagarjuna. Nagarjuna was said to be the “Indian master who lived about the first century of the Common Era. He was one of the greatest dialecticians the world has known, and his works definitively established the ‘Middle Way’ (Madhyamaka in Sanskrit) between the dualistic extremes of origin and cessation, nihilism and externalism, coming and going, monism and pluralism. As a teacher at the famous monastic university of Nalanda, his expositions on emptiness and other topics of Buddhist philosophy are still used today as authoritative guides for intellectual understanding and contemplative practice.

“The name Nagarjuna, in Tibetan, means ‘he with power over the nagas’ – the nagas being a form of serpent. The epithet refers to his recovery of the Buddha’s teachings on the Perfection of Wisdom from the naga-king who guarded them. Nagarjuna’s commentaries on this profound teaching led to the formation of the tradition of Profound Philosophy, which establishes the intellectual understanding of emptiness as a basis for contemplation.”

Even three times a day to offer

Three hundred cooking pots of food

Does not match a portion of the merit

Acquired in one instant of love.

Compassion is a mind that savors only

Mercy and love for all sentient beings

 (A story ...

There was one great master, a Buddhist master, Nagarjuna. A thief came to him. The thief had fallen in love with the master because he had never seen such a beautiful person, such infinite grace.

The thief asked Nagarjuna, "Is there some possibility of my growth also? But one thing I must make clear to you: I am a thief. And another thing: I cannot leave it, so please don't make it a condition. I will do whatsoever you say, but I cannot stop being a thief. That I have tried many times--it never works, so I have left the whole sport. I have accepted my destiny, that I am going to be a thief and remain a thief, so don't talk about it. From the very beginning let it be clear.

" Nagarjuna said, "Why are you afraid? Who is going to talk about your being a thief?" The thief said, "But whenever I go to a monk, to a religious priest, or to a religious saint, they always say, 'First stop stealing.'

" Nagarjuna laughed and said, "Then you must have gone to thieves; otherwise, why? Why should they be concerned? I am not concerned!"

The thief was very happy. He said, "Then it is okay. It seems that now I can become a disciple. You are the right master." Nagarjuna accepted him and said, "Now you can go and do whatsoever you like. Only one condition has to be followed: be aware! Go, break into houses, enter, take things, steal; do whatsoever you like, that is of no concern to me, I am not a thief--but do it with full awareness."

The thief couldn't understand that he was falling into the trap. He said, "Then everything is okay. I will try." After three weeks he came back and said, "You are tricky--because if I become aware, I cannot steal. If I steal, awareness disappears. I am in a fix."

Nagarjuna said, "No more talk about your being a thief and stealing. I am not concerned; I am not a thief. Now, you decide! If you want awareness, then you decide. If you don't want it, then too you decide." The man said, "But now it is difficult. I have tasted it a little, and it is so beautiful--I will leave anything, whatsoever you say. Just the other night for the first time I was able to enter the palace of the king. I opened the treasure. I could have become the richest man in the world--but you were following me and I had to be aware. When I became aware, diamonds looked just like stones, ordinary stones. When I lost awareness, the treasure was there. And I waited and did this many times. I would become aware and I became like a buddha, and I could not even touch it because the whole thing looked foolish, stupid--just stones, what am I doing? Losing myself over stones? But then I would lose awareness; they would become again beautiful, the whole illusion. But finally I decided that they were not worth it.")

The Second Buddha Acharya Nagarjuna is one of the most important figures of early Buddhism. His significance is emphasized by the fact that he is sometimes referred to as "the Second Buddha."  Nagarjuna was a leading voice in the establishment Mahayana Buddhism, which emphasized the Bodhisattva vow to work for the enlightenment and freedom from suffering of all beings and not merely oneself. Nagarjuna lived in India in the second century CE, at about the time that Buddhism was being brought to China and other east Asian regions. He was born into a Brahmin family in Bedarwa ("The Land of the Palms") in southern India, fulfilling a prophecy attributed to the Buddha: In the Southern region, in the Land of the Palms, The monk Shriman of great renown, Known by the name, 'Naga', Will destroy the positions of existence and non-existence. Having proclaimed to the world my vehicle, The unsurpassed Great Vehicle, He will accomplish the ground, Very Joyful, And depart to the Land of Bliss. "In seeing things To be or not to be Fools fail to see A world at ease." Nagarjuna's  contributions As a young boy, Nagarjuna excelled in his studies, showing early signs of his keen intellect, which is reflected in his later writings. A fascinating story is told of how he came to the Buddhist path. As a young man, Nagarjuna along with three friends, learned the secret of invisibility from a sorcerer. They used this ability to secretly enter the royal palace and seduce the attractive young women at court. The ruse was discovered, and the royal guards were told to attack where they saw footprints appearing without apparent cause. All three of Nagarjuna's friends were killed, and Nagarjuna survived only by staying close to the king. (An allegorical story with layers of meaning in it.) This experience taught the young Nagarjuna how desires lead to suffering, and he fled to the mountains to become a monk, becoming the student of a Buddhist master. He later journeyed throughout India, often engaging in theological debate with proponents of various religions, including other Buddhists who opposed the newly emerging Mahayana expression of Buddhism. Nagarjuna eventually founded a monastery, establishing his own order of monks. One of Nagarjuna's major contributions to Buddhist literature is the hugely influential Prajnaparamita Sutras (or Wisdom Discourses), which is a series of conversations between the Buddha and his disciples on the importance of sunyata ("emptiness") in coming to full awakening. The story is told that, one day while meditating near a lake, a naga, or water wisdom snake, came to the surface and asked him to journey to the underwater kingdom of nagas in order to teach them. He did so, and as a gift of thanks, he was entrusted with the twelve-volume Prajnaparamita Sutras, which were deemed ready to be released back into human consciousness. This event is also said to be how he came by his name, Nagarjuna. Another important work associated with Nagarjuna is the Mulamadhyamakakarika ("Verses from the Center" or "Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way"), a series of koan-like riddles and inquiries into emptiness and the ephemeral nature of self-existence in the form of poetry. In the iconography associated with Nagarjuna, he is often depicted seated in meditation beneath a protective canopy of nagas, the serpents associated with awakened wisdom. If something has an essence-- Believers in emptiness How can it ever change Into anything else? A thing doesn't change into something else-- Youth does not age, Age does not age. If something changed into something else-- Milk would be butter Or butter would not be milk. Were there a trace of something, There would be a trace of emptiness. Were there no trace of anything, There would be no trace of emptiness. Buddhas say emptiness Is relinquishing opinions. Believers in emptiness Are incurable. --  Nagarjuna / Translated by Stephen Batchelor Poem by Nagarjuna Commentary by Ivan M. Granger Emptiness Buddhas say emptiness Is relinquishing opinions. Believers in emptiness Are incurable. Clearly, sunyata or "emptiness" is what Nagarjuna wants us to come to terms with. Why then does he throw it back in our faces with the statement that "Believers in emptiness / Are incurable"? One must meet reality without a mental overlay of projection and assumption. "Belief" is the intense clinging to an assumption of what something means. Belief, in other words, is a sort of mental insistence that things are a certain way and fit into a certain framework -- all without truly knowing. That approach can help in the early stages of seeking, but it becomes a major stumbling block further along the journey. Belief becomes a barrier to knowing. Belief always has something of yourself mixed in it. Belief is a swirling mix of what others have taught and your own limitations of mind, experience, and ego. To know truth, we must remove our ourselves from the process of perception.  Belief may initially point us in a good direction, but that's when the work starts: We must actually make the journey. And all along the way, we must constantly test what we notice and test ourselves against those initial beliefs. Untested belief becomes brittle, and ever more opaque. Yet so many refuse to loosen their grip on belief in order make the actual journey and test their beliefs against direct perception. It's easier -- and, for the ego, safer -- to believe, rather than to know. This is why those who "believe" in emptiness (or Nirvana or Heaven or God) are "incurable." It's a troubling teaching given by masters and mystics everywhere: Always better to know than to believe. Space by Nagarjuna (Nagarjuna is a great philosopher, one of the greatest of the world. Only a few people in the world, very few, have that quality of penetration that Nagarjuna has. So, his way of talking is very philosophical, logical, absolutely logical. – OSHO, The Heart Sutra) Dedicatory Verse by Nagarjuna English version by Jay L. Garfield Original Language Sanskrit I prostrate to the Perfect Buddha, The best of teachers, who taught that Whatever is depedently arisen is Unceasing, unborn, Unannihilated, not permanent, Not coming, not going, Without distinction, without identity, And free from conceptual construction. -- by Nagarjuna / Translated by Jay L. Garfield Mahayana Buddhism Acharya Nagarjuna is one of the most important figures of early Buddhism. His significance is emphasized by the fact that he is sometimes referred to as "the Second Buddha."  Nagarjuna was a leading voice in the establishment Mahayana Buddhism, which emphasized the Bodhisattva vow to work for the enlightenment and freedom from suffering of all beings and not merely oneself. Nagarjuna lived in India in the second century CE, at about the time that Buddhism was being brought to China and other east Asian regions. He was born into a Brahmin family in Bedarwa ("The Land of the Palms") in southern India, fulfilling a prophecy attributed to the Buddha: In the Southern region, in the Land of the Palms, The monk Shriman of great renown, Known by the name, 'Naga', Will destroy the positions of existence and non-existence. Having proclaimed to the world my vehicle, The unsurpassed Great Vehicle, He will accomplish the ground, Very Joyful, And depart to the Land of Bliss. (The Master's word simply inspires, provokes, helps, but it should not be taken on trust, otherwise it will become a philosophy. YOU have to realize it. And when YOU realize, only then can you say, "Yes, the Master was true." - OSHO, Hsin Hsin Ming: The Book of Nothing) ( Nagarjuna and the Thief ..... The great Buddhist saint Nagarjuna moved around naked except for a loincloth and, incongruously, a golden begging bowl gifted to him by the King, who was his disciple. One night he was about to lie down to sleep among the ruins of an ancient monastery when he noticed a thief lurking behind one of the columns. "Here, take this," said Nagarjuna, holding the begging bowl. "That way you won't disturb me once I have fallen asleep." The thief eagerly grabbed the bowl and made off -- only to return the next morning with the bowl and a request: "When you gave away this bowl so freely last night, you made me feel very poor. Teach me how to acquire the riches that make this kind of lighthearted detachment possible.") Nagarjuna’s vast activities    Legend tells us that Lord Buddha prophesied the coming of Nagarjuna, who lived sometime between 150 and 250 C.E. According to accounts, he was born into a Brahmin family in South India and converted to Buddhism. In the Biographical Notes of Rangjung Yeshe it is stated, “An astrologer predicted that in the best case (if he practiced the Dharma), the child would live for no more than seven years. When seven years were almost gone, the parents sent their son away on pilgrimage with a servant, because they could not bear the thought of seeing his corpse. However, Nagarjuna reached Nalanda Monastery and met Saraha, who told him that he could escape death if he were ordained as a monk. Nagarjuna also received the initiation into the mandala of Amitayus and by practicing the mantra recitation through the last night of his 7th year, he could free himself from the fear of death. The following year Nagarjuna received the initial monk ordination and became proficient in all the branches of knowledge in both the Hinayana and Mahayana sutras. Saraha also gave him many teachings on the secret Mantrayana. Having mastered all these teachings, Nagarjuna returned to see his parents. Afterwards he took the full monastic vows. The Rangjung Yeshe Glossary noted that Nagarjuna lived for 600 years, that he erected pillars and stone walls to protect the Bodhi Tree at Bodhgaya and that he constructed 108 stupas.  Furthermore, “Having attained realization of Hayagriva, he transmitted the lineage to Padma-sambhava.  Quotations By Nagarjuna Action He who knoweth the precepts by heart, but faileth to practice them, is like unto one who lighteth a lamp and then shutteth his eyes. Death Property is unstable, and youth perishes in a moment. Life itself is held in the grinning fangs of Death, Yet men delay to obtain release from the world. Alas, the conduct of mankind is surprising. Family When your eyes are fixed in the stare of unconsciousness, and your throat coughs the last gasping breath - as one dragged in the dark to a great precipice - what assistance are a wife and child? Fool The foolish are like ripples on water, For whatsoever they do is quickly effaced; But the righteous are like carvings upon stone, For their smallest act is durable. -- Nagarjuna Purity Although a cloth be washed a hundred times, how can it be rendered clean and pure if it be washed in water which is dirty? Science The science which teacheth arts and handicrafts is merely science for the gaining of a living; but the science which teacheth deliverance from worldly existence, is not that the true science? Nagarjuna Konda Nagarjuna Konda

According to a 4th/5th-century, Nāgārjuna was born into a Brahmin family, and later became a Buddhist.

Some sources claim that Nāgārjuna lived on the mountain of Śrī-parvata in his later years, near the city that would later be called Nāgārjuna koṇḍa ("Hill of Nāgārjuna"). Nāgārjuna koṇḍa was located in what is now the Nalgonda/ Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh.

Writings

There exist a number of influential texts attributed to Nāgārjuna though, controversy exists over which are his authentic works. The only work that all scholars agree is Nagarjuna's is the Mūla madhyamaka kārikā (Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way), which contains the essentials of his thought in twenty-seven chapters.

Relativity

Nagarjuna also taught the idea of relativity; in the Ratnāvalī, he gives the example that shortness exists only in relation to the idea of length. The determination of a thing or object is only possible in relation to other things or objects, especially by way of contrast. He held that the relationship between the ideas of "short" and "long" is not due to intrinsic nature (svabhāva). This idea is also found in the Pali Nikāyas and Chinese Āgamas, in which the idea of relativity is expressed similarly: "That which is the element of light ... is seen to exist on account of [in relation to] darkness; that which is the element of good is seen to exist on account of bad; that which is the element of space is seen to exist on account of form."

Nagarjuna as Ayurvedic physician

 Nagarjuna was also a practitioner of Ayurveda, or traditional Indian Ayurvedic medicine. First described in the Sanskrit medical treatise entitled Sushruta Samhita. Many of his conceptualizations, such as his descriptions of the circulatory system and blood tissue (described as rakta dhātu) and his pioneering work on the therapeutic value of specially treated minerals knowns as bhasmas, which earned him the title of the "father of iatro-chemistry.

Influence

Nagarjuna is a 'titanic figure' in the history of Mahayana Buddhism:

His influence in the Mahayana Buddhist world is not only unparalleled in that tradition but exceeds in that tradition the influence of any single Western philosopher. The degree to which he is taken seriously by so many eminent Indian, Chinese, Tibetan, Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese philosophers, and lately by so many Western philosophers, alone justifies attention to his corpus.

Buddha's Messages

Few more thoughts of Nagarjuna ....

Dreamlike World

The object of knowledge in dream is not seen when one awakes. Similarly the world disappears to him who is awakened from the darkness of ignorance.

Doer and Doing

A doer arises dependent on a doing, and a doing exists dependent on a doer. Except for that, we do not see another cause for their establishment.

Beyond Establishment

I have nothing to establish, so I do not have any fault.

Mutual Dependence

Things derive their being and nature by mutual dependence and are nothing in themselves.

The Pleasure to Be Without Desire

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.

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