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Nagarjuna Quotes

Nāgārjuna , is widely considered one of the most important Buddhist philosophers. Along with his disciple Āryadeva, he is considered to be the founder of the Madhyamaka school of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Nāgārjuna is also credited with developing the philosophy of the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras and, in some sources, with having revealed these scriptures in the world, having recovered them from the nāgas . Furthermore, he is traditionally supposed to have written several treatises on rasayana as well as serving a term as the head of Nālandā. Wikipedia  

✵ 150 – 250
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Nagarjuna: 13   quotes 1   like

Famous Nagarjuna Quotes

“I am not, I will not be.
I have not, I will not have.”

Nagarjuna

That frightens all the childish
And extinguishes fear in the wise.

§ 26
Major attributed works, Ratnāvalī (Precious Garland)

“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?”

Nagarjuna

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

Nagarjuna & Sakya Pandita. (1977). Elegant sayings. Cazadero, California: Dharma Publishing.

“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.”

Nagarjuna

Letter to a Friend (Snow Lion: 2013), stanza 28

“p>No suffering is self-caused.
Nothing causes itself.
If another is not self-made,
How could suffering be caused by another? If suffering were caused by each,
Suffering could be caused by both.
Not caused by self or by other,
How could suffering be uncaused?”

Nagarjuna

Mūlamadhyamakakārikā 14.8–9
trans. Jay Garfield, The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way (1995), ISBN 0195093364

“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?”

Nagarjuna

The Tree of Wisdom http://books.google.com/books?id=d3TX5peeoSsC&pg=PP17&dq=%22If+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%22

Nagarjuna Quotes

“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.”

Nagarjuna

The Precious Garland, 283

Love , Food , Time , Cooking

“Without hope of reward
Provide help to others.
Bear suffering alone,
And share your pleasures with beggars.”

Nagarjuna

§ 272
Major attributed works, Ratnāvalī (Precious Garland)

Pleasure , Help , Suffering , Hope

“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.”

Nagarjuna

§ 169
Major attributed works, Ratnāvalī (Precious Garland)

Pleasure

“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.”

Nagarjuna

§ 132
Major attributed works, Ratnāvalī (Precious Garland)

Help

“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.”

Nagarjuna

The Precious Garland, 5

trans. by Jeffrey Hopkins, "Buddhist Advice for Living and Liberation: Nagarjuna's Precious Garland" (1998), ISBN 1559398515
Major attributed works, Ratnāvalī (Precious Garland)

Faith , Wisdom

“If you think you see both
Destruction and becoming,
Then you see destruction and becoming
Through impaired vision.”

Nagarjuna Mūlamadhyamakakārikā

§ 20.11
Mūlamadhyamakakārikā

Thinking

“I, without grasping will pass beyond sorrow,
And I will attain nirvāṇa, one says.
Whoever grasps like this
Has great grasping.”

Nagarjuna Mūlamadhyamakakārikā

§ 16.9
Mūlamadhyamakakārikā

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