Nagarjuna
(Indian Thinker, c. 150-250 A.D.)
Nagarjuna was a highly logical exponent of spiritual truth. He was one of the few thinkers in history to focus on the magnificent truth of cause and effect, and one of the first to seriously explore its implications. As such, he was many thousands of years ahead of his time. Even today, the human race has yet to catch up with him.
Contents
Mahayanavimsaka
The Heart of Interdependent Origination
Sixty Verses on Reasoning
Seventy Verses on Emptiness
Nagarjuna
Mahayanavimsaka
Adoration to the Three Treasures
1
I bow down to the all-powerful Buddha
Whose mind is free of attachment,
Who, in his compassion and wisdom,
Has taught the inexpressible.2
In truth there is no birth -
And thus no cessation or liberation;
The Buddha is like the sky
And all beings have that nature.3
Neither Samsara nor Nirvana exist.
All things originate from their conditions
With an intrinsic face of void -
The object of ultimate awareness.4
The nature of all things
Appears like a reflection,
Pure and naturally quiescent,
With a non-dual identity of suchness.5
The common mind imagines a self
Where there is nothing at all,
And from this arise emotional states -
Happiness, suffering, and equanimity.6
The six states of being in Samsara,
The happiness of heaven,
The suffering of hell,
Are all false creations, figments of mind.7
Likewise the ideas of bad action causing suffering,
Old age, disease and death,
And the idea that virtue leads to happiness,
Are mere ideas, unreal notions.8
Like an artist frightened
By the devil he paints,
The sufferer in Samsara
Is terrified by his own imagination.9
Like a man caught in quicksands
Thrashing and struggling about,
So beings drown
In the mess of their own thoughts.10
Mistaking fantasy for reality
Causes an experience of suffering;
Mind is poisoned by interpretations
Of the nature of objects.11
Dissolving figment and fantasy
With a mind of compassionate insight,
Remain in perfect awareness
In order to help all beings.12
By developing unsurpassable bodhi,
One should become a Buddha.
A Buddha is a friend of the world,
Being freed from the bondage of false notions.13
Knowing the relativity of all,
The ultimate truth is always seen;
Dismissing the idea of beginning, middle and end
The flow is seen as Emptiness.14
So all samsara and nirvana is seen as it is -
Empty and insubstantial,
Naked and changeless,
Eternally quiescent and illumined.15
As the figments of a dream
Dissolve upon waking,
So the confusion of Samsara
Fades away in enlightenment.16
Idealising things of no substance
As eternal, substantial and satisfying,
Shrouding them in a fog of desire
The samsaric round of existence arises.17
The nature of beings is unborn
Yet commonly beings are conceived to exist;
Both beings and their ideas
Are false beliefs.18
It is nothing but an artifice of mind
This birth into an illusory becoming,
Into a world of good and evil action
With good or bad rebirth to follow.19
When the wheel of mind ceases to turn
All things come to an end.
There is nothing inherently substantial
And all things are utterly pure.20
Who can reach the other side of samsara,
Which is full of the water of false notions?
How can these false notions arise in a man
Who thoroughly knows this world?
***
The Heart of Interdependent Origination
The whole world is cause and effect; excluding this, there is no sentient being. From factors which are empty, empty factors originate.
Those who impute origination to even very subtle entities are unwise and have not seen the meaning of conditioned origination.
There is nothing to be denied and nothing to be affirmed. See the real correctly, for he who sees the real correctly is released.
***
Sixty Verses on Reasoning
Those whose intellects have gone well beyond existence and nonexistence and do not dwell anywhere, perfectly meditate upon the meaning of conditioned existence, which is profound and without a support.
The nihilistic viewpoint of non-existence, the source of all defects, has been utterly rejected. The positivistic viewpoint of existence has also been rejected.
According to the first thought of ordinary people, entities truly exist, so why isn't their non-existence accepted to be the cause of liberation?
The positivistic view of existence does not achieve liberation from becoming, nor does the nihilistic view of non-existence. The Great Person is freed through the complete understanding of the interdependence of existence and non-existence.
Those who do not see suchness are attached to the world and Nirvana, but those who see suchness are not attached to the world and Nirvana.
Becoming and Nirvana -- neither of these is existent. The complete understanding of becoming may be called Nirvana.
As cessation is imputed in the extinction of originated entities, the Holy Ones consider cessation to be like a magical creation.
When what is originated from the condition of ignorance is analyzed through perfect knowledge, no perception of either origination or cessation occurs. How is it that what is interdependently originated has a beginning and an end?
How can what was earlier originated be turned back? Free from the alternatives of antecedence and subsequence, cyclical existence appears like a magical illusion.
When a magical illusion is supposed to originate, or when it is supposed to be destroyed, one who understands its illusory nature will not be deluded. However, he who is ignorant about it will be greatly affected emotionally.
Those who see the world of existence with intelligence as like a mirage and a magical illusion are not corrupted by the views of antecedence and subsequence.
Whoever imputes origination and destruction to compounded objects and events does not at all know the movement of the wheel of Interdependent Origination.
Whatever originates dependent upon "this" and "that" does not originate in its intrinsic being. How can what is not originated in its intrinsic being be called originated? Therefore, nothing at all originates and nothing at all ceases.
The path of origination and destruction was demonstrated intentionally by the Buddha. Through knowing origination, destruction is known; through knowing destruction, impermanence is known; through knowing the way to penetrate impermanence, the Holy Dharma is understood.
Those who know that Interdependent Origination is devoid of origination and destruction cross the ocean of worldly existence that is born of views.
Ordinary people who have the notion of the substantiality of entities are flawed by the erroneous views of existence and non-existence, and, being controlled by the afflictions, are deceived by their own minds.
Those who are wise in regard to entities see that entities are impermanent, deceptive factors, pithless, empty, insubstantial and wholly vacuous.
Without an objective position, without a support, without foundation, and without abiding, entities originated from the cause of ignorance are entirely without beginning, middle or end.
Without essence, like a banana tree and a fairy city, the unbearable city of delusion that is cyclical existence appears like a magical illusion.
Whatever appears to the worldly as real is false for the Holy Personalities. The worldly are infatuated by ignorance and follow the current of their desire, while the wise are free from desire. How can their virtue be similar?
Whatever originates from a cause does not endure without conditions. It is destroyed through the absence of conditions. Therefore, how can it be apprehended to exist?
Those who treat the self and the world as independent entities are attracted to the views of permanence, impermanence and the like. Those who hold that dependent entities are like the moon's reflection in water, neither real nor unreal, are not attracted to any view at all.
If there is acceptance of entities inherently existing, erroneous views will arise from which attachment and suffering will originate. This, in turn, will cause disputations.
The acceptance of entities inherently existing is the cause of all views. Without it, afflictions would not originate. When this is known, views and afflictions become thoroughly purified.
How will this be known? By seeing Interdependent Origination. The Knower of Suchness (The Buddha) said that the dependently originated does not originate.
The process of clinging and disputation originates from attachment and false cognition which grasps at the unreal as though it were real.
Those who are of excellent qualities have no position and no disputation. How could those who have no position have another's position?
As children are attached to a reflection, perceiving it to be true, so the worldly are trapped in the prison of objects.
The Great Persons who see entities through the eye of knowledge to be like a reflection are not entangled in the mire of objects.
Ordinary people desire form; middling ones desire freedom from desire (for form), while those with the excellent intelligence of knowing the nature of form are entirely free.
Desire arises from the thought of the pleasurable; from its opposite, desire is left behind. Seeing entities as vacuous like a magical man, Nirvana is achieved.
Those who are affected by erroneous cognition suffer affliction. Those who know the meaning of the conceptions of entities and non-entities will not suffer affliction.
If an objective position existed, attachment and freedom from attachment might arise. But the Great Persons who are without an objective position have neither attachment nor freedom from attachment.
Those who think of complete vacuity are not moved even by the fickle mind. They will cross the terrible ocean of existence churned by the serpent of the afflictions.
By this merit, may all sentient beings, having accumulated heaps of merit and knowledge, attain the two highest goods (the two dimensions of Buddhahood) that arise from merit and knowledge.
***
Seventy Verses on Emptiness
Duration, origination, destruction, existence, non-existence, inferiority, mediocrity and superiority were taught by the Buddha in accord with conventional usage, not by the power of the real.
There is not anything which corresponds to the expressions: not-self, not not-self, both self and not-self, because all factors which can be spoken of are -- like Nirvana -- empty in their intrinsic being.
Since the intrinsic being of all entities does not exist in their causes and conditions, either together or separately, or in any way at all, they are empty.
The existent does not originate because it is existent. The non-existent does not originate because it is non-existent. The existent and non-existent also does not originate because they are heterogeneous. Because there is no origination, there is no duration and no destruction.
The originated is not the object to be originated. The unoriginated is also not the object to be originated. The object at the time of origination is also not the object to be originated, because it would be originated and unoriginated.
If the effect is existent, the cause will possess the effect. If nonexistent, the cause will be equal to a non-cause. If neither existent nor non-existent, it is contradictory. Nor again is a cause justified in the three times [past, present and future].
Without one, many does not occur. Without many, one does not occur. Therefore, interdependently originated entities are without form and attributes.
How can what is not established in its own intrinsic being produce another? A condition which is not established cannot cause the origination of another.
The father is not the son, nor is the son the father, nor do they exist without mutual dependence, nor are they identical. The same is true for the twelve constituents.
Neither the happiness and suffering which depend upon an object in a dream, nor that object itself, are existent. Similarly, neither that which originates dependently, nor that upon which it depends, are existent.
If entities are not existent in their intrinsic being, then neither inferiority, mediocrity nor superiority, nor the manifold objects of experience as such, are existent.
If neither origination nor cessation are existent, then Nirvana is the cessation of what exactly? What neither originates nor ceases - is this not liberation?
If Nirvana were cessation, it would be annihilation. If it were otherwise, it would be permanence. Therefore, Nirvana is neither being nor non-being. It neither originates, nor ceases.
The characteristic is established by the substratum of the characteristic. The substratum of the characteristic is established by the characteristic, but they are not established independently, nor are they established by one another. What is not established is not that which establishes another which is not established.
By this analysis, cause and effect, experience and the subject of experience, as well as the subject and object of vision, hearing, etc, -- indeed, whatever may exist -- are all explained without exception.
The three times are non-existent and are mere imagination. They are non-enduring, reciprocally established, disordered, not established independently and thus, like all entities, non-existent.
Because the three characteristics of the compounded object -- origination, duration and destruction -- are non-existent, the compounded and the uncompounded are also non-existent.
The compounded and the uncompounded are neither manifold nor unitary, neither existent nor non-existent, nor both existent and non-existent. Within this perimeter, all possibilities are included.
The Blessed One proclaimed the enduring nature of actions. He proclaimed actions and their effects. He proclaimed that the sentient being is the agent of actions and that actions are not lost.
Because it has been demonstrated that they are without intrinsic being, actions do not originate, so they cannot be destroyed. Actions originate from self-clinging. That clinging which produces actions also originates from imagination.
If actions existed in their intrinsic being, then the body originated from them would be permanent. They would not be endowed with the maturing effect of suffering. Therefore, actions would also be substantial.
Actions originated from conditions are not in the least existent, nor are actions originated without conditions existent. Compounded objects and events are like an illusion, a fairy city and a mirage.
Afflictions are the cause of actions. Volition consists of actions and afflictions. Actions are the cause of the body, therefore all three are empty in their intrinsic being.
Without actions, there is no agent. Without those two, there is no effect. Without an effect, there is onsequently no subject of experience. Hence, they are all empty.
If one knows very well actions to be empty, actions will not originate, simply because of this perception of reality. Without actions, that which originates from actions will not originate.
As the Blessed One, the Tathagata creates an illusory creation by means of illusory emanation, that illusory creation creates another illusory creation.
Among them, the illusory creation that is the Tathagata is also empty. What need is there to say anything about the illusory creation of an illusory creation? They are both existent insofar as anything which is mere imagination.
Similarly, the agent is like the illusory creation, and actions are like the illusory creation of an illusory creation. They are empty in their intrinsic being and exist insofar as anything which is mere imagination.
If actions existed in their intrinsic being, there would be no Nirvana and no agent of actions. If they were non-existent, there would be no attractive and unattractive effects originated from actions.
There exists the statement of existence and also the statement of non-existence and again the statement of both existence and non-existence. The intentional proclamations of the Buddhas are not easily penetrated.
If awareness apprehended form, it would be apprehended as the very intrinsic being of awareness. How could non-existent awareness originated from conditions apprehend non-existent form?
When the originated momentary awareness does not apprehend the originated momentary form, how could it comprehend past and future form?
While colour and shape never exist separately, the separate are not apprehended as one, because the two are known as form.
Eye awareness is not existent in the eye. It is not existent in form, nor in the space in between. What is constructed dependent upon the eye and form is erroneous.
If the eye does not see itself, how can it see form? Therefore, the eye and form are insubstantial. The remaining sense spheres are also similar.
The eye is empty of its own substantiality. It is empty of another's substantiality. Similarly, form is also empty, and also the remaining sense spheres.
Consciousness originates dependent upon an object of consciousness, therefore it is non-existent. Without cognition and an object of consciousness, there is consequently no consciousness at all.
All is impermanent, but impermanence or permanence never existed. If an entity existed, it would be impermanent or permanent, but how can it exist in the first place?
Born from the conditions of attraction, repulsion and error, attachment, aversion and delusion originate. Therefore, attachment, aversion and delusion are non-existent in their intrinsic being.
The object of imagination is not existent. Without the object of imagination, how is imagination existent? Therefore, since they are originated from conditions, the object of imagination, and imagination itself, are empty.
When there is perception of the real, no ignorance originates from the four erroneous views. Since that ignorance is non-existent, volitions do not originate.
Whatever originates dependent upon that, originates from that. Without that, it does not originate. Entities and non-entities as well as compounded factors and uncompounded factors are peace and Nirvana.
Entities originated from causes and conditions are imputed by ordinary people to be real. That is proclaimed to be ignorance by the Buddha.
When there is perception of the real, of entities as empty, ignorance does not originate. Just that is the cessation of ignorance. When that happens, the twelve constituents cease.
Compounded objects and events are like a fairy city, an illusion, a mirage, a bubble of water, foam and like a dream and the circle of the whirling fire-brand.
No entity whatsoever is existent in its intrinsic being. Entities and non-entities originated from causes and conditions are empty.
Since all entities are empty in their intrinsic being, the Interdependent Origination of entities is demonstrated by the incomparable Tathagata.
The ultimate is none other than this Emptiness. The Blessed Buddha, relying upon conventional usage, imagined all possibilities.
The doctrine of the world is not destroyed. In reality, no factor at all is demonstrated. Not comprehending the proclamation of the Tathagata, ordinary people are consequently afraid of the unsupported and unimaginable truth.
The way of the world, "dependent upon this, that originates", is not negated. What is interdependently originated is without intrinsic being, so how does it exist? This is perfect certitude.
One who has faith, who diligently seeks the ultimate, not relying upon any demonstrated factor, inclined to subject the way of the world to reason, abandoning being and non-being attains peace.
Having comprehended apparent conditionality, the net of false views is swept aside
. Consequently, abandoning attachment, delusion and anger, without stain, one surely reaches Nirvana.
***