Gain the information you need, ask for others’ input, but make your own decisions based on your own wisdom, without succumbing to pressure or threats from others. Speak well, with self-control; do not speak with a mind that is under the control of afflictions.
Subdue all enmity and dysfunctional tendencies, which are latent potentials of negative mental states. Be generous and dignified; do not be resentful or seek revenge. Explain instructions without mental scattering or laziness, and do not allow your mind to become reckless. Be conscientious and mentally peaceful; act without laziness, deceit, or guile. Treasure other sentient beings and be courteous to them.
496.Be auspicious like the full moon,
and radiant like the autumn sun.
Be profound like the ocean,
and steadfast like Mount Meru.
Be like the full moon — calming, disciplined, and beautiful. Be magnificent and joyful like the autumn sun, rich with the scent of harvests. Be profound like the ocean by sharing teachings and advice that are deep. Be as stable as Mount Meru, not happy one day and unhappy the next. Learn how to make your own mind peaceful so that people know what to expect when they see you. Those who are moody — elated one day and dejected the next — are hard to be with.
497.Freed from all negativities
and adorned with all good qualities,
be the sustenance of all beings
and become omniscient.
Free yourself from all afflictions and destructive karma; adorn yourself not with jewels but with excellent qualities. Be the sustenance of all sentient beings by being of ultimate benefit to them. Be the method that provides them with benefit, happiness, and everything they need, especially the Dharma. Try to be like the Buddha who possesses all these qualities. By your sincere practice, one day you will become a buddha.
498.This Dharma is not explained only for a king. It is also taught,
as is appropriate, to other beings out of the desire to benefit them.
Nagarjuna now clarifies that he gave these teachings not just for the king but for others to learn and practice as well. His overarching intention is for all beings to attain awakening. Thus, everybody should respect and practice these teachings that are given with the desire to benefit. Thinking that these practices are just for the king and that we don’t need to take them to heart or put them into practice would be a huge error on our part.
TAKE THIS ADVICE TO HEART
499.King, it would be good for you
to contemplate this discourse every day,
so that you and other beings
will attain true, complete awakening.
Nagarjuna says here, “Your majesty, this is an explanation of how all beings can attain higher rebirth and highest goodness. It is appropriate for you to reflect each day on this teaching that will bring higher rebirth, liberation, and full awakening to all when they practice it.” This advice is for us as well — we should not just read this book or jot down a few notes on the text, but contemplate it daily. To do so will benefit us and, by extension, all sentient beings.
500.Be ethical and have the highest respect for spiritual mentors; be patient, devoid of jealousy and greed.
[Enjoy] the wealth of aiding others without expectations of return and be helpful to those who are deprived.
Be devoted to the supreme, avoid those who are not, and embrace the Dharma.
For the sake of awakening, this is what those who seek it should always do.
Nagarjuna now gives us his final heartfelt advice. All of you who are interested in the Dharma, want to be of service to all sentient beings, and seek peerless awakening, guard well your ethical conduct. Understanding your spiritual mentors to be the foundation of the path, have great respect for them. Be patient with everyone at all times and in all situations. Do not be jealous of your companions when they engage in virtuous activities and develop virtuous qualities, but instead rejoice, thinking how wonderful it is. When beggars come to you hoping to receive some of your possessions, do the best you can to satisfy their needs, provided that doing so is useful. Whether you help them by giving the Dharma or your possessions, give out of love, compassion, and a wish to benefit. Don’t hope to receive fame, appreciation, or even a good rebirth in return.
Benefit those who are destitute. Happily serve people whose knowledge and other good qualities render them special, even if they are not your own spiritual mentors. Take care of them, keep them as your companions, and follow their good example. Do not keep company with people who are reckless, unethical, and deceitful. Remember your purpose is to attain awakening for yourself and others and engage in the practices described in this text as much as possible.
This concludes part V of Nagarjuna’s Precious Garland, “Practices of a Bodhisattva,” which explains the methods for monastic and lay disciples to attain higher rebirth and the highest good.
SARVAM MANGALAM BHAVATU!
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Glossary
Absolutism: believing that phenomena inherently exist.
Affirming negative: a negation that implies something else.
Afflictions: mental factors that disturb the tranquility of the mind. These include disturbing emotions and wrong views.
Afflictive obscurations: obscurations that mainly prevent liberation; afflictions, their seeds, and polluted karma.
Aggregates: the four or five components that make up a living being: form (except for beings born in the immaterial realm), feelings, discriminations, volitional factors, and consciousnesses.
Appearing object (Tib. snang yul): the object that actually appears to a consciousness. The appearing object of a conceptual consciousness is a conceptual appearance of something.
Apprehended object (Tib. ’dzin btangs kyi yul): the main object with which the mind is concerned; i.e., the object that the mind is getting at or understands. Synonymous with engaged object.
Arhat: someone who is liberated from cyclic existence.
Arya buddha: a person who is fully awakened, such as an enjoyment body or emanation body.
Arya: someone who has directly and nonconceptually realized the emptiness of inherent existence.
Basis of designation: the collection of parts or factors in dependence on which an object is designated.
Bodhichitta: a main mental consciousness induced by an aspiration to bring about others’ welfare and accompanied by an aspiration to attain full awakening oneself.
Bodhisattva ground: a consciousness in the continuum of an arya bodhisattva characterized by wisdom and compassion. It is the basis for the development of good qualities and the basis for the eradication of ignorance and mistaken appearances.
Bodhisattva: someone who has spontaneous bodhichitta.
Buddha: all aspects of a buddha. It includes the four buddha bodies.
Cognitive obscurations: obscurations that mainly prevent full awakening; the latencies of ignorance and the subtle dualistic view that they give rise to.
Collection of merit: a bodhisattva’s practice of the method aspect of the path that accumulates merit.
Collection of wisdom: a bodhisattva’s practice of the wisdom aspect of the path that develops the wisdom realizing emptiness.
Conceived object (Tib. zhen yul): the object conceived by a conceptual consciousness; synonymous with the apprehended or engaged object of a conceptual consciousness.
Conceptual appearance: a mental image of an object that appears to a conceptual consciousness.
Conventional existence: existence.
Conventional truths: that which is a truth in the perspective of true-grasping.
Cyclic existence (Skt. samsara): the cycle of rebirth that occurs under the control of afflictions and karma.
Definitive: teachings that speak about the ultimate nature of reality and can be a
ccepted literally (according to the Prasangikas).
Dependent arising: this is of three types (1) causal dependence — things arising due to causes and conditions, (2) mutual dependence — phenomena existing in relation to other phenomena, and (3) dependent designation — phenomena existing by being merely designated by terms and concepts.
Desire realm: one of the realms of cyclic existence; the realm where sentient beings are overwhelmed by attraction to and desire for sense objects.
Duhkha: unsatisfactory experiences of cyclic existence.
Emanation body: the buddha body that appears as an ordinary sentient being to benefit others.
Emptiness: the lack of inherent existence, lack of independent existence.
Enjoyment body: the buddha body that appears in the pure lands to teach arya bodhisattvas.
Environmental result: the result of karma that influences what environment we live in.
Evident phenomena: phenomena we can perceive with our five senses.
Form body: the buddha body in which a buddha appears to sentient beings; it includes the emanation and enjoyment bodies.
Four truths of the aryas: the truth of duhkha, its origin, its cessation, and the path to that cessation.
Full awakening: buddhahood; the state where all obscurations have been abandoned and all good qualities developed limitlessly.
Fundamental vehicle: the path leading to the liberation of hearers and solitary realizers.
God: a being born as a heavenly being in the desire realm or in one of the meditative absorptions of the material or immaterial realms.
Hearer: someone practicing the fundamental vehicle path leading to arhatship who emphasizes meditation on the four truths of the aryas.
Hungry ghost (Skt. preta): someone born in a realm where the denizens suffer from extreme hunger and thirst that can never be satisfied.
Ignorance: a mental factor that is obscured and grasps the opposite of what exists. There are two types: ignorance regarding reality and ignorance regarding karma and its effects.
I-grasping: grasping oneself to exist inherently.
Immaterial realm: the samsaric realm in which sentient beings do not have a material body.
Inattentive awareness: a consciousness that doesn’t ascertain its object, even though that object is appearing to it.
Inference: a mind that ascertains its object by means of a correct syllogism.
Inherent existence: existence without depending on any other factors; independent existence.
Karma: volitional action.
Latencies: predispositions, imprints, or tendencies.
Liberation: the state of freedom from cyclic existence.
Lower realms: unfortunate states of rebirth as a hell being, hungry ghost, or animal.
Material realm: a realm in cyclic existence in which the beings have subtle bodies; they are born there due to having attained various states of concentration.
Meditative equipoise on emptiness: an arya’s mind focused single-pointedly on the emptiness of inherent existence.
Mind: the clear and aware part of living beings that cognizes, experiences, thinks, feels, and so on.
Mindstream: the continuity of mind.
Monastic: someone who received monastic ordination; a monk or nun.
Nature truth body: the buddha body that is the emptiness of a buddha’s mind and that buddha’s true cessations.
Nihilism: believing that our actions have no ethical dimension; believing that nothing exists.
Nirvana with remainder: (1) the state of liberation when an arhat is still alive and has the remainder of the polluted aggregates, (2) the time of subsequent attainment of an arya where true existence still appears to the mind.
Nirvana without remainder: (1) the state of liberation when an arhat has passed away and no longer has the remainder of the polluted aggregates, (2) an arya’s meditative equipoise on emptiness when there is no appearance of true existence.
Nirvana: liberation.
Non-abiding nirvana: a buddha’s awakening that does not abide in either cyclic existence or personal liberation.
Non-affirming negative: a negation that does not imply something else.
Nonduality: the non-appearance of subject and object, inherent existence, conventional truths, and conceptual appearances in an arya’s meditative equipoise on emptiness.
Non-thing: (1) a permanent or unconditioned phenomenon, (2) a nonexistent.
Object of negation: what is negated or refuted.
Permanent: unchanging, static. It does not mean eternal.
Permanent, unitary, independent self: a soul or self (Skt. atman) asserted by non-Buddhists.
Person: a living being designated in dependence on the four or five aggregates.
Polluted: something under the influence of ignorance or the latencies of ignorance.
Pratimoksha: the different sets of ethical precepts that assist in attaining liberation.
Provisional: teachings that speak about the variety of phenomena and/or cannot be taken literally.
Reliable cognizer: a nondeceptive mind that enables us to accomplish our purpose.
Result similar to the cause: the karmic result that corresponds to its cause. It is of two types: the result similar to the cause in terms of our experience and the result similar to the cause in terms of our habitual behavior.
Ripening result: the karmic result that is a rebirth; the five aggregates a being takes.
Scriptural authority: relying on a scripture that has met three criteria that deem it reliable.
Self: this has two meanings, depending on the context: a person, or inherent existence.
Self-grasping: grasping inherent existence.
Self-sufficient substantially existent person: a self that is the controller of the body and mind. Such a self does not exist.
Sense faculties: subtle material inside the eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body that, together with a sense object, produce a sense consciousness perceiving that object.
Sentient being: any being with a mind, except for a buddha.
Six perfections: the practices of generosity, ethical conduct, fortitude, joyous effort, meditative stability, and wisdom that are motivated by bodhichitta and sealed with the wisdom seeing them as both empty and dependent.
Slightly obscure phenomena: phenomena that can initially be known only by inference.
Solitary realizer: a person following the fundamental vehicle who seeks liberation, who emphasizes understanding the twelve links of dependent arising.
Superknowledge: special powers gained through having deep states of concentration.
Tathagata: a buddha.
True cessation: the cessation of a portion of afflictions or a portion of cognitive obscurations.
True existence: inherent existence.
True-grasping: grasping persons and phenomena to exist truly or inherently.
Truth body (Skt: dharmakaya): the buddha body that includes the nature truth body and the wisdom truth body.
Twelve links: a system of twelve factors that explains how we take rebirth in samsara and how we can be liberated from it.
Ultimate existence: existence that is findable by ultimate analysis; inherent existence.
Ultimate bodhichitta: synonymous with ultimate ground.
Ultimate ground: a bodhisattva’s unpolluted wisdom that directly realizes emptiness and is supported by the special method of compassion, bodhichitta, and so forth.
Ultimate nature: the ultimate or deepest mode of existence of a person or phenomena.
Ultimate truth: the ultimate mode of existence of all persons and phenomena; emptiness.
Universal vehicle (Skt: Mahayana): the path to buddhahood.
Very obscure phenomena: phenomena that can be known only by relying on the testimony of a reliable person or a valid scripture.
View of a personal identity: grasping an inherently existent I or mine (according to the Prasangika system).
Vinaya: monas
tic discipline.
Wisdom truth body: the buddha body that is a buddha’s omniscient mind.
Further Reading
Ārya Nāgārjuna. A Strand of Dharma Jewels. Seattle: Kalavinka Press, 2008.
Cozort, Daniel. Unique Tenets of the Middle Way Consequence School. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 1998.
Dunne, John, and Sara McClintock, trans. The Precious Garland: An Epistle to a King. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1997.
Hopkins, Jeffrey. Meditation on Emptiness. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1983.
Hopkins, Jeffrey, trans. Nāgārjuna’s Precious Garland: Buddhist Advice for Living and Liberation. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2007.
Ngawang Samten, ed. Ratnāvalī of Ācārya Nāgārjuna with the Commentary of Ajitamitra. Sarnath: Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, 1990.
Padmakara Translation Group. The Precious Necklace, chapter 3. Nantes, France, 2008.
Tsong Khapa, rJe. Ocean of Reasoning: A Great Commentary on Nāgārjuna’s Mūlamadhyamakakārikā. Translated by Geshe Ngawang Samten and Jay Garfield. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.
van der Kuijp, Leonard. “Notes on the Transmission of Nāgārjuna’s Ratnāvalī in Tibet.” The Tibet Journal 10.2 (Summer 1985): 3–19.
Several of Nagarjuna’s other texts have been translated into English and are available at http://www.tibetanclassics.org.
Index
A
Abhidharma, 9, 125–26, 330
Abhidharma Sutra, 334
Abhidharmakosha. See Treasury of Knowledge (Vasubandhu)
Abhidharmasamucchaya. See Compendium of Knowledge (Asanga)
Abhisamayalamkara. See Ornament of Clear Realization (Maitreya)
absolutism, 69, 77, 80–81, 86–87, 140, 154
accumulation, path of, 188, 270, 349, 354, 356, 357, 363, 367
adultery, 28, 34–35
adventitious stains, 73–74, 143
affirming negatives, 73
afflictions
cessation of, 68, 74
eliminating, 218–19
I-grasping and, 52
Practical Ethics and Profound Emptiness Page 44