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Nagarjuna: Buddhism's Most Important Philosopher
Nagarjuna stands second only to the Buddha in his importance in Buddhist thought. The concept of “emptiness (shunyata)” became the central ontological concept in Mahayana Buddhism thanks to his effort. Not only did he found the Madhyamaka tradition in India, understanding his philosophy is needed to understand the Zen tradition and the Dalai Lama’s Tibetan tradition. Included here are translations from the Sanskrit of his most important philosophical works into plain English, so that the general educated public interested in Buddhism or philosophy can understand his thought. Also included are separate commentaries and a bibliography of further readings. The works presented here collectively constitute what the Tibetans call Nagarjuna’s “analytic corpus.” Translated from the original Sanskrit are the Fundamental Verses of the Middle Way (the Mula-madhyamaka-karikas), Overturning the Objections (the Vigraha-vyavartani) with Nagarjuna’s own commentary, and the philosophical portions of the Jewel Garland of Advice (the Ratnavali). Three works that are no longer extant in Sanskrit are summarized Seventy Verses on Emptiness (Shunyata-saptati-karikas), Sixty Verses on Argument (Yukti-shashtikas), and Pulverizing the Categories (Vaidalya-prakarana). The expanded edition revises the entire text and adds material to the earlier essays and adds two new essays.
- GenresBuddhism
224 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 23, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 10, 2024
Nagarjuna (d.c.250 AD) is the jewel in the crown of Early Buddhist thinking. Writing with a sophistication which has been admired and puzzled over, ever since, he provided some of the most foundational technical expositions of key Buddhist ideas.
There are some very real questions of authenticity involving some of the 116 texts attributed to Nagarjuna, so this volume focuses on the narrow set of a dozen texts which are almost universally agreed to be by Nagarjuna. The book includes one text where there is more uncertainty, but its style and content is so consistent with the rest of the texts that it would raise as many questions to omit it, as to include it.
The book starts with perhaps the most important text of all: the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā (the fundamental verses of the middle way). This works through the core Metaphysical concepts of causation and existence, playing a role comparable to Aristotle’s Categories in Western thought.
Perhaps the most central insight of the whole book is the principle that anything that is dependent upon something else is not real (Chp.18, 10%). Thus, as everything we see around us is dependent, to some extent, this principle leads naturally to the core Buddhist insight about the illusory nature of what we encounter and refer to.
Is it true that dependence denies reality? Well surely it depends to some extent upon what kind of dependence. A father and mother produce a child. That child is dependent upon the causality of the father and mother, but once born, why should that be a relevant factor in whether the child is real or not? One of the examples in the text is a reflection in a mirror. Yes that depends on the real object, so the reflection itself is indeed not the real thing. But there is still a real object present, ie the mirror, and there is the reality of the light which is carrying the reflection.
One of the very useful features of this book was the set of essays contained in the second half. Those essays explore the themes raised in Nagarjuna’s writings. I think it would have been beneficial to break up those essays and to include them alongside the actual texts which they refer to, otherwise readers will inevitably end up jumping back and forth over half the book as they read the texts and reflect on the interpretation of the essays.
The essays were definitely worth reading. The one on Nagarjuna’s logic provided a very thoughtful claim that despite appearances Nagarjuna does not actually break the laws of non-contradiction or the laws of excluded middle (78%). There are actual statements in his text where his argument depends on those laws. And, where he does seem to break them the context of his claims suggest a range of different alternative interpretations. So, regardless of whether Buddhism does, or doesn't accept those laws, and regardless of what Nagarjuna may or may not say elsewhere, there is at least some reason to think that in 'these' texts the basis of his logic shares more in common with classical logic than has sometimes previously been assumed.
Overall, this is a very readable translation and an excellent selection of texts with some very useful explanatory essays. However, the texts are complicated and difficult pieces of philosophy, and they will benefit from a slow and thoughtful read.
There are some very real questions of authenticity involving some of the 116 texts attributed to Nagarjuna, so this volume focuses on the narrow set of a dozen texts which are almost universally agreed to be by Nagarjuna. The book includes one text where there is more uncertainty, but its style and content is so consistent with the rest of the texts that it would raise as many questions to omit it, as to include it.
The book starts with perhaps the most important text of all: the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā (the fundamental verses of the middle way). This works through the core Metaphysical concepts of causation and existence, playing a role comparable to Aristotle’s Categories in Western thought.
Perhaps the most central insight of the whole book is the principle that anything that is dependent upon something else is not real (Chp.18, 10%). Thus, as everything we see around us is dependent, to some extent, this principle leads naturally to the core Buddhist insight about the illusory nature of what we encounter and refer to.
Is it true that dependence denies reality? Well surely it depends to some extent upon what kind of dependence. A father and mother produce a child. That child is dependent upon the causality of the father and mother, but once born, why should that be a relevant factor in whether the child is real or not? One of the examples in the text is a reflection in a mirror. Yes that depends on the real object, so the reflection itself is indeed not the real thing. But there is still a real object present, ie the mirror, and there is the reality of the light which is carrying the reflection.
One of the very useful features of this book was the set of essays contained in the second half. Those essays explore the themes raised in Nagarjuna’s writings. I think it would have been beneficial to break up those essays and to include them alongside the actual texts which they refer to, otherwise readers will inevitably end up jumping back and forth over half the book as they read the texts and reflect on the interpretation of the essays.
The essays were definitely worth reading. The one on Nagarjuna’s logic provided a very thoughtful claim that despite appearances Nagarjuna does not actually break the laws of non-contradiction or the laws of excluded middle (78%). There are actual statements in his text where his argument depends on those laws. And, where he does seem to break them the context of his claims suggest a range of different alternative interpretations. So, regardless of whether Buddhism does, or doesn't accept those laws, and regardless of what Nagarjuna may or may not say elsewhere, there is at least some reason to think that in 'these' texts the basis of his logic shares more in common with classical logic than has sometimes previously been assumed.
Overall, this is a very readable translation and an excellent selection of texts with some very useful explanatory essays. However, the texts are complicated and difficult pieces of philosophy, and they will benefit from a slow and thoughtful read.
June 21, 2024
From the blurb: 'Nagarjuna stands second only to the Buddha in his importance in Buddhist thought. The concept of “emptiness (shunyata)” became the central ontological concept in Mahayana Buddhism thanks to his effort. Not only did he found the Madhyamaka tradition in India, understanding his philosophy is needed to understand the Zen tradition and the Dalai Lama’s Tibetan tradition. Included here are translations from the Sanskrit of his most important philosophical works into plain English, so that the general educated public interested in Buddhism or philosophy can understand his thought. Also included are separate commentaries and a bibliography of further readings.' A spot of proofreading to remove the typos would be good.
Well worth a read.
Well worth a read.
October 8, 2024
Jones's idea to render Nāgārjuna's verses as sentences and paragraphs is an inspired choice that works much better than I'd have expected. His translation is quite nice too. I'm not sure that he succeeded in his stated goal of producing a text for the general educated reader however, as I really think the works demand more commentary. I suspect anyone unfamiliar with the ideas would be overwhelmed. But maybe not. Personally I'd only recommend this to true Nāgā-heads though--others should get one of the better known translations (Garfield or Siderits).
Several essays are included at the end. They're pretty dull and largely attempts of the author to wade into the two-truths debate, where he unfortunately drowns.
Several essays are included at the end. They're pretty dull and largely attempts of the author to wade into the two-truths debate, where he unfortunately drowns.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews