Nagarjuna Quotes

“With all its many risks, this life endures
No more than windblown bubbles in a stream.
How marvelous to breathe in and out again,
To fall asleep and then awake refreshed.”
― Nāgārjuna, Nagarjuna's Letter To A Friend: With Commentary By Kangyur Rinpoche

“To say 'I want to have sex with this person' is to express a desire which is not intellectually directed in the way that 'I want to eradicate poverty in the world' is an intellectually directed desire. Furthernore, the gratification of sexual desire can only ever give temporary satisfaction. Thus as Nagarjuna, the great Indian scholar said: 'When you have an itch, you scratch. But not to itch at all is better than any amount of scratching.”
― Dalai Lama XIV, Freedom in Exile: The Autobiography of the Dalai Lama

“Covered by the web of disturbing emotions,
One is a sentient being.
Freed from disturbing emotions,
One is called a buddha.
– Nagarjuna”
― Tsele Natsok Rangdrol, Lamp of Mahamudra

“Don’t you mind dying, sir?” the consul asked. “Forgive me a little lofty talk,” van Gulik said, “but all movement is illusory. From Seoul to
Kobe. From life to death.”
― Janwillem van de Wetering, Robert van Gulik: His Life, His Work

“Now, we come to the heart of the Buddhadharma, to compassion. If you wanted to say in one word what is the essence of Buddha‘s teaching, of the enlightenment teaching, it would be compassion. The statement of Nagarjuna, the great master of two thousand years ago in India, crystallized this. He said, „Voidness is the womb of compassion.“ In Sanskrit this reads, shunyata karuna garbham; in Tibetan, tong nyid nying jey nying po jen, which may be the most beautiful phrase ever in Tibetan […] when we discover our freedom, this discovery flows immediately into universal compassion for all beings. (p. 111)”
― Robert A.F. Thurman, The Jewel Tree of Tibet: The Enlightenment Engine of Tibetan Buddhism