Nagarjuna Quotes

A person is not earth, not water,
Not fire, not wind, not space,
Not consciousness, and not all of them.
What person is there other than these? ~ Akkineni Nagarjuna

Without hope of reward
Provide help to others.
Bear suffering alone,
And share your pleasures with beggars. ~ Akkineni Nagarjuna

I am not, I will not be.
I have not, I will not have.
This frightens all children,
And kills fear in the wise. ~ 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

That which arises dependent on something is not in the least that thing, neither is it different from it. Therefore, it is neither permanent or nothing. ~ Akkineni Nagarjuna

Since all is empty, all is possible. ~ Nagarjuna

208. "Learn to distinguish what should be done and what not; The clever soul will always select his opportunity." ~ ~ Nagarjuna

He who does not attempt to make peace / When small discords arise, / Is like the bee's hive which leaks drops of honey / Soon, the whole hive collapses. ~ Akkineni Nagarjuna

Just as it is known
That an image of one's face is seen
Depending on a mirror
But does not really exist as a face,
So the conception of "I" exists
Dependent on mind and body,
But like the image of a face
The "I" does not at all exist as its own reality. ~ Nagarjuna

One who kill, own life will be shortened; One who harms, will be injured even more ~ Akkineni Nagarjuna

A highly learned man has two sources of happiness: either he abandons all earthly interests, or else he possesses much which could be abandoned. ~ Akkineni Nagarjuna

If you desire ease, forsake learning. ~ Nagarjuna

Great compassion penetrates into the marrow of the bone. It is the support of all living beings. Like the love of a parent for an only child, the tenderness of the Compassionate One is all-pervasive. ~ Akkineni Nagarjuna

So, to praise others for their virtues can but encourage one's own efforts. ~ Nagarjuna

All philosophies are mental fabrications. There has never been a single doctrine by which one could enter the true essence of things. ~ Nagarjuna

The victorious ones have said
That emptiness is the relinquishing of all views.
For whomever emptiness is a view,
That one has achieved nothing. ~ Nagarjuna

If an astronomer calculates from the sky
he will ascertain the paths of the moon and the stars;
but in his house the womenfolk are at variance,
and he does not perceive their various misconduct. ~ Nagarjuna

True knowledge is a virtue of the talented, but harmful to those without discernment. Spring water free of impurity, entering the ocean, becomes undrinkable. ~ Akkineni Nagarjuna

If wanderers were not themselves the cause, then like the scent and color
of the lotus in the sky, there would be no perception of the universe. ~ Nagarjuna

Whatever is dependently co-arisen
That is explained to be emptiness.
That, being a dependent designation
Is itself the Middle Way. ~ Nagarjuna

Things derive their being and nature by mutual dependence and are nothing in themselves. ~ Nagarjuna

The Buddha taught some people the teachings of duality that help them avoid sin and acquire spiritual merit. To others he taught non-duality, that some find profoundly frightening. ~ Akkineni Nagarjuna

My acts are irrevocable
Because they have no essence ...
Where are the doers of deeds
Absent among their conditions?
Imagine a magician
Who creates a creature
Who creates other creatures.
Acts I perform are creatures
Who create others. ~ Akkineni Nagarjuna

In peace there is profundity from which the highest respect arises from respect comes power and command therefore observe peace. ~ Akkineni Nagarjuna

Just as the grammarian makes one study grammar,
A Buddha teaches according to the tolerance of his students;
Some he urges to refrain from sins, others to do good,
Some to rely on dualism, other on non-dualism;
And to some he teaches the profound,
The terrifying, the practice of enlightenment,
Whose essence is emptiness that is compassion ~ Akkineni Nagarjuna

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

The great ideal of Mahayana Buddhism is to remain in this world, so tempting and full of snares, but at the same time attain this awareness of the Absolute which underlies it, thus remaining free while helping others to free themselves. Nagarjuna captures the essence of this state when he proclaims, There is no difference at all between samsara and nirvana; ~ Anonymous

Ultimate serenity is the coming to rest of all ways of taking things, the repose of named things; no truth has been taught by a Buddha for anyone, anywhere. ~ Akkineni Nagarjuna