Nagarjuna and Buddhism :
Nagarjuna has been a towering figure in the history of Buddhism, the philosophy
of Buddhism and the propagation of its ideals.
Nagarjuna also refers to maybe multiple historical persons who took the ideals and
preachings of Gautam Buddha to propagate in new lands and different historical periods that were more receptive to the
teachings of Gautam Buddha, also known as Shakymuni or Prince Siddhartha.
Walking where Buddha walked :
Here I will attempt to periodically share my experiences with the present day land where Buddha
of Buddhism was born, walked, awoke to enlightenment and preached. I will be travelling
from July 2006 to Sep 2006,
some of those parts of India , that form part of the Buddhist heritage and hope to share some of my
thoughts and ideas. These places are Kapilvastu, Bodh Gaya, Rajgir, Sarnath, Kushi Nagar, Griddhakuta Hill,
Vaishali.
Each morning of the walk will begin with interfaith prayer before the days journey of 15-20 miles.
Walking can be a potent medicine for mind and body. When we walk together, our feet touch the same earth,
we walk beneath the same sun and soak in the same rain. As we journey together with a common purpose,
we realize that joys and difficulties can arise but the difficulties need not stop us. In walking, we
begin to restore the spiritual strength of humanity, the strength to reverse the vicious repercussions
of our history and move towards a genuinely peaceful society nourished by the innate generosity of human
beings and the natural world.
The Madhyamika school traces its origin to Nagarjuna, the brilliant philosopher and formidable
dialectician who flourished in the late second century A.D. Taking Buddha's advocacy of the Middle
Way between harmful extremes, between avid indulgence and austere asceticism, and between sterile
intellectualization and suffocating mental torpor, Nagarjuna developed a rigorous dialectical logic
by which he reduced every philosophical standpoint to an explosive set of contradictions. This did not
lead to the closure of scepticism, as the less vigorously pursued pre-Socratic philosophies did, but
rather to the elusive standpoint that neither existence nor non-existence can be asserted of the world
and of everything in it. The Madhyamikas, therefore, refused to affirm or deny any philosophical
proposition. Nagarjuna sought to liberate the mind from its tendencies to cling to tidy or clever
formulations of truth, because any truth short of Sunyata, the voidness of reality, is inherently
misleading. Relative truths are not like pieces of a puzzle, each of which incrementally adds to the
complete design. They are plausible distortions of the truth and can seriously mislead the aspirant.
They cannot be lightly or wholly repudiated, however, for they are all the seeker has, and so he must
learn to use them as aids whilst remembering that they are neither accurate nor complete in themselves.
Of the thirteen works that were authentically written by the Nagarjuna in question, one
stands out as being his chief work: the Mulamadhyamakakarika, "Verses on the Fundamentals
of the Middle [Way]." Nagao writes that the name of this work was likely given to it by the
Sino-Japanese tradition. This tradition found one verse of the treatise, XXIV.18, to be
paramount; this verse concluded with the term madhyama pratipat, "Middle Path," and the
treatise was named after it. (Nagao 1991, 190) This work stands supreme primarily because
of its inherent merit, both in terms of philosophical acuity and innovativeness. It is
also one of the few works that are indubitably his. The treatise also deserves to be
regarded as unique because it was historically pivotal; it inspired a number of subsequent
commentaries by other acclaimed thinkers and galvanized Buddhism into developing a wholly
new school of thought based on this work, the Madhyamika, the "Middle Way" school.
Finally, the Indian, Chinese, and Tibetan traditions are all unanimous in considering the
karika as Nagarjuna's magnum opus. The karika consists of 450 sententious verses.
The verses are written in a precise metered form which was the staple of classical Sanskrit
composition.
By the fifth century two views of Nagarjuna's work had emerged. The followers of Bhavaviveka thought
that Madhyamika philosophy had a positive content, whilst those who subscribed to Buddhapalita's more
severe interpretation said that every standpoint, including their own, could be reduced to absurdity,
which fact alone, far more than any positively asserted doctrine, could lead to intuitive insight
(prajna) and Enlightenment. Chandrakirti's remarkable defence of this latter standpoint deeply influenced
Tibetan Buddhist traditions as well as those schools of thought that eventually culminated in Japan in
Zen. Nagarjuna's dialectic revealed the Sunya or emptiness of all discursive, worldly thought and its
proliferating categories. For the Madhyamikas: Whatever can be conceptualized is therefore relative,
and whatever is relative is Sunya, empty. Since absolute inconceivable truth is also Sunya, Sunyata
or the void is shared by both Samsara and Nirvana. Ultimately, Nirvana truly realized is Samsara
properly understood. The fully realized Bodhisattva, the enlightened Buddha who renounces the
Dharmakaya vesture to remain at the service of suffering beings, recognizes this radical transcendental
equivalence. The Arhat and the Pratyekabuddha, who look to their own redemption and realization, are
elevated beyond any conventional description, but nonetheless do not fully realize or freely embody
this highest truth.
Thus for the Madhyamikas, the Bodhisattva ideal is the supreme wisdom, showing the unqualified
unity of unfettered metaphysics and transcendent ethics, theoria and praxis, at the highest conceivable
level. Madhyamika thought rooted itself in the remarkable collection of Mahayana sutras known as the
Prajnaparamita (or perfection of wisdom) literature. These sutras, from the one hundred thousand
verses of Shatasahasrika Prajnaparamita to the terse Heart Sutra and the short Vajrachchedika
(literally, 'Diamond Cutter', but commonly called Diamond Sutra), share the same themes skilfully
expounded at different lengths. According to these sutras, all dharmas or elements of existence are
Sunyata or void. Although many human beings are terrified of voidness, as is shown by the instinctive
dread of the dark and the unknown, this arises from a basic misunderstanding of Sunyata. It is
unchanging, deathless, unqualified reality. If one understands Sunyata-sunyata, the Voidness of the Void,
one recognizes that it is not any 'nothing' one knows or can imagine. Being truly unknown, there is
no sufficient reason to dread it. Rather than entertain vague, ill-conceived and inchoate images of
the imageless, one would do better to practise the paramitas, the dynamic virtues of the Noble Eightfold
Path leading to the inestimable glory which the ignorant world calls Sunyata solely because it is beyond
its ken. The Bodhisattva, however, sees the plenitude of that Void as well as the emptiness of the
phenomenal world, and so he labours in joy for the redemption of those who suffer from abject ignorance.
As a matter of interest, the above mentioned 'Diamond Cutter Sutra' is the same sutra that the Sixth
Patriarch of Chinese Zen, Hui-neng (638-713), did nothing but just overhear a stanza from as a young boy
and was Enlightened to the Truth of the masters basically out of the blue.
There are some that say Nagarjuna, whose dates are usually given to fall within those of the Han
Dynasty, visted China, although evidence is scarce. Kumarajiva (344-413) who arrived in China well
after the Han Dynasty, started his translation projects around 385-401. He is considered the key figure
in the introduction of Nagarjuna's teachings into China.
Highlights :
- Rajgir :
Rajgir
"Here I will attempt to periodically share my experiences with the present day land where Buddha
of Buddhism was born, walked, awoke to enlightenment and preached. I will be travelling
from July 2006 to Sep 2006,
some of those parts of India , that form part of the Indian Buddhist heritage and hope to share some of my
thoughts and ideas. These places are Kapilvastu, Bodh Gaya, Rajgir, Sarnath, Kushi Nagar, Griddhakuta Hill,
Vaishali.."
- Rajgir in Wikipedia -
- Sarnath :
Sarnath
"Here I will attempt to periodically share my experiences with the present day land where Buddha
of Buddhism was born, walked, awoke to enlightenment and preached. I will be travelling
from July 2006 to Sep 2006,
some of those parts of India , that form part of the Buddhist heritage and hope to share some of my
thoughts and ideas. These places are Kapilvastu, Bodh Gaya, Rajgir, Sarnath, Kushi Nagar, Griddhakuta Hill,
Vaishali."
- Sarnath in Wikipedia -
- Nalanda :
Nalanda
"Here I will attempt to periodically share my experiences with the present day land where Buddha
of Buddhism was born, walked, awoke to enlightenment and preached. I will be travelling
from July 2006 to Sep 2006,
some of those parts of India , that form part of the Buddhist heritage and hope to share some of my
thoughts and ideas. These places are Kapilvastu, Bodh Gaya, Rajgir, Sarnath, Kushi Nagar, Griddhakuta Hill,
Vaishali."...
- Nalanda - Site of the great Monastic University - in Wikipedia -
- http://www.buddhismtoday.com/english/holyplaces/006-nalanda.htm :
Here I will attempt to periodically share my experiences with the present day land where Buddha
of Buddhism was born, walked, awoke to enlightenment and preached. I will be travelling
from July 2006 to Sep 2006,
some of those parts of India , that form part of the Buddhist heritage and hope to share some of my
thoughts and ideas. These places are Kapilvastu, Bodh Gaya, Rajgir, Sarnath, Kushi Nagar, Griddhakuta Hill,
Vaishali..
Here I will attempt to periodically share my experiences with the present day land where Buddha
of Buddhism was born, walked, awoke to enlightenment and preached. I will be travelling
from July 2006 to Sep 2006,
some of those parts of India , that form part of the Buddhist heritage and hope to share some of my
thoughts and ideas. These places are Kapilvastu, Bodh Gaya, Rajgir, Sarnath, Kushi Nagar, Griddhakuta Hill,
Vaishali.
Here I will attempt to periodically share my experiences with the present day land where Buddha
of Buddhism was born, walked, awoke to enlightenment and preached. I will be travelling
from July 2006 to Sep 2006,
some of those parts of India , that form part of the Buddhist heritage and hope to share some of my
thoughts and ideas. These places are Kapilvastu, Bodh Gaya, Rajgir, Sarnath, Kushi Nagar, Griddhakuta Hill,
Vaishali.:
1 - Carvings on the stupas depicting tales from Buddha's lives.
2 - Original Bodhi tree was said to have been destroyed and the present tree behind the temple complex
is believed to come from the sapling which was carried to Sri Lanka from the original tree and then brought
back to Bodhgaya..
3 - King Ashoka erected a shrine, near the Bodhi tree, which was replaced by Mahabodhi Temple in the 2nd century
BC.
4 - Venuvana, the bamboo brake where the Buddha and his disciples lived; Karnada Tank, where the
Buddha used to bathe; Jivakamarvana, the orchard presented to the Buddha by the physician Jivaka;
Griddakuta Hill (the hill of vultures) from where the Buddha delivered his sermons and the Sattapani
Cave, where the First Buddhist Council was convened. The first Buddhist structures at Rajgir were
raised when Ajatsatni built a monastery, and a stupa over his share of the Buddha's ashes. That
reliquary is now a mound used as a graveyard.
5 - Adjacent to the hilltop where the Buddha used to deliver sermons, the stupa is visible for miles
around. Access is by an aerial rope-way. The association of Buddhism with peace goes back to 250 B.C.
when Emperor Asoka became a convert to it out of revulsion at the carnage in his conquest of Kalinga.
6 - Nalanda was one of the greatest monastic universities of the ancient world. Established in the
5th century B.C. it remained a live center of learning, till the 12th century A.D. when it was
destroyed by the invader Bakhtiar Khilji. Lord Mahavira and the Buddha both taught here for years.
Hsuan Tsang. the Chinese traveler studied here in the 7th century A.D. and there is a monument in
his memory. He was one amongst many of those from East and Southeast Asia, who came here to study
logic, meta-physics, medicine, prose composition and rhetoric. The university of Nalanda offered
free educational and residential facilities to as many as 10,000 students and 2000 teachers, for it
was supported by a number of villages. Its library, Ratna Sagar, is believed to have contained nine
million volumes. It is not surprising, then, that the destruction of this university dealt a
crippling blow, to Buddhist education in India. Spread over 15 hectares stand the ruins of six temples,
eleven monasteries, the Shariputra Stupa built by Asoka, to honor the Buddha's first disciple, Ananda,
and scattered chaityas or prayer halls. Sculptures, bas reliefs and frescoes, are still to be seen amongst
the ruins. In 1951, an international center for Buddhist studies was founded. Another mordern institution
is the Nava Nalanda Mahavir Research Centre, treasuring many rare manuscripts. There is also a museum and a Thai
Temple.
7 - In Vaishali (which is also the birthplace of Lord Mahavira), there are the ruins of two stupas which
were built to commemorate the Second Buddhist Council. The impressive Lion Capital was raised by
Asoka to commemorate the Buddha's last sermon. There are also Jain temples and a museum. Vaishali,
has the significance of its ancient history, where the democratic society was established for the
first time in the world and where Lord Buddha often stayed and preached his message of love and peace,
through the Vimalakirti Sutra and the Sutra of meditation on the Bodhisattva's universal virtues.
These preachings, later on, formed the basis of Mahayana Buddhism.
Vaishali is well-known for its close association with the Buddha. After leaving Kapilavastu for
renunciation, he came to Vaishali first and had his spiritual training, from Ramaputra Udraka and
Alara Kalama. After the Enlightenment the Buddha frequently visited Vaishali. He organized his
Bhikshu Sangha on the pattern of Vaishalian democracy. It was here that he established the Bhikshuni
Sangha, initiating his maternal aunt Maha Prajavati Gautami into the order. His last Varshavasa
(rainy season resort) was here and he announced his approaching Mahaparinirvana (the final departure
from the world) just three months in advance. Before leaving for Kusinagara, where he laid his mortal
coil, he left his alms-bowl (Bhiksha-Patra) here with the people of Vaishali.
Vimalakirti, the famous Buddhist Acharya, though a lay worshipper, and Ambapali, the famous devotee
of the Buddha, though a courtesan, further added to the glory of Vaishali. Both were born here, and
both flourished at this place. The second Buddhist Council (Sangiti) was held here, which later
resulted in the formation of a separate sect. Emperor Ashoka, in course of his pilgrimage to
places associated with the Buddha, paid his homage to this place first of all and in memory there
of, erected a pillar which stands in the neighbouring village of Kolhua even today. The brick Stupa
near this pillar, is said to have been erected on the half of the relic ashes of Ananda, the Buddha's
foremost disciple, the other half falling to the lot of the Magadhan King, Ajatashatru.
- First Buddhist Council :
- Second Buddhist Council :
Upcoming Events
- Buddhist Trail
Buddhist heritage.
- Buddhist Tourism
Buddhist heritage.
- Buddhist Heritage - Old Towns in India
"Here I will attempt to periodically share my experiences with the present day land where Buddha
of Buddhism was born, walked, awoke to enlightenment and preached. I will be travelling
from July 2006 to Sep 2006,
some of those parts of India , that form part of the Buddhist heritage and hope to share some of my
thoughts and ideas. These places are Kapilvastu, Bodh Gaya, Rajgir, Sarnath, Kushi Nagar, Griddhakuta Hill,
Vaishali." -
"Vaishali, a place of historical importance, the background of Indian and Buddhist history, has
remained uncared for, and it is already in a pitiable and decayed condition as one can see, only
the Ashoka Pillar brooding in silence over the buried ruins and the country-side spotted with tiny
hutments." -
- Buddhist Trail
Buddhist Trail : Some Links
Buddhist Trail : Resources
Nagarjuna Myths - http://www.rangjung.com/authors/Nagarjuna.htm
Eight Sadhana Teachings - http://www.rangjung.com/gl/Kabgye.htm
Buddhist Trail
Buddhist Art and Architecture -
The Hill of Sanchi is situated about 9 kilometres south-west of
Vidisha in Madhaya Pradesh, India. Crowning the hilltop of Sanchi nearly 91 metres in height, a
group of Buddhist monuments commands a grand view even from a distance. - From http://www.buddhanet.net/sanchi.htm
Buddhist Stupa Architecture -
Fundamentally, a stupa is essentially made up of the following
five constituents: a). A square base b). A hemispherical dome c). A conical spire d). A crescent moon
e). A circular disc Each of these components is rich in metaphoric content and is identified with
one of the five cosmic elements said to make up the entire manifested existence. These are earth,
water, fire, air and space. - From Nitin Kumar, Exotic India Art - http://www.exoticindiaart.com/article/stupa
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