Table Of ContentA Strand of Dharma Jewels
The initial publication and short-run printing of this book have been
enabled by a generous donation from Upasaka Guo Ke.
A Note on the Proper Care of Dharma Materials
Traditional Buddhist cultures treat books on Dharma as sacred. Hence it
is considered disrespectful to place them in a low position, to read them
when lying down, or to place them where they might be damaged by food
or drink.
A Strand
of
Dharma Jewels
A Bodhisattva’s Profound Teachings
On Happiness, Liberation, and the Path
The Rāja Parikathā Ratnāvalī
Composed by Ārya Nāgārjuna for a South Indian Monarch
Tripiṭaka Master Paramārtha’s Sixth-Century Edition
Translation by Bhikshu Dharmamitra
Kalavinka Press
Seattle, Washington
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Copyright © 1992–2008 Bhikshu Dharmamitra. All Rights Reserved
Edition: Ratna-SA-0508-1.0
ISBN: 978-1-935413-05-9
Library of Congress Control Number: 2009920873
Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Nagarjuna, 2nd c.
[Bao hang wang zheng lun / Rāja parikathā ratnāvalī.
English translation.]
A Strand of Dharma Jewels. A Bodhisattva’s Profound
Teachings on Happiness, Liberation, and the Path.
Translated by Bhikshu Dharmamitra. – 1st ed. – Seattle, WA:
Kalavinka Press, 2009.
p. ; cm.
ISBN: 978-1-935413-05-9
Includes: stanza directory; outline; facing-page Chinese
source text in both traditional and simplified scripts;
appendix; notes.
1. Mādhyamika (Buddhism)—Early works to 1800. 2.
Bodhisattvas. 3. Spiritual life—Mahayana Buddhism. I. Title
2009920873
0902
Cover and interior designed and composed by Bhikshu Dharmamitra.
Dedicated to the memory of the selfless and marvelous life of the
Venerable Dhyāna Master Hsuan Hua, the Weiyang Ch’an Patriarch
and the very personification of the Bodhisattva Path.
Dhyāna Master Hsuan Hua
宣 化 禪 師
1918–1995
Acknowledgments
The accuracy and readability of of these first ten books of translations
have been significantly improved with the aid of extensive corrections,
preview comments, and editorial suggestions generously contributed
by Bhikkhu Bodhi, Jon Babcock, Timothy J. Lenz, Upasaka Feng Ling,
Upasaka Guo Ke, Upāsikā Min Li, and Richard Robinson. Additional
valuable editorial suggestions and corrections were offered by Bhikshu
Huifeng and Bruce Munson.
The initial publication and short-run printing of the initial set of ten
translation volumes have been assisted by substantial donations to the
Kalavinka Dharma Association by Bill and Peggy Brevoort, Freda Chen,
David Fox, Upāsaka Guo Ke, Chenping and Luther Liu, Sunny Lou, Jimi
Neal, and ”Leo L.” (a.k.a. Camellia sinensis folium). Additional helpful dona-
tions were offered by Doug Adams, Diane Hodgman, Bhikshu Huifeng,
Joel and Amy Lupro, Richard Robinson, Ching Smith, and Sally and Ian
Timm.
Were it not for the ongoing material support provided by my late
guru’s Dharma Realm Buddhist Association and the serene translation
studio provided by Seattle’s Bodhi Dhamma Center, creation of this trans-
lation would have been immensely more difficult.
Most importantly, it would have been impossible for me to produce
this translation without the Dharma teachings provided by my late guru,
the Weiyang Ch’an Patriarch, Dharma teacher, and exegete, the Venerable
Master Hsuan Hua.
Citation and Romanization Protocols
Kalavinka Press Taisho citation style adds text numbers after volume num-
bers and before page numbers to assist rapid CBETA digital searches.
Romanization, where used, is Pinyin with the exception of names and
terms already well-recognized in Wade-Giles.
The Chinese Text
This translation is supplemented by inclusion of Chinese source text on
verso pages in both traditional and simplified scripts. Taisho-supplied
variant readings from other editions are presented as Chinese endnotes.
This Chinese text and its variant readings are from the April, 2004 ver-
sion of the Chinese Buddhist Electronic Text Association’s digital edition
of the Taisho compilation of the Buddhist canon.
Those following the translation in the Chinese should be aware that
Taisho scripture punctuation is not traceable to original editions, is often
erroneous and misleading, and is probably best ignored altogether. (In
any case, accurate reading of Classical Chinese does not require any
punctuation at all.)
General Table of Contents
Acknowledgements 6
Citation and Romanization Protocols 6
About the Chinese Text 6
Directory to Chapter Subsections 9
Introduction 17
The Translation: A Strand of Jewels as Advice for the King 31
Chapter 1: On Gaining Happiness and Liberation 31
Chapter 2: Advice on Various Topics 63
Chapter 3: The Provisions for Gaining Enlightenment 93
Chapter 4: Guidance Especially for Rulers 123
Chapter 5: On Right Practice for Monastics 157
Appendix: 57 Faults to be Abandoned 191
Endnotes 193
Source Text Variant Readings 229
About the Translator 237
Directory to Chapter Subsections
(All outlining and section titles except main chapter titles originate with the translator.)
I. Chapter 1: On Happiness and Liberation 31
A. Declaration of Homage 31
B. The Intent in Composing This Work 31
C. The Topics and Their Sequence 31
1. Definitions and Causes of Happiness and Liberation 31
a. The Roles of Faith and Wisdom 31
1) A Description of Superior-Grade Faith 33
2) The Defining Basis of Wisdom 33
D. The Causes of Happiness 33
1. Deeds to Be Avoided; Deeds to Be Cultivated 33
a. The Ten Evil Deeds to be Avoided 33
b. Deeds to Be Cultivated 33
c. The Uselessness of Non-beneficial Asceticism 33
d. The Negative Fruits of the Ten Evils and Related Transgressions 35
2. Summation on the Causality of Suffering and Happiness 37
E. The Causes of Liberation 37
1. The Abstruseness of Liberation’s Dharmas 37
a. The Non-existence of “Self” 39
b. The World’s Origin in the Imagining of “Self” and Its Possessions 39
1) When Perceived in Accord with Reality, Such False Conceptions Cease 39
2) The Aggregates Originate with Attachment to Self 39
3) Reality-Based Perception of Aggregates Defeats Self-grasping View 39
4) Analogy: Aggregates Like Mirror, “Self” Like an Unreal Reflected Image 39
a) The Aggregates Reflect a False Image of “Self” 41
b)Releasing the Aggregate “Mirror,” the “Reflection” of Self Ceases 41
c) Ānanda’s Acquisition of the Dharma Eye via This Analogy 41
5) Attachment to the Aggregates Ensures Continuation of Cyclic Existence 41
6) Twirling Firebrand Analogy: Cyclic Existence Is a Continuous Cycle 41
7) Cessation of Self-Imputing View Entails the End of Karma-Bound Action 41
8) Understanding of Origination and Cessation Halts Extreme Views 43
9) The Foolish Needlessly Fear This Dharma 43
10)Since You Don’t Fear a Future Nirvāṇa, Why Fear “Emptiness”? 43
11)Since Non-Self Is Inevitable in Nirvāṇa, Why Fear it Now? 43
12)The Incompatibility of Extreme Views and Nirvāṇa 43
2. Definition of Wrong View and Its Disastrous Effects 43
10 Ārya Nāgārjuna’s Strand of Jewels
3. Definition of Right View and Its Auspicious Effects 45
4. Wisdom’s Preeminence Over Dualities and Its Generation of Liberation 45
a. The Wise Relinquish Attachment to Asserting Non-existence or Existence 45
b. The Unreality of Production and Both Prior and Concurrent Cause 45
c. The Fallaciousness of Polarity and Interdependency-Based Designations 45
d. Conditioned Arising Counters Nihilism; Realism’s Roots in Delusion 47
e. Realization of True Suchness, Non-attachment, and Non-dual Liberation 47
5. Mirage Analogy for the World, Self, Aggregates, and Dharmas 47
a. Perceptibility of Forms Contrasted With Imperceptibility of a Mirage 47
b. The Unreality of the World 47
c. Refutation of the Reality of the Five Aggregates 47
d. Clinging to Illusion as Indicative of Foolishness 47
e. Clinging to Reality of the World is Foolish and Prevents Liberation 49
6. Polar Attachments Beget Saṃsāra; Reality Cognition Begets Liberation 49
a. Refutation: Disinclination to Attachment Does Not Entail Nihilism 49
7. The Uniqueness of Buddhism’s Transcendence of Dual Concepts 49
8. Unreality of Three Times and Three Marks (Arising, Abiding, Destruction) 51
9. On Constant Instant-by-Instant Destruction and Change 51
10.Deconstruction of Instants and Refutation of the World’s Abiding 51
11.Deconstruction of Unitary Entities; dependence of Dual Designations 53
12.As “Existence” Is a Fallacy, How Could any Entity Become “Non-existent”? 53
13.Recondite Dharma and the Common Person’s Misapprehension of It. 53
a. Non-existence of the World and Nirvāṇa and the Buddha’s Silence 53
b. Recondite Dharmas Were Not Discussed with Those Unfit 53
c. The Absence of Dependencies in Buddha’s Profound Dharmas 53
d. The Worldly, Frightened by Transcendent Dharma, Fall to Ruin 55
e. Having Met Ruin Themselves, Be Warned: They Visit Ruin on Others 55
f. Through Truth, One Avoids Inverted Views and Attachments 55
g. This Teaching is Profound, Unsuited for Those Clinging to the Superficial 55
14.Refutation of Inherent Existence in the Six Elements 55
a. Dismissal of the Aggregates as Constituting a Self 57
15.Analysis of the Sense Objects, Realms, and Causal Chain Is Similar 59
16.So Too an Agent, Karma, Phenomena, Cause-and-Effect, Designations, etc. 59
17.Wisdom Demolishes Elements, Dualities, Good, Evil, Words, etc. 59
a. This Wisdom Extends Everywhere, Demolishing Everything 59
II. Chapter 2: Advice on Various Topics 63
A. Analogy: The “Person” is as Insubstantial as the Plantain 63
B. The Buddha Declared the Absence of any Inherent Existence in Dharmas 63
1. The Buddha Disallowed Both Existence and Non-existence of “Self” 63
2. So Too in the Case of Duality-Based Designations 63
3. The Rationale for the Buddha’s Remaining Silent 65
4. Challenge: The Buddha Erred in Declaring Beings Boundlessly Many 65
5. Response: Not So. The World Is Illusory, Transcends Dual Concepts, etc. 65
