Nagarjuna Quotes

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

Nagarjuna

#2. 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

#3. Things derive their being and nature by mutual dependence and are nothing in themselves.

Nagarjuna

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

Nagarjuna

#5. Since all is empty, all is possible.

Nagarjuna

#6. 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

#7. If you desire ease, forsake learning.

Nagarjuna

#8. 17. Error does not develop In one who is in error. Error does not develop In one who is not in error. 18. Error does not develop In one in whom error is arising. In whom does error develop? Examine this on your own!

Nagarjuna

#9. The logs of wood which move down the river together Are driven apart by every wave. Such inevitable parting Should not be the cause of misery.

Nagarjuna

#10. 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

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

Nagarjuna

#12. 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

#13. There is pleasure when a sore is scratched, But to be without sores is more pleasurable still. Just so, there are pleasures in worldly desires, But to be without desires is more pleasurable still.

Nagarjuna

#14. The pacification of all cognitive grasping and the pacification of conceptual proliferation are peace.

Nagarjuna

#15. 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

#16. 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

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

Nagarjuna