Nagarjuna is famous in the West for his works not only on Madhyamaka but his poetic collection of praises, headed by In Praise of Dharmadhatu. This book explores the scope, contents, and significance of Nagarjuna's scriptural legacy in India and Tibet, focusing primarily on the title work. The translation of Nagarjuna's hymn to Buddha nature—here called dharmadhatu—shows how buddha nature is temporarily obscured by adventitious stains in ordinary sentient beings, gradually uncovered through the path of bodhisattvas, and finally revealed in full bloom as buddhahood. These themes are explored at a deeper level through a Buddhist history of mind's luminous nature and a translation of the text's earliest and most extensive commentary by the Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje (1284–1339), supplemented by relevant excerpts from all other available commentaries. The book also provides an overview of the Third Karmapa's basic outlook, based on seven of his major texts. He is widely renowned as one of the major proponents of the shentong (other-empty) view. However, as this book demonstrates, this often problematic and misunderstood label needs to be replaced by a more nuanced approach which acknowledges the Karmapa's very finely tuned synthesis of the two great traditions of Indian mahayana Buddhism, Madhyamaka and Yogacara. These two, his distinct positions on Buddha nature, and the transformation of consciousness into enlightened wisdom also serve as the fundamental view for the entire vajrayana as it is understood and practiced in the Kagyu tradition to the present day. (Source: Shambhala Publications)
Citation
Brunnhölzl, Karl, trans. In Praise of Dharmadhātu: Nāgārjuna and the Third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje. Nitartha Institute Series. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2007.
Abbreviations7
An Aspiration by H.H. the Seventeenth Karmapa, Orgyen Trinlé Dorjé 9
Foreword by H.H. the Seventeenth Karmapa, Orgyen Trinlé Dorjé 11
Foreword by The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche13
Preface17
Nāgārjuna and His Works21
Who Was Nāgārjuna? 21
What Did Nāgārjuna Write or Not Write? 22
Various Views on Nāgārjuna's Scriptural Legacy and Its Scope 30
Who or What Is Praised in Nāgārjuna's Praises?43
A Brief "History" of Luminous Mind57
A Terminological Map for the Dharmadhātustava and Its Commentaries57
The Eight Consciousnesses57
The World Is Imagination59
Mind Has Three Natures60
A Fundamental Change of State63
The Expanse of the Basic Element of Being63
Self-Awareness and Personal Experience64
Having the Heart of a Tathāgata66
Luminous Mind67
Luminous Mind and Tathāgatagarbha68
The Eighth Karmapa on the Dharmadhātu as "Disposition" and Tathāgata Heart83
Is Buddha Nature an Eternal Soul or Sheer Emptiness?102
The Dharmadhātustava113
An Overview of the Basic Themes of the Dharmadhātustava113
Translation: In Praise of Dharmadhātu117
The Significance of the Dharmadhātustava in the Indo-Tibetan Tradition130
The Third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje, and His Commentary on the Dharmadhātustava157
A Short Biography 157
Some Preliminary Remarks on Rangjung Dorje's View159
On Rangjung Dorje's Commentary on the Dharmadhātustava193
Other Tibetan Commentaries on the Dharmadhātustava198
Translation of Rangjung Dorje's Commentary206
Appendix I: Outline of Rangjung Dorje's Commentary307
Appendix II: Existing Translations of the Praises Attributed to Nāgārjuna in the Tengyur310
Appendix III: Translations of the Remaining Praises313