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In Praise of Dharmadhātu

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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.

Table of Contents About the Book Texts Translated Quotes

• Abbreviations 7
  
• 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 Rinpoche 13
  
• Preface 17
  
• Nāgārjuna and His Works 21
  
  • 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 Mind 57
  
  • A Terminological Map for the Dharmadhātustava and
  • Its Commentaries 57
    
  • The Eight Consciousnesses 57
    
  • The World Is Imagination 59
    
  • Mind Has Three Natures 60
    
  • A Fundamental Change of State 63
    
  • The Expanse of the Basic Element of Being 63
    
  • Self-Awareness and Personal Experience 64
    
  • Having the Heart of a Tathāgata 66
    
  • Luminous Mind 67
    
• Luminous Mind and Tathāgatagarbha 68
  
  • Luminous Mind and Tathāgatagarbha 68
    
  • The Eighth Karmapa on the Dharmadhatu as "Disposition and Tathāgata Heart 83
    
  • Is Buddha Nature an Eternal Soul or Sheer Emptiness? 102
    
• The Dharmadhātustava 113
  
  • An Overview of the Basic Themes of the Dharmadhātustava 113
    
  • Translation: In Praise of Dharmadhatu 117
    
  • The Significance of the Dharmadhātustava in the Indo-Tibetan Tradition 130
    
• The Third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje, and His Commentary on the Dharmadhātustava 157
  
  • A Short Biography 157
    
  • Some Preliminary Remarks on Rangjung Dorje's View 159
    
  • On Rangjung Dorje's Commentary on the Dharmadhātustava 193
    
  • Other Tibetan Commentaries on the Dharmadhātustava 198
    
• Translation of Rangjung Dorjes Commentary 206
  
• Appendix I: Outline of Rangjung Dorje's Commentary 307
  
• Appendix II: Existing Translations of the Praises Attributed to Nāgārjuna in the Tengyur 310
  
• Appendix III: Translations of the Remaining Praises 313
  
• Glossary: English-Sanskrit-Tibetan 325
  
• Glossary: Tibetan-Sanskrit-English 329
  
• Bibliography 333
  
• Endnotes 344
  
• Index 426
  

1. Nāgārjuna. Dharmadhātustava (chos kyi dbyings su bstod pa), (D 1118) bstod tshogs, ka 63b5-67b3, Otani: (P2010), bstod tshogs, ka 73a7-77b8 (vol.46, p.31), (Tōh. 1118), ka 63b5-67b3. (N) ka 70a1-74b4. (Kinsha) 10, ka 90b1 (p.47-1-1) In bstan 'gyur (sde dge), Vol. 1: 126-134. Delhi: delhi karmapae choedhey, gyalwae sungrab partun khang, 1982-1985. Columbia AIBS
2. rang byung rdo rje. dbu ma chos dbyings bstod pa'i rnam par bshad pa. In
   1. gsung 'bum rang byung rdo rje, Vol. 7: 1-125. Zi ling: mtshur phu mkhan po lo yag bkra shis, 2006.
   2. mdo sngags mtshams sbyor. Lan kru’u: kan su’u mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 2003: 219–321.
   3. mngon rtogs rgyan gyi sa bcad snang byed sgron me dang skabs brgyad kyi stong thun dang dbu ma chos dbyings bstod pa rnam bshad. Sarnath: Vajra Vidya Institute, 2004: 157–312.

dharmadhātu - The fundamental expanse from which all phenomena emerge. Skt. धर्मधातु Tib. ཆོས་དབྱིངས་ Ch. 法界

Madhyamaka - Along with Yogācāra, it is one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Nāgārjuna around the second century CE, it is rooted in the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, though its initial exposition was presented in Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā. Skt. मध्यमक Tib. དབུ་མ་ Ch. 中觀見

dharmadhātu - The fundamental expanse from which all phenomena emerge. Skt. धर्मधातु Tib. ཆོས་དབྱིངས་ Ch. 法界

āgantukamala - Mental stains that are not inherent to the nature of the mind but are temporarily present as the residue of past actions or habitual tendencies. It is sometimes iterated as adventitious defilements (Skt. āgantukakleśa, Tib. glo bur gyi nyon mongs), which references the fickle and temporary nature of disturbing emotions that lack an ultimately established basis for existence. Skt. आगन्तुकमल Tib. གློ་བུར་གྱི་དྲི་མ་

gzhan stong - The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature. Tib. གཞན་སྟོང་

Kagyu - The Kagyu school traces its origin to the eleventh-century translator Marpa, who studied in India with Nāropa. Marpa's student Milarepa trained Gampopa, who founded the first monastery of the Kagyu order. As many as twelve subtraditions grew out from there, the best known being the Karma Kagyu, the Drikung, and the Drukpa. Tib. བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་