Ratnāvalī

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Nagarjuna, the author of the Ratnāvalī

Ratnāvalī (T. rin chen phreng ba, རིན་ཆེན་ཕྲེང་བ་; C. baoxingwang zheng lun 寶行王正). Translated as "Precious Garland," "Garland of Jewels," etc. A commentary by the Indian pandit Nagarjuna in which he offers guidance on the ethical and philosophical foundations of the Buddhist teaching from a Mahayana perspective. The work continues to exert a strong influence throughout the Mahayana world, particularly within Tibetan Buddhism.[1]

Nagarjuna describes the cause and effect sequences for the development of happiness within ordinary life, as well as the practices that lead us to enlightenment--the practices for developing wisdom, or the realization of emptiness, and compassion. He also describes the qualities of the buddhas.

This text belongs to Nagarjuna's Collection of Advice.

Outline

Brief outline

Thubten Chodron provides the following outline in the text Practical Ethics and Profound Emptiness:[2]

I. Higher Rebirth and Highest Good

  • Starting on the Path to Happiness and Liberation
  • The Advantages of Ethical Living and a Fortunate Life
  • The Path to Liberation and Full Awakening
  • Refuting Inherent Existence and Establishing Emptiness

II. An Interwoven Explanation of the Causes and Effects of Higher Rebirth and Highest Good

  • Delving into the Profound
  • Taming Attachment and Understanding the Qualities of Buddhahood

III. The Collections for Awakening

  • Joyfully Taking Up the Boundless Work of a Bodhisattva
  • Advice for Gathering Merit and Gaining Wisdom
  • The Fruits of Merit and Wisdom

IV. Royal Policy: Instructions on the Practices of a Monarch

  • Practical Advice for Leaders
  • Spiritual Wisdom for Powerful People

V. Practices of a Bodhisattva

  • Abandoning Afflictions and Cultivating Goodness
  • Excellent Qualities of the Ten Bodhisattva Grounds
  • The Magnificent Qualities of a Buddha
  • Closing Words of Advice

Detailed outline

A detailed outline based on the commentary by Tibetan scholar Gyaltsap Je is available here:

Commentaries

Indian

Tibetan

English

  • Khensur Jampa Tegchok (2017), Thubten Chodron (editor), Practical Ethics and Profound Emptiness: A Commentary on Nagarjuna’s Precious Garland, Wisdom Publications

Translations

Tibetan translation

Translation details:[3]

English translations

Print publications:

  • Nāgārjuna’s Precious Garland—Ratnāvalī, translated by John Dunne and Sara L. McClintock (Wisdom Publications, 2024).
    While the 1997 edition of Dunne and McClintock was translated from the Tibetan, the present volume prioritizes the surviving Sanskrit verses along with the only known Indian commentary, by Ajitamitra. This is the first complete translation in English of the 'Precious Garland' that takes the Indian text and commentary as its primary authorities. In addition, they provide rigorous working editions of the Sanskrit and Tibetan verses they translate.
  • Khensur Jampa Tegchok (2017), Thubten Chodron (editor), Practical Ethics and Profound Emptiness: A Commentary on Nagarjuna’s Precious Garland, Wisdom Publications
  • The Precious Necklace, Chapter 3, by the Padmakara Translation Group. Published on the occasion of the teachings by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Nantes, 15—20 August 2008. (not currently available)
  • Nagarjuna's Precious Garland, translated by Jeffrey Hopkins, Snow Lion Publications, 2007
  • The Precious Garland: An Epistle to a King, translated by John Dunne and Sara McClintock, Wisdom Publications, 1997

Web publications:

Quotation

Nagarjuna states:

If we, ourselves and all the world,
Should wish for unsurpassed enlightenment,
Its basis is a bodhichitta
Stable as the lord of mountains,
Compassion reaching out to all directions,
And a wisdom that transcends duality.[4]

Videos

Search for videos:


Selected videos:

Notes

  1. ↑ Nāgārjuna's Precious Garland: Ratnāvalī, Khyentse Foundation
  2. ↑ Jampa Tegchok 2017, s.v. Contents.
  3. ↑ Ratnāvalī, 84000 Collection
  4. ↑ bdag_nyid_dang_ni_'jig_rten_'dis, Rangjung Yeshe Wiki

Sources

  • Jampa Tegchok (2017), Thubten Chodron, ed., Practical Ethics and Profound Emptiness: A Commentary on Nargarjuna's Precious Garland, translated by Carlier, Steve, Wisdom Publications 

Further reading

  • Leonard van der Kuijp, 'Notes on the Transmission of Nagarjuna's Ratnavali in Tibet', in The Tibet Journal, Summer 1985, vol. X, No.2,4
  • Michael Hanh, 'On a Numerical Problem in Nāgārjuna's Ratnāvalī', in Indological and Buddhist Studies: Volume in Honour of Professor J.W. de Jong on his Sixtieth Birthday, Canberra: Faculty of Asian Studies, 1982, 161-185

External links

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