Verse 49 We have been discussing this short but very meaningful text, Letter to a Friend, written by Nagarjuna, which he wrote to his friend the king. In it he outlines the basic Mahayana path and gives a great deal of advice. We find in this text some of the earliest...

Verse 49 We have been speaking about a text that was written in the second century of the Common Era by a great Indian master called Nagarjuna. This is a text written in the form of a letter to his friend who was the king of the area in South India where Nagarjuna lived. There...

Verse 50 We have been talking about and trying to explain this very important text by Nagarjuna, his Letter to a Friend, in which we find the presentation and the discussion of so many of the points that are taken up later by Shantideva in his Engaging in Bodhisattva Behavior...

Verse 50-51 We’ve been covering this text of a letter to the king that Nagarjuna wrote. In this letter, Nagarjuna outlines the path to enlightenment and gives general advice to the king. In order to follow that path, first, Nagarjuna explains the need to have confidence in the...

Verses 52–54 We have been looking at this great text, a very early text in Mahayana Buddhism, by Nagarjuna, called a Letter to a Friend, which is a letter that he wrote to his friend the king and in which he outlines the general Mahayana Buddhist path. There are many different...

Verse 55 We’ve been discussing this Letter to a Friend that Nagarjuna wrote to his friend the king. We have been going through one of the many different outlines of it. In that outline, there’s the general introductory material, and then there’s the main material, which is...

Verses 55–58 We’ve been studying this wonderful, early text by Nagarjuna, which is a letter that he wrote to his friend the king. This text is an early source for so much of the Mahayana teachings that we find later elaborated on and quoted from in Shantideva’s text, Engaging...

Verse 59 We are studying this very important early text in the Mahayana literature by the great master Nagarjuna, called Letter to a Friend, in which he outlines the major points of the Mahayana path to his friend the king. We saw that the text has many different types of...

Verse 4 We’ve been looking at the beginning verses of Nagarjuna’s Letter to a Friend and were discussing the fourth verse with which Nagarjuna actually starts the main content of the letter. The fourth verse reads: [4] The Triumphant has proclaimed six (objects) for continual...

Verses 59–61 We’ve been studying Nagarjuna’s text, Letter to a Friend, which he wrote to his friend the king in South India. We have been seeing how this is a very important text. It is one of the earliest Mahayana texts that presents in quite a full form all the basic...