Nagarjuna Quotes & Sayings

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

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

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

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

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

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

Since all is empty, all is possible. — Nagarjuna

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

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

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

The pacification of all cognitive grasping and the pacification of conceptual proliferation are peace. — Nagarjuna

If you desire ease, forsake learning. — Nagarjuna

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

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

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

The whole world is cause and effect; excluding this, there is no sentient being. from factors which are empty, empty factors originate.
those who impute origination to even very subtle entities are unwise and have not seen the meaning of conditioned origination.
there is nothing to be denied and nothing to be affirmed. see the real correctly, for he who sees the real correctly is released — Nagarjuna

Things derive their being and nature by mutual dependence and are nothing in themselves. — Nagarjuna

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