Precious Garland

Precious Garland – (Skt. Ratnāvalī, Wyl. rin chen phreng ba), a shastra written by Nagarjuna and belonging to his Collection of Advice.

In the Precious Garland, Nagarjuna offers advice on how to conduct our lives and how to construct social policies that reflect buddhist ideals.

The advice for personal happiness is concerned first with improving our condition over the course of lifetimes and then with release from all kinds of suffering, culminating in Buddhahood. 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.

In his advice on social and governmental policy, Nagarjuna emphasizes education and compassionate care for all living beings, and states his oppostion to the death penalty, and appeals for charity for the homeless. Calling for the appointment of government figures who do not seek profit or fame, he advises that a selfish motivation will lead to misfortune.

Translations

• Nagarjuna's Precious Garland, translated by Jeffrey Hopkins, Snow Lion Publications, 2007