Nāgārjuna's works sit at the heart of Mahāyāna Buddhist thought and
practice, but he was renowned in Asia not only for his Madhyamaka work,
but also his poetic collection of praises, most famously
In Praise of Dharmadhatu.
This book explores the scope, contents, and significance of Nāgārjuna’s
scriptural legacy in India and Tibet, focusing primarily on this
seminal work. The translation of Nāgārjuna’s hymn to buddha nature—here
called
dharmadhatu—shows how buddha nature is temporarily
obscured in the experience of ordinary sentient beings, gradually
uncovered through the path of bodhisattvas, and finally revealed in full
bloom as buddhahood. Included is 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.
432 pages. Hardcover.