This book is primarily about buddha nature--called dharmadhatu here--the potential in all living beings to awaken to their mind's primordial true nature, thus freeing themselves and others from suffering. The great Buddhist master Na-ga-rjuna shows how buddha nature exists in all beings, is temporarily obscured, and can be revealed in its full bloom. The emphasis is on the actual experience of mind's vivid wakefulness.

The themes of this text are brought to a deeper level by the inclusion of a translation of its earliest, most extensive commentary by the Third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje (1284-1339). His distinct positions on buddha nature and the transformation of consciousness into enlightened wisdom also serve as the fundamental view for the entire vajrayana as understood and practiced in the Kagyu tradition to the present day.

In Praise of Dharmadhatu, Nagarjuna & Third Karmapa, Snow Lion Publications, Hardcover, 2007, 432 pp, $29.95

NAGARJUNA, a South Indian Buddhist master who lived six-hundred years after the Buddha, is undoubtedly the most important, influential, and widely studied Mahayana Buddhist philosopher.

Karl Brunnholzl, MD, was trained as a physician and also studied Tibetology. He received his systematic training in Tibetan language and Buddhist philosophy and practice at the Marpa Institute for Translators, founded by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche. Since 1989 he has been a translator and interpreter from Tibetan and English. He is presently involved with the Nitartha Institute as a teacher and translator.

Abbreviations. 7
An Aspiration by H.H. the Seventeenth Karmapa, Orgyen Trinle Dorje. 9
Foreword by H.H. the Seventeenth Karmapa, Orgyen Trinle Dorje. 11
Foreword by The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche. 13
Preface. 17
NAGARJUNA AND HIS WORKS. 21
- Who Was Nagarjuna? 21
- What Did Nagarjuna Write or Not Write? 22
- Various Views on Nagarjuna's Scriptural Legacy and Its Scope. 30
- Who or What Is Praised in Nagarjuna's Praises? 43
A BRIEF "HISTORY" OF LUMINOUS MIND. 57
A Terminological Map for the Dharmadhatustava and Its Commentaries. 57
- The Eight Consciousnesses. 57
- The World Is Imagination. 59
- Mind Has Three Natures. 60
- A Fundamental Change of State. 63
- The Expanse of the Basic Element of Being. 63
- Self-Awareness and Personal Experience. 64
- Having the Heart of a Tathagata. 66
- Luminous Mind. 67
Luminous Mind and Tathagatagarbha. 68
- The Eighth Karmapa on the Dharmadhatu as "Disposition" and Tathagata Heart. 83
- Is Buddha Nature an Eternal Soul or Sheer Emptiness? 102
THE DHARMADHATUSTAVA. 113
- An Overview of the Basic Themes of the Dharmadhatustava. 113
- Translation: In Praise of Dharmadhatu. 117
- The Significance of the Dharmadhatustava in the Indo-Tibetan Tradition. 130
THE THIRD KARMAPA, RANGJUNG DORJE, AND HIS COMMENTARY ON THE DHARMADHATUSTAVA. 157
- A Short Biography. 157
- Some Preliminary Remarks on Rangjung Dorje's View. 159
- On Rangjung Dorje's Commentary on the Dharmadhatustava. 193
- Other Tibetan Commentaries on the Dharmadhatustava. 198
- Translation of Rangjung Dorje's Commentary. 206
Appendix I: Outline of Rangjung Dorje's Commentary. 307
Appendix II: Existing Translations of the Praises Attributed to Nagarjuna in the Tengyur. 311
Appendix III: Translations of the Remaining Praises. 313
Glossary: English-Sanskrit-Tibetan. 325
Glossary: Tibetan-Sanskrit-English. 329
Bibliography. 333
Endnotes. 344
Index. 426