Jeffrey Hopkins' commentary on Nagarjuna's Precious Garland of Advice for a King, Class #1

The session starts with an identification of the three dramatic changes in the Snow Lion edition of Jeffrey’s presentation of Nagarjuna’s Precious Garland. The first change is an 84 page Analysis in five chapters: the first chapter presents Nagarjuna’s history over a great many lifetimes of altruistic endeavor, and the other four chapters present the content of Nagarjuna’s poem by way of its major themes. The second change is a re-rendering of the poem itself, freed from an editor’s rules of syllable count for rigid poetic meter and from other problems in the first edition. The third change is inclusion of the edited Tibetan text. The talk then expands on Nagarjuna’s attitude toward giving frank advice, using Chapter Two, Advice for Living, found at the beginning of Part One: Analysis. Main reading: Jeffrey Hopkins: Nagarjuna's Precious Garland: Buddhist Advice for Living and Liberation