[INDOLOGY] Nagararjuna finger pointing to moon reference?

Wed Mar 20 08:31:55 UTC 2013

Thanks Dan! 

Michael Dorfman also sent me this information below -- also from the Chinese, I guess.

Is there scholarly consensus about whether Nagarjuna might actually have said it?

Best,

Dean

"Relying on the meaning (arthapratisaraṇa), since goodwill or malice, defect or merit, falsity or truth, cannot be attributed to meaning. It is the letter (vyañjana) that indicates the meaning (artha), but the meaning is not the letter. Suppose a man points his finger at the moon to people who doubt the moon's presence; if these doubters fixate on the finger but do not look at the moon, this man tells them: "I am pointing to the moon with my finger so that you may notice the moon. Why do you fixate on my finger instead of looking at the moon?"  It is the same here: the letter (vyañjana) is the finger pointing to the meaning (artha), but the letter is not the meaning. This is why one should not rely on the letter."

Page 425 of the attached translation of the Māhāprajñāpāramitāśāstra. 
THE TREATISE ON THE GREAT VIRTUE OF WISDOM OF NĀGĀRJUNA 
(MAHĀPRAJÑĀPĀRAMITĀŚĀSTRA) 
ÉTIENNE LAMOTTE 
VOL. I , CHAPTERS I – XV 

TRANSLATED BY 
THE TRIPIṬAKADHARMĀCĀRYA KUMĀRAJIVA 
 Translated from the French By Gelongma Karma Migme Chodron 2001 

________________________________
 From: Dan Lusthaus <vasubandhu at earthlink.net>
To: Indology <indology at list.indology.info> 
Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2013 3:37 PM
Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] Nagararjuna finger pointing to moon reference?

Dear Dean,

I don't know of any Sanskrit texts offhand that make that 
claim in Nagarjuna's name, but the Dazhidu lun (WG: Ta chih-tu lun), translated 
by Kumārajīva into Chinese in the first decade of the fifth century which he 
attributes to Nagarjuna (it is considered a commentary on the Prajñāpāramitā 
sūtra), contains that line three times: Twice at T 25.1509.125a29-b5, and then 
once again at T.25.1509.726a2-3.

Aside from Nagarjuna attributions, one 
also finds that line in all three Chinese trs. of the Laṅkāvatāra sūtra:

by Guṇabhadra (tr between 435-443 CE): 
T.16.670.510c17
by Bodhiruci (513 CE): 
T.16.671.557a20
by Śikṣānanda (ca. 700 CE): 
T.16.672.620a15

It is also found in Guṇabhadra's tr. 
of the Aṅgulimālīya sūtra (tr between 435-443), T.2.20.537a11-12 (Yangjuemolo 
jing) 

Dan Lusthaus

>
>Does  anyone have the exact text reference for the statement attributed to Nagarjuna  that one should look to the moon, not the finger pointing to the moon? In  other words, the words of the teaching are not the same as their  realization.
>
>Best,
>
>Dean
>
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