Ethically attaining wisdom: A gradualist reading of Nāgārjuna’s Ratnāvalī

Abstract

(First paragraph of Chapter 1): In this thesis I will argue for a particular interpretation of the structure of the ethics housed in Nāgārjuna’s Ratnāvalī (RV)1. We will see that the ethics of the RV are not straightforward. Indeed, at many points in the text Nāgārjuna seems to disguise his true position. I will suggest that many of the claims in the RV cannot be taken at face value and in fact must be understood within a gradualist framework. That is, we must understand that many of the ethical claims in the RV are intended for different readers at different levels of spiritual and ethical development.