Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This brief poetic fragment advocates for a non-dual realization of reality by synthesizing the philosophical concept of emptiness with the affective quality of compassion. The text argues that the apparent distinction between method and insight, as well as the duality of conventional objects, is illusory, comparing the perceived world to a reflected image. It commits the reader to a practice of transcendence where the practitioner abandons intellectual disputes in favor of a direct, experiential engagement with reality. By employing provocative metaphors—specifically the consumption of meat and wine—the text suggests a transgressive approach to conventional morality and conceptual boundaries, urging the reader to integrate the conventional realm into a state of emptiness. The argument posits that true compassion is found not in the avoidance of the conventional, but in the realization of its empty nature.
Provenance
About this text
A treatise advocating for the synthesis of compassion and emptiness, the klu sgrub kyi glu is attributed to the Indian author Nāgārjuna. This work is preserved within the classical Tibetan tradition, appearing in the Tengyur, volume ཟི, where it is categorized under the General Unexcelled Yoga Tantra Works. The source edition contains a single page of text. The work enacts a non-dual realization of reality, urging the practitioner to abandon the disputes of duality and view the assembly of method and insight as a reflected image. By employing provocative metaphors involving the consumption of meat and wine, it argues for a transgressive approach to conventional objects, instructing the reader to integrate the conventional realm into the flavor of compassion and the purity of emptiness. A scholar or serious reader consults this brief fragment today to examine its specific instructions on maintaining secrecy from the unqualified while teaching these meanings to fortunate beings, and to analyze its poetic integration of philosophical emptiness with experiential practice.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “A Song of Nāgārjuna” (Toh 2373), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2373
Summary & commentary
Significance
The work is significant for its use of tantric imagery to express Madhyamaka philosophical goals, blending emptiness with non-dual practice. For the modern reader, it illustrates the intersection of rigorous negation and the paradoxical use of prohibited substances as metaphors for spiritual liberation.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Single Passage
A poetic exhortation to abandon duality and perceive the conventional world as a reflection while abiding in emptiness and compassion.
Themes
Non-duality (1)
Emptiness and Compassion (1)
Conventional vs. Ultimate Reality (1)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
Abiding in emptiness, the very nature of compassion,
The assembly of method and insight dwelling in the field,
Should be understood to be like a reflected image.
With the flavor of compassion, abandon the disputes of duality.
There, eat the meat of the conventional objects;
Drink the wine of utterly pure emptiness.
Teach this meaning to fortunate beings;
Keep it strictly secret from those who lack the fortune.
Having moistened the outer and inner with the ointment of liberation,
Enjoy the sensory pleasures of the objects as you please.
Regarding the phenomena of coming and going,
Do not dwell on the mind of pure or impure.
Adorned with the garland of bodhicitta,
One should enter the secret maṇḍala;
The union of method and insight is uninterrupted.
One must not abandon the innate ḍombī.
The song of Nāgārjuna is complete.
Translation status: Not among 84000's published translations. A bibliography of the canon lists 1 English-language publication(s) on this text, e.g. Hackett, Paul G., ″Song of Nāgārjuna″ (2004). unpublished. — these may include a full or partial translation. (source: 84000 catalogue + registry; checked 2026-11-10).
Set in Newsreader and EB Garamond; Tibetan in Noto Serif Tibetan; Chinese in Noto Serif SC.