SUHṚLLEKHA

Abstract

Abstract. Friendly Letter is an ancient Buddhist text which tradition attributes to Nāgārjuna, who lived in India in the 2nd-3rd century AD and is known as the author of a significant number of texts fundamental to Mahāyāna Buddhism and as the founder of the Madhyamaka philosophical school (the school of “middle way”). The text is a private correspondence between a teacher to his disciple from the royal family, whose subject matter elevates issues of behavior to the level of existential choice and encourages awareness of individual responsibility for the present and future from a karmic point of view in accordance with Buddhist tradition. The text also provides a brief introduction to the basic guidelines of Buddhist teachings. Contextually it belongs to the corpus of manuscripts of the Tibetan Buddhist canon (Bstan 'gyur). It is included in the educational programs of many Tibetan Buddhist educational institutions and remains one of the most quoted texts penned by Nāgārjuna to this day. Originally the text was written in Sanskrit under the abbreviated title “Suhṛllekha”. It was translated into Tibetan by Sarvajnyādeva (sa+rba dznyā de ba) and Peltseg (dpal brtsegs) in the 8th century AD under the title “bshes pa'i spring yig.” This publication constitutes the first translation of this text from Tibetan into Ukrainian. The contents of the text have been structured by the translator in accordance with traditional Tibetan commentaries on its translation.