Dear Dr Hohlfeld,

Thank you very much for your important questions today.

Q.1 : Is there a biography of Nagarjuna?

A.1 : I have studied a biography of Nagarjuna relying upon Doctor Nakamura Hajime's book entitled "Nagarjuna" in Japanese, which is published by Kodansha. The book belongs to a series of "Intelectual Legacy of Human Beings." I guess that there might be some books of his biography in English, but so far I haven't read them yet.

Q.2: What are some important facts in which Nagarjuna and Dogen share the
same opinion?

A.2: I think that the most important facts, which are common between Nagarjuna and Dogen, are that the two great Masters both had a very clear idea that Buddhism is just Realism. And in this case it is very important that Realism is absolutely different from Materialism in Buddhism, but unfortunately many people are not so clear about this problem yet.

Q.3: Do you think that dreaming has a useful relation to Reality?

A.3: I think that everyone should be responsible even in dreams, and so I have idea that even a dream is also a data, which suggests some kind of Reality.

Q.4: Does our action bring the world into existence ?

A.4: Our action at the present moment is just an existence in Reality, and so it is also the Universe itself.

Q.5: How can we come to deep insight into necessity?

A.5: I do not know whether it is necessary for us to come to deep insight, or not, because I do not know whether the so-called deep insight exists really on the earth, or not.

Thank you very much for your very important questions.

Gudo Wafu Nishijima