Ratnagotravibhāga Root Verse I.17

Verse I.17 Variations

इत्येवं योऽवबोधस्तत्प्रत्यात्मज्ञानदर्शनम्
तच्छुद्धिरमले धातावसङ्गाप्रतिघा ततः
ityevaṃ yo'vabodhastatpratyātmajñānadarśanam
tacchuddhiramale dhātāvasaṅgāpratighā tataḥ
E. H. Johnston as input by the University of the West.[1]
དེ་ལྟར་རྟོགས་པ་གང་ཡིན་དེ། །
སོ་སོ་རང་ཤེས་མཐོང་བ་ཉིད། །
དྲི་མེད་དབྱིངས་ལ་ཆགས་མེད་དང་། །
ཐོགས་མེད་ཕྱིར་དེ་དག་པ་ཡིན། །
Such a realization is the vision
Of one’s own personal wisdom.
It is pure in the stainless basic element
Because it lacks attachment and lacks obstruction.
如是內身自覺知彼無漏法界無障無閡
(This verse is not marked as such in the Chinese translation.)
Cette réalisation est la vision
Que chacun connaît par soi-même.
Elle est pure parce que, dans l’immensité immaculée,
Il n’y a pas d’attachement ni d’obstacles

RGVV Commentary on Verse I.17

Other English translations

Obermiller (1931) [5]
Thus, the intuition (of the Bodhisattvas)
Is their, direct Transcendental Introspection.
It is perfectly pure, being free from attachment
Within the plane of the Immaculate Absolute,
And completely free from all impediments.—
Takasaki (1966) [6]
Thus, what is called 'understanding in such a way',
That is the perception by one's own wisdom.
It is pure in the Immaculate Sphere,
Because it is free from attachment and has no hindrance.
Fuchs (2000) [7]
Such realization is the vision of wisdom
that is self-aware. This wisdom is pure,
since it [sees] the undefiled expanse,
free from attachment and obstruction.

Textual sources

Commentaries on this verse

Academic notes

  1. Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon Unicode Input
  2. Brunnhölzl, Karl. When the Clouds Part: The Uttaratantra and its Meditative Tradition as a Bridge between Sūtra and Tantra. Boston: Snow Lion Publications, an imprint of Shambhala Publications, 2014.
  3. I follow Schmithausen’s emendation of MB suviśuddhim to suviśuddham against J suviśuddhir.
  4. As a pair, "lack of attachment" and "lack of obstruction"refer to being free from afflictive obscurations and cognitive obscurations, respectively. This is expressed here by supramundane wisdom’s "having the naturally pure basic element of sentient beings as its object" and "having limitless knowable entities as its objects,"respectively.
  5. Obermiller, E. "The Sublime Science of the Great Vehicle to Salvation Being a Manual of Buddhist Monism." Acta Orientalia IX (1931), pp. 81-306.
  6. Takasaki, Jikido. A Study on the Ratnagotravibhāga (Uttaratantra): Being a Treatise on the Tathāgatagarbha Theory of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Serie Orientale Roma 33. Roma: Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente (ISMEO), 1966.
  7. Fuchs, Rosemarie, trans. Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra. Commentary by Jamgon Kongtrul and explanations by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso. Ithaca, N. Y.: Snow Lion Publications, 2000.