Verse I.20

Ratnagotravibhāga Root Verse I.20

Verse I.20 Variations

त्याज्यत्वान् मोषधर्मत्वादभावात् सभयत्वतः
धर्मो द्विधार्यसंघश्च नात्यन्तं शरणं परम्

tyājyatvān moṣadharmatvādabhāvāt sabhayatvataḥ
dharmo dvidhāryasaṃghaśca nātyantaṃ śaraṇaṃ param

E. H. Johnston as input by the University of the West.^[1]

སྤང་ཕྱིར་བསླུ་བའི་ཆོས་ཅན་ཕྱིར། །
མེད་ཕྱིར་འཇིགས་དང་བཅས་པའི་ཕྱིར། །
ཆོས་རྣམས་གཉིས་དང་འཕགས་པའི་ཚོགས། །
གཏན་གྱི་སྐྱབས་མཆོག་མ་ཡིན་ནོ། །

Dege, PHI, 110

Because of being abandoned, because of having a deceptive nature,
Because of being nonexistent, and because of being fearful,
The twofold dharma and the noble saṃgha
Are not the ultimate supreme refuge.

When the Clouds Part, Brunnhölzl, 349. ^[2]

可捨及虛妄無物及怖畏

二種法及僧非究竟歸依

http://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/en/T31n1611_p0826a24

Ni le Dharma sous ses deux aspects ni la sublime assemblée

Ne sont de suprêmes refuges promis à durer.

L’un parce qu’il faudra le laisser derrière soi,

parce qu’il est trompeur et qu’il n’existe pas ;

Et l’autre parce qu’on y trouve encore de la peur.

Charrier, Christian and Patrick Carré. Traité de la Continuité suprême du Grand Véhicule. Plazac: Éditions Padmakara, 2019.

RGVV Commentary on Verse I.20

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Full Tibetan Commentary
Full English Commentary
Full Sanskrit Commentary
Full Chinese Commentary

Because of being abandoned, because of having a deceptive nature,

Because of being nonexistent, and because of being fearful,

The twofold dharma and the noble saṃgha

Are not the ultimate supreme refuge. I.20

The dharma is twofold: the dharma as teaching and the dharma as realization. Here, the dharma as teaching refers to reading [or reciting]^[3] the teachings, such as the sūtras, and it consists of the collections of the names, words, and letters [of the sūtras and so on]. [This dharma] is said to be like a raft,^[4] because it comes to its end through being clearly realized on the path.

The dharma as realization is twofold through being divided into cause and result. That is, [it consists of] the reality of the path and the reality of cessation, {J19} which refers to that through which it is realized and that which [is realized]. Here, the path is included in what has the characteristic of being conditioned. What is included in what has the characteristic of being conditioned has a deceptive and false nature; what has a deceptive and false nature is unreal; what is unreal is impermanent; and what is impermanent is not a [lasting] refuge. Also, according to the system of the śrāvakas, the cessation realized by that path consists of the mere nonexistence of afflictions and suffering, just like the extinction of a lamp. But a nonexistence is not suitable to be either a refuge or a nonrefuge. {P86a}

"The saṃgha" is a term for the assemblies of those in the three yānas. They are always fearful because they take refuge in the Tathāgata, search for final deliverance, [still] have to learn [more] and have [many more] things to do, and are [only] approaching unsurpassable completely perfect awakening. How are they fearful? Even the arhats, who have terminated further existences [in saṃsāra], {D84b} did not destroy their latent tendencies and therefore are always and continuously immersed in a strong sense of fear of all formations [of saṃsāra], as if [being afraid] of an executioner with raised sword. Therefore, even they have not attained the ultimate and blissful final deliverance. [In general, what constitutes a genuine] refuge does not seek refuge [elsewhere]. Just as sentient beings without a refuge are frightened by this or that fear and consequently seek deliverance from those [fears], likewise, arhats have their [kind of] fear and, being frightened by that fear, consequently take refuge in the Tathāgata. Thus, since they have fear, they take refuge and undoubtedly seek for deliverance from that fear. Since they seek for deliverance from fear, they [still] have [more] to learn and have [many more] things to do with regard to destroying the basis of that fear. Since they [still] have [more] to learn, {J20} they are [only] approaching the attainment of the fearless supreme^[5] state, that is, unsurpassable completely perfect awakening. Therefore, since the [saṃgha] too is [only] a refuge that is a branch of the [ultimate refuge], it is not the ultimate refuge. Thus, these two refuges [the dharma and the saṃgha] are called "temporary refuges."

tyājyatvān moṣadharmatvādabhāvāt sabhayatvataḥ/

dharmo dvidhāryasaṃghaśca nātyantaṃ śaraṇaṃ param//20//

dvividho dharmaḥ/ deśanādharmo'dhigamadharmaśca/ tatra deśanādharmaḥ sūtrādideśanāyā nāmapadavyañjanakāyasaṃgṛhītaḥ/ sa ca mārgābhisamayaparyavasānatvāt kolopama ityuktaḥ/ adhigamadharmo hetuphalabhedena dvividhaḥ/ yaduta mārgasatyaṃ nirodhasatyaṃ ca/ yena yadadhigamyata iti kṛtvā/ tatra mārgaḥ saṃskṛtalakṣaṇaparyāpannaḥ/ yat saṃskṛtalakṣaṇaparyāpannaṃ tan mṛṣāmoṣadharmi/ yan mṛṣāmoṣadharmi tadasatyam/ yadasatyaṃ tadanityam/ yadanityaṃ tadśaraṇam/ yaśca tena mārgeṇa nirodho'dhigataḥ so'pi śrāvakanayena pradīpocchedavat kleśaduḥkhābhāvamātraprabhāvitaḥ/ na cābhāvaḥ śaraṇamaśaraṇaṃ vā bhavitumarhati/

saṃgha iti traiyānikasya gaṇasyaitadadhivacanam/ sa ca nityaṃ sabhayastathāgataśaraṇagato niḥsaraṇaparyeṣī śaikṣaḥ sakaraṇīyaḥ pratipannakaścānuttarāyāṃ samyaksaṃbodhāviti/ kathaṃ samayaḥ/ yasmādarhatāmapi kṣīṇapunarbhavānāmaprahīṇatvādvāsaṃnāyāḥ satatasamitaṃ sarvāsaṃskāreṣu tīvrā bhayasaṃjñā pratyupasthitā bhavati syādyathāpi nāmotkṣiptāsike vadhakapuruṣe tasmātte'pi nātyantasukhaniḥsaraṇamadhigatāḥ/ na hi śaraṇaṃ śaraṇaṃ paryeṣate/ yathaivā śaraṇāḥ sattvā yena tena bhayena bhītāstatastato niḥsaraṇaṃ paryeṣante tadvadarhatāmapyasti tadbhayaṃ yataste bhayādbhītāstathāgatameva śaraṇamupagacchanti/ yaścaivaṃ sabhayatvāccharaṇamupagacchatyavaśyaṃ bhayānniḥsaraṇaṃ sa paryeṣyate/ niḥsaraṇaparyeṣitvācca bhayanidānaprahāṇamadhikṛtya śaikṣo bhavati sakaraṇīyaḥ/ śaikṣatvāt pratipannako bhavatyabhayamāryabhasthānamanuprāptuṃ yadutānuttarāṃ samyaksaṃbodhim/ tasmātso'pi tadaṅgaśaraṇatvānnātyantaṃ śaraṇam/ evamime dve śaraṇe paryantakāle śaraṇe ityucyete/

Other English translations

Listed by date of publication

Obermiller (1931) ^[6]

The Doctrine in its two forms and the Congregation of the Saints

Are not by themselves the highest, absolute Refuge.

Indeed, (the former) is (ultimately) given up, is illusionary and

of a negative character,

(And the latter) is not devoid of fear (and error).—

Takasaki (1966) ^[7]

As being abandoned, being of deceptive nature,

Being non-existence and being possessed of fear, [respectively],

The two kinds of Doctrine and the Community

Are ultimately not the highest Refuge.

Holmes (1985) ^[8]

Neither both aspects of dharma

nor the deeply-realised sangha

constitute a supreme refuge

that will last forever -

because they are to be abandoned,

one is an inconstant and

one nothing whatsoever

and because they have fear.

Holmes (1999) ^[9]

Neither both aspects of dharma nor the deeply-realised saṃgha

constitute a supreme refuge which will last for ever,

because they are to be abandoned, one is inconstant,

one is nothing whatsoever and they (the saṃgha) fear.

Fuchs (2000) ^[10]

[The Dharma] will be abandoned and is of an unsteady nature.

It is not [the ultimate quality], and [the Sangha] is still with fear.

Thus the two aspects of Dharma and the Assembly of noble ones

do not represent the supreme refuge, which is constant and stable.

Textual sources

Commentaries on this verse

Academic notes

Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon Unicode Input
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.
I follow MB sūtrādideśanāpāṭhaḥ (confirmed by DP mdo sde la sogs pa bstan pa brjod pa) against J sūtrādideśanāyā.
See, for example, Majjhima Nikāya 22.13–14. Alagaddūpamasutta; in Bhikku Ñāṇamoli and Bhikku Bodhi, trans., The Middle Length Sayings of the Buddha (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1995, 228–29) and the Vajracchedikāprajñāpāramitāsūtra §6, D16, fol. 123a.3, in E. Conze, trans., Perfect Wisdom (Totnes, UK: Buddhist Publishing Group, 2002, 151).
J ārṣabha (lit. "descending from a bull").
Obermiller, E. "The Sublime Science of the Great Vehicle to Salvation Being a Manual of Buddhist Monism." Acta Orientalia IX (1931), pp. 81-306.
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.
Holmes, Ken & Katia. The Changeless Nature. Eskdalemuir, Scotland: Karma Drubgyud Darjay Ling, 1985.
Holmes, Ken & Katia. Maitreya on Buddha Nature. Scotland: Altea Publishing, 1999.
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.

[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 MB sūtrādideśanāpāṭhaḥ (confirmed by DP mdo sde la sogs pa bstan pa brjod pa) against J sūtrādideśanāyā.

[4] See, for example, Majjhima Nikāya 22.13–14. Alagaddūpamasutta; in Bhikku Ñāṇamoli and Bhikku Bodhi, trans., The Middle Length Sayings of the Buddha (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1995, 228–29) and the Vajracchedikāprajñāpāramitāsūtra §6, D16, fol. 123a.3, in E. Conze, trans., Perfect Wisdom (Totnes, UK: Buddhist Publishing Group, 2002, 151).

[5] J ārṣabha (lit. "descending from a bull").

[6] Obermiller, E. "The Sublime Science of the Great Vehicle to Salvation Being a Manual of Buddhist Monism." Acta Orientalia IX (1931), pp. 81-306.

[7] 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.

[8] Holmes, Ken & Katia. The Changeless Nature. Eskdalemuir, Scotland: Karma Drubgyud Darjay Ling, 1985.

[9] Holmes, Ken & Katia. Maitreya on Buddha Nature. Scotland: Altea Publishing, 1999.

[10] 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.

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