Verse I.52 Variations
सर्वत्रावस्थितः सत्त्वे तथायं नोपलिप्यते
sarvatrāvasthitaḥ sattve tathāyaṃ nopalipyate
ཕྲ་ཕྱིར་ཉེ་བར་གོས་པ་མེད། །
དེ་བཞིན་སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད་ལ། །
གནས་འདི་ཉེ་བར་གོས་པ་མེད། །
Is untainted due to its subtlety,
So this [basic element] that abides everywhere
In sentient beings is untainted.
- De même que, du fait de sa subtilité,
- Rien ne peut souiller l’espace omniprésent,
- Rien ne peut souiller cette présence
- En tous et en chaque être.
RGVV Commentary on Verse I.52
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Obermiller (1931) [6]
- Just as space fills everything,
- And, owing to its subtle (transcendental) character, cannot be polluted,
- In the same way this (perfectly pure Germ) has its abode
- In all living beings, but remains undefiled (by their passions).
- [The Germ is not affected by Origination and Destruction.]
Takasaki (1966) [7]
- Just as space, being all-pervading,
- Cannot be polluted because of its subtle nature;
- Similarly, abiding everywhere among living beings,
- This [Essence] remains unpolluted [by defilements].
Fuchs (2000) [8]
- [Though] space permeates everything,
- it is never polluted, due to its subtlety
- Likewise the [dharmadhatu] in all beings
- does not suffer the slightest pollution.
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.
- This refers to the ancient Indian cosmological model of worlds arising in space due to the four elemental spheres of wind, fire, water, and earth being stacked up in that order and thus supporting the upper spheres. As VT (fol. 13r1) confirms, the element of fire is not mentioned among the four elements in this text because fire is used to illustrate sickness, aging, and death, which destroy one’s prior state of existence.
- Here, the text has indriya, which is always replaced by āyatana below.
- Given the example of space’s being completely unaffected by what arises and ceases in it, I follow DP’s negative before "afflicted" (the Sanskrit and C lack this negative).
- 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.
- 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.