Ratnagotravibhāga Root Verse I.86

Verse I.86 Variations

बुद्धधर्माविनिर्भागस्तद्‍गोत्रस्य तथागमः
अमृषामोषधर्मित्वमादिप्रकृतिशान्तता
buddhadharmāvinirbhāgastadgotrasya tathāgamaḥ
amṛṣāmoṣadharmitvamādiprakṛtiśāntatā
E. H. Johnston as input by the University of the West.[1]
སངས་རྒྱས་ཆོས་དབྱེར་མེད་པ་དང་། །
དེ་རིགས་དེ་བཞིན་ཐོབ་པ་དང་། །
བརྫུན་མེད་བསླུ་མེད་ཆོས་ཉིད་དང་། །
གདོད་ནས་རང་བཞིན་ཞི་ཉིད་དོ། །
[They] are the inseparability of the buddha attributes,
The disposition for that having been obtained just as it is,
Its true nature’s being without falsity and deception,
And its being natural primordial peace.
佛法不相離 及彼真如性
法體不虛妄 自性本來淨
[L’immensité non contaminée], c’est la bouddhéité
indissociable de ses qualités,
La filiation obtenue telle quelle,
L’essence du réel qui ne ment ni ne trompe
Et la paix naturelle des origines.

RGVV Commentary on Verse I.86

Other English translations

Obermiller (1931) [12]
(It is the Cosmical Body, since)
The properties of the Buddha are indivisible (manifesting themselves in all that exists).
(It is the Buddha)—
Because the Germ has developed in him into the Absolute.
(It is the Highest Truth), being neither error nor illusion,
(And it is Nirvāṇa), being by nature quiescent from the outset.
Takasaki (1966) [13]
It is indivisible from the Buddha's Properties,
Its Germ has been perfected as it is,
It is not of false, deceptive nature,
And it is quiescent from the very outset.
Fuchs (2000) [14]
Buddha qualities are indivisible.
The disposition is attained as it is.
The true state is [always] free from any fickleness and deceit.
Since beginningless time the nature has been peace itself.

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. D45.48, fol. 272a.7–272b.1.
  4. Skt. prakṛteḥ can be understood as an apposition to "disposition." It could also be read as "the nature of the disposition."DP "by nature" (rang bzhin gyis, though this could just be a common misprint for a genitive gyi).
  5. According to C, this quote is from a Ṣaḍāyatanasūtra or Ṣaḍindriyarāśisūtra (neither the Pāli, nor the Tibetan, nor the Chinese canons contain sūtras of that name). Both the Pāli and the Chinese canons contain the Saḷāyatanavibhangasutta (Majjhima Nikāya 137), Mahāsaḷāyatanikasutta (Majjhima Nikāya 149), and Saḷāyatanasaṃyutta (Saṃyutta Nikāya 35), but none of them contains this passage. It is however found in the Bodhisattvabhūmi (Wogihara ed., 3.4–6; D4037, fol. 2b.4) and, almost identically, in the Śrāvakabhūmi (D4036, fol. 2a.2–3).
  6. There is a partly similar passage in the Śrīmālādevīsūtra (D45.48, fols. 272b.7–273a.1).
  7. D100, fol. 283a.3.
  8. Taishō 668, 467a.
  9. D45.48, fol. 269a.2–3.
  10. Ibid., fol. 272a.2–5.
  11. Ibid., fol. 269a.1–2.
  12. Obermiller, E. "The Sublime Science of the Great Vehicle to Salvation Being a Manual of Buddhist Monism." Acta Orientalia IX (1931), pp. 81-306.
  13. 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.
  14. 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.