Verse I.54

།དེ་ལ་མ་དག་པའི་གནས་སྐབས་ན་འགྱུར་བ་མེད་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད་ལས་བརྩམས་པའི་ཚིགས་སུ་བཅད་པ་བཅུ་གཉིས་པོ་གང་དག་ཅེ་ན། ཇི་ལྟར་ནམ་མཁའ་ཀུན་སོང་བ། །ཕྲ་ཕྱིར་ཉེ་བར་གོས་པ་མེད། །དེ་བཞིན་སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད་ལ། །གནས་འདི་ཉེ་བར་གོས་པ་མེད། །ཇི་ལྟར་འཇིག་རྟེན་ཐམས་ཅད་དུ། །ནམ་མཁའ་ལ་ནི་སྐྱེ་ཞིང་འཇིག །དེ་བཞིན་འདུས་མ་བྱས་དབྱིངས་ལ། །དབང་པོ་རྣམས་ནི་སྐྱེ་ཞིང་འཇིག །ཇི་ལྟར་ནམ་མཁའ་མེ་

རྣམས་ཀྱིས། །སྔོན་ཆད་ནམ་ཡང་ཚིག་པ་མེད། །དེ་བཞིན་འདི་ནི་འཆི་བ་དང་། །ན་དང་རྒ་བའི་མེས་མི་འཚིག །ས་ནི་ཆུ་ལ་ཆུ་རླུང་ལ། །རླུང་ནི་མཁའ་ལ་རབ་ཏུ་གནས། །མཁའ་ནི་རླུང་དང་ཆུ་དག་དང་། །ས་ཡི་ཁམས་ལ་གནས་མ་ཡིན། །དེ་བཞིན་ཕུང་པོ་ཁམས་དབང་རྣམས། །ལས་དང་ཉོན་མོངས་དག་ལ་གནས། །ལས་དང་ཉོན་མོངས་ཚུལ་བཞིན་མིན། །ཡིད་ལ་བྱེད་ལ་རྟག་ཏུ་གནས། །ཚུལ་བཞིན་མ་ཡིན་ཡིད་བྱེད་ནི། །སེམས་ཀྱི་དག་པ་ལ་རབ་གནས། །སེམས་ཀྱི་རང་བཞིན་ཆོས་རྣམས་ནི། །ཐམས་ཅད་ལ་ཡང་གནས་པ་མེད། །ས་དང་འདྲ་བར་ཕུང་པོ་དང་། །སྐྱེ་མཆེད་ཁམས་རྣམས་ཤེས་པར་བྱ། །ཆུ་ཁམས་དང་འདྲ་ལུས་ཅན་གྱི། །ལས་དང་ཉོན་མོངས་ཤེས་བྱ་སྟེ། །ཚུལ་བཞིན་མ་ཡིན་ཡིད་བྱེད་ནི། །རླུང་གི་ཁམས་དང་འདྲ་བར་བལྟ། །རང་བཞིན་ནམ་མཁའི་ཁམས་བཞིན་དུ། །དེ་བཞིན་ཅན་མིན་གནས་པ་མེད། །ཚུལ་བཞིན་མ་ཡིན་ཡིད་བྱེད་ནི། །སེམས་ཀྱི་རང་བཞིན་ལ་གནས་ཏེ། །ཚུལ་བཞིན་མ་ཡིན་ཡིད་བྱེད་ཀྱིས། །ལས་དང་ཉོན་མོངས་རབ་ཏུ་ཕྱེ། །ལས་དང་ཉོན་མོངས་ཆུ་ལས་ནི། །ཕུང་པོ་སྐྱེ་མཆེད་ཁམས་རྣམས་འབྱུང་། །དེ་འཇིག་པ་དང་འཆགས་པ་ལྟར། །སྐྱེ་དང་འཇིག་པར་འགྱུར་བ་ཡིན། །སེམས་ཀྱི་རང་བཞིན་ནམ་མཁའ་ཡི། །ཁམས་ལྟར་རྒྱུ་མེད་རྐྱེན་མེད་དེ། །ཚོགས་པ་མེད་ཅིང་སྐྱེ་བ་དང་། །འཇིག་དང་གནས་པའང་ཡོད་མ་ཡིན། །སེམས་ཀྱི་རང་བཞིན་འོད་གསལ་གང་ཡིན་པ། །དེ་ནི་ནམ་མཁའ་བཞིན་དུ་འགྱུར་མེད་དེ། །ཡང་དག་མིན་རྟོགས་ལས་བྱུང་འདོད་ཆགས་སོགས། །གློ་བུར་དྲི་མས་དེ་ཉོན་མོངས་མི་འགྱུར།

Other English translations

Obermiller (1931) ^[6]

Just as space will never be destroyed

By the (destructive) fires (at the end of the world)，

In a like way this (Essence of the Buddha)

Is not consumed by the fires of death, of illness, and decrepitude.

Takasaki (1966) ^[7]

Just as space has never been burnt.

By the fire [at the end of the world];

Likewise the fires of death, of illness and decrepitude

Cannot consume this [Essence of the Buddha].

Fuchs (2000) ^[8]

Space is never burnt by fires.

Likewise this [dharmadhatu]

is not burnt by the fires

of death, sickness, and aging.

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.

[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] 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.

[4] Here, the text has indriya, which is always replaced by āyatana below.

[5] 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).

[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] 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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@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 |VariationTransSource=[[When the Clouds Part]], [[Brunnhölzl, K.|Brunnhölzl]], 374 <ref>[[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.</ref>
 }}
+|EnglishCommentary=Now, what are the twelve verses about the topic of [the tathāgata element’s] being changeless during its phase of being impure?
+::'''Just as all-pervasive space'''
+::'''Is untainted due to its subtlety''',
+::'''So this [basic element] that abides everywhere'''
+::'''In sentient beings is untainted'''. I.52
+::'''Just as the worlds everywhere'''
+::'''Are born and perish in space''',
+::'''So the faculties arise and perish'''
+::'''In the unconditioned basic element'''. I.53
+::'''Just as space was never''' {D97b}
+::'''Burned before by any fires''', {P101a}
+::'''So this [basic element] is not consumed'''
+::'''By the fires of death, sickness, and aging'''. I.54
+::'''Earth rests upon water, water on wind''',
+::'''And wind on space''',
+::'''[But] space does not rest on the elements'''
+::'''Of wind, water, or earth'''.<ref>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.</ref> I.55
+::'''Likewise, skandhas, dhātus, and faculties'''<ref>Here, the text has ''indriya'', which is always replaced by āyatana below.</ref>
+::'''Rest on karma and afflictions''',
+::'''And karma and afflictions always rest on'''
+::'''Improper mental engagement'''. I.56
+::'''Improper mental engagement'''
+::''Rests on the purity of the mind''',
+::'''[But] this nature of the mind does not rest'''
+::''On any of these phenomena'''. I.57
+::'''The skandhas, āyatanas, and dhātus'''
+::'''Should be understood as being like the element of earth'''.
+::'''The karma and afflictions of living beings'''
+::'''Should be understood as resembling the element of water'''. I.58 {J43}
+::'''Improper mental engagement'''
+::'''Is to be known as being like the element of wind'''.
+::'''Being without root and not resting [on anything]''',
+::'''[Mind’s] nature is similar to space'''. I.59
+::'''Improper mental engagement'''
+::'''Rests on the nature of the mind''',
+::'''And improper mental engagement'''
+::'''Produces karma and afflictions'''. I.60
+::'''Skandhas, āyatanas, and dhātus'''
+::'''Arise and disappear'''
+::'''From water-like karma and afflictions''',
+::'''Just as the evolution and dissolution of the [world]'''. I.61
+::'''Lacking causes and conditions''',
+::'''Lacking aggregation, and lacking'''
+::''Arising, ceasing, and abiding''',
+::''The nature of the mind resembles space'''. I.62
+::'''The luminous nature of the mind'''
+::'''Is completely unchanging, just like space'''.
+::'''It is not<ref>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). </ref> afflicted by adventitious stains''',
+::'''Such as desire, born from false imagination'''. I.63
 |OtherTranslations=<h6>Obermiller (1931) <ref>Obermiller, E. "The Sublime Science of the Great Vehicle to Salvation Being a Manual of Buddhist Monism." Acta Orientalia IX (1931), pp. 81-306.</ref></h6>
 :Just as space will never be destroyed

Verse I.54

Revision as of 14:12, 17 May 2019

Verse I.54 Variations

RGVV Commentary on Verse I.54