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{{CommentatorSeparator|Gö Lotsāwa Zhönu Pal}} | {{CommentatorSeparator|Gö Lotsāwa Zhönu Pal}} | ||
Gö Lotsāwa on | Gö Lotsāwa explains the term ''vajrapada'' in his commentary on the ''Ratnagotravibhāga'':{{Blockquote|</em>Now the [Ratnagotravibhāga]vyākhyā on this stanza [I.i] will be explained. In this regard there is an explanation of the term ''vajra point'' (lit. “vajra base”) and a presentation of canonical sources making the vajra[-like] meanings known. First, the seven meanings (i.e., objects), which must be realized on the basis of the [corresponding] words, are ultimate ones, and thus vajra-like. The words expressing these [meanings] are a basis because they are [their] foundation. Thus all seven words are called ''vajra bases''. To explain them again: since [Tib.] ''de la'' ("in this regard”), [in Sanskrit] ''tatra'', is the seventh case, it [can] be taken toimply [Tib.] ''de na'' (“at that place,” “there”) and [means]: when explaining this vajra ''base''.<br>“Listening” means arisen from listening, that is to say, knowing the meaning from scriptures. “Reflection” means arisen from reflection, that is, knowing the meaning from having reflected on reasons and arguments. “Difficult to understand on the basis of these two [types of] knowledge” means that when directly distinguishing the meaning, it is very difficult to actualize it, because these two [forms of knowledge] are conceptual. Therefore you should take [the meaning] to be an indistinguishable quality and [likewise] understand that the seven ultimate [points] are like a vajra. However [the meaning] is understood, since an expression is [always] referring to a thought, the meaning should not be taken as the actual object of the thought. Within the direct [perceptions] of any knowable object whatsoever, it is the meaning and object of comprehension that have the nature of self-realization, [that is,] a direct [perception] arisen from meditation.<em>|[[Mathes, Klaus-Dieter]]. ''[[A Direct Path to the Buddha Within]]: Go Lotsāwa's Mahāmudrā Interpretation of the Ratnagotravibhāga''. Studies in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2008, pp. 195–196. | ||
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Revision as of 15:47, 25 March 2020
The Seven Vajra Subjects
The Ratnagotravibhāga is divided into five chapters. However, the treatise itself is based around the explanation of seven topics or subjects, known as the seven vajrapada. These seven are the buddha, dharma, sangha, the element (dhātu), enlightenment (bodhi), enlightened qualities (guṇa), and enlightened activities (karman). The first four are discussed in the first chapter and following three are discussed consecutively in the second, third and fourth chapters, respectively. The treatise also mentions specific sūtras that are the sources upon which the explanation of each of the seven are based. Some of these sūtras cover more than one topic, but only the Dhāraṇīśvararājasūtra is stated to cover all seven vajrapadas. Below you will find information on these seven, including their sūtra sources and how they have been addressed in relation to the Ratnagotravibhāga.
Watch & Learn
Katrin Querl at the 2019 Tathāgatagarbha Symposium
Katrin Querl presents an overview of Jikten Gonpo's position on Buddha-nature as outlined in the textual corpus known as the Single Intention (Dgongs gcig) and in two of this work's earliest commentaries.
Querl, Katrin. "Preliminary Notes on the Notion of Buddha Nature in the Single Intention." Paper presented at the University of Vienna Symposium, Tathāgatagarbha Across Asia, Vienna, Austria, July 2019. Video, 43:53. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gp3GJz3-5DY.
Querl, Katrin. "Preliminary Notes on the Notion of Buddha Nature in the Single Intention." Paper presented at the University of Vienna Symposium, Tathāgatagarbha Across Asia, Vienna, Austria, July 2019. Video, 43:53. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gp3GJz3-5DY.;Katrin Querl at the 2019 Tathāgatagarbha Symposium;'bri gung skyob pa 'jig rten mgon po;Dam chos dgongs pa gcig pa;Mahamudra;Drikung Kagyu;Kagyu;Tsen Tradition;gotra;guṇa;'bri gung spyan snga shes rab 'byung gnas;Ngo rje ras pa;Rdo rje shes rab;Drikung Chungtsang, 1st;Rin chen byang chub;History of buddha-nature in Tibet;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Tibetan Buddhism;Buddha-nature as Emptiness;Ordinary Mind;ekayāna;Katrin Querl; Preliminary Notes on the Notion of Buddha Nature in the Single Intention
Martina Draszczyk at the 2019 Tathāgatagarbha Symposium
Martina Draszczyk discusses the early Kagyu masters and explores how their meditation-oriented approach is based in both affirming buddha-nature as the ground and goal of Buddhist soteriology and avoiding its reification into an entity with real properties.
Draszczyk, Martina. "Buddha Nature as Seen by Early Bka’ brgyud Masters." Paper presented at the University of Vienna Symposium, Tathāgatagarbha Across Asia, Vienna, Austria, July 2019. Video, 37:27. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoMUdg40Qv8.
Draszczyk, Martina. "Buddha Nature as Seen by Early Bka’ brgyud Masters." Paper presented at the University of Vienna Symposium, Tathāgatagarbha Across Asia, Vienna, Austria, July 2019. Video, 37:27. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoMUdg40Qv8.;Martina Draszczyk at the 2019 Tathāgatagarbha Symposium;Sgam po pa;Buddha-nature as Emptiness;guṇa;Defining buddha-nature;Kagyu;Dam chos yid bzhin gyi nor bu thar pa rin po che'i rgyan;Mahamudra;Kadam;La yag pa byang chub dngos grub;Karmapa, 3rd;Tsen Tradition;paryudāsapratiṣedha;Btsan kha bo che;prasajyapratiṣedha;dharmakāya;Martina Draszczyk; Buddha Nature as Seen by Early Bka’ brgyud Masters
From the Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra
Maitreya
The first three verses of the Ratnagotravibhāga give a basic overview of the seven vajrapada that includes their enumeration, their source, and their casual relationship:
buddhaśca dharmaśca gaṇaśca dhātu-
bodhirguṇāḥ karma ca bauddhamantyam
kṛtsnasya śāstrasya śarīrametat
samāsato vajrapadāni sapta I.1
svalakṣaṇenānugatāni caiṣāṃ
yathākramaṃ dhāraṇirājasūtre
nidānatastrīṇi padāni vidyā-
ccatvāri dhīmajjinadharmabhedāt I.2
buddhāddharmo dharmataścāryasaṃghaḥ
saṃghe garbho jñānadhātvāptiniṣṭhaḥ
tajjñānāptiścāgrabodhirbalādyai-
rdhamairyuktā sarvasattvārthakṛdbhiḥ I.3
།སངས་རྒྱས་ཆོས་ཚོགས་ཁམས་དང་བྱང་ཆུབ་དང་།
།ཡོན་ཏན་སངས་རྒྱས་ཕྲིན་ལས་ཐ་མ་སྟེ།
།བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀུན་གྱི་ལུས་ནི་མདོར་བསྡུ་ན།
།རྡོ་རྗེ་ཡི་ནི་གནས་བདུན་འདི་དག་གོ། I.1
།འདི་དག་རང་མཚན་ཉིད་ཀྱི་རྗེས་འབྲེལ་བ།
།གོ་རིམས་ཇི་བཞིན་གཟུངས་ཀྱི་རྒྱལ་པོའི་མདོར།
།གླེང་གཞི་ལས་ནི་གནས་གསུམ་རིག་བྱ་སྟེ།
།གཞི་ནི་བློ་ལྡན་རྒྱལ་ཆོས་དབྱེ་བ་ལས། I.2
།སངས་རྒྱས་ལས་ཆོས་ཆོས་ལས་འཕགས་པའི་ཚོགས།
།ཚོགས་ལས་སྙིང་པོ་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཁམས་ཐོབ་མཐར།
།ཡེ་ཤེས་དེ་ཐོབ་བྱང་ཆུབ་མཆོག་ཐོབ་སོགས།
།སེམས་ཅན་ཀུན་དོན་བྱེད་ཆོས་རྣམས་དང་ལྡན། I.3
Buddha, dharma, assembly, basic element,
Awakening, qualities, and finally buddha activity–
The body of the entire treatise
Is summarized in these seven vajra points. I.1
In accordance with their specific characteristics
And in due order, the [first] three points of these [seven]
Should be understood from the introduction in the Dhāraṇirājasūtra
And the [latter] four from the distinction of the attributes of the intelligent and the victors. I.2
From the Buddha [comes] the dharma and from the dharma, the noble saṃgha.
Within the saṃgha, the [tathāgata] heart leads to the attainment of wisdom.
The attainment of that wisdom is the supreme awakening that is endowed with
The attributes such as the powers that promote the welfare of all sentient beings. I.3~ Translation from 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, pp. 331-336.
Asaṅga
In the commentary to verse I.1, it states:
vajropamasyādhigamārthasya padaṃ sthānamiti vajrapadam/ tatra śruticintāmayajñānaduṣprativedhādanabhilāpyasvabhāvaḥ pratyātmavedanīyo'rtho vajravadveditavyaḥ/ yānyakṣarāṇi tamarthamabhivadanti tatprāptyanukūlamārgābhidyotanatastāni tatpratiṣṭhābhūtatvāt padamityucyante/ iti duṣprativedhārthena pratiṣṭhārthena ca vajrapadatvamarthavyañjanayoranugantavyam/ tatra katamo'rthaḥ katamadvyañjanam/ artha ucyate saptaprakāro'dhigamārtho yaduta buddhārtho dharmārthaḥ saṃghārtho dhātvartho bodhyartho guṇārthaḥ karmārthaśca/ ayamucyate'rthaḥ/ yairakṣaraireṣa saptaprakāro'dhigamārthaḥ sūcyate prakāśyata idamucyate vyañjanam/
[...]
itīmāni samāsataḥ sapta vajrapadāni sakalasyāsya śāstrasyoddeśamukhasaṃgrāhārthena śarīramiti veditavyam/
།སངས་རྒྱས་ཆོས་ཚོགས་ཁམས་དང་བྱང་ཆུབ་དང་། །ཡོན་ཏན་སངས་རྒྱས་ཕྲིན་ལས་ཐ་མ་སྟེ། །བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀུན་གྱི་ལུས་ནི་མདོར་བསྡུ་ན། །རྡོ་རྗེ་ཡི་ནི་གནས་བདུན་འདི་དག་གོ། །རྟོགས་པའི་དོན་རྡོ་རྗེ་ལྟ་བུའི་གནས་ཏེ། གཞི་ཡིན་པའི་ཕྱིར་རྡོ་རྗེའི་གནས་སོ། །དེ་ལ་ཐོས་པ་དང་བསམས་པ་ལས་བྱུང་བའི་ཤེས་པས་ཕིགས་པར་དཀའ་བའི་ཕྱིར་ན་བརྗོད་དུ་མེད་པའི་རང་བཞིན་སོ་སོ་རང་གིས་རིག་པར་བྱ་བའི་དོན་རྡོ་རྗེ་ལྟ་བུར་རིག་པར་བྱའོ། །དེ་ཐོབ་པ་དང་རྗེས་སུ་མཐུན་པའི་ལམ་སྟོན་པར་བྱེད་པས་ན་དོན་དེ་བརྗོད་པའི་ཡི་གེ་གང་ཡིན་པ་དེ་དག་ནི་གནས་ཞེས་བརྗོད་དོ། །དེའི་རྟེན་དུ་གྱུར་པའི་ཕྱིར་རོ། །དེ་ལྟར་ཕིགས་པར་དཀའ་བའི་དོན་དང་། རྟེན་གྱི་དོན་གྱིས་དོན་དང་ཡི་གེ་དག་རྡོ་རྗེ་དང་གནས་ཉིད་དུ་རྟོགས་པར་བྱའོ། །དེ་ལ་དོན་ནི་གང་། ཡི་གེ་ནི་གང་ཞེ་ན། རྟོགས་པའི་དོན་རྣམ་པ་བདུན་ནི་དོན་ཞེས་བརྗོད་དེ། འདི་ལྟ་སྟེ། སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་དོན་དང་། ཆོས་ཀྱི་དོན་དང་། དགེ་འདུན་གྱི་དོན་དང་། ཁམས་ཀྱི་དོན་དང་། བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་དོན་དང་། ཡོན་ཏན་གྱི་དོན་དང་། ཕྲིན་ལས་ཀྱི་དོན་དང་། འདི་ནི་དོན་ཞེས་བྱའོ། །ཡི་གེ་གང་དག་གིས་རྟོགས་པའི་དོན་རྣམ་པ་བདུན་པོ་འདི་དག་སྟོན་པར་བྱེད། གསལ་བར་བྱེད་པ་དེ་ནི་ཡི་གེ་ཞེས་བྱའོ།
[...]
།དེ་ལྟར་མདོར་བསྡུས་ནས་རྡོ་རྗེའི་གནས་བདུན་པོ་འདི་ནི་བསྟན་པའི་སྒོ་བསྡུས་པའི་དོན་གྱིས་ན། བསྟན་བཅོས་འདི་མཐའ་དག་གི་ལུས་སུ་རིག་པར་བྱའོ།
"Vajra point" refers to the footing or locus of the actuality of the realization that is like a vajra. This actuality, which is to be realized through personally experienced [wisdom] and has an inexpressible nature, is to be understood as being like a vajra because it is difficult to penetrate by any cognitions that arise from studying and reflecting. The words that express this actuality through teaching the path that accords with attaining it are [also] called "footings" because they serve as the support of this [actuality]. In this way, in the sense of being what is difficult to penetrate and in the sense of being [its] support, respectively, that actuality and the letters [that describe it] are [both] to be understood as "vajra footings."
So what does "actuality" and what does "letters" refer to? "Actuality" refers to the sevenfold actuality of realization, that is, the actuality of the Buddha, the actuality of the dharma, the actuality of the assembly, the actuality of the basic element, the actuality of awakening, the actuality of [its] qualities, and the actuality of [enlightened] activity. These are called "actuality." The words that point out and elucidate this sevenfold actuality of realization are called "letters."
[...]
In brief, these seven vajra points should be known as the "body" of the entire treatise, in the form of the [seven] summary topics that are the gateways to [what this treatise] teaches.~ Translation from 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, pp. 331-333.
In relation to the first three vajrapadas, buddha, dharma, and sangha, he cites the Dṛḍhādhyāśayaparivarta:
anidarśano hyānanda tathāgataḥ/ sa na śakyaścakṣuṣā draṣṭum/ anabhilāpyo hyānanda dharmaḥ/ sa na śakyaḥ karṇena śrotum/ asaṃskṛto hyānanda saṃghaḥ/ sa na śakyaḥ kāyena vā cittena vā paryupā situm/
ཀུན་དགའ་བོ་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་ནི་བསྟན་དུ་མེད་པ་སྟེ། དེ་ནི་མིག་གིས་བལྟ་བར་མི་ནུས་སོ། །ཀུན་དགའ་བོ་ཆོས་ནི་བརྗོད་དུ་མེད་པ་སྟེ། དེ་ནི་རྣ་བས་མཉན་པར་མི་ནུས་སོ། །ཀུན་དགའ་བོ་དགེ་འདུན་ནི་འདུས་མ་བྱས་པ་སྟེ། དེ་ནི་ལུས་དང་སེམས་ཀྱིས་བསྙེན་བཀུར་བྱ་བར་མི་ནུས་སོ་
Ānanda, the Tathāgata is indemonstrable. He cannot be seen with the eyes. Ānanda, the dharma is inexpressible. It cannot be heard with the ears. Ānanda, the saṃgha is unconditioned. It cannot be worshipped with body or mind.~ Translation from 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, p. 332.
In relation to the fourth vajrapada, the element (dhātu), he cites the Anūnatvāpūrṇatvanirdeśaparivarta:
tathāgataviṣayo hi śāriputrāyamarthastathāgatagocaraḥ/ sarvaśrāvakapratyekabuddhairapi tāvacchāriputrāyamartho na śakyaḥ samyak svaprajñayā xxx draṣṭuṃ vā pratyavekṣituṃ vā/ prāgeva bālapṛthagjanairanyatra tathāgataśraddhāgamanataḥ/ śraddhāgamanīyo hi śāriputra paramārthaḥ/ paramārtha iti śāriputra sattvadhātoretadadhivacanam/ sattvadhāturiti śāriputra tathāgatagarbhasyaitadadhivacanam/ tathāgatagarbha iti śāriputra dharmakāyasyaitadadhivacanam/
།ཤཱ་རིའི་བུ་དོན་འདི་ནི་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་ཡུལ་ཏེ་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྤྱོད་ཡུལ་ལོ། །ཤཱ་རིའི་བུ་དོན་འདི་ནི་རེ་ཞིག་ཉན་ཐོས་དང་། རང་སངས་རྒྱས་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱིས་ཀྱང་རང་གི་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱིས་ཡང་དག་པར་ཤེས་པའམ། ལྟ་བའམ། བརྟག་པར་མི་ནུས་ན། བྱིས་པ་སོ་སོའི་སྐྱེ་བོ་དག་གིས་ལྟ་ཅི་སྨོས་ཏེ། དེ་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་ལ་དད་པས་རྟོགས་པ་ནི་མ་གཏོགས་སོ། །ཤཱ་རིའི་བུ་དོན་དམ་པར་ནི་དད་པས་རྟོགས་པར་བྱ་བ་ཡིན་ནོ། །ཤཱ་རིའི་བུ་དོན་དམ་པར་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་འདི་ནི་སེམས་ཅན་གྱི་ཁམས་ཀྱི་ཚིག་བླ་དགས་སོ། །ཤཱ་རིའི་བུ་སེམས་ཅན་གྱི་ཁམས་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་འདི་ནི། དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོའི་ཚིག་བླ་དགས་སོ། །ཤཱ་རིའི་བུ་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་འདི་ནི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་སྐུའི་ཚིག་བླ་དགས་སོ་
Śāriputra, this actuality is the object of the Tathāgata and [solely] the sphere of the Tathāgata. First of all, Śāriputra, this actuality cannot be correctly [known, seen, or discriminated even by śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas through their own prajñā, let alone by ordinary naive beings, unless they realize [this actuality] through trust in the Tathāgata. Śāriputra, what is to be realized through trust is the ultimate. Śāriputra, "the ultimate" is a designation for the basic element of sentient beings. Śāriputra, "the basic element of sentient beings" is a designation for the tathāgata heart. Śāriputra, "the tathāgata heart" is a designation for the dharmakāya.~ Translation from 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, p. 332.
In relation to the fifth vajrapada, enlightenment (bodhi), he cites the Śrīmālādevīsūtra:
anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhiriti bhagavan nirvāṇadhātoretadadhivacanam/ nirvāṇadhāturiti bhagavan tathāgatadharmakāyasyaitadadhivacanam/
།བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས་བླ་ན་མེད་པ་ཡང་དག་པར་རྫོགས་པའི་བྱང་ཆུབ་ཅེས་བྱ་བ་འདི་ནི་མྱ་ངན་ལས་འདས་པའི་དབྱིངས་ཀྱི་ཚིག་བླ་དགས་སོ། །བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས་མྱ་ངན་ལས་འདས་པའི་དབྱིངས་ཞེས་བགྱི་བ་འདི་ནི་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་སྐུའི་ཚིག་བླ་དགས་སོ་
Bhagavan, "supreme awakening" is a designation for the dhātu of nirvāṇa. Bhagavan, "the dhātu of nirvāṇa" is a designation for the dharmakāya of the Tathāgata.~ Translation from 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, p. 332.
In relation to the sixth vajrapada, enlightened qualities (guṇa), he cites the Anūnatvāpūrṇatvanirdeśaparivarta:
yo'yaṃ śāriputra tathāgatanirdiṣṭo dharmakāyaḥ so'yamavinirbhāgadharmā/ avinirmuktajñānaguṇo yaduta gaṅgānadīvālikāvyatikrāntaistathāgatadharmaiḥ
།ཤཱ་རིའི་བུ་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པས་བསྟན་པའི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་སྐུ་གང་ཡིན་པ་དེ་ནི་འདི་ལྟ་སྟེ། གང་གཱའི་ཀླུང་གི་བྱེ་མ་སྙེད་ལས་འདས་པའི་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་ཆོས་དག་དང་། རྣམ་པར་དབྱེར་མེད་པའི་ཆོས་དང་ལྡན་པ་མ་བྲལ་བའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ཡོན་ཏན་ཅན་ཡིན་ནོ་
Śāriputra, the dharmakāya that is taught by the Tathāgata is endowed with inseparable attributes and qualities that [can]not be realized as being divisible [from it], which [manifest] in the form of the attributes of a tathāgata that far surpass the sand grains in the river Gaṅgā [in number].~ Translation from 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, p. 332.
In relation to the seventh vajrapada, enlightened activities (karman), he cites the Tathāgataguṇajñānācintyaviṣayāvatāranirdeśa:
na mañjuśrīstathāgataḥ kalpayati na vikalpayati/ athavāsyānābhogenākalpayato'vikalpayata iyamevaṃrūpā kriyā pravartate/
།འཇམ་དཔལ་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་ནི་རྟོག་པར་མི་མཛད། རྣམ་པར་རྟོག་པར་མི་མཛད་མོད་ཀྱི། དེ་ལྟ་ན་ཡང་དེ་འདི་ལྟ་བུའི་རང་བཞིན་གྱི་མཛད་པ་འདི་ནི་མི་རྟོག་རྣམ་པར་མི་རྟོག་བཞིན་དུ་ལྷུན་གྱིས་གྲུབ་པར་འཇུག་གོ།
Mañjuśrī, the Tathāgata does not think and does not conceptualize. Nevertheless, his activity, which has such a nature, operates effortlessly and without thinking and conceptualizing.~ Translation from 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, p. 333.
From the Masters
Sajjana
Those who follow the three methods
Or those who wish for common results,
Having recognized the [three] jewels, resort to these jewels
As they manifest for different mind streams.[1]
However, [the three jewels] are [included in] the ultimate refuge—
They are not different in actuality.
Here, the purpose [of the ultimate refuge] is to generate [bodhi]citta,
Which has the full attainment [of awakening] as its sphere.[2]
This full attainment is accomplished
Through [the stages of] impurity and purity,
By way of the distinction of one’s own welfare and that of others
And through engaging in this [ultimate] refuge among those to be taken refuge in.[3]
Therefore, without having gathered the accumulations,
The Buddha, the dharma, and likewise the assembly
Turn into being conditions
That successively arise in their due order. [4]
From the perfect Buddha, the turning of the wheel
Of the dharma [arises], whose sphere is the saṃgha.
The saṃgha [consists of] its authoritative properties,
Which are the manifestations of the qualities of compassion. [5]
Those who gradually purify the basic element
Through the [buddha]dharmas and through means (upāya)
Progress on the paths of what is conducive to liberation
And penetration as well as on the uninterrupted path. [6]
Based on the directly manifest conditions
Called "awakening," "the qualities," and "activity"
And then based on the [ten] topics of the basic element,
One should engage in reflection and familiarization. [7]~ Sajjana. Mahāyānottaratantraśāstropadeśa (महायानोत्तरतन्त्रशास्त्रोपदेश). Critical Sanskrit edition in Kano, 2006, Appendix B, 505-519. Also see Takasaki, J. 1974. Nyoraizō shisō no keisei. 如来蔵思想の形成. Tokyo: Shunjūsha.
~ Translation from 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, pp. 461-463.
Ngok Lotsāwa Loden Sherab
།བཤེས་གཉེན་སྤྲིན་ལས་ལེགས་བྱུང་མང་དུ་ཐོས་པ་ཡི།
།ཆར་རྒྱུན་བསིལ་བས་ཉོན་མོངས་གདུང་བ་ཞི་བྱེད་ཀྱིས།
།བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོའི་ས་བོན་རབ་ཏུ་བརླན་བྱས་ནས།
།སངས་རྒྱས་ཡོན་ཏན་ཕུན་ཚོགས་ལོ་ཏོག་རབ་རྒྱས་བྱ༎
After allaying the "heat" of defilements, with the "cool rainwater" of repeated study, carried by the "clouds" of good teachers; and after moistening the "seeds" of Buddha-nature (bde gshegs snying po), you should cultivate "crops" of perfect Buddha-qualities.~ Rngog lo tsA ba blo ldan shes rab. Springs yig bdud rtsi'i thig le. In Rngog lo tsA ba blo ldan shes rab kyi gsung chos skor. Beijing: Krung go'i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang, 2009, p. 659.
~ Translation from Kano, Kazuo. Buddha-Nature and Emptiness: rNgog Blo-ldan-shes-rab and A Transmission of the Ratnagotravibhāga from India to Tibet. Wiener Studien zur Tibetologie und Buddhismuskunde 91. Vienna: Arbeitskreis für Tibetische und Buddhistische Studien Universität Wien, 2016, p. 232.
Tsen Khawoche
ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་མེད་གསུམ་དུ་བཞག་ཀྱང་། དཔྱད་ན། སེམས་ལས་མ་གཏོགས་པའི་གཟུང་འཛིན་མེད་པའི་ཕྱིར་ཆོས་ཅན་གཞན་དབང་དང་། ཆོས་ཉིད་ཡོངས་གྲུབ་ཁོ་ན་དྲི་མ་དང་བྲལ་ཞིང་ལྷུན་གྱིས་གྲུབ་པའི་ཆོས་ཉིད་གཅིག་པུ།
Although classified as three natures without an inherent essence, if you analyze — since there are no fixations and nothing to fixate upon besides the mind, only the phenomenal quality of the relational nature and the phenomenal actuality of the perfected nature are free from defilements. They are the identical ultimate actuality of phenomena which is spontaneous presence.~ Btsan kha bo che. Gzhan stong lta khrid. In Zab khrid brgya dang brgyad kyi yi ge. Edited by Kun dga' grol mchog. Gdams ngag mdzod. New Delhi: Shechen Publications, 1999, Vol. 18, p. 171.
~ Translation from Tsen Kawoche. "Elucidating the Zhentong View: A Condensation of the Threefold Nature of Reality." Translated by Michael Sheehy. Jonang Foundation’s Digital Library, n.d.
Gö Lotsāwa Zhönu Pal
Now the [Ratnagotravibhāga]vyākhyā on this stanza [I.i] will be explained. In this regard there is an explanation of the term vajra point (lit. “vajra base”) and a presentation of canonical sources making the vajra[-like] meanings known. First, the seven meanings (i.e., objects), which must be realized on the basis of the [corresponding] words, are ultimate ones, and thus vajra-like. The words expressing these [meanings] are a basis because they are [their] foundation. Thus all seven words are called vajra bases. To explain them again: since [Tib.] de la ("in this regard”), [in Sanskrit] tatra, is the seventh case, it [can] be taken toimply [Tib.] de na (“at that place,” “there”) and [means]: when explaining this vajra base.
“Listening” means arisen from listening, that is to say, knowing the meaning from scriptures. “Reflection” means arisen from reflection, that is, knowing the meaning from having reflected on reasons and arguments. “Difficult to understand on the basis of these two [types of] knowledge” means that when directly distinguishing the meaning, it is very difficult to actualize it, because these two [forms of knowledge] are conceptual. Therefore you should take [the meaning] to be an indistinguishable quality and [likewise] understand that the seven ultimate [points] are like a vajra. However [the meaning] is understood, since an expression is [always] referring to a thought, the meaning should not be taken as the actual object of the thought. Within the direct [perceptions] of any knowable object whatsoever, it is the meaning and object of comprehension that have the nature of self-realization, [that is,] a direct [perception] arisen from meditation.~ Mathes, Klaus-Dieter. A Direct Path to the Buddha Within: Go Lotsāwa's Mahāmudrā Interpretation of the Ratnagotravibhāga. Studies in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2008, pp. 195–196.
Śākya Chokden
Śākya Chokden explains that the two exegetical traditions are complimentary in the following way:འཁོར་ལོ་ཐ་མ་ཡིས། བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོའི་དགོངས་གཞི་ནི། སྤྲོས་པའི་མཐའ་ཀུན་དང་བྲལ་བའི། རང་བཞིན་འོད་གསལ་ཅེས་བྱ་བ། སོ་སོ་རང་གིས་རིག་པ་ཡི། ཡེ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ནི་མྱོང་བྱ་ལ། གསལ་བར་བཤད་པ་ཉིད་ཡིན་ཕྱིར། མ་ཡིན་དགག་པར་འཆད་དགོས་སོ།
According to the final turning, the underlying intent of *sugatagarbha is the so-called natural luminosity that is free from all extremes of elaborations. Because it is that which is clearly explained as the object of experience of wisdom that is personally realized, it is necessary to characterize it as an affirming negation.~ ShAkya mchog ldan. Sangs rgyas kyi snying po'i rnam bshad mdo rgyud snying po. In Gser mdog paN chen shAkya mchog ldan gyi gsung 'bum. rdzong sar: rdzong sar khams bye'i slob gling thub bstan dar rgyas gling, 2006-2007, Vol. 13, p. 161.
~ Translation from Higgins, David, and Martina Draszczyk. Mahāmudrā and the Middle Way: Post-Classical Kagyü Discourses on Mind, Emptiness and Buddha-Nature. Vol 1: Introduction, Views of Authors and Final Reflections. Wiener Studien zur Tibetologie und Buddhismuskunde 90. Vienna: Arbeitskreis für Tibetische und Buddhistische Studien Universität Wien, 2016, p. 83n203.
བྱམས་པའི་ཆོས་གསན་པ་ལས་རྙེད་པའི་ངེས་དོན་ནི། སངས་རྒྱས་ནས་སེམས་ཅན་གྱི་བར་ལ་ཁྱབ་པའི་རང་བཞིན་རྣམ་དག་གི་ཡེ་ཤེས། རང་བཞིན་གྱི་འོད་གསལ་བ་དེ་ཉིད་བདེ་བར་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོར་གསུངས་པ་ཡིན་ནོ་ཞེས། ཁོང་ནས་རྒྱུད་པ་དག་འཆད་ལ། འདི་ལ་སྔོན་གྱི་དུས་སུ་བྱམས་ཆོས་མཚན་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ལུགས་སུ་འཆད་པ་དང་། སྒོམ་ལུགས་སུ་འཆད་པའི་ཁྱད་པར་རོ་ཞེས་གྲགས་མོད། །གཉིས་ཀ་ལྟར་ཡང་འགལ་བ་མེད་དེ། མཚན་འཛིན་སེལ་བའི་ཚེ་ནི་སྔ་མ་ལྟར་ཟབ་ལ། ཡོན་ཏན་གྱི་རྟེན་དུ་བྱེད་པ་ལ་ནི་ཕྱི་མ་ལྟར་དགོས་པས་སོ།
The definitive meaning that he found from having studied the dharmas of Maitreya is explained by those in his lineage as follows. The sugata heart is the naturally pure wisdom, luminous by nature, that pervades [everyone] from buddhas to sentient beings. In earlier times these [two approaches] were known as "the difference between explaining the dharmas of Maitreya as the tradition of characteristics (mtshan nyid kyi lugs) and explaining them as the meditative tradition (sgom lugs)." However, in both cases there is no contradiction because the [explanation] according to the first [approach] is more profound at the time of eliminating the clinging to characteristics, while the [explanation] according to the latter [approach] is needed so that [the sugata heart] can function as the support of qualities.~ ShAkya mchog ldan. Dbu ma'i byung tshul rnam par bshad pa'i gtam yid bzhin lhun po zhes bya ba'i bstan bcos. In Gsung 'bum shAkya mchog ldan. New Delhi: Ngawang Topgyel, 1995, Vol. 4, p. 240.
~ Translation from 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, p. 124.
Tāranātha
།མི་ཕམ་གཞུང་ལ་མཁས་པའི་ཕུལ་དུ་གྱུར།
།དབུ་མའི་ལམ་ལས་ཆོས་ཉིད་ཟབ་མོ་གཟིགས།
།སྡོམ་བརྩོན་དམ་པ་བཙན་རིགས་ཁ་བོ་ཆེ།
།དྲི་མེད་ཤེས་རབ་ཞབས་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས།
Due to the scriptures of the invincible one, you attained the highest degree of learning,
From the path of Madhyamaka, you profoundly gazed upon the actuality of phenomena,
Sublime observer of precepts, Khawoché from the family of Tsen,
To you, Drimé Sherab, I supplicate!~ Tāranātha. Zab mo gzhan stong dbu ma'i brgyud 'debs. In Gsung 'bum shes rab rgyal mtshan. 'Dzam thang: 'Dzam thang bsam 'grub nor bu'i gling gi par khang, 199?, Vol. 3, p. 164.
~ Translation from Tāranātha. "Supplication to the Profound Zhentong Madhyamaka Lineage." Translated by Michael Sheehy. Jonang Foundation’s Digital Library, n.d., p. 2.
Jamgön Kongtrul
In his commentary on the Ratnagotravibhāga, the Unassailable Lion's Roar, Jamgön Kongtrul echoes Gö Lotsāwa, stating:།ས་ཛྫ་ན་ལས་རྔོག་དང་བཙན་གྱིས་ཞུས།
།བཤད་སྒྲུབ་བཀའ་བབས་དབུ་སེམས་གཉིས་སུའང་བཞེད།
།གཙང་ནག་རང་བྱུང་ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ཡབ་སྲས་སོགས།
།ཕྱིར་མི་ལྡོག་པ་སེང་ངེའི་སྒྲ་ཆེན་བསྒྲགས།
Translator Ngok Loden Sherab and Tsen Kawoché received from Sajjana
The teaching and practice transmissions thought to be two—the middle way and mind-only.
Tsang Nakpa Tsöndru Sengé, Rangjung Dorjé, the omniscient master [Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen] and his spiritual children, and others
Sounded a lion's great roar of the incontrovertible meaning.~ 'Jam mgon kong sprul. Shes bya kun khyab. Beijing: Mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1982: Vol. 1, p. 460.
~ Jamgön Kongtrül ('jam mgon kong sprul). The Treasury of Knowledge: Books Two, Three and Four: Buddhism's Journey to Tibet. Translated by Ngawang Zangpo. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2010, p. 269–70.
གྲྭ་པ་མངོན་ཤེས་ཀྱི་མཁན་བུ་བཙན་ཁ་བོ་ཆེ་ཞེས་གྲགས་པའང་ལོ་ཙཱ་ཆེན་པོ་དང་ལྷན་ཅིག་ཁ་ཆེར་བྱོན། སཛྫ་ན་ལ་ཁོ་བོས་བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས་བྱམས་པའི་ཆོས་རྣམས་ལ་འཆི་ཆོས་བགྱིད་པ་ལགས་པས་གདམས་པ་བཅས་ཏེ་ཐུགས་ལ་གདགས་པར་ཞུས་པས་གཟུས་དགའ་བའི་རྡོ་རྗེས་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་བྱས་ནས་བྱམས་ཆོས་ལྔ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་གསུངས། རྒྱུད་བླ་མ་ལ་གདམས་པའང་ལེགས་པར་གནང་བས་བཙན་དྲི་མེད་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱིས་བོད་དུ་བྱོན་ཏེ་དབུས་གཙང་རྣམས་སུ་བཤད་པ་མཛད། གཟུས་དགའ་བའི་རྡོ་རྗེས་རྒྱུད་བླ་མ་ལ་སཛྫ་ནའི་གསུང་དང་མཐུན་པར་རྒྱན་ཊཱིཀ་མཛད་ཅིང་ཆོས་ཉིད་རྣམ་འབྱེད་རྩ་འགྲེལ་ཡང་བསྒྱུར། འདི་ལ་བྱམས་ཆོས་སྒོམ་ལུགས་པའང་གྲགས་ཤིང་ཐུན་མོང་མ་ཡིན་པའི་བཤད་པ་དང་ཉམས་ལེན་གྱི་རྒྱུན་ཁྱད་པར་འཕགས་པ་ཡིན་ལ།
Drapa Ngönshe's disciple, widely known as Tsen Khawoche, having gone to Kashmir with the great translator [Ngok], made a request to Sajjana asking him, "Please take me under your guidance and grant me instructions so that I may make the Dharma teachings of the Transcendant Conqueror Maitreya my practice [to prepare] for death." And so, with Zu Gawai Dorje acting as the translator, [Sajjana] taught him all of the Five Dharma Teachings of Maitreya. Since he gave him very thorough instructions on the Uttaratantra, having arrived back in Tibet, Tsen Drime Sherab gave explanations [of this text] to those [people living] in U and Tsang. Zu Gawai Dorje composed a supplemental commentary to the Uttaratantra in accordance with the teachings of Sajjana and also translated the root text and commentary of the [Dharma]dharmatāvibhāga. This is what is widely-renowned as the Meditative Tradition of the Dharma Teachings of Maitreya, and is a remarkably distinguished line of extraordinary explanatory teachings and [instructions for] practice.~ 'Jam mgon kong sprul. Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos snying po'i don mngon sum lam gyi bshad pa srol dang sbyar ba'i rnam par 'grel ba phyir mi ldog pa seng ge'i nga ro. In Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i tshig 'grel. New Delhi: Shechen Publications, 2005, pp. 101–2.
~ For an alternative translation of the above passage, see Hookham, S. K. The Buddha Within: Tathagatagarbha Doctrine According to the Shentong Interpretation of the Ratnagotravibhaga. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1991, p. 271.
Further Readings
Book: When the Clouds Part
The Uttaratantra (I.2) declares that its primary source is the Dhāraṇīśvararājasūtra, which is said to contain all seven vajra points. RGVV adds the following sūtras as alternative individual scriptural sources for these vajra points—the Sthirādhyāśayaparivartasūtra (vajra points 1 to 3), the Anūnatvāpūrṇatvanirdeśaparivarta (vajra points 4 and 6), the Śrīmālādevīsūtra (vajra point 5), and the Tathāgataguṇajñānācintyaviṣayāvatāranirdeśasūtra (vajra point 7). In addition, Uttaratantra III.27 refers to the Ratnadārikāsūtra as the source of the sixty-four buddha qualities. RGVV also mentions the Tathāgatagarbhasūtra as the basis for teaching the dharmakāya, suchness, and the disposition in detail (which refers to Uttaratantra I.143–52, matching the dharmakāya and so on with the nine examples in that sūtra). Though the Sarvabuddhaviśayāvatārajñānālokālaṃkārasūtra is not explicitly mentioned in the Uttaratantra, it is clearly the source of the nine examples for enlightened activity used in the Uttaratantra. In addition, RGVV quotes this sūtra several times.
~ 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.
Book: Buddha-Nature and Emptiness
An essential study of a key text that presents buddha-nature theory and its transmission from India to Tibet, this book is the most thorough history of buddha-nature thought in Tibet and is exceptional in its level of detail and scholarly apparatus. It serves as a scholarly encyclopedia of sorts with extensive appendices listing every existent commentary on the Ratnagotravibhāga (Uttaratantraśāstra), as well as covering Ngok Lotsawa's commentarial text and his philosophical positions related with other Tibetan thinkers.
~ Kano, Kazuo. Buddha-Nature and Emptiness: rNgog Blo-ldan-shes-rab and A Transmission of the Ratnagotravibhāga from India to Tibet. Wiener Studien zur Tibetologie und Buddhismuskunde 91. Vienna: Arbeitskreis für Tibetische und Buddhistische Studien Universität Wien, 2016.
Book: The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows
The book is divided into three main sections: early Kadam thinkers who attempted to fold the Uttaratantra's positive-language teaching on buddha-nature into mainstream Madhyamaka doctrine of non-affirming negation. They did so by asserting that buddha-nature was, in fact, a synonym of emptiness, and was, therefore, a definitive teaching. The second stage was reactions during the thirteenth century. Sakya Paṇḍita, for example, rejected the conflation of buddha-nature and emptiness and declared the teaching to be provisional; early Kagyu thinkers revived the positive-language teachings and asserted that such statements were definitive, and Dolpopa taught "other-emptiness," the strongest expression of positive-language doctrine ever advocated in Tibet. Finally, in the fourteenth century, a number of mainly Geluk thinkers, such as Gyaltsap Je, reacted against Dolpopa and all synthesis of Yogācāra and Madhyamaka thought, relegating the Uttaratantra again to provisional status.
~ Wangchuk, Tsering. The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows: Tibetan Thinkers Debate the Centrality of the Buddha-Nature Treatise. Albany: SUNY Press, 2017.
