Verse I.40

From Buddha-Nature
Ratnagotravibhāga Root Verse I.40

Verse I.40 Variations

बुद्धधातुः सचेन्न स्यान्निर्विद्‍दुःखेऽपि नो भवेत्
नेच्छा न प्रार्थना नापि प्राणिधिर्निवृतौ भवेत्
buddhadhātuḥ sacenna syānnirvidduḥkhe'pi no bhavet
necchā na prārthanā nāpi prāṇidhirnivṛtau bhavet
E. H. Johnston as input by the University of the West.[1]
གལ་ཏེ་སངས་རྒྱས་ཁམས་མེད་ན།
།སྡུག་ལའང་སྐྱོ་བར་མི་འགྱུར་ཞིང་།
།མྱ་ངན་འདས་ལ་འདོད་པ་དང་།
།དོན་གཉེར་སྨོན་པའང་མེད་པར་འགྱུར།
If the buddha element did not exist,
There would be no weariness of suffering,
Nor would there be the wish, striving,
And aspiration for nirvāṇa.
若無佛性者 不得厭諸苦

不求涅槃樂 亦不欲不願

Si nous n’avions pas d’élément de bouddha,
Nous ne nous lasserions pas de souffrir
Et ne voudrions pas d’un nirvāṇa
Qui ne nous inspirerait ni intérêt ni désir.

RGVV Commentary on Verse I.40

Other English translations

Listed by date of publication
Obermiller (1931) [8]
If the Germ of the Buddha did not exist,
The aversion to the suffering (of this world) would not arise;
There would be no desire of Nirvāṇa,
And there would be no effort for attaining it.[9]
Takasaki (1966) [10]
If there is no Essence of the Buddha,
There will be no aversion to Suffering,
Nor will there be desire nor earnest wish,
Nor prayer for Nirvāṇa.
Holmes (1985) [11]
Were there no buddha-nature
there would be no discontent with suffering
nor desire, effort and aspiration for nirvāṇa.
Holmes (1999) [12]
Were there no such buddha-element,
there would be no discontent with suffering,
nor desire, effort and aspiration for nirvāṇa.
Fuchs (2000) [13]
If the buddha element were not present,
there would be no remorse over suffering.
There would be no longing for nirvana,
nor striving and devotion towards this aim.

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. 274b.5.
  4. This sentence, which the context clearly calls for, is missing in Sanskrit, but is preserved in DP (de la ’dun pa ni mngon par ’dod pa’o; reconstructed by Takasaki as tatra cchando ’bhilāsa) and C.
  5. DP and C omit this phrase.
  6. Skt. asaṃkoca, DP phyogs pa ("directing [one’s mind] toward").
  7. DP "one’s mind truly striving for one’s desired aim" (gang mngon par ’dod pa’i don la sems mngon par ’dun par byed pa’o). YDC (286–87) explains that upon seeing the benefit of the happiness of nirvāṇa, beings develop the striving of seeing this happiness as a quality, the wish to attain what possesses this quality, the pursuing that seeks for the means to attain it, and the aspiration of delighting in accomplishing the outcome of these means.
  8. Obermiller, E. "The Sublime Science of the Great Vehicle to Salvation Being a Manual of Buddhist Monism." Acta Orientalia IX (1931), pp. 81-306.
  9. This is verse 39 in Obermiller's translation
  10. 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.
  11. Holmes, Ken & Katia. The Changeless Nature. Eskdalemuir, Scotland: Karma Drubgyud Darjay Ling, 1985.
  12. Holmes, Ken & Katia. Maitreya on Buddha Nature. Scotland: Altea Publishing, 1999.
  13. 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.