Verse I.64

From Buddha-Nature
Ratnagotravibhāga Root Verse I.64

Verse I.64 Variations

नाभिनिर्वर्तयत्येनं कर्मक्लेशाम्बुसंचयः
न निर्दहत्युदीर्णोऽपि मृत्युव्याधिजरानलः
nābhinirvartayatyenaṃ karmakleśāmbusaṃcayaḥ
na nirdahatyudīrṇo'pi mṛtyuvyādhijarānalaḥ
E. H. Johnston as input by the University of the West.[1]
།ལས་དང་ཉོན་མོངས་ཆུ་སོགས་ཀྱིས།
།འདི་ནི་མངོན་པར་འགྲུབ་མིན་ཏེ།
།འཆི་དང་ན་དང་རྒ་བའི་མེ།
།མི་བཟད་པས་ཀྱང་འཚིག་མི་འགྱུར།
The mass of water-like karma
And afflictions does not generate it,
Nor do the raging fires of death,
Sickness, and aging consume it.
不正思惟風 諸業煩惱水

自性心虛空 不為彼二生
自性清淨心 其相如虛空
邪念思惟風 所不能散壞
諸業煩惱水 所不能濕爛
老病死熾火 所不能燒燃

L’eau des affections et des actes
Ne saurait la produire, guère plus
Que ne sauraient la consumer les feux insupportables
De la maladie, de la vieillesse et de la mort.

RGVV Commentary on Verse I.64

Other English translations

Obermiller (1931) [16]
It does not become produced
By the waters of the Biotic Force, of Desire and the rest,
And it cannot be consumed by the violent fires
Of death, of illness, and infirmity.
Takasaki (1966) [17]
The accumulation of water-like Active Force and Defilements
Cannot produce this space-like [Innate Mind],
And even the growing fires of death, of illness and old age
Cannot consume [this Innate Mind].
Fuchs (2000) [18]
The nature of mind as the element of space
does not [depend upon] causes or conditions,
nor does it [depend on] a gathering of these.
It has neither arising, cessation, nor abiding.

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. Kano (2006, 1) refers to Sasaki (1991) who traces the Uttaratantra ’s teaching about the progressive arising of afflictions, karma, and the skandhas from improper mental engagement back to the *Abhidharmaprakaraṇapādaśāstra (Taishō 1542, 702b), attributed to Vasumitra (second century). Sasaki also points out similar discussions found in certain mahāyāna sūtras, such as the Jñānālokālaṃkārasūtra, which is also important for the Uttaratantra and RGVV.
  4. This is the name of a chapter in the Gaganagañjaparipṛcchāsūtra.
  5. DP "great seers" (drang srong chen po).
  6. J kavi, which makes no sense here. Takasaki suggests chavi ("colored") as the better reading, translating it as "darkness."VT (fol. 12v7) has chadi instead, glossed by andhakāra (both meaning "darkness"), and DP also read the corresponding mun pa.
  7. Skt. mūlaviśuddhā prakṛtiḥ; DP "natural purity is the root" (rang bzhin gyis rnam par dag pa ni rtsa ba’o).
  8. I follow MA/MB baliyān (comparative of balin°) against J balī yo.
  9. DP omit "neither increasing."
  10. This is literally Aṅguttara Nikāya I.10.
  11. I follow Schmithausen’s emendation yaś cāyoniśomanaskāro (confirmed by DP tshul bzhin ma yin pa’i yid la byed pa gang yin pa) of MA paścā yoniśo and MB paścād yoniśo against J paścād yo ‘yoniśomanaskāro. Thus, the text of the citation simply continues and Takasaki’s insertion "After this passage . . . follows" is obsolete.
  12. I follow MA °visāmagryāṃ (DP dang bral na) against J °visāmagryā.
  13. J omits "completely devoid of any root,"but MB has mūlaparicchinna (confirmed by DP rtsa ba yongs su chad pa).
  14. VT (fol. 13r1) glosses this as "the foundation of the nature of phenomena’s being completely pure by virtue of its having the nature of emptiness (śūnyatārūpatvena dharmatāpariśuddhaṃ mūlaṃ)."
  15. D148, fols. 320b.6–321a.7.
  16. Obermiller, E. "The Sublime Science of the Great Vehicle to Salvation Being a Manual of Buddhist Monism." Acta Orientalia IX (1931), pp. 81-306.
  17. 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.
  18. 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.