The Seven Vajra Topics
From Buddha-Nature
The Seven Vajra Topics
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
Christian Charrier & Patrick Carré at the 2019 Tathāgatagarbha Symposium
Christian Charrier and Patrick Carré share insights from their new translation of 'Jam mgon Kong sprul’s commentary on the Uttaratantraśāstra into French entitled Traité de la Continuité suprême du Grand Véhicule.
Charrier, Christian, and Patrick Carré. "Uttaratantraśāstra: A New French Translation from Tibetan According to ‘Jam mgon Kong sprul’s Commentary." Paper presented at the University of Vienna Symposium, Tathāgatagarbha Across Asia, Vienna, Austria, July 2019. Video, 40:49. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sgz0XThTwGE.
Charrier, Christian, and Patrick Carré. "Uttaratantraśāstra: A New French Translation from Tibetan According to ‘Jam mgon Kong sprul’s Commentary." Paper presented at the University of Vienna Symposium, Tathāgatagarbha Across Asia, Vienna, Austria, July 2019. Video, 40:49. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sgz0XThTwGE.;Christian Charrier & Patrick Carré at the 2019 Tathāgatagarbha Symposium;Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra;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;Textual study;'jam mgon kong sprul;Uttaratantraśāstra: A New French Translation from Tibetan According to ‘Jam mgon Kong sprul’s Commentary
On Learning about the Uttaratantrashastra in the Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Shedra by Tokpa Tulku
Tokpa Tulku discusses his experiences learning about the Uttaratantrashastra, or Gyü Lama, in the Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling shedra. This is a topic, he explains, that comes later on in the eighth year of studies, after the the study of the sūtras. He describes how the text acts as a bridge between sūtra and tantra, as there is a certain transition that one goes through when moving from one to the other. The text aids in this transition.
Tokpa Tulku. “On Learning about the Uttaratantrashastra in the Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Shedra.” Interview by Marcus Perman. Tsadra Foundation Research Department, April 22, 2019. Video, 4:13. https://youtu.be/Jj3gRgZ3dl0.
Tokpa Tulku. “On Learning about the Uttaratantrashastra in the Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Shedra.” Interview by Marcus Perman. Tsadra Foundation Research Department, April 22, 2019. Video, 4:13. https://youtu.be/Jj3gRgZ3dl0.;On Learning about the Uttaratantrashastra in the Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Shedra by Tokpa Tulku;Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Tibetan Buddhism;Bde gshegs snying po'i stong thun chen mo seng+ge'i nga ro;Mi pham rgya mtsho;Tokpa Tulku;On Learning about the Uttaratantrashastra in the Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Shedra
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, which the Tibetan tradition attributes to Asaṅga, 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
In terms of the order of the vajrapadas, Ngok Lotsāwa states:སངས་རྒྱས་ལ་སོགས་པ་དོན་དམ་པ་དང་།་བརྡར་བཏགས་པ་རང་གི་རྒྱུད་ལ་འབྱུང་བར་འགྱུར་བའམ། གཞན་ཁོ་ནའི་རྒྱུད་ལ་བྱུང་ཟིན་པ་ནི་འབྲས་བུའམ་རྒྱུའི་རང་བཞིན་ནོ༎ ཁམས་ནི་གཅིག་ཏུ་རྒྱུའི་རང་བཞིན་ཏེ། ཉེ་བར་ལེན་པ་སད་པ་དང་མ་སད་པའོ༎ བྱང་ཆུབ་ལ་སོགས་པ་ཡང་སྐུ་གསུམ་གྱི་རང་བཞིན་ཏེ། གཞན་གྱི་རྒྱུད་ལ་བྱུང་ཟིན་པ་དང་།རང་གི་རྒྱུད་ལ་འབྱུང་བར་འགྱུར་བ་སྟེ།་རྒྱུ་དང་འབྲས་བུའི་རང་བཞིན་ནོ༎ འདི་དག་གི་རང་བཞིན་ཉིད་ནི་གཞུང་ལས་བཤད་པར་ཟད་དོ༎་དེ་ནི་དངོས་པོ་ཉེ་བར་དགོད་པའོ།།
[The Three Jewels] such as the Buddha, both in terms of their ultimate truth and conventional designation, will arise in one's own continuum or they have already arisen in the continuum of only the others. They have either the nature of cause or result [respectively]. The dhātu (the Buddha-element) has only the nature of cause, namely efficient [cause] (upādāna). That is either already activated or not yet. [The remaining three vajrapadas], bodhi, [guṇa, and karman], have the nature of the three bodies [of the Buddha]. Those which have already arisen in the continuum of only others and the ones which will arise in one's own continuum have the nature of cause [of one's own awakening] and [one's expected] result, [respectively]. The nature of those [seven vajrapadas] has been explained in the treatise (i.e. the RGV). That was the presentation of the main topics.~ Rngog lo tsA ba blo ldan shes rab. Theg chen rgyud bla ma'i don bsdus pa. 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. 545.
~ Translation from Kano, Kazuo. "rNgog Blo‐ldan‐shes‐rab's Summary of the Ratnagotravibhāga: The First Tibetan Commentary on a Crucial Source for the Buddha‐nature Doctrine." PhD diss., University of Hamburg, 2006, pp. 370-371.
གོ་རིམ་ཡང་དཀོན་མཆོག་གསུམ་ནི་སྐྱེ་བའི་རིམ་པ་ཇི་ལྟ་བར་བསྟན་ཏོ། ལྷན་ཅིག་བྱེད་པ་དང་ལྡན་པའི་རྒྱུ་ཡང་དགེ་འདུན་ལ་ཡོད་པས་དགེ་འདུན་གྱི་རྗེས་ལ་ཁམས་སོ། ཉེ་བར་ལེན་པ་དེ་ལས་བྱུང་བའི་འབྲས་བུ་ཡིན་པས་བྱང་ཆུབ་དེའི་འོག་ཏུ་བསྟན་ཏོ། དེ་ལ་ཡོན་ཏན་བརྟེན་པས་དེའི་འོག་ཏུ་ཡོན་ཏན་བསྟན་ཏོ། ཡོན་ཏན་དེས་ཀྱང་རྗེས་སུ་མཐུན་པའི་འཕྲིན་ལས་འགྲུབ་པས་དེའི་འོག་ཏུ་འཕྲིན་ལས་བསྟན་ཏོ། དེ་ལྟར་བསྟན་པའི་གོ་རིམ་གྱི་ཚིགས་སུ་བཅད་པས་ནི། མི་གནས་པའི་མྱ་ངན་ལས་འདས་པའི་འཁོར་ལོའི་ཚུལ་གསལ་བར་བྱས་པའོ།
As to the order [of the vajrapadas], [the order of] the Three Jewels is presented exactly in accordance with the order of their origination. Since the causes including the co-emergent conditions (i.e. the dhātu and the Three Jewels) abide in the Saṃgha, the dhātu is [enumerated] after the Saṃgha. Being a result generated from the efficient cause (i.e. the dhātu), the bodhi is presented after it. Depending on it (i.e. the bodhi), the guṇa is presented after it (i.e. the bodhi). Since the appropriate karman is accomplished by the guṇa, the karman is presented after it (i.e. the guṇa). The verse regarding the order which taught it in such a way (i.e. RGV I.3) clarified the circle of the apratiṣṭhitanirvāṇa.~ Rngog lo tsA ba blo ldan shes rab. Theg chen rgyud bla ma'i don bsdus pa. 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. 550.
~ Translation from Kano, Kazuo. "rNgog Blo‐ldan‐shes‐rab's Summary of the Ratnagotravibhāga: The First Tibetan Commentary on a Crucial Source for the Buddha‐nature Doctrine." PhD diss., University of Hamburg, 2006, p. 381.
Marpa Dopa Chökyi Wangchuk
སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་ངོ་བོ་ལ་ཀུན་རྫོབ་ཀྱི་སངས་རྒྱས་ནི་གཟུགས་སྐུ་གཉིས་ཏེ། དེ་ནི་ཉན་ཐོས་རང་རྒྱལ་དང་སོ་སོའི་སྐྱེ་བོ་ལས་དག་པས་མིག་གིས་བལྟ་བར་ནུས་པས་རྟོགས་པར་དཀའ་བའི་རྡོ་རྗེའི་གནས་མ་ཡིན་ཏེ། འོ་ན་དོན་དམ་པའི་སངས་རྒྱས་ཆོས་སྐུའོ།
[...]
།ཆོས་ཀྱི་ངོ་བོ་ནི་ཀུན་རྫོབ་ཀྱི་ཆོས་བསྟན་པའི་ཆོས་གསུང་རབ་ཡན་ལག་བཅུ་གཉིས་ཏེ། དེ་ནི་ཉན་ཐོས་དང་རང་རྒྱལ་བ་དང་སོ་སོ་སྐྱེ་བོས་རྣ་བས་མཉན་པར་ནུས་པས་རྟོགས་པར་དཀའ་བས་རྡོ་རྗེའི་གནས་མིན་ནོ། །འོ་ན་དོན་དམ་པའི་ཆོས་རྟོགས་པའི་ཆོས་སོ།
[...]
།དགེ་འདུན་གྱི་ངོ་བོ་ནི། ཀུན་རྫོབ་ཀྱི་དགེ་འདུན་སྐྱེས་བུ་ཟུང་བཞི་གང་ཟག་ཡ་བརྒྱད་དེ། དེ་ནི་ལུས་དང་སེམས་ཀྱི་བསྙེན་བཀུར་བྱར་ཡོད་པས་རྟོགས་པར་དཀའ་བས་རྡོ་རྗེའི་གནས་མིན་ནོ། །འོ་ན་དོན་དམ་པའི་དགེ་འདུན་ཕྱིར་མི་ལྡོག་པ་འབྲིང་ས་བཅུ་བར་ལ་གནས་པའི་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའོ།
[...]
།ཁམས་ཀྱི་ངོ་བོ་སྒྲོ་སྐུར་གཉིས་དང་བྲལ་བའི་ཆོས་ཉིད་དོ།
[...]
།བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་ངོ་བོ་ནི་ཉན་ཐོས་རང་རྒྱལ་གྱི་བྱང་ཆུབ་རྡོ་རྗེའི་གནས་མེད་ཡིན་པས་བླ་ན་མེད་པའི་བྱང་ཆུབ་བོ།
[...]
།ཡོན་ཏན་གྱི་ངོ་བོ་ནི། ཆོས་ཀྱི་སྐུ་ལ་བརྟེན་པའི་ཡོན་ཏན་དེ་བྲལ་བའི་ཡོན་ཏན་སུམ་ཅུ་རྩ་གཉིས་དང༌། གཟུགས་ཀྱི་སྐུ་ལ་བརྟེན་པའི་ཡོན་ཏན་ཏེ་རྣམ་པར་སྨིན་པའི་ཡོན་ཏན་སུམ་ཅུ་རྩ་གཉིས་སོ།
[...]
།འཕྲིན་ལས་ཀྱི་ངོ་བོ་ནི་གཉིས་ཏེ། ལྷུན་གྱིས་གྲུབ་པའི་འཕྲིན་ལས་དང༌། རྒྱུན་མི་འཆད་པའི་འཕྲིན་ལས་སོ། །དང་པོ་ནི་རྣམ་གཞག་རྣམ་པ་ལྔ་ལ་རྣམ་པར་རྟོག་པ་མེད་པར་འཇུག་པའོ།[...]།གཉིས་པ་ནི་ཤེས་པར་བྱ་བའི་གནས་དྲུག་ཤེས་པར་བྱས་ནས་སེམས་ཅན་གྱི་དོན་རྒྱུན་མི་ཆད་པར་བྱེད་པའོ།
[As for] the essence of the Buddha. The seeming Buddha consists of the two rūpakāyas. Since śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and ordinary beings with pure karma are able to look at the [rūpakāyas] with their eyes, they are not a vajra point that is difficult to realize. Rather, [the first vajra point] is the ultimate Buddha—the dharmakāya.
[...]
[As for] the essence of the dharma. The seeming dharma is the dharma of the teachings (the twelve branches of the Buddha’s speech). Since śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and ordinary beings are able to listen to it with their ears, it is not a vajra point that is difficult to realize. Rather, [the second vajra point] is the ultimate dharma—the dharma of realization.
[...]
[As for] the essence of the saṃgha. The seeming saṃgha consists of the four pairs of individuals or the eight persons [in the śrāvakayāna and pratyekabuddhayāna]. Since one can venerate them and render services to them with body and mind, they are not a vajra point that is difficult to realize. Rather [the third vajra point] is the ultimate saṃgha—the medium [persons] who are irreversible, the bodhisattvas dwelling on the ten bhūmis.
[...]
The essence of the basic element. It is the nature of phenomena free from superimposition and denial.
[...]
[As for] the essence of the awakening. Since the awakening of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas is not a vajra point, [the fourth vajra point] is the unsurpassable awakening [of a buddha].
[...]
[As for] the essence of the qualities. The qualities based on the dharmakāya are the thirty-two qualities of freedom, and the qualities based on the rūpakāyas are the thirty-two qualities of maturation.
[...]
[As for] the essence of enlightened activity it is twofold: effortless enlightened activity and uninterrupted enlightened activity. In [the Uttaratantra’s] presentation in five aspects, the first one [is said to] operate in a nonconceptual manner...The second one is the uninterrupted promotion of the welfare of sentient beings through making them understand the six fields of knowledge.~ rgyud bla ma'i tshig don rnam par 'grel pa. In dpal mnga' bdag sgra sgyur mar pa lo tsA ba chos kyi blo gros kyi gsung 'bum, Vol. 1: 414–522. Lhasa: ser gtsug nang bstan dpe rnying 'tshol bsdu phyogs sgrig khang, 2009.
~ 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. 490-493.
Gö Lotsāwa Zhönu Pal
Now the [Ratnagotravibhāga]vyākhyā on this stanza [I.1] 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 to imply [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.
Jamgön Kongtrul
ཐོབ་པར་བྱ་བ་རང་གཞན་གྱི་དོན་གཉིས་མཐར་ཕྱིན་པ་རྫོགས་པའི་སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་དོན་དང་། འདོད་ཆགས་དང་བྲལ་བའི་བདེན་པ་གཉིས་ཀྱི་མཚན་ཉིད་ཅན་དམ་པའི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་དོན་དང་། ཡེ་ཤེས་གཉིས་དང་ལྡན་པས་ཕྱིར་མི་ལྡོག་པའི་ཚོགས་འཕགས་པའི་དགེ་འདུན་གྱི་དོན་དང་། དེ་རྣམས་ཐོབ་པའི་ཚུལ་ཡང་དག་པར་རྟོགས་པར་བྱ་བའི་སེམས་ཅན་གྱི་ཁམས་སམ་དབྱིངས་རང་བཞིན་གྱིས་རྣམ་པར་དག་པའི་དོན་དང་། རྟོགས་པའི་ངོ་བོ་ཁམས་དེ་ཉིད་དྲི་མ་མཐའ་དག་གིས་དག་པ་བླ་ན་མེད་པའི་བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་དོན་དང་། རྟོགས་པའི་ཡན་ལག་བྱང་ཆུབ་ཆེན་པོ་དང་འབྲེལ་པ་བྲལ་བ་དང་། རྣམ་པར་སྨིན་པའི་འབྲས་བུས་བསྡུས་པའི་ཡོན་ཏན་གྱི་དོན་དང་། གཞན་གྱིས་རྟོགས་པར་བྱེད་པའི་ཐབས་ཡོན་ཏན་གྱི་ནུས་པ་སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་ཕྲིན་ལས་ལྷུན་གྱིས་གྲུབ་ཅིང་རྒྱུན་མི་འཆད་པའི་དོན་ཐ་མའམ་ཕྱི་མར་བསྟན་པ་དང་བཅས་སྟེ། འཆད་པར་འགྱུར་བའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་མཐའ་དག་གི་ཡན་ལག་ཀུན་གྱི་ལུས་སམ་དངོས་པོ་ནི་མདོར་བསྡུས་པའི་ཚུལ་གྱིས་བསྟན་ནས། བརྗོད་བྱ་ཟབ་མོ་ཐོས་བསམ་གྱི་ཤེས་པས་ཕིགས་པར་དཀའ་བའི་ཕྱིར་རྫས་ཀྱི་དངོས་པོ་རྡོ་རྗེ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་ལྟ་བུ་བདུན་དང་། རྗོད་བྱེད་ཡི་གེ་རྣམས་ཀྱང་དེ་དག་གི་ལམ་གསལ་བར་སྟོན་ཅིང་གོ་བར་བྱེད་པས་ན་གནས་ཞེས་བྱ་སྟེ། བརྗོད་བྱ་རྣམས་རིམ་གྱིས་རྟོགས་པའི་གཞིའམ་རྟེན་ཏུ་གྱུར་པའི་ཕྱིར་བརྗོད་བྱ་དང་མཚུངས་པར་གྲངས་བདུན་གྱིས་བསྟན་པ་འདི་དག་གོ །
In a condensed way, the entire content or body of the commentary to be explained is taught in terms of seven vajra points. The term "vajra" is used since a precious vajra is composed of indestructible material, and the subject to be expressed is difficult to penetrate by means of the discriminative wisdoms resulting from study and reflection.
The first point contains the explanation of perfect buddhahood, which constitutes what is to be attained—this being the ultimate level of the two benefits, which are benefit for oneself and benefit for others.
The second point explains the sacred Dharma as having the characteristics of the two truths, which are free from attachment.
The third point is the Sangha of the noble ones, the assembly of those who do not fall back since they possess the two types of primordial wisdom (Skt. jñāna, Tib. ye shes).
The fourth point explains the expanse (Tib. dbyings) or the element of beings that is by nature completely pure. This is what needs to be truly realized, its realization constituting the way in which Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha are attained.
The fifth point is unsurpassable enlightenment, the essence of realization, the state in which this element is purified from all defilements without the slightest remainder.
The sixth point describes the qualities accompanying great enlightenment. They are the attributes of realization and consist of [two] fruits: those of freedom and complete maturation.
Finally, the seventh point explains buddha activity, which is spontaneous and uninterrupted. This is the power or ability of the qualities, the means causing others to gain realization.~ '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. 140-141.
- Translation from 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, pp. 98-99.
Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso
(1) The state of a buddha is called "perfect" since the two aspects of abandonment and realization are finally perfected.
(2) The two truths are the absolute and the relative truth.
(3) The Sangha of noble ones consists of those who have directly realized emptiness. They are called "noble" since due to this realization they have reached a higher level of mental development than an ordinary being.
(4) Within the system of the Madhyamaka, "Rangtong Madhyamaka" and "Shäntong Madhyamaka" (Tib. dbu ma rang stong dang dbu ma gzhan stong) are distinguished. Literally, Rangtong means "self-empty" and Shäntong "empty of other." In the view of the Rangtong Madhyamaka, "the expanse by nature completely pure" refers to the fact that all phenomena are by nature not truly existent. It is equivalent to emptiness in the sense of complete freedom from conceptual elaboration (Tib. spros pa). In the view of the Shäntong Madhyamaka it is the nature of mind, being the inseparable union of spaciousness and awareness (Tib. dbyings rig dbyer med).
(5) The defilements from which the element or the tathagatagarbha is purified in the state of enlightenment are the adventitious stains of delusion with regard to appearances, or in other words, the veils of the mental poisons and hindrances to knowledge.
(6) The term "fruit of freedom" is used from the viewpoint of complete freedom from all the defilements consisting of delusion with regard to appearances. With this freedom, the thirty-two qualities of the dharmakaya are attained. The fruit of complete maturation results from the fact that the accumulation of merit has been led to complete maturity. It consists of the thirty-two qualities of the form kayas.
(7) When having reached ultimate direct realization, one has disposal over the means causing all other beings to gain this realization. This is buddha activity, which consists of the power or ability of the qualities, or in other words, of the fact that one wields great qualities, those of freedom and complete maturation.~ 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, p. 301.
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: A Direct Path to the Buddha Within
Maitreya’s Ratnagotravibhāga, also known as the Uttaratantra, is the main Indian treatise on buddha nature, a concept that is heavily debated in Tibetan Buddhist philosophy. In A Direct Path to the Buddha Within, Klaus-Dieter Mathes looks at a pivotal Tibetan commentary on this text by Gö Lotsāwa Zhönu Pal, best known as the author of the Blue Annals. Gö Lotsāwa, whose teachers spanned the spectrum of Tibetan schools, developed a highly nuanced understanding of buddha nature, tying it in with mainstream Mahāyāna thought while avoiding contested aspects of the so-called empty-of-other (zhentong) approach.
~ 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.
Book: Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra
All sentient beings, without exception, have buddha nature, the inherent purity and perfection of the mind, untouched by changing mental states. The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra, one of the "Five Treatises" said to have been dictated to Asanga by the Bodhisattva Maitreya, presents the Buddha's definitive teachings on how we should understand this ground of enlightenment and clarifies the nature and qualities of buddhahood.
~ Fuchs, Rosemarie, trans. Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra. By Arya Maitreya. Written down by Arya Asanga, with a commentary by Jamgön Kongtrül Lodrö Thayé ('Jam mgon kong sprul blo gros mtha' yas) "The Unassailable Lion's Roar," and explanations by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamsto Rinpoche. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2000.
