Verse I.94

From Buddha-Nature
Ratnagotravibhāga Root Verse I.94

Verse I.94 Variations

अतोऽनागम्य बुद्धत्वं निर्वाणं नाधिगम्यते
न हि शक्यः प्रभारश्मी निर्वृज्य प्रेक्षितुं रविः
ato'nāgamya buddhatvaṃ nirvāṇaṃ nādhigamyate
na hi śakyaḥ prabhāraśmī nirvṛjya prekṣituṃ raviḥ
E. H. Johnston as input by the University of the West.[1]
།དེས་ན་སངས་རྒྱས་མ་ཐོབ་པར།
།མྱ་ངན་འདས་པ་མི་ཐོབ་སྟེ།
།འོད་དང་འོད་ཟེར་སྤངས་ནས་ནི།
།ཉི་མ་ལྟ་བར་མི་ནུས་བཞིན།
Therefore, without attaining buddhahood,
Nirvāṇa is not attained,
Just as it is impossible to see the sun
After its light and its rays are removed.
Par conséquent, on n’atteint pas le nirvāṇa
Sans atteindre la bouddhéité,
De même qu’on ne peut voir le soleil
Sans sa lumière et ses rayons.

RGVV Commentary on Verse I.94

Other English translations

Obermiller (1931) [7]
Therefore, without the attainment of Buddhahood,
The (ultimate) Nirvāṇa cannot be reached,
Just as it is impossible to see the sun
Separated from its light and rays.
Takasaki (1966) [8]
Therefore, without the acquisition of Buddhahood,
There is no attainment of Nirvāṇa,
Just as it is impossible to see the sun,
Avoiding its light and rays.
Fuchs (2000) [9]
One will therefore not attain nirvana
without attaining the state of buddhahood.
Just as one could not see the sun
if one were to eliminate its light and its rays.

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. DP omit "prajñā."
  4. With DP (chugs pa med pa thogs pa med pa’i ye shes kyi gzigs pa mnga ba’i de bzhin gshegs pa), I take asaṅgāpratihataprajñājñānadarśanam as a bahuvrīhi compound qualifying tathāgatatvam.
  5. DP replaces "phenomena" with "prajñā."D45.48 omits this sentence.
  6. D45.48, fol. 267a.2–4. The words in "[ ]"are added from D45.48.
  7. Obermiller, E. "The Sublime Science of the Great Vehicle to Salvation Being a Manual of Buddhist Monism." Acta Orientalia IX (1931), pp. 81-306.
  8. 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.
  9. 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.

}